We are moving our BLOG

Sorry folks. It is more work for us, but I hate to say it, but I like Travelpod.com better. So, we are in the process of moving all or most of our previous posts, as well as ll new posts, to our new blog site at;
Lulu and AL at Travelpod

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Thank you for your patience as we continue our transition.

Lulu AND AL

Week 2 in Mexico

Well….we survived our first 2 weeks in Mexico. And, so far,  Lulu and I have no regrets on our decision to come here. We really don’t feel that far away from anyone, especially family, since we communicate with everyone frequently. Email, blogs and facebook is probably the best and most reliable method that we use, mostly because we can do so quickly and share some photos with you. And, my favorite discovery is skype. I am so proud of my father for being able to stay focused on his laptop and being able to skype with me. The video is super, and the sometimes garbled audio, is sufficient to be able to hold a lengthy conversation, just like we were right next door.

During our first week, we did our shopping for our essentials; meats, poultry, veggies, milk and bread. And, we finally got to get a cel phone with a Mexico carrier. The plan wasn’t so bad either. For $499 pesos (about $40 USD) we got a plain Nokia phone, and a replenish-able minutes plan which was $1 peso a minute anywhere, including the U.S.. Our first load was $150 pesos ($11 USD) and will get us about 150 minutes. The only problem was that it was a Mexico phone number, and that meant that any U.S. caller would be paying long distance charges, with most basic phone plans.

    To avoid any confusion on our families, I just told them to call our U.S. cel phone number and we would get the forwarded calls on our Mexico line. Since Verizon was charging outrages prices for Mexico coverage ($1 USD a minute) I just forwarded all incoming phone calls to my local U.S. skype phone number, and then had skype forward all calls to my Mexico line for about .30 cents a minute. We just call people back, since we are paying only .07 cents a minute on all outgoing calls. It may sound a little complicated, but It is not, and it works great. I don’t miss any calls and our family don’t have to change their phone plans and can call anytime they want. And all our calls are very clear and have a strong signal.

     We also picked up our Internet access card, which allows us to go online anywhere there is cel phone coverage. The USB device cost us just under $50 and can be loaded with whatever peso amount we want. It is used up depending on how much on-line use we do. And that is where I am challenged, because I can never figure out how many bites I use while I am online. It doesn’t really matter while we are at Hacienda Contreras, because we use their very reliable Wi Fi service. But we will not be here forever, so at least we will be prepared if we get somewhere with no Internet service.

     Just for fun, we decided to keep track of our expenses while on the road in Mexico. Our blog friends, Kevin and Ruth, keep track of their expenses and they continue to boast about how they live in Mexico for under $1,500 USD a month. They are a very frugal couple and will not stay in RV parks that charge more than about $20usd a night. Many times they will find a place that will not cost them anything, usually someone’s land or a business lot. They usually list their expenses on their blog and show how they budget their money.  We will attempt to do something similar and see if we can keep our budget just as low.

    WE have only been here about 10 days so our first budget report would not be an accurate monthly report, and also because we had a huge truck & travel expense, that we would not normally have had, about $2,950 pesos ($219USD) for fuel and $1,632 pesos ($125) for tolls. That was due to our long drive from Texas. Next month should be a significant change. Our other expenses were for groceries and dining $12USD, Postage $8USD and campground fees $21USD. July Mexico expenses for 10 days were $494USD. We didn’t include any of our VISA fees, Truck permits, Bridge accident incident, and any US expenses. Just money we have spent since crossing the border.



We should be getting out to more places this month, now that we have settled in, and have a new paycheck to start with. Since here, we have mostly hung around Valle de Juarez doing some people watching and taking photos.  Valle de Juarez is at about 6,000 feet in elevation and is about 58 km (36 miles) Southeast from Guadalajara, West of Mexico City and East of the Pacific Coast. The town is only 35 square miles and has a population of about 5,000 people. Our weather at this time of year is mild, but will rain just about every day for an hour or two, and sometimes very heavily.  Our temps have been in the mid to high 80’s during the day and low 60’s at night. I am told that the this area remains warm throughout the year, but the temps will drop at night, and will sometime freeze.

WE are usually the only RVers in our park, and this is due to us being here in the “off-season”, as has been the case in Southern Texas. I don’t know why more people don’t come here, because we find the weather to be almost perfect. And, since most of the tourists that do stay here will do so during the winter months, we have our pick of the RV parks, the RV spots and we don’t have to compete for a wi-fi signal. But even with all the hoop-la about the violence in Mexico, these parks will see a significant increase come November. Most of these Mexican tourists know the real truth about the violence, and they have no reservation about their yearly trip. (The topic of Mexico Violence will be for another post. I need to set some things straight and just tell our American friends how bad things are here. Even though many of us in the U.S. carry a gun for protection.)

There is no major historical significance to this town, except that it was a major travel route used by the Spanish conquistadors to conquer the kingdom of Colima in 1521.  At that time, the area only had a few huts. It was not until 1885 that Pascual Contreras began to build some houses in, what was then called, La Loma and then began moving in the inhabitants of nearby Tequestquite. They named the small settlement Spring Valley and got it recognized by the State of Jalisco in 1894. The town was renamed Valle de Juarez in 1911 in memory of Benito Juarez, President of the Republic of Mexico around 1859. This information I retrieved from Wikipedia.

You can see by our photos that life here seems to be basic and simple. There is the Central Plaza that appears to be the center of the town’s activities. Around the plaza are all the important places you may need to find, such as the police station, town hall, the bank, post office, the butcher and a number of small restaurants, small grocery stores and Internet cafes. WE have seen small tour buses come and go, bringing tourists from nearby towns. They will walk around the plaza and take some photos, and many will go in to the church.

We have learned to do our shopping at these little stores and do it more often. The nearest Walmart is about 45 minutes away, and for the prices that these little places offer, it really does not pay to go all the way out there to shop at Walmart. We have learned to adjust to buying Mexican brand items, since American made products are nearly twice as much. So, it is cheaper to buy Made in Mexico. (Kind of ironic, that it is just the opposite in the U.S.??) At the butcher, he whips out a whole chicken and cuts it up the way you want it, and will wrap or discard those little things that we are not sure what they are. But, we have been keeping them and feeding them to Molly, since we can no longer buy Molly’s dog food. Lulu has learned to make a delicious chicken and vegetable medley for Molly to eat.

Even though diesel is about the same price as the U.S., we have not been spending as much, since we only go about 2 miles in to town and back. Our recent day trip to Jiquilpan took about 45 minutes, but Sal and Barb were nice enough to drive. And good thing they did. Sal had a hard enough time getting around some corners with his Ford Super Duty diesel, so I am sure that I would have had a challenge with my duallies.

 

We met a group at the RV park last week that invited us to their town for a little tour and lunch. We met American born Bob, whose son is the former guitar player for Quiet Riot and now plays for Ratt (for you headbangers that know these bands) and his girlfriend Lupita come to Hacienda about every weekend, and they were here celebrating a birthday when we were introduced to them by Barb. It wasn’t long before Lulu was singing acapela to the ladies; Angela, Martha and Lupita, and before we knew it, we were getting invited to lunch.

Jiquilpan is a city of about 100,000 and has a lot more activity than Valle de Juarez. Their central plaza was hustling and bustling with vendors, tourists and residents, and the traffic showed it. We went on a tour of the local museum that was built by former resident General Lazaro Cardenas, who was president of Mexico (1934–40), and was known for carrying out the social and economic aims of the Mexican Revolution. He distributed land, made loans available to peasants, organized workers’ and peasants’ confederations, and expropriated and nationalized foreign-owned industries. He was also known for expropriated and nationalizing the country’s oil industry.

That is it for the history lesson. As for the overall attractiveness of the town, we enjoyed our visit.  Jiquilpan is a very active city with many more people. We felt safe, but I can assure you that with this many people, they have their share of problems. The place was clean and neat, and the buildings had the same European style that we have been seeing throughout the country. There was a strong police and military presence, just as there is everywhere. It is just the way it is here. And, if you have ever visited any European country, you most likely have seen the same kind of presence. Even in little Portugal, I was stopped at the entrance to the police station with a sub-machine gun carrying officer, who would not let me in unless I had a good reason. I have also been stopped at random security checks in foreign countries. So this is nothing new.

We were at a much lower elevation than Juarez, so the temperature was a little warmer, but not over bearing, probably around the high 80’s and low humidity. So it was a very pleasant day. The people were friendly and courteous. The food was great and the sightseeing was awesome. Thank you Lupita and friends!!

On the ride back, Barb and Sal dropped us off at the local Walmart owned store, Bodega Aurrera, where we did some shopping. Although we didin’t find exactly what we were looking for, the store had everything you need, and more. A smaller version of the U.S. Walmart, but it had everything from computers, to clothing, to mattresses and to food. They even accepted our U.S. debit card. We spent $775 pesos, $60 USD, which I think would have been around $100 in the U.S. I think that some goods are priced lower in Mexico. And, again, that depends on what we buy. Lulu likes her air freshener spray, which we could not find a Mexican brand, so a small Glade can ran close to $4 USD. We have bought no-name brands in the U.S. for about $1 USD.

Yesterday, Sal’s cousins, Jesus and Bouganvila, invited us to join their family for a dinner up in their cabin high in the Sierra el Tigre hills. Jesus built a small 2 bedroom, 1 bath cabin out of pine boards  that were cut directly from the trees on his land, which sits high above the road and valley, about 25 minutes outside of Valle de Juarez. Jesus had paid a man about $1,600 USD for labor and material to erect the shell on this cabin, about 10 years ago. He paid about $1,000 USD for the 1 acre land about 15 years ago. And, you can see by the photos that he made a very wise investment in his “billion-dollar view.”

It was a very well spent afternoon, with some great home-made Mexican food that was made by “Bougy”.  Lulu entertained with an acapela version of “The Prayer” and Molly also sang her own doggie song, that we just could not figure out the title. The clouds rolled over at one time, but after a little rain and colling down a bit, things cleared up, and the temperature rose again.
We are making plans to visit Mazamitla, which is about 15 minutes West of Juarez, and we would like to get to see some Mayan ruins, but want to stay close by the RV Park. Molly prefers to stay home, but she wants us back before dark. I did find something just outside Guadalajara, which may take us about 3  ½ hours to get there, but it would be the closest ruins site to our location. There is much more to see and do, but we have to stick to our plan, which is to treat this voyage as if we are living at home.

When at home, most people don’t go sight-seeing and spend money every day of the week. We would soon find ourselves without any funds before the end of the pay period. So, we just take it easy, and go do touristy things once and a while. We still continue to do our crafts, the sun reflectors and jewelry, that we will sell when the opportunity arises. And one of these days, I will re-visit my book-writing project.

Oh yes, just to let you know, our Direct TV dish does not work here. We would need an 8 foot dish to make it work, and I am not about to lug around an 8 foot dish everywhere we go. So, Direct TV is suspended and we settle for 3 or 4 Spanish Channels from Guadalupe, which helps me out with my Spanish. But all is not lost, as long as we have  Wi-Fi, I can get the major networks live on USTVnow.com. So, we get to see ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX live, and it comes in very clear right on our TV, thanks to an HDMI/VGA converter box that I had bought. Yay!!

So, for now, Adios, Hasta-luego amigos. Take care of yourselves and each other. And don’t forget to LIVE, LAUGH AND LOVE!!~!

Week 1 in Mexico 2012

Check out our photos at the end of the post.

We are on our first full week in to our Mexico experience. Although we spent more time driving than what we would have normally done, it was well worth being able to tag along our RV park hosts, Barbara and Sal Contreras. After hearing about our bad experience at the border last week, they were kind enough to contact us and allow us to follow them back to their park. Barb and Sal had been visiting relatives and had planned to return to Mexico the weekend that we were thinking of crossing. Lulu and I decided to take up their offer and tag along for the ride. The only problem was that they needed to get back in two days. Since we had done similar drives before, we decided to go for it.
Our original plans had called for stops and stay-overs along the way, breaking up our journey over two months. So, we would miss many places we planned to stay and explore, but as usual, our plans can, and most likely will change. We will either return to those missed locations or cross them off our itinerary. It is actually too early to make such a decision, so we will discuss it and decide on that later.

I must tell you that I am surprised and almost disappointed that I did not see some of the stereotyped Mexico that I had heard so much about. According to all the Mexican travel experts that I spoke to, I was told to look out for dismembered bodies strewn about the streets and highways and to be on high alert for banditos and drug cartel trucks hiding out in the thick jungle and forest, just waiting for us to drive by so they could force us to stop and highjack our truck and take all our money. I am also still looking for all those poor Mexicans that are running to the border and will be begging us to hide them in our truck when we return to the States. I can’t find them. And I am watching for those dishonest Mexican who wants to gyp us on our change when buying gas. Maybe, but they see me watching the pump.

Instead, I found modern, clean two and three lane highways that always had some kind of traffic passing through. We were never alone on these highways. So we always felt safe and compared the driving experience like any other in the U.S. And, depending on your idea of safe roads, you may or may not be thrilled about the idea of random traffic check points, but, many high-speed freeways are subject to random security checks by the Mexican Army and the Federal Police. We drove through maybe 2 and we saw a few more on the opposite side of the road.  We have also seen some on the country back roads and inner city bi-ways, where we were ignored or waved through. But, then, we were stopped by the Federal Police at an intersection on the way to immigrations in Chapala.

I think our big mistake was to have myself driving, Sal in the passenger seat and two beautiful ladies in the back seat. I didin’t realize that we could have been easily mistaken for the Mexican slave trade industry. However, the experience was not as frightening as some would expect. After checking my paperwork and verifying my VIN number, the officer was actually quite friendly and began a brief sociable conversation. Thanks to Sal, officer friendly just handed over all my “photo-copied” documents, (not one original) and eventually shook our hands and wished us a pleasant stay and encouraged our sight-seeing experience. He confirmed about how beautiful Mexico is and that we should not be too overly alarmed about the current ongoing violence.

Yes, the violence continues. We see on the local news stations that there are more assassinations of politicians and high-ranking police officials. One such incident took place in a town that we were driving through. Completely unaware of what the circumstances were, we came across a road-block in the tiny town of Vista Hermosa. We were forced to take a detour when a police officer sent us up a street that looked like it could barely fit a Fiat. I complained to him that I did not feel comfortable towing my 36 foot, 14,000 pound fifth wheel, up such a narrow street, but he was not concerned and just yelled for me to get going.  So, we did. With Sal up in front and Lulu behind, we managed to squeeze by the very tight turn. Then up a little farther, and with traffic behind us, I could go no more and had to back up. Some of the local neighbors came out of their homes and began ``to guide us through and recommended certain turns, which worked out. Eventually, we got through the nail biting experience and I found the people to be very patient and friendly. Little did we know that only a couple of blocks away were the bodies of assassinated police officials.

And that was our first near-happenstance with some of the actual violence that continues in this country. However, as we have been told by many Mexican expiates and nationals, that we need not be afraid, as the violence is not targeting ANY tourists. And just like in the United States, we need to be aware of our surroundings and be prepared to react accordingly, depending on the situation. The Colorado movie theatre incident could have occurred anywhere in the world, just as a drive by shooting can happen anywhere. We still feel safe here in Mexico. We remain vigilant, just as we have been for the last year as we drove through many of the United States neighborhoods.

So, back to our drive to Chapala. We found the scenery absolutely breath-taking. The weather was perfect and the traffic was almost non-existing.  At around 11:30am, we arrived at the American invaded and populated area of Chapala and found the local Mexican immigration office, right on the main road. We got the best parking spot for our over-sized dually diesel beast, right at the front door and in their parking lot. Inside were about 12 people and the sign-up sheet had only two names ahead of us. I was concerned that somehow, somewhere, something was going to be missing, incomplete or unauthorized and we had wasted over $300 and all the time and effort in our one-year Mexican visa. But, instead, with some new photographs, a couple of fingerprints, the stroke of a pen and the printing of some papers, our freshly laminated no-immigrante turista visa, formerly known as the FM3, were in our hands by 1pm and good until June of 2013. We were under the impression that this was not going to be a simple task, and that we would be returning to this office a few more timers before getting our cards.

It was almost too good to be true. But, it was. God is great. We are now legally official temporary Mexican residents and we can stay here legally for up to one year, instead of the routine 6-month tourist visa, where we would have had to leave the country by October. We wanted to be able to just take our time and not be under pressure to hurry up and get our journey done in less than 180 days. Barb and Sal also had a good day, since Barb needed to get some of her paperwork in order and was fortunate enough to get things started.

I also got to purchase my Tel-Cel internet card which allows me to get on the internet with my laptop. We also got to have an excellent lunch by the lake. We found out that this area is heavily populated by thousands of American and Canadian retirees. Hearing someone speak English here is common, and most of the Mexican residents speak English fluently. We saw some gorgeous sub-divisions that were gated off from the main road. I am told that this highly popular area has fallen victim to high demand and high real estate prices, so finding an affordable home in this area would be difficult, just as trying to find the actual authentic Mexican lifestyle.

We love our stay at the Hacienda Contreras RV Park in Valle de Juarez. Other than Sal and Barb, we are the only park residents, so we have this place all to ourselves. I cannot understand why more people do not take advantage of the gorgeous weather and the un-crowded living conditions during this time of year. It is true that there are no other people to socialize with, but we do not mind it at all. The warm sunshine during the day, and the cool nights, make a world of a difference from those blistering hot days that we were having in Texas. What a difference. And, my most favorite thing is that there are NO MOSQUITOES at night. What a relief. The Texas mosquitoes just loved my Portuguese blood. They would attack me in swarms as soon as I would walk out the door. We had a small fortune invested in mosquito sprays. So we are prepared for the next invasion.

We have gone in to the lovely town of Valle de Juarez, which is only about 2 miles from the RV park, and we walked around the central plaza, which has all of the important places to get everything we needed.  We had lunch on Lulu’s birthday on July 23 at a small restaurant that was actually the front of someone’s home. The kitchen not only served their clients, but was also the household kitchen. The set up, furniture and tablecloth remind me of my Portuguese grandmother’s house, and the food was almost as good. We ate TWO full meals of grilled chicken breast with salad, fries, rice, bread and two cokes for under $10, total.

For desert, we stopped at the ice cream shop and had some fresh vanilla ice cream. Then we walked over to the butcher who deboned a boneless chicken breast and sliced it thin. Along with a two-pound t-bone steak, we spent 90 pesos. Just about $7.00. On our way back, we made a stop at the larger grocery store in town and bought a few things, spending another 115 pesos, about $10, and then headed back to Hacienda Contreras where we got a beautiful show that God put on for us. The sunset was stunning, just as the sunrise was earlier that morning. Our RV faces the sunrise on one side and the sunset on the other. I would compare the scenery to our mountains in Virginia, but the Mexican climate is much better.

Now we wait for our internet and cel phone issues to be resolved. The park had a problem with their modem and they are working on the internet issue. As soon as that is settled, I can spend a little more time on getting our facebook up to date and do some banking. Although my Verizon cel phone works fine here in Mexico, our global rate is .99 cents a minute, which can run up a small fortune in no time at all, so we are waiting for a cel phone to arrive and it would run only 1 peso a minute for all calls, including U.S. calls. That is about .07 cents a minute.

So we are adjusting well. We feel safe and very comfortable in Mexico, and are glad we did not get persuaded by our unfortunate incident at the border the week earlier. It was one of those things. And we are also glad to have not been influenced by the many negative comments that were made by so many people that we met along the way. I know that most of them meant no harm, but were only repeating what they had heard. It just goes to show you how powerful the tongue really is.  We heard so many horror stories about how bad things were in Mexico, and it is all so far from the truth. The Mexicans themselves will tell you first hand that all though there is violence, it is no different from many parts of the world, including our own United States. All we have to do is look over our shoulder and see what is going on in our own back yard, and we can see how true that really is.

If only we could all just live in peace and treat everyone the way we would want our parents or children to be treated. Wouldn’t that make a world of a difference? And if we would stop being selfish and always thinking about ourselves, but instead, take some time to help out that elderly person with their groceries or stop and help the woman that is getting beat up by her man. Better yet, how about letting God back in to our lives, homes, work and schools? And not be afraid of the repercussions from the non-believers. We need to start praying together as families and as neighbors. Then, I think, things just might change, just a little, but enough.
Live, laugh and Love,
Lulu and AL

Lulu feeling right at home. (Reading shades of grey #2)

7-11's are not just for Americans.

Chapala shopping

Barb & Sal and us having lunch in Chapala.

Donkeys and horses are still used.

Valle De Juarez

Don't back into the border patrol's gate!

Journal Entry by LULU

I am sitting under an orange tree ion Pharr, Texas. The wind is picking up to near tornado strength and I can hear the thunder in the distance. It is my turn to pick up the pen and tell you about all the exciting events and how we ended up back in Texas.  It was on a Friday on the 6th of July that we left Donna Texas. The moment that we have been waiting for since we began our RV journey just over a year ago. So, with as much toilet paper, paper towels, peanut butter, bug spray and so many other products that we stocked up on because we were told it would be hard to get or expensive in Mexico. Little did we know that we would also be on that list.

RV Park in Pharr, TX Orange trees in all sites.

HEATED pool in 100 degree weather.

No oranges in our tree.

We had a great stay at the Magnolia RV Park in Donna, Texas the week before. We spent the 4th of July with about 20 other summer residents and were able to entertain them for their cookout.  Like all the other parks we have visited, we met some great people and made some new friends. We made our heartbreaking good-byes and headed to the border.

Lulu finds a victim. Fred!!

Small group but fun. Last dance with LULU.

Tony was the 4th of July cook.

These guys were in the trees.

Magnolia RV Park

Sign posted on US side at Falcon Lake.

Surprise!! This is in the U.S.A., not Mexico.
The floor of Falcon Lake, Zapata, TX.
About 20 feet below level.

Al has spent countless days and nights on the internet doing research and communicating with people already in Mexico. He has compiled a list of  all the best methods, roads, tolls and towns to drive through and which places to avoid. So we headed to the Anzalduas International Bridge crossing in Reynosa, Mexico. We were privileged to be one of the first people to cross through this brand spanking new facility. The place was still shiny and clean and still smelled like fresh paint. Hardly anyone was there, because it did not even look like it was open to traffic.  Construction on the U.S. side in McAllen, Texas made it almost impossible to locate and barely accessible to enter. Therefore, it was an exciting and historical moment to see the sign “Entering Mexico”.   But have you ever noticed that the U.S. sign says “Welcome to the United States”? There are no welcome signs in Mexico.

So began our 9-hour ordeal. From 11;30am until 9:30pm, we paced and walked and followed two stone faced Mexican customs (ADUANA) agents back and forth from building to buildings and office to office. Our first escort was from our original crossing at Anzalduas to another crossing, about 20 minutes away at the Amanecer crossing near Pharr, Texas. One of the bridges that we were told to avoid because of traffic and because of the difficulty we would have had in getting on the freeway to our Mexican destination. It looked like the only Mexican ancient ruins were going to see on this day were the slums of Reynosa.

Brand new gate.

Not a scratch on it.

That is until AL got to it.

All of  this attention was not because we had the wrong paperwork or because AL forgot to leave behind one of his many firearms but because the Free Spirit got hung up on a “tope” (speed bump), just past the security gate on the Mexico side. Apparently the truck and RV began to rock and roll back and forth, just enough to bend the security gate arm back about 6 inches. We were not told this until a couple of hours later. We thought we were waiting to be inspected, since we got the “RED LIGHT”, and Al was inside another building taking care of some paperwork. While parked at the first bridge, we were told that we were waiting for the boss man from the other bridge to come and investigate. However, after no one showed up for a couple of house, we ended up following the lit up police car to the other bridge. So we got the full escort, with a cruiser in front, and an agent in the front seat. Once at the Amanacer crossing, we got in to the police car and taken to HQ. I had never been in a police car before, never mind the back seat. At least Molly was with us.

Our Mexican auto insurance adjuster arrived and we are told we are all set, but a minute later, we told nope. Mais uno minuto. (One more minute). Actually, it was many more minutos because no one knew what they were doing. Hours later, after Molly and I started eating the tuna salad I had packed up for the trip, before it went bad, and without any other food or water, it looks like we may be able to leave. Nope. So sorry. Mais uno minuto.

We were in a two story building with hundreds of people, most of them women. And when I ask to use a bathroom, they say, so sorry, no public bathrooms. More waiting. More tears and Al starts to get impatient. Now the insurance person tells us that they offered to pay for the damage, but the “Aduana” will not accept his word. Instead, they want cash or they will have to impound our vehicle until it is paid, maybe by Monday? It is now 8pm on Friday night.

Finally, someone comes up with paperwork. Now they hit us with a $23,000 peso bill, about $1,500, CASH!! So much for our emergency money that we had put away.  However, it is now getting dark, and we are no longer interested in driving in to Mexico. We pay our bill and back to Texas we go. I have written lyrics to a new song, and it goes..”I am proud to be an American, where at least I now I’m free, But, don’t go in to Mexico, if you ever have to pee….” It was a very stressful, discouraging moment and had us thinking twice about what we were doing.

But now after a few days of re-grouping and looking back, and after many encouraging and positive posts from our Mexican RV friends, I can look back and see that this was not the normal routine. It was an unfortunate accident that my driver was to blame for, whether we like it or not, and, the delay was not done on purpose, but was because they had two young agents that were not familiar with their procedures. Throughout the day, we could see the frustration in their faces, as they were given the runaround by their superiors.


At the start of my journey I wrote that I will not fret over tangled Christmas lights or lost luggage. So, for now, my heart sinks back in to place and AL is back on the internet re-routing our journey. New plans are underway and we hope to re-enter Mexico without any problems very, very soon. We still have our health and happiness and we will pray for that other world that we wait for where we all live in peace as one. Stay with us… Go West…. Or South??  Or is that East? Thank you GPS? No, but rather, ....thank you GOD!!!

We were told that diesel was cheaper in Mexico.

Lulu

The chapel at RV Park in Pharr, TX

Saying Good-bye to Texas

 Hello friends, It seems like it has been such a long time since we have updated our blog. And I apologize for that, but these last few weeks has not been much going on, except for just catching up on every day, mundane, routine matters. We really haven’t gone on any special trips, been anywhere out of the ordinary and have not been sightseeing.  I did, however, fly out to Florida earlier this month, to visit my doctors and take care of a couple of maintenance issues back at our condo in Holiday (where they are having some viscous weather these days, and we are praying for everyone to come out of it very soon). We had a leak in our bathroom that stained the first floor ceiling and then, while I was there, the upstairs toilet bit the dust, and I ended up having to replace the entire bowl.

Tahitian Gardens Pool, Holiday, FL

Water Stain on Ceiling

Best I could do for now

 I never worked so hard and so fast in such little time. I repaired a 6’ x 2’ ceiling, replaced the entire toilet bowl, saw three doctors, dropped off my prescriptions and flew roundtrip from Harlingen, Texas to Tampa, Florida, all in four days. I did not sleep much, since I was determined to get my repair job done before leaving. So, I stayed up late and got up early, every day. And then, I cleaned the entire apartment when I was done. Right up until the last minute. Afterwards, I was a hurting man for the next couple of weeks, because my body is just not used to doing that kind of hard labor. But, it’s done and I went a few hundred dollars less this month. I still have a vacant 2-bedroom apartment that is remains for rent. See my blog page on it at www.HolidayFlorida.blogspot.com . This is only for someone we know as we will not rent out to the public, unless they come highly recommended by someone we know. So, we don’t advertise. If you are reading this, then you are most likely in our circle of friends, so if you are interested in the condo, we can get you in there for a very good price.

When I said that we haven’t had much excitement, I guess I was being a
 little reserved about it, because we did have a couple of unexpected  incidents that surprised us in different ways.  Our first curve ball was having a tire blow out on us while coming back home from church on Memorial Day weekend. We were not going more than 40 or 50 miles an hour, and on a secondary road, when the tread came off the rear dually tire and damaged the driver side rear fender. This little incident caused nearly $2,500 in damage and another $800 in new tires.  To add insult to injury, we were without a truck for 4 days.

If you know me, then you know that I always look at everything as a blessing from God. Regardless of what it may be, I think that God does things for a reason. No matter what we may think, there is a reason for EVERYTHING. Unfortunately, we do not possess the intelligence to understand what it is that God is trying to do for us. Then, sometimes we do, or at least, God makes it so that we know why or what God is trying to do.  In this tire incident, we already knew that we needed 4 rear tires, but we were not ready financially, so we were holding off for the following month to do it. But, God had different plans for us. He wanted me to take care of it NOW.

Thanks to American Express, I had 30 days to pay for my new tires. Then, PEP Boys gave me a rebate of the cost of one tire. So, that brought my balance down to $600. My auto insurance company gave me almost $2,000 to fix my fender with all new parts. I found a body shop that repaired the damage for about a third of the price, without having to buy a new $1,000 fender. Now, I had enough to pay off AMEX, and had money left over to help pay for the repairs that I had done to the Florida condo. Whether or not this was God’s plan, it makes sense to me. It all worked out in the end.

The other unexpected incident was the passing of our 80 year old neighbor here at the Anglers Nest RV Park. Tom and his wife Marlys, are full-time residents here and we are only about 100 feet away from their trailer. There are three other families here, but us being the closest, received a phone call from Marlys at about 2am to ask for our help in picking up her husband who had fallen on the way to the bathroom. He was not feeling well that night, and had not been feeling himself for a few days. After seeing Tom again later that morning, he passed away while taking a nap later that afternoon. Lulu had never been exposed to someone passing away like this, so although she handled it well, it was a new and wearisome experience. Fortunately, I have seen this hundreds of times in my career, so I was easily able to help out, and knew what to expect. Ambulance, police, detectives, medical examiners and funeral homes all come in and out of the house, and some have little or no sensitivity when dealing with these situations. It seems that no one ever really takes the time to sit down and explain to the family why they do it the way they do, or what they will be doing and why.

During my police career, I always took the time to sit with the family and explain what the next few hours would entail. They needed to know why we had to have a detective there, and sometimes taking photographs, and why the ambulance could not take the body, and why the medical examiner had to be involved, and sometimes brought down, etc….. Most likely, it is usually the first time someone has gone through this, so they don’t know why all of this activity is needed, and it can make it very traumatizing for anyone that loses a loved one. I rarely see someone take the time to explain what the procedure is. I always thought that police and EMS need to take the time to explain this when they have this kind of call
Once again, God made sure that we were around at this moment and to help out Marlys and provide the assistance, comfort and consoling that can be so lacking during these times. To make things more difficult for the widow, was that Marlys had just gotten released from the hospital after major surgery. So, she was in no condition to be doing many of the things that she needed to get done. Marlys is a strong woman, and handled the entire situation very well, but she was still alone, with all her family in a different state and with no friends nearby. For some reason, we were there to fill in and we were happy to have helped out.

So that has been our excitement for the last couple of months. Now, we are preparing for our next journey, and that is still going to be Mexico. If all goes well, we may be leaving on July 1 or 2.  Since we have been in Texas, I have been able to do my homework on all this Mexican violence that everyone keeps talking about. We have met some wonderful people on the internet that have been living in Mexico, and they have given us some great advice. They also have become our first hand accounts of what is going on in Mexico. These folks are experienced RV travelers that continue to drive the highways and bi-ways of Mexico, and they have never experienced any violence against them. I’ll be posting another section on this subject in a separate post.
Most of the cartel violence is concentrated in the Northern border states of Mexico, so, we intend to getting past the territories within a few hours and should be outside the drug cartels trade zone within a day. We have no intentions on stopping anywhere along the way.  Our first stops will be along the Mexican highland interior where the temperatures are a little cooler than it is here in Texas, and milder than the Mexican beaches. We are making our way to the outskirts of Guadalajara and then to Valle de Juarez, just South of Lake Chapala, Mexico’s largest lake and the highest concentration of Americans and Canadians. We should be at Hacienda Contreras by around September 1st and remain there until December or January, when we will head to the West Coast beaches and slowly make our way North to Arizona by next fall. Of course, all this is subject to change, depending on what we like or dislike.

Our communications will be limited, since our Verizion cel phone will work in Mexico, but will run about one dollar a minute. We will be getting an internet card once get in Mexico, which I believe is about $20 a month and has 2.5 gb per month. I have no idea how much that will take care of, especially since we will be using skype as a phone. Of course we will be checking out their cel phone plans and looking at our  options there as well.

We are packing up and getting ready to leave Angler’s Nest where we have made a home for the last four months. This small, 60-unit adult only RV park, is almost like a small neighborhood that is made up of all family members. And, although the park is a little tight, the residents and owners are the best people anyone would want to have as neighbors. Even though we really have nothing to complain about, it is time to move on, and start exploring other places. We leave the Nest with great memories and new friendships.
We will probably just move to another RV park nearby, that is closer to the bridge we will be crossing on Monday.
We recently had a tarantula move in to our site yard. He has dug himself a little trench and occasionally he will stick out his little head. He only does this at night, and he is very quick to duck back inside his hole if he senses us nearby, or if we shine any light on his home. He is the coolest thing. When you have never seen something like this before, it is very exciting to see.



The only other thing going on is my recent bout with back pain. Since we came back from Florida in January, I had been getting some very severe pain down my back, in to my hips and down the back of both legs. I visited a local chiropractor in town, used back braces, did my stretching exercises, and applied heat and ice, and heat and ice. And, none of these things helped. What did help, was Lulu’s idea of placing some extra support under the sheets on my side of the bed. Eventually, we purchased a very firm 3” sponger bed topper, and since then, my pain has gone down substantially.

I'm not a specialist. If you can read this, send me an email

What is interesting is that my recent MRI shows two new disc herniation and additional disc degeneration, since my last MRI nearly 10 years ago. So, I don’t get it. The doctor didn’t think that the mattress played too much of a role in my recent pain. But, I have to admit, that since changing my sleeping surface, it is almost like nothing had ever happened.

Boca Chica Beach, Brownsville, TX, earlier this month

Oh yeah, and I almost forgot to mention that we put on the Anglers Nest very FIRST pool party. The only 10 people left in the park, and two grandchildren all met under the clubhouses canopy and shared some KFC food and several deserts. And, the highlight of the event was the child’s inflatable 4 foot wide pool. You can see by the photos that we had a blast.

Molly doing what she does best!

And, I guess that’s it for now. Lulu hasn’t had any gigs in this area, since most, if not all of the venues, are closed or have suspended their entertainment until the fall. Molly is doing OK. She has been on her meds that control her heart condition, fluids and thyroid. She now has cataracts, but we can’t find glasses to fit her, so she will just have to get by without.




God Bless you all and we will be back soon.