Christmas Decorations in 90 degree weather seems weird!

As we drove through downtown San Benito (albeit a very small downtown) this afternoon, we noticed the town had put up the Christmas decorations on the city poles and lamposts. Santa, the angels, golden bells and Christmas trees were shining in the bright 90 degree sunshine. So strange, and it's not even American Thanksgiving yet!!! Myrna and Dave are planning to BBQ a Thanksgiving turkey and the rest of us will bring the salads, vegetables and desserts.

Since our last blog update, have been quite busy. We went to the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival Trade Show (we passed on the seminars and other outings), a Mexican Craft Fair at the historical museum, shopping at the Outlet mall, attended our Church festival, our Sunday ice cream social, started back at our computer club, stretch & flex class, weekly golf and even took a two hour Shuffle Board lesson. We had no clue the shuffleboarding was so complex! Our teacher suggested that we try attending the men's or ladies' events but we definitely need practice and a few more lessons before we venture on the courts with people we don't know. We also made it to the Oak Hill dance club on Wednesday evening where they had a live band and $2.00 Margueritas

plus we have been to two Friday night Texas country dances at the Fun N Sun dance hall.

In between all the fun stuff, Paul finished repairing the damage to our Fifth Wheel that was caused by the steel belt that separated from the tire. He bought a second new tire, so one side is now outfitted with new rubber - other side will be done in Jan/Feb. Today Jane took the AARP Driver Safety training program - so look out San Benito she is ready to cruise.

Paul built a shelter for his BBQ over the last week - and tested it out today in the wind. The wind gusts are strong enough today to shake our trailer (so the awning is still safely rolled up and attached to the trailer).

The last ten days have just flown by so quickly. More of our friends are arriving daily, but the park is still fairly empty with only 494 sites occupied so far. Our street is fairly well populated, so it looks normal but the other side of the park is still deserted.

Early in the week, we plan to go back to the Outlet mall because there is no way we want to be there on Black Friday. We also hope to get to Mexico for Tequila and the Donna Flea market so Jane can look at bathing suits.

Take care - from Sunny Texas.

90+ degrees F is hot!!

Monday was a road trip! We drove from Shreveport into Texas down through Houston and finally headed south to the Rio Grande Valley. At this point the roads are straight with not much but farmland on both sides. So we pressed on and arrived at Fun N Sun at nine pm. We parked in the temporary / overflow area and wandered down to see our friends.

Yesterday we moved over to our permanent winter site and Paul worked to set up the trailer - while Jane went to the pool for her exercize class. The sun was shining in the 90+ degrees - but this is the hot weather we came for! Our first order of business after lunch was a trip to Time Warner Cable to get our internet service, so we are now "on-line".

Last night after supper at the local Texas Roadhouse (our first real supper in a few days) we joined our friends in the pool and hot tub before calling it a night. Ah, the retired rv life...... :-)

Yea for Shorts!!

We camped the two days at the Hollywood Casino RV park. It was nice to unhitch and do some exploring. We even made a run to Costco to stock the freezer and get a few miscellaneous items. No big winnings at the casinos, but we did enjoy a free buffet supper at the Fitz Casino and Paul came out $30 ahead - so we ran.

Sunday morning we travelled down thru Mississippi and into Louisiana. We stopped on the Natchez Trace for a picnic. What a nice calm route to drive. Then it was onto Shreveport / Boussier City where we found a Diamond Jack Casino RV park right off the highway. We enjoy these rv parks since they are usually easy to find, near highways, and most times have great amenities like flat concrete sites - which are a blessing after a long day on the road.

This morning we cross into north east Texas and start our trip south.

Midway on our journey to Fun N Sun

As scheduled, we left Ottawa early Wednesday morning and crossed into the USA at Ogdensburg ( a less stressful port when compared to the Thousand Island port of entry). The sun shone and we had a nice relaxing drive down I90 stopping at Concord, Ohio for the night. Jane chose the Baymont Inn & Suites (not RV park) to get out of the cold weather.

Thursday morning we were off past Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinati and into Kentucky. Around 4:30pm a steel belt decided to seperate from one of our trailer tires, causing minor damage to the side of our trailer as it left for the roadway.

Good Sam emergency road service responded within an hour to install the spare tire. Naturally the flat had to be on the road side! Even with a tow truck and it's flashing lights, not too many drivers switched lanes to get around. Glad to have Good Sam do the work. We were quickly on our way to Horse Cave, Kentucky for the night.

Friday morning we drove down to Bowling Green, KY and stopped at a BF Goodrich dealer to replace the damaged tire. With a new spare on board, we headed to the Tunica, Mississippi casino area and are parked at the Hollywood Casino RV Park. We plan to rest for two nights here, then continue south on Sunday.