Weekend near Rehobeth Beach Delaware

This weekend we went camping with our local Good Sam chapter, The Traveling Americans. The weather was great on Saturday and we drove over to Rehobeth Beach and walked the boradwalk. A number of people were on the beach enjoying the warm Spring day as well.

Forth Worth and Dallas

Monday came and it was off to the Dallas-Fort Worth Area to visit Tom's cousin and her husband. They are staying at a campground just South of Denton Texas. When we arrived, all Tom had to do was pay for the site as his cousin, Connie, had everything setup for us.

On Tuesday morning Tom set out to have some keys made. While in Austin, I lost my motorhome door and compartment door keys. After getting the keys, We struck out to see some of the sites of Dallas-Fort Worth Area.

The first place we visited was the Mustangs of Las Colinas Statue. What a site! You can just let yourself imagine a small herd of Mustangs running across a small stream and the pounding of hoofs. What talent to be able to bring this much emotion to a statue.

Off we went to the Fort Worth Stock Yards where many, many years ago cattle were shipped from this location. This area has under went a rehab and has been turned into a tourist area with shops and several places to eat. A cattle drive is held twice a day and we arrived just in time for the afternoon cattle drive.



Next door to the Stock Yards is Billy Bob's, the largest honky Tonk in the country.
It has a large show area, several bars, a gift shop and a bull riding ring (the real ones not the mechanical ones).



Our final stop ot the day was the Fort Worth Water Gardens. This is another area that is very relaxing in the heart of a city.



This was our last stop of the day. Tomorrow, Dallas...

Austin, Texas

The first stop on our return trip to Maryland was in Austin, the capitol of Texas. We are staying at the Austin Lone Star RV Resort which is located 5 miles south of Austin.

The fact that it has "resort" in it's name should have clued us in that it was going to be over priced and it was. It costs us $90.00 for two days. The sites are tight and the roads narrow. WIFI Internet access and a two pancake and coffee breakfast are included in the cost.

Anyway, we wanted to see some of Austin. Sunday, after the "free" breakfast we drove into Austin and stopped at the LBJ library. This is a free library on the campus of University of Texas. We toured the exhibits about the great socitity and though many of the laws LBJ pushed for were needed, many others are part of the problem the USA is in today with many government give away programs.

Our next stop of the state capitol building. What a great building this is. We were taken back about how open it is to the public. Every half hour there is a free tour that takes you to various parts of the building. We could not go into the house chambers as there was a reception of some sorts going on. If ever you are in Austin, make certain you visit the capitol.

Our final stop was a late lunch-early dinner and than a walk down 6th street. This is the area that is known for the music scene. We were too early in the evening for the place to be jumping. We decided to call it a day and go back to the motorhome and get ready for Monday's travels to the Dallas area.

Moving North

Well, after two months, we are on the move towards Maryland. Our first stop will be for two nights in Austin, Texas. On Monday we will move to Denton, Texas for 3 nights and visit with some of Tom's family. After that it is on towards Maryland and home by Easter.

Chocolate Babka and Orange Blossoms

After church this morning we drove over to a Breadsmith Bakery and purchased a Chocolate Babka and a couple of scones to have for breakfest. Since we know about a Sienfled show in which a Babka was mentioned, we got a discount on our purchase.


All week long we have been smelling orange blossoms. It sure beats the smell of someone empting their black tanks. Citrus trees bear fruit and blossoms st the same time. This is quite a sight to see and smell.

Don't Shop at Brady's Duty Free Hidalgo, Texas

Today on our way to Reynoso Mexico we stopped at Brady's Duty Free Store to make a liquor purchase. If you have not shopped a duty free shop on the border, it should be a simple process, you make your purchase and pick it up at a location in the next country. Well we made our purchase, crossed into Mexico, but was not able to locate the pick-up location. We asked around, but nobody was able to direct us. In fact, everyone looked at us like we had two heads. We were able to locate to other duty free stores, but not the Brady's Duty Free.

In short, if you are going to get something from a duty free store don't buy from Brady's Duty Free.

Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle

We visited the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle National Shrine. The Basilica was dedicated on April 19, 1980. The present structure replaces one that was destroyed on October 23, 1970 when a pilot flew his airplane directly into the Shrine. Very significant for the many pilgrams visiting the shrine was the fact that the statue of la Virgen was rescued from the flames completely intact.

The inside of the Basilica is very modern looking, as I hope everyone can see from the pictures. As you enter, your view the alter area your drawn to the rear wall and the ststue of the Virgin Mary.



The North side of the Basilica has a big Mosiac of Jesus and the Virgin Mary which can be seen when passing by on the expressway. Even viewing it up close it is still quite a sight to see.

Winter Texan Appreciation Day at Pepe's

Today was another Winter Texan (snowbird) Appreciation Day. It was hosted by radio station KBUC and held at Pepe's by the River. Pepe's is a big open air pavillion right on the banks of the Rio Grande River.



A DJ from KBUC was the MC for the affair. Everyone was given a free hot dog and chips. Also various vendors were present with some give aways. We signed up for the drawing and won a bag of Texas grapefruit. Even without winning anything we had a good time.

Rained Out Golf, Lunch At Rudy's BBQ & Napolitas

I went golfing this morning with 3 friends from the RV park. We got to the 5th hole and saw lighting and heard thunder a second or two later. We picked up our golf balls and headed for the club house. It was raining buckets by the time we got there. The course issued rain checks for those who did not want to wait the rain out. I was happy because I was not hitting my middle irons very good today.


When I got back to the motorhome, Leah had company, so we visited for a while.


After our company left, we decided to go out for a bite of lunch, cash in a big six dollar winning lottery ticket and pickup a few items from the grocery store.


We decided to go to Rudy's BBQ for lunch. ( I know, so many places to choose from and so little time to do it.) We have been there before and had excellent brisket sandwiches! Today, Leah and I chose the BBQed turkey. What a good choice that was. The turkey was hot and juicy and loaded with flavor.







With full bellies we left Rudy's and made our way to the H.E.B. food store.

At the food store I saw a package of Napolitas and decided to buy it. Napolitas are Prickly Pear Cactus. The thorns are removed and the peddles are chopped up like green peppers.


Leah ask me what in the world was I going to do with them. I told her I did not know, but had seen them sold everywhere and would check the internet for ways to fix them. I asked the check out person if she knew how to prepare them. She said to boil them for about 10-15 minutes and then fry them with onions and tomatoes. I figured they were not expensive and would be worth a try. Leah being the trouper that she is jumped right in and fixed the napolitas with onions and tomatoes. She also prepared some beans and rice over which the napolitas were served. Not bad...

Off the Main Road

After the ferry ride and potty break at Los Ebanos, we stopped at the Riverside Club for a bite to eat and check on getting reservations for a curise on the Rio Grande River. I had been told that the Pork Tenderloin sandwich was the item to get, so I ordered one. Leah ordered a hamburger. When our food came, we noticed the hamburger appeared to have been deep fried and was concerned it might be kind of chewy. My Pork Tenderloin sandwich was not a disappointment.


We came across a field of cabbages being harvested. We were surprised to see the heads were being put into boxes while still in the field. I thought this step would have been done at a warehouse or processing plant.






Next to the cabbage field was field of Texas Sweet Onions. Down here in the RGV they do not lack an availability of fresh produce.

Hand-Pulled Ferry

After going through the pumphouse in Hidalgo, we drove to the Los Ebanos Ferry. The Los Ebanos Ferry is the only known government licensed hand-pulled ferry on any boundry of the United States

The fare is $.50 per person and $3.00 per vehicle one way.


Once you get over into Mexico, there is a small town about a mile away. Some people take a $5.00 taxi ride into the town to eat and do a little shopping. Some of the campground bike clubs come here and make a day trip bike ride into Mexico.

Leah and I just rode the ferry over and back just to say we did it.

On the US side of the river, there is a little store where you can get a drink, buy a few trinkets and use the bathroom. The men's urnial has a very unique decor. :-)

Water to make the Valley Grow

This morning we drove to Hidalgo, Texas to see the old Pumphouse location. Back in 1909 a steam driven Pumping station was constructed. The function of this station was to pump water from the Rio Grande River to the Hidalgo County area of Texas. The main channel was dug on the western edge of the county and feeder canals were constructed to flow the water towards the East. This new source of water made it possible to grow almost anything. There were a number of these steam powered pumping stations along the Rio Grande River, but this is the only station remaining. All of the pumping stations are electric powererd today.

Peddlers Shopping Show

We went to the McAllen Convention Center today to the Peddlers Shopping Show. About 30 different vendors were there for the weekend. We walked through and made several purchases. The most unique purchase was a Chili Grill in the shape of an Armadillo.



This grill is use to grill stuffed Jalapenos peppers. We could not wait to get home and try it out. Here in the RGV good size peppers are available in all of the food stores. In fact, the peppers are almost too big. Our concern is that the peppers we get in Maryland will be too small.

Mexico at Last!

Today is the day that we went to Mexico. We drove our car to Progreso, Texas, parked our car for $1.50 and walked across the bridge into Nuevo Progreso, Mexico. We parked in the USA because we do not have Mexican insurance on our car.

It costs $.25 per person to go into Mexico, but it cost $.30 to return to the USA. A lot of people got caught on the Mexico side of the border without a nickle when the proce was increased.

On the way to Progreso, our windshield was struck and we received a starred windshield. Twenty dollar repair job.

Our friends were in the lead as we made our way through the maze of vendors and shops lining the street. The first shops are dentist and pharmacies. These seem to be used by many Winter Texans. We made our way to a place where for $4.50 a person they have a two hour happy hour with drinks, dancing and a floor show. It was worth the money.






After happy hour, we ate dinner before returning to the USA. Our big purchase of the day was two bottles of Kahlua for $8.75 each. When we crossed the border, we had to pay $1.25 Texas Tax on each bottle. Back in Maryland we can not purchase a single bottle for what we paid for two.



Despite the damaged windshield, we had a nice day.

Another Repair for Water Ingestion

After returning from a morning walk at the park, I removed my air filter to check the water damage. The air filter was sopping wet. I sat it out in the sun to dry out. Deciding the first solution to fix the water ingestion was not working, a second option needed to be sought.

I went to a local Ford dealer and ordered the second solution to prevent sucking water into the engine. The cost of the parts was $82.00, ouch. As normal, the dealer did not have the parts in stock and had to sent to Houston for them. I ordered the parts and paid for them.

Two days later I got a call the parts were in. I went to the dealer to pickup the parts. The counter guy went to the stock room to get the parts for me. 15 minutes later he returned and said he was unable to locate one of the two parts that were shipped and received. He would have to order the missing part from Houston again. Two more days passed and at long last I had all of the parts needed to make the air intake modification.

We are not going to go back to Maryland until the end of March, so it will be a while before I can test the new change. Here's hoping it works.

Ropa Usada

I forgot to mention that some friends of ours from Maryland are also in Texas Trails. They are the ones who told us that there was plenty of room in the park. They were talking about a place called "Ropa Usada." Leah and I both thought they were talking about a place in Mexico, so we were champing at the bit to go. Well, imagine our surprise when we learned that Ropa Usada translates into used cloths.

Ropa Usadas are big warehouses that have large bundles of used cloths. A fork lift brings a bundle of "Ropas" to an area an dumps it in a pile. People than go sorting these bundles looking for items of clothing. When you have finished searching and are ready to check out, you take your treasures to the register where it is weighted and you pay by the pound.







This is an activity that you would only do once.

Texas Trails RV Resort Pharr, Texas

After 1879 miles, a starred windshield and a sopping wet air filter we arrived in Pharr, Texas. We will be staying at Texas Trails RV Resort.


The park is nice enough, but there is one BIG PROBLEM. It is not very pet friendly. We are restricted to a very small area where we can walk Travis.

The following day, I went to the office to find out if there was any place nearby that we could take Travis to for a walk. I was given directions to a municipal park in Edinburg that was about 5 miles from the RV park. What a very nice place it is, plenty of parking and several walking/jogging trails.


We are not happy that we have to leave the RV Park to walk Travis, but the municipal park make up the this short coming. The park is also part of a series of nine locations that make up the Texas Birding Trail. This area is a big migration flayway for birds and butterflys.



Most, if not all, of the RV Parks in the RGV has many activities to occupy the time of their Winter residents or as we are called "Winter Texans."

As you can tell from the dates, I have not been keeping up with this blog, but I am in the process of trying to catch up to date.

Driving in the Rain

We spent most of our traveling days driving in the rain. On the final travel day, the motorhome was saying enough of this stuff already. It was raining very hard which makes driving a chore.

Our motorhome is a Ford V-10 powered unit. One big problem is it does not like hard rain. Rain gets sucked into the air intake and causes the engine to stumbel and miss. We had the first modification installed to correct this problem, but it was not very effective.

Our next to last night on the road was spent in Victoria, Texas. When I went into the office to register for the night, a man in the office area asked where abouts in Maryland I was from. I told him I was from Carroll County and a little town called Taneytown. He said he know where Taneytown was as he was from New Windsor. New Windsor is about 10 miles from Taneytown, small world.

Anyway, getting back to the water ingestion problem. We were about 50 to 60 miles North of our destination when the motorhome started its stumbling and missing. Leah and I kept our fingers crossed that the missing would not get worse and we would make it to our destination.
To make matters worse, I missed a turn off and was off course. It was decided to continue on South and take a route that would take us a few miles more rather than turn around and find the correct turn.

We called the campground we wanted to stay at for our stay in the RGV, but was told they were full. On to plan B. We called Texas Trails RV Resort in Pharr, Texas and was told they had room for us. So, we go to Pharr.

On the Road to Texas

At 7:30 am we backed the motorhome out of the driveway in Maryland, hooked up the car behind us and began out trip to Texas. Our first night is being spent South of Bristol, Tn. after traveling 409 miles. Gas prices have been lower than Maryland's, but they are still around $2.00 per gallon. We have Wi-Fi at this campground so, We decided to up-date the blog, in case anyone else reads it.

So far we've discovered I left a battery and charger behind for my new digital camera and a gift certificate for Perkins'. If that's all, we didn't do a bad job of packing. If anything, we over pack.

We have been keeping an eye on the weather forecasts for tonight and tomorrow. It looks like we are on the line for rain or snow. We are hoping for rain. We are looking to make it to La. tomorrow if the weather cooperates.

Our plans are to go down to the Rio Grand Valley and chill out for several months. We are looking at staying in the Mission area where we can go birding, hiking and day trips to Mexico and the other parts of the RGV.

Trip to Ohio

Well. Tom made the trip to Ohio on Thursday and returned home on Saturday. While in Ohio he stayed with his brother and sister-in-law, Roger and Cindy. On Thursday evening, Tom and Roger went to their uncle Bob's viewing in North Baltimore. There were many of the same faces that they had seen just six weeks ago at their aunt Liz's viewing and funeral. Sonny and his wife came in from South Dakota and Connie flew up from Texas.

Uncle Bob's death has been hard on all of us. We were hoping that 2007 would be a good year for him and perhaps he could have spent some time on the road with Connie and Ed and Tom and Leah. I guess God had a different plan for him. He knew God and home at last with Aunt Liz.

Tom's mother was able to make the trip to the funeral. Her health has not been the best for quite sometime either. She will be 80 on the 13th of January.

Bad way to start out the new year

Today around 2:oo pm, Tom's sister, Julie, called to tell him that his Uncle Bob had died. Uncle Bob's wife had passed away just before Thanksgiving. We knew he felt a very deep loss with her passing, but did not realize just how much he did. Tom spoke with him last weekend and he seemed to be coming around pretty good. His death sure puts a black cloud over everthing.

Julie also reported Tom's brother, Roger, was admitted to the hospital on Saturday. this was the same day that his stepson got married.

The only real good news was that Tom's mother came home from the hospital on Sunday.

Well it appears we are going to make another trip to Ohio this week for another funeral. Bummer :-(.....