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#
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