We are glad to hear that the snow is disappearing. Let's hope there aren't any surprise snow storms as we head north. We were also told that we have to worry about storms with hail and high winds in "Tornado alley" as we drive north. Of course, it is all hard to fathom because it reached 94 F and 98 F recently so we decided to break down and turn on the air conditioner!!
Well today is the eve of departure. Yesterday Paul did the mandatory safety items, like checking the wheel lugs, tire pressure, and other physical trailer and truck parts. Then he emptied our storage area and repacked it. A few days ago he washed the RV from top to bottom, so it is all shined and ready to hit the road. Today is a sunny warm day, so a few cool ones by the pool sound like the game plan. If I get ambitious I might wash the truck.
When we leave on Wednesday we will head up to Mustang Island (Near Port Aransas) and spend two nights right on the Gulf of Mexico. Our next stop will be about a day’s drive somewhere in Louisiana. We then plan to hop onto the Natchez Trace Parkway. The 444 mile Natchez Trace Parkway commemorates an ancient trail used by animals and people that connected southern portions of the Mississippi River, through Alabama, to salt licks in today's central Tennessee.
We should come out around Nashville, TN – at which point the weather will determine how quickly we make a dash north for the border. Paul keeps threatening to make a right turn and head back down to Florida… :-)
Check our rv park pictures at : http://picasaweb.google.com/pjkralik/PicsAtRVPark
Check pictures of flowers and trees at : http://picasaweb.google.com/pjkralik/FlowersTreesAtRVPark
Jane & Paul
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Mike’s Tour – March 26, 2009
On March 26, 2009, we spent 4 hours on a “monster truck” with Mike Rhodes, president of Rhodes Enterprise and owner of Bentsen Palm Development in the City of Mission, Texas. 10 of us toured part of Mike’s 2600 acre property and learned about his vision of the community he is developing. Having retired from the meatpacking industry at a young age, Mike became a land developer in the Rio Grande Valley after touring the country in an RV with his family.
Mike built the Bentsen Palm Village RV resort next to the Bentsen Rio-Grande State Park at a cost of $ 5 million when the State Park decided to discontinue RV camping within its boundaries. The RV resort is landscaped with native trees and shrubs, each designed to attract certain birds, bees and butterflies and is one of the most beautiful resorts we have seen. Mike donated money to secure the World Birding Centre Headquarters in the State park and also donated land for the establishment of the North American Butterfly Association butterfly park which is part of his planned development.
Mike’s property includes 2 miles of frontage along the Rio Grande River which we explored with him. He has built a picnic area for his campers and residents and will soon complete a boat dock for his canoes, kayaks and soon to be purchased pontoon boat. Much of his land is still being farmed and he explained to us about the necessity of irrigation and the subsidies that farmers receive for growing sugar cane.
We were glad that Mike explained the reason that a $60 million levy had been build between the Rio Grande River and his property. Apparently according to FEMA, since land is in the floodplain all landowners would need to buy flood insurance. Engineering studies done by a joint U.S. Mexican commission disproved FEMA’s theory and emphatically stated that since the Mexican shoreline is much lower, it would flood but the U.S. side would not. FEMA ignored this study but did offer an alternative - the residents and the City of Mission could build this strange looking levy that divided property and appeared to be quite useless. The City of Mission was able to recoup the $60 million by applying to another U.S. agency that was distributing economic stimulus money – sounds like the Canadian government, doesn’t it.
Our last stop was Retama Village, his ACTIVE-ADULT community built as an age-restricted and privacy-gated community. In Retama Village, you can purchase an RV site with a “coach house” – a 12 X 12 shed complete with plumbing, with prices starting at $44,000 U.S. He is also building one and two bedroom homes, complete with an RV port which contains full hook-ups for your rig. What an interesting concept – you don’t need a large home because you can use your RV for additional space when you have guests!
Bentsen Palm Development also contains several single-family home developments and will include another “over 55” development. Mike has also build a charter school on his property which is part of the “Idea School” network in the Rio Grande Valley – in addition to becoming a land developer, he is also now an educator.
We were fascinated by Mike’s energy and vision to develop a Master Planned Community based on eco-tourism and habitat restoration. If we ever win the lottery, we might even think about Retama Village – the small homes with an RV-port are really lovely!!
To see our pictures of this day : http://picasaweb.google.com/pjkralik/MikeSTour
Jane & Paul
For more info on Bentsen Palms see: http://bentsenpalm.com/
Mike built the Bentsen Palm Village RV resort next to the Bentsen Rio-Grande State Park at a cost of $ 5 million when the State Park decided to discontinue RV camping within its boundaries. The RV resort is landscaped with native trees and shrubs, each designed to attract certain birds, bees and butterflies and is one of the most beautiful resorts we have seen. Mike donated money to secure the World Birding Centre Headquarters in the State park and also donated land for the establishment of the North American Butterfly Association butterfly park which is part of his planned development.
Mike’s property includes 2 miles of frontage along the Rio Grande River which we explored with him. He has built a picnic area for his campers and residents and will soon complete a boat dock for his canoes, kayaks and soon to be purchased pontoon boat. Much of his land is still being farmed and he explained to us about the necessity of irrigation and the subsidies that farmers receive for growing sugar cane.
We were glad that Mike explained the reason that a $60 million levy had been build between the Rio Grande River and his property. Apparently according to FEMA, since land is in the floodplain all landowners would need to buy flood insurance. Engineering studies done by a joint U.S. Mexican commission disproved FEMA’s theory and emphatically stated that since the Mexican shoreline is much lower, it would flood but the U.S. side would not. FEMA ignored this study but did offer an alternative - the residents and the City of Mission could build this strange looking levy that divided property and appeared to be quite useless. The City of Mission was able to recoup the $60 million by applying to another U.S. agency that was distributing economic stimulus money – sounds like the Canadian government, doesn’t it.
Our last stop was Retama Village, his ACTIVE-ADULT community built as an age-restricted and privacy-gated community. In Retama Village, you can purchase an RV site with a “coach house” – a 12 X 12 shed complete with plumbing, with prices starting at $44,000 U.S. He is also building one and two bedroom homes, complete with an RV port which contains full hook-ups for your rig. What an interesting concept – you don’t need a large home because you can use your RV for additional space when you have guests!
Bentsen Palm Development also contains several single-family home developments and will include another “over 55” development. Mike has also build a charter school on his property which is part of the “Idea School” network in the Rio Grande Valley – in addition to becoming a land developer, he is also now an educator.
We were fascinated by Mike’s energy and vision to develop a Master Planned Community based on eco-tourism and habitat restoration. If we ever win the lottery, we might even think about Retama Village – the small homes with an RV-port are really lovely!!
To see our pictures of this day : http://picasaweb.google.com/pjkralik/MikeSTour
Jane & Paul
For more info on Bentsen Palms see: http://bentsenpalm.com/
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Winter Texan Report #5 - Amy's Visit
It hardly seems possible but we are already starting to plan our route north back to Ottawa. Many of the Americans have already left Bentsen Palm Village RV resort to head north and some of the Canadians have headed to northern Texas or beaches along the Gulf of Mexico. We are still exploring this area of the Rio Grande Valley and are not at all ready to think about our trek northward.
Amy spent a fun week with us although the weather hardly cooperated. The day before she arrived (March 11), the temperature reached 88 degrees F but that evening the temperature feel to a low of 54 degrees F. From March 12 when she arrived until Monday March 16, the temperature never reached above 60 degrees F and the sun never came out. Although it rained everyday, there was not enough rain to alleviate the Texas drought – it was just enough to make it cold and miserable. The rain we did have during that time was the most rain they had here since November. Go figure – neither of our daughters had good weather while they were here and they don’t believe us when we tell them how hot and windy it can get.
During the days the weather was uncooperative, we took Amy to Mexico, the outlet mall three times and the large local shopping centre so she did get to experience Rio Grande Valley shopping. Fortunately on Monday the sun returned so she got to enjoy the pool and the outdoors for the final 3 days of her stay. On Tuesday she and Paul set off to the state park on bikes borrowed from our RV resort. While in the park, they saw a number of birds and several javelinas – a native Texas animal which sort of looks like a pig and is quite ugly in comparison to all the lovely birds that are in the same environment. They weren’t too far into their exploration of the park when Paul’s bike got a flat tire. He struggled to ride it back to the resort -oh how I wish I had been there with the camera! It seems that Paul has problems with tires on all types of vehicles.
On March 19, we joined a group from our rv resort for lunch at Pepe’s on the River - a bar / dance hall right on the edge of the Rio Grande River. After lunch while some people were dancing to the country western music, we noticed a commotion on the patio. It turns out that 2 Mexicans were crossing the river clinging to an inner tube. Many of us photographed this crossing and watched as only one of them returned to Mexico. We are not sure how long the other stayed in the Texas before the U.S. border patrol found him. We are just amazed at the number of border patrol cars and helicopters that we see on a daily basis.
March 21 was Tourist / Winter Texan Appreciation Day in Nuevo Progresso, Mexico so we joined thousands of tourists who crossed the border that day. They closed the main street so that the vendors could display their wares and set up stages for entertainment at several places along that main street. We had a great time buying souvenirs and watching the entertainment.
That same evening, we went to the Chicken House Opry, located in Music Valley RV park, just a few miles from here. There were a large number of musicians who performed throughout the evening as well as a few comedians. We were glad that we went since it was the last performance for the season here in Texas; they will be starting in Branson, Missouri in late April.
View our photos at : http://picasaweb.google.com/pjkralik/WinterTexanReport5#
See our Mexico pictures : http://picasaweb.google.ca/pjkralik/TexanAppreciationDayMexico#
Amy spent a fun week with us although the weather hardly cooperated. The day before she arrived (March 11), the temperature reached 88 degrees F but that evening the temperature feel to a low of 54 degrees F. From March 12 when she arrived until Monday March 16, the temperature never reached above 60 degrees F and the sun never came out. Although it rained everyday, there was not enough rain to alleviate the Texas drought – it was just enough to make it cold and miserable. The rain we did have during that time was the most rain they had here since November. Go figure – neither of our daughters had good weather while they were here and they don’t believe us when we tell them how hot and windy it can get.
During the days the weather was uncooperative, we took Amy to Mexico, the outlet mall three times and the large local shopping centre so she did get to experience Rio Grande Valley shopping. Fortunately on Monday the sun returned so she got to enjoy the pool and the outdoors for the final 3 days of her stay. On Tuesday she and Paul set off to the state park on bikes borrowed from our RV resort. While in the park, they saw a number of birds and several javelinas – a native Texas animal which sort of looks like a pig and is quite ugly in comparison to all the lovely birds that are in the same environment. They weren’t too far into their exploration of the park when Paul’s bike got a flat tire. He struggled to ride it back to the resort -oh how I wish I had been there with the camera! It seems that Paul has problems with tires on all types of vehicles.
On March 19, we joined a group from our rv resort for lunch at Pepe’s on the River - a bar / dance hall right on the edge of the Rio Grande River. After lunch while some people were dancing to the country western music, we noticed a commotion on the patio. It turns out that 2 Mexicans were crossing the river clinging to an inner tube. Many of us photographed this crossing and watched as only one of them returned to Mexico. We are not sure how long the other stayed in the Texas before the U.S. border patrol found him. We are just amazed at the number of border patrol cars and helicopters that we see on a daily basis.
March 21 was Tourist / Winter Texan Appreciation Day in Nuevo Progresso, Mexico so we joined thousands of tourists who crossed the border that day. They closed the main street so that the vendors could display their wares and set up stages for entertainment at several places along that main street. We had a great time buying souvenirs and watching the entertainment.
That same evening, we went to the Chicken House Opry, located in Music Valley RV park, just a few miles from here. There were a large number of musicians who performed throughout the evening as well as a few comedians. We were glad that we went since it was the last performance for the season here in Texas; they will be starting in Branson, Missouri in late April.
View our photos at : http://picasaweb.google.com/pjkralik/WinterTexanReport5#
See our Mexico pictures : http://picasaweb.google.ca/pjkralik/TexanAppreciationDayMexico#
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Winter Texan Report #4
We have been at Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort for a week now and we finally made it over to The World Birding Center (Bentsen Palm State Park) – the major draw for this area. How can you tell we are not really birders! It was over 90 degrees so after a few miles, we opted for the tram and rode the rest of the way. Oh yea, I think we did see more birders than real birds!! The tour guide on the tram apologized that we had not seen more birds but said it was due to the high winds. Since this RV park provides free park passes, we will have other opportunities. We actually have seen quite a few common birds because we are parked next the couple who lead the birding tours for this park and they have 4 bird feeders behind their 5th wheel – much to Paul’s dismay since he is trying to keep ours clean.
This park is lovely – we have a concrete pad to park on along with a concrete patio. Each site is divided from the next site by flowering shrubs and most sites have a small palm tree on it. However, the only social activities are a Margarita hour on Wednesday afternoon and coffee and donuts on Saturday morning. Fortunately there is aqua fitness class 3 times a week to which I have gone.
Since there is not enough to keep us busy here, we have explored a few neighboring RV parks which have entertainment or meals open to the public. Saturday morning we went to a flea market north of the City of Mission where we are staying. We should have realized that we might not be in the right place when we parked in a lot with farmers selling calves, goats, sheep, chickens, ponies and calves. During our tour through the main part of the flea market, we encountered very few “Winter Texans”, the rest of the shoppers were local Mexican Americans. Most of the stalls contained used clothing or other prized junk. When we returned to our park, we mentioned something about the flea market and the comment was – oh, you went to the Mexican flea market. Needless to say, we decided to pass on another flea market in the neighboring City of McAllen and on Sunday we returned to the Donna / Weslaco flea market which caters to tourists. I bought two bathing suits from a French-Canadian couple from Laval, Quebec.
On Thursday and Saturday evenings we went to Borderfest - an outdoor cultural event with a small midway that takes place every year at this time. We listened to lots of good music which even included a Mariachi band from a local junior high school, several Mexican groups, country and western bands and Jamaican reggae bands. The highlight was to see Charo in person – she is really a good performer and plays classical guitar very well. This festival is called Borderfest because it is held in Hildago, TX which is just across the bridge from Reynosa, Mexico. We chose not to go over to Reynosa because there has been a lot on the local news about the drug wars and shootings in that city. Instead we do our Mexican shopping in Nuevo Progreso because that seems to be a safer town and they rely on Winter Texans for their livelihood.
We are pleased that we can buy diesel for $1.86 – since in this area everything is far away. Mcallen is the largest industrial city in the valley, but we are out in the rural area – so even the closest grocery store is miles away. Amy will be visiting this week, so we get to play tourists as we explore more areas.
check our photos : http://picasaweb.google.com/pjkralik/WinterTexanReport4
Jane & Paul
This park is lovely – we have a concrete pad to park on along with a concrete patio. Each site is divided from the next site by flowering shrubs and most sites have a small palm tree on it. However, the only social activities are a Margarita hour on Wednesday afternoon and coffee and donuts on Saturday morning. Fortunately there is aqua fitness class 3 times a week to which I have gone.
Since there is not enough to keep us busy here, we have explored a few neighboring RV parks which have entertainment or meals open to the public. Saturday morning we went to a flea market north of the City of Mission where we are staying. We should have realized that we might not be in the right place when we parked in a lot with farmers selling calves, goats, sheep, chickens, ponies and calves. During our tour through the main part of the flea market, we encountered very few “Winter Texans”, the rest of the shoppers were local Mexican Americans. Most of the stalls contained used clothing or other prized junk. When we returned to our park, we mentioned something about the flea market and the comment was – oh, you went to the Mexican flea market. Needless to say, we decided to pass on another flea market in the neighboring City of McAllen and on Sunday we returned to the Donna / Weslaco flea market which caters to tourists. I bought two bathing suits from a French-Canadian couple from Laval, Quebec.
On Thursday and Saturday evenings we went to Borderfest - an outdoor cultural event with a small midway that takes place every year at this time. We listened to lots of good music which even included a Mariachi band from a local junior high school, several Mexican groups, country and western bands and Jamaican reggae bands. The highlight was to see Charo in person – she is really a good performer and plays classical guitar very well. This festival is called Borderfest because it is held in Hildago, TX which is just across the bridge from Reynosa, Mexico. We chose not to go over to Reynosa because there has been a lot on the local news about the drug wars and shootings in that city. Instead we do our Mexican shopping in Nuevo Progreso because that seems to be a safer town and they rely on Winter Texans for their livelihood.
We are pleased that we can buy diesel for $1.86 – since in this area everything is far away. Mcallen is the largest industrial city in the valley, but we are out in the rural area – so even the closest grocery store is miles away. Amy will be visiting this week, so we get to play tourists as we explore more areas.
check our photos : http://picasaweb.google.com/pjkralik/WinterTexanReport4
Jane & Paul
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Winter Texan Report #3
Our first month in Texas is quickly coming to an end and we will be changing RV parks on Monday March 2. Now that we have made friends here at Fun N Sun and have participated in the activities, it will be hard to move to a smaller park. However, I might get a chance to read one of the 12 books I brought with me or maybe even do some birding.
We decided to reserve a spot here at Fun N Sun for January to March 2010 but we wanted a spot with a concrete pad instead of the grass we have now. We walked the entire park and then Paul cycled around the park but when we went to the office we found out there was only one spot (which we didn’t like) available in the area near our friends. So we have reserved our grassy spot and might have to buy patio stones if it rains too much next year.
We have had very little rain this month but unfortunately some of it came while Jenn was visiting us so she didn’t get the heat she was hoping for. Then a real downpour came on Saturday February 21st – the day of the Mardi Gras parade. We could not believe how much rain could come down in such a short time. However, by the time the parade disbanded and people had changed clothes - the local Jaycees had arrived with the margueritas, and the sun was shining again. A few disappointed parade participants held their own parade on Sunday in the bright sunshine. The Mardi Gras dance on Fat Tuesday was also fun but we actually liked the band that had played for the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s dance the week before. We were glad to learn that country & western, and square dances are not all they hold here.
We also attended a performance by Susan Hudson Carmen, a country singer from Memphis Tennessee who also performs in Branson, Missouri. I think we are slowly becoming accustomed to the country and western music.
We have also tried the indoor shuffleboard courts – they are really quite impressive. We were glad our friends took us on Saturday night so that there were not too many people who could see that we were definitely beginners.
Monday the 23rd was the Titanium Owners luncheon at an RV park about 30 minutes from here. Since we didn’t win the big door prize, $1000 off a new Titanium, we will be returning to Ottawa with the Kralik-mobile.
We made another trip out to South Padre Island to go to the beach. We were amazed that we could actually drive over 10 miles along the beach even though the road heading north ends at about the 5 mile point from where we started. We were disappointed to see the amount of garbage and debris along the beach – we are not sure how much of it was caused by the hurricanes and how much by beach goers. The wind was very strong so the red flags were up warning of a strong current and it really wasn’t warm enough to go into the water. It is amazing that there is a 15 degree Fahrenheit difference between where we are and the Island.
We decided to reserve a spot here at Fun N Sun for January to March 2010 but we wanted a spot with a concrete pad instead of the grass we have now. We walked the entire park and then Paul cycled around the park but when we went to the office we found out there was only one spot (which we didn’t like) available in the area near our friends. So we have reserved our grassy spot and might have to buy patio stones if it rains too much next year.
We have had very little rain this month but unfortunately some of it came while Jenn was visiting us so she didn’t get the heat she was hoping for. Then a real downpour came on Saturday February 21st – the day of the Mardi Gras parade. We could not believe how much rain could come down in such a short time. However, by the time the parade disbanded and people had changed clothes - the local Jaycees had arrived with the margueritas, and the sun was shining again. A few disappointed parade participants held their own parade on Sunday in the bright sunshine. The Mardi Gras dance on Fat Tuesday was also fun but we actually liked the band that had played for the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s dance the week before. We were glad to learn that country & western, and square dances are not all they hold here.
We also attended a performance by Susan Hudson Carmen, a country singer from Memphis Tennessee who also performs in Branson, Missouri. I think we are slowly becoming accustomed to the country and western music.
We have also tried the indoor shuffleboard courts – they are really quite impressive. We were glad our friends took us on Saturday night so that there were not too many people who could see that we were definitely beginners.
Monday the 23rd was the Titanium Owners luncheon at an RV park about 30 minutes from here. Since we didn’t win the big door prize, $1000 off a new Titanium, we will be returning to Ottawa with the Kralik-mobile.
We made another trip out to South Padre Island to go to the beach. We were amazed that we could actually drive over 10 miles along the beach even though the road heading north ends at about the 5 mile point from where we started. We were disappointed to see the amount of garbage and debris along the beach – we are not sure how much of it was caused by the hurricanes and how much by beach goers. The wind was very strong so the red flags were up warning of a strong current and it really wasn’t warm enough to go into the water. It is amazing that there is a 15 degree Fahrenheit difference between where we are and the Island.
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