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The Beauty of Living in an RV

On the weekend of November 4th, the neighbouring town of Mercedes had a balloon festival.  We were lucky to be outside early in the morning to see the balloons fly over our park.

Such pretty colours.

On Saturday, November 5th, we went to the market in Harlingen.

It's always fun to see all of the vendors and the live entertainment.

It would be hard to outrun this police car.

On Sunday, November 6th, we went to South Padre Island.

All three of us had a great time at the beach.

All too soon, our day at the beach came to an end.

We passed a colourful market in Port Isabel on our way home.

This was a cool looking souvenir shop.

Pastel seaside homes.

This is a fun place in Los Fresnos to take kids.  They have laser tag and other activities.

On November 8th we went to Mexico to do a bit of shopping.  We had noticed the last time we were there that some of their alcohol prices, namely Kahlua and Tequila, were much less than they are here.
When we parked our truck at the border, we noticed this sign.

In my last blog I mentioned that when we were entering Mexico we had to go into a building where we thought we might have to show our passports.  In this picture, we have just stepped inside from the left.  We took a couple of steps and went out the next door on the left.  Only in Mexico.

We went to a great restaurant called Angels on the fourth floor of a building.

We chose it because they had $1.00 margaritas and they were actually good!

This is the view from the restaurant looking towards the bridge to Texas.

One morning we went to a great restaurant in Weslaco for breakfast called Jose's Cafecito.  In Canada, we have no smoking signs on the doors.  Things are a little different in Texas.

Cleo and her buddy Rufus, are hoping to get a treat from Rufus's mom, Denise.

On Monday mornings, this produce cart has started coming to the park. They have a great selection of fruit and veggies for good prices.  I was very happy to see them as I haven't been thrilled with what I've been buying in the stores.

The "super" moon on November 15th.  It didn't look any different to me.

The beauty of living in an RV is, if things aren't going as planned in one place, just move somewhere else.  That is exactly what we're going to do.  This coming Saturday, November 26th, we are moving to Llano Grande Resort, in the neighbouring town of Mercedes.  They are offering one month free in their RV park to first-time guests, and since we're no dummies, we are going to take advantage of that. It's a beautiful park with many amenities, and the best part is their dog park.  Cleo will be in doggy heaven.
This is the dog park in the evening.

We will stay there until December 26th and then we will go to Yuma to meet my sister and her husband for New Year's.  After that, we are planning to spend a couple of months on a beach in the Baja.  This is a big change in our plans, but we couldn't be happier about it.
We went to Bass Pro Shops in Harlingen one day and were in awe at the size of it.  You could fit a few Cabela's in there. 

They have more stuffed animals (literally) then you'd ever want to see.

The merry-go-round looked like fun.

They have a 24,000 gallon aquarium. 

It's a fisherman's paradise but we thought it was pretty cool too.  We bought a really nice coffee percolator.

This is our bathroom window after Dave removed the window to take it in to a shop to have a piece of glass made.  Mactac inside and out.

My really inexpensive prescription sunglasses I ordered online.  When you have a US address you can get anything!

These tangerine oranges were picked in our park and they taste great.

On Sunday we went golfing with friends at the Llano Grande golf course.

Last night we tried out a selection of microbrews from a local bar.

I see that Winnipeg has just received their first snowfall.  I'm envious of the snow but not the driving conditions.  Be safe everyone.

Settling In

We have been trying to get used to the weather, which is hot, humid, and thankfully, windy.  Everyone tells us that it's much hotter than normal.  Lucky us.  Our screen tent couldn't stand up to the wind.  I'm sure that's partly because we couldn't get pegs into the rock hard ground and used screws.

Cleo likes to roll around on the grass which isn't a good thing because of the sand spurs in the grass.  They stick to her fur and then we have to pull them off and they really hurt!  

We received the transmission control module that we had ordered for our truck.  Dave installed it and took the truck to the GM dealer to have it programmed.  For less than half the price that GM wanted to fix it, we are back on the road!  We went for a week without a truck.  Some fellow campers took me to the grocery store with them one day and we had other offers of rides but we managed without. 

As most of you know, Dave and I are not big fans of country music.  We wondered if we would find any blues, but I did.  We went to Harlingen one night to see a blues band.  They were pretty good.  

Dave and I spent some time talking to the harmonica player and his wife. They told us about other places to see live blues.  They also told us about a dog park in Weslaco.  Since we were in a soda shop, Dave had to try one.

The next day we took Cleo to the dog park.  On the way, we passed a lot of fruit trees.

There were no dogs at the dog park, but at least Cleo got to run around off leash.

We were very excited to have our first day trip to Mexico.  It is a short (10 minute) drive from our campground to the border.  For $2.00 we parked our truck and headed for Mexico.

We paid our 25 cents each and walked across the bridge, over the Rio Grande River, into Mexico. 

A horse in Mexico.

We thought that someone might want to look at our passports when we were barricaded from the sidewalk and forced to enter a building.  We took three steps inside the building, then exited another door and were back outside on the sidewalk.  It all seemed so official.  Too funny.

The sidewalks in Mexico have vendors on both sides with barely enough room to walk down the middle.  In amongst the many vendors are people asking if you need a farmacia or handing out business cards for dentistas.  

We enjoyed walking through the crowds for a few blocks, then began discussing where to have lunch. On the recommendation of a couple in the street, we went to Arturo's.  It was excellent, however, the margaritas left a lot to be desired.  Since it was buy one, get one free, I did force the second one down.

What is with olives in margaritas?  They do that in Texas too.  Yuck!

After our delicious lunch, we paid our 4 pesos (30 cents) each to cross the bridge back to the US.  The next time we go we will buy kahlua and tequila which are so much cheaper over there.

Before we left Manitoba I went to visit a friend and her two small children.  I bought a doll for her little girl which Cleo just loved.  Because of the guilt we feel about Cleo not being able to run up and down the beach every day, we bought her a doll.

She loves it.

On a Sunday, we drove to Boca Chica beach, which is just over an hour away.  You drive to the end of the road and onto the beach.

Cleo could not have been happier.

The water was as warm as a bathtub.

We sat in our chairs and had a picnic while Cleo played and played.

When it was time to leave we had to drag Cleo off the beach.  It kind of breaks my heart to see this face.  I know just how she feels.

From the beach, we went to a patio in Brownsville to hear some blues.  The band was excellent and so were the appetizers.

The three of us were having a great time until a very large duck showed up.  Cleo just couldn't behave and no one could blame her.

The sky was pretty on our drive home.

On Wednesday, October 26th we went back to Ol D's Soda Shop for a blues jam.  Lots of fun.

There are so many beautiful flowers.

Last Friday we went to Edinburg, a half hour away, with another couple.  We went for the Dia de Los Muertos (The Day of The Dead) festival.  I probably discussed a bit about this tradition in last years blog but for those of you that don't know I will give you a bit of information.  

Day of the Dead (known as Día de los Muertos in Spanish) is celebrated in Mexico between October 31st and November 2nd. On this holiday, Mexicans remember and honor their deceased loved ones. It's not a gloomy or morbid occasion, rather it is a festive and colorful holiday celebrating the lives of those who have passed on. Mexicans visit cemeteries, decorate the graves and spend time there, in the presence of their deceased friends and family members.  The belief behind Day of the Dead practices is that spirits return to the world of the living for one day of the year to be with their families.

The spirits are greeted with offerings of special foods and things that they enjoyed when they were alive.  In some communities, it is customary to spend the whole night in the cemetery, and people make a party of it, having a picnic supper, playing music, talking and drinking through the night.

I think it's a wonderful tradition to celebrate the lives of loved ones no longer with us, remembering, and sharing stories and food.  

Dave and our friend, Richard.

All ages get into the spirit of the festival.

One day we will have to try out one of the drive through grocery stores.  Some days there are huge lineups.  We're not sure if it's because people are lazy or if it's because of the scantily clad female we saw working in there one day.  We don't know if she was dressed that way because of Halloween or if that's an everyday occurrence.  

We saw this bike in a shop.  It looks like half of our old quadcycle and they were asking $895.00 for it!  

We got a huge downpour today.  That's the second one since we've been here.  It's all over in less than ten minutes.  

Back to the sizzling heat.

It's been a month since we left Manitoba and we are missing our family and friends.  We hope you are missing us too.  :o)