Nuevo Progreso, Mexico

Yesterday we spent a couple of hours in Mexico. We drove about 30 miles to the Progreso International Bridge. Parking on the US side is $2.00 for the day. Texas charges you 50 cents per person to cross the bridge into Mexico and 25 cents to come back.

The above picture was taken on the US side. If you look in the background, you can see that the area above the side walls is open and there are small narrow openings in the lower part of the concrete wall. As you cross the bridge, there is a sign on the bridge where the border is. On the Mexico side of the sign, the upper areas of the bridge are closed off on both sides by wooden shutters. We’re not sure why, but wonder if it had to do with people standing down below begging for money. You could see them through the small slots in the bottom part of the wall. The people we saw were all women, holding out hats and calling out in Spanish. I told Kevin they might have better luck if they learned a few phrases in English. It was kind of disheartening to witness.

Here’s the Rio Grande River as seen from the bridge.

Once you cross the bridge, there is a very nice statue welcoming you to Nuevo Progreso, Mexico.

Two years ago we crossed into Los Algodones, Mexico while staying in Yuma, Arizona. Both cities look pretty much the same. Lots and dentists, pharmacies and stuff for sale. We wandered up and down both sides of the street and checked out prices on a few things we were interested in buying.

Top on the list was alcohol. We knew that Texas charges $3.75 per bottom duty when you cross back over so had to add that to the price of any bottles we saw. Brand name US liquor was not that great of a deal when you add the duty charges. We did find some off brand tequila for $5.25 per bottle. We only use it to make margaritas, so purchased two bottles. We also bought two off brand bottles of Kahlua for $8.20 per bottle. And two large bottles of pure vanilla for my mom for $1.95 per bottle. You can’t beat the prices of vanilla in Mexico!

The other item I was looking for was a painted Mexican clay pot. I’ve seen some really beautiful pots at some of the RV sites in different parks we’ve visited in Mission. Although there were lots of pots for sale, none of them appealed to me. I was also surprised how expensive they were, from $20 to $60 depending on the size.

I did find a nice leather purse at one of the little booths along the sidewalk. I asked the lady if it was real leather. She whipped out a lighter and started holding the flame against the purse. I guess that means its real leather. I’ve never heard of that test before. It seemed to be very well constructed and even has the name Coach stamped into it. I’m sure its authentic!! Regardless, I liked the purse and talked her down from $23 to $20. I real Mexican bargain :)

No trip to Mexico is complete without a margarita. We found a bar inside one of the stores that had large frozen margaritas for $3. We each got one and they were quite potent. I’m not much of a drinker, and the rest of the afternoon was a bit fuzzy for me.  I guess I behaved myself since I’m not in a Mexican jail :)

A few miles back across the US border there was a stand along the side of the road with lots of clay pots and produce. We stopped and found a pot we liked. It’s not the painted style, but I liked this natural look, and it has Mexico etched into the bottom. It’s 8” across the top, so an 8” plastic basket should fit inside just right. I also bought a huge head of cauliflower for $1.50. Another good deal.

Today we visited Susan who writes the blog What’s Up With Susan and Company. She is a fulltime RVer and is currently work camping at Pleasant Valley Resort about 10 minutes from us. We first met Susan last year in Phoenix. She showed us around the clubhouse and we got to see her 5th wheel, a very nice Big Horn. We spent some time catching up, and then it was time to head back home.

We’re taking advantage of the nice weather by spending a little time most afternoons visiting the pool and hot tub. I know its rough, but somebody’s got to do it!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Bike Riding and a Few More Birds

The weather has been great the last few days. Mostly sunny with highs in the 70s. I know our neighbors up north are experiencing some subzero temperatures. Sure glad we’re not there.

On Saturday we rode our bikes on the Mission Bike Trail. We went all the way to the end which is about 8 miles according to what I could find online. So I’m thinking that’s about a 16 mile round trip ride. It took us two hours. The trail is asphalt and reasonably flat. It runs along a canal and trees for most of the way. We saw several roadrunners along the way. They were being rather camera shy, but I did manage to get a picture of one of them. We’ve seen roadrunners in Arizona, but these were our first Texas sightings.

On Sunday we road our bikes about 3 miles to Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park. This time we hopped on the tram and took a ride around the park. There was a park volunteer riding along who gave some information, but it was not a narrated tour.

We saw some of the same birds we had seen a few days earlier. In case I haven’t shown you enough bird pictures yet, here are a few more.

A wonderful shot of the Great Kiskadee.

A pretty good shot of the Altamira Oriole.

And one more Green Jay because they are so pretty.

There is a pick up truck that parks a few blocks from our park loaded with bags of oranges and corn on the cob. We haven’t had corn on the cob in a long time, so we thought we’d give it a try. When I asked if it was sweet corn, the man told me it was white corn from Mexico, and it is very good. Okay, three ears for $1.50. It was the worst corn we’ve ever eaten, hard and pretty tasteless. We won’t be getting anymore. The guy also cut up an orange for me to try. It was much better. A 10 pound bag costs $4.00. I may be going back for a bag of oranges before we leave.

They were cooking ears of corn over a grill and selling it on a stick. Apparently, people down here like it. Not the sweet corn we’re used to in the Midwest, that’s for sure!

Today we took a walk and are just kicking back, relaxing and enjoying the nice weather.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

A Very Good Day

Yesterday was a very good day!!

The day started out with good news from our son Korey. Since getting engaged he decided to move to Omaha to be in the same city as Cathryn. In the four years they’ve been together, they haven’t lived in the same city expect for the summers they worked at camp together. They are tired of a long distance relationship.

The good news is that Korey got a job near Omaha working at another Lutheran camp. His job will be similar to the job in Minnesota, but this is a larger organization so his hours will be more regular. And, no more overnights at camp. He seems very happy with the new job. Now he just needs to move his belongings next week and his life will be a little more normal again.

Kevin has been working with some mobile RV repair guys trying to figure out why our landing gear wasn’t working. One guy thought it was the motor, but they weren’t able to find a replacement motor. That turned out to be a very good thing since we later discovered we didn’t need a motor. A second guy came over and checked it out. He attached a battery to the motor, and the motor worked. So, something must be wrong in the wiring. He didn’t think he was qualified to fix it, so he gave us the name of a different guy. Neither of these guys charged us anything because they weren’t able to fix it.

This set Kevin’s mind to working. He started doing some further investigating and finally found the fuse for the motor. It was by the batteries, not near the motor itself, go figure. He replaced the fuse and tried it out. Everything seems to be working fine. We can’t quite figure out why it was working intermittently for a while. You’d think a blown fuse would cause it not to work at all. But, whatever happened, the new fuse seems to have solved the problem. So, no pricey motor to replace. Yippee!!

Another great thing was that the sun was finally out yesterday. Our friends Kim and Harland from Nova Scotia stopped at the park for a two night visit in their beautiful new motorhome. It was great to see them again, and we had a great time visiting. We took them to Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park for a hike and some bird watching.

I had mentioned that the first time we went to the state park on our bikes, we didn’t want to pay the entry fee. After more research, I discovered there are a lot of state parks in Texas, and you can buy an annual pass for $70 which allows you to bring up to 6 people each visit. We plan to visit several of the parks during our time in Texas so we bought the pass. Now we can ride our bikes on the trails in Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley as much as we want.

I’ve been on the hunt to see Green Jays since we’ve been here. The Rio Grande Valley is the only place in the US that you can see them as they don’t travel any further north. Everyone kept telling me they are at the birdfeeders in the campground, but I could never find one.

Yesterday we hit pay dirt at the state park. Here are several pictures of them. Aren’t they just beautiful birds!! As always, you can click on any of the pictures for a bigger view.

 

 

 

 

 

We also saw another Chachalaca.

And another Altamira Oriole.

And two more new birds. The Great Kiskadee.

And the Clay-Colored Thrush.

In case you think I’ve become bird obsessed, I’ll show you that we did do something other than bird searching.

On Monday we went to a quilt show at the Mission Historical Center. Kevin was beside himself with joy, but was a good sport and came with me. This was not a judged show, just people in the area displaying their work. I loved the colors on this one.

 

And this one really appealed to my Midwestern roots with all the styles of barns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think black backgrounds are always so striking, especially with bright colored fabrics. I’m inspired to get my sewing machine out and start another project. If only those birds would stop calling me :)

 

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

RV Show and Meeting Bloggers

Last Friday we went to the All Valley RV Show in Mercedes, Texas. This show was billed as the largest RV show in South Texas and one of the largest shows anywhere, so we were expecting quite the show.

We looked all over for our friends Dave and Judy. Kevin was sure we’d see them there as they go to lots of RV shows in Wisconsin. Ha, Ha!

There were quite a few travel trailers and fifth wheels. We were pleased to see there were several of the higher end fifth wheels we would be interested in for fulltime RV living. Kevin was happy that I didn’t see anything I just had to have.

This Winslow by Excel had five slides with the living area up top.

The upper living room looks like a good idea, but there didn’t seem to be enough storage space in the kitchen area.

There were quite a few park models and mobile homes on display. Some of them were very nice. Someday we may be in the market for one of those, but hopefully not for a long time.

Kevin was disappointed that there weren’t very many vendors with RV products. He was looking for a water filter, but there wasn’t anyone there with those kind of supplies. I did manage to get a coupon for two free nights camping at a Thousand Trails park in eastern Texas. We won’t be able to use it this year, but may be using it next winter on our way to New Orleans.

There was one Jayco Pinnacle fifth wheel on display. That’s the equivalent model to our Designer. It was nice, but I didn’t like the floor plan they had on display. I’m also not that thrilled with the paint scheme.

There weren’t any Class A motorhomes and only one or two Class Cs. We definitely wouldn’t describe the show as one of the largest.

On Saturday temps were in the 80s and it was rather humid. We spent a few hours washing the RV and truck. This campground allows you to do that. Everything is spic and span again. After all that hard work, we spent some time in the pool and hot tub. Ahhh!!

Sunday was back to cold weather. We literally went from needing the air on Saturday to having the heater back on Sunday. Since the beginning of the year, we’ve had about 5 nice days in Texas. The rest of the time has been cool, cloudy and damp with north winds. We’re really not liking Texas all that much. I doubt we’ll come back.

One of my blog followers sent me a message that they were just down the road from us. So, yesterday they came over for margaritas. They are John and Sharon and their blog is On the Road of Retirement. They’ve been on the road for about a year and are around the same age as we are. We spent a few hours getting to know each other and having a very nice visit. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture.

We’ll be meeting up with a few more friends in the next two weeks. If the weather ever gets nice, we hope to check out South San Padre Island and maybe Mexico. Its just not any fun doing outside stuff when its cold and cloudy.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Estero Llano Grande State Park

We had quite a bit of rain and cloudy weather Tuesday and Wednesday. Kevin and I ventured out for a walk Wednesday afternoon around Green Gate Grove retirement community across the road from us. Everyone owns their own lot in this development. There is a combination of small homes, park models and RVs on pads. It looked okay, but we’re in no way ready to settle down anywhere.

We did see a few interesting things while walking their streets. It seems the cheese heads are well represented in the Rio Grande Valley.

I had no idea poinsettias could get this big!

I spotted this Golden Fronted Woodpecker in one of the palm trees.

One of the activities offered at our park is a Bird Walk every Thursday morning. Kevin had no interest in going, so I signed up and tagged along with the group today. They went to Estero Llano Grande State Park near Weslaco, Texas, about a forty minute drive.

Let me tell you, these birders take their hobby seriously. I had no idea that I’d be gone six hours. I did have a good time and saw lots of birds I’ve never seen before, and it was a gorgeous day to be outside. I do not plan to become a birder or have a bird life list. I do enjoy seeing some of the larger and unique looking birds. Here is just a sample of what I saw today.

Altamira Oriole – the largest oriole in North America, so beautiful!

Anhinga – they don’t have the oils on their wings that other birds have so they have to spread their wings to dry them.

Little Blue Heron – I didn’t know there was a Great Blue Heron and a Little Blue Heron.

Buff-bellied Hummingbird.

Northern Mockingbird.

Northern Shoveler. I like this picture with the reflection in the water.

Neotropic Cormorant and Alligator. I didn’t know they have alligators in Texas! Doesn’t he look like we just want to jump and gulp that bird right down.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron.

We saw lots of turtles sunning themselves. Do you see the turtle on the back of his buddy?

There were many others, but I don’t have the type of camera many of these birders have. Mine is just a point and shoot. By the end of the walk, I had definitely had my fill of birds for the day. Or, so I thought.

Shortly after we got back, the green parakeets were back. I’ve been told that I was given incorrect information earlier in the week. Apparently, these are not green parrots, but green parakeets. I looked it up online, and it seems a parakeet is just a small parrot. So, I’m not sure which is right, but I’ll call them parakeets from now on.

The sky today was a pretty blue and the green parakeets looked so awesome against that blue sky. I had a great time watching them fly around. Here are a few more pictures with the blue sky this time.

I love these guys!!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Green Parrots

The weather was sunny and in the 60s on Monday morning, a great day for a bike ride. I had read there was a bike trail and birding center a few miles south of us.

We rode about two miles south and that put us pretty close to the Mexican border. We found the bird center, but didn’t want to pay the $5 per person entry fee to ride on their bike trail. We’ve found that most of the time when we pay at these types of places, we end up not seeing anything.

We rode our bikes along a dirt road next to a canal. There was another dirt road on the other side of the canal, and we saw Border Patrol vehicles driving up there.

We saw some butterflies and one Great Blue Heron along the canal. The heron was very shy. Every time I tried to get near to him to take a picture, he would fly away. He was absolutely beautiful in flight, but I couldn’t get a picture of him flying. I did manage to capture him as he was hiding in some tall grass and bushes. He’s right in the middle. If you click on the picture, you can get a bigger view.

We turned around and Kevin found a sign for the bike trail. It was on the other side of the road so we headed back the way we had come. We passed a couple of RV parks and rode in to take a look.

At Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort there was a group of people taking pictures of this amazing Coopers Hawk. He was just sitting there posing for pictures. I couldn’t believe how close people got to him without bothering him one bit. It really helps that we are in the birding center of Texas. Just ask anyone around, and they can tell you the type of bird you are looking at :)

Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort is a beautiful resort. They were awarded National Park of the Year in the medium category by the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds. I can see why. For $60 more, we could have stayed there. It would have been well worth the money. Even at this award winning park, there were sites open. There have been open sites at every RV park we’ve seen.

At Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge I saw that they put out oranges for birds, so I put out some of the oranges and grapefruit I found on the ground in our park. I don’t know what kind of bird this is enjoying the fruit, but there are a bunch of these guys hanging out in the bushes along the edge of our site. They sure are a noisy bunch.

Kevin was sitting outside reading and called for me to come outside. I had told him if he sees any colorful birds to  let me know. There were a bunch of green birds in a large tree in the site across from us. I grabbed my camera and started taking pictures.

They look like parrots! That can’t be, parrots live in the jungle in South America, right? Pretty soon there were lots of other people outside taking pictures, too. I walked over to them and asked if they knew what kind of birds these were. They told me they are Green Parrots. One of the ladies has been looking for them for a month. How cool is this!!

Get ready for a bunch of pictures. Unfortunately, clouds had rolled in so the pictures aren’t great.

The tree is a Hackberry Tree. Apparently, the parrots like to eat the berries. There is a lot of clicking noise when the parrots are in the tree. I wonder if the berries have a shell.

Every once in a while, the whole flock would rise up and fly around and then settle back in the tree or the power lines next to it. I counted over 60 of them. They make a huge racket when they fly up together.

This morning I heard a lot of bird racket outside. I looked outside and the Green Parrots were back. This time they were in a Hackberry Tree in the site behind us. I was watching them right outside our big back window. This is amazing!!

Hopefully, they’ll keep coming back so I can get pictures on a sunny day. The forecast is for rain today and tomorrow with possible severe thunderstorms.

I do not consider myself to be a birder. However, I can see how this bird thing can become addictive :)

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!