Entries about mission

Oct 20 - We arrived late in the day at George and Karmen's (I'll refer to them throughout as G&K) in Mission, TX The drive south from Fredericksburg, to the very southern point of the state of Texas was pretty good, even though it became progressively hotter as we moved south. By the end of the day the temperature was in the mid 90's and the humidity high.

They live in Retama Village, a gated RV park where you own your lot. Even though G&K have a 500 sq ft tiny house, one of the requirements of the community is that you have an RV on your lot. Some owners have decent sized houses with carports for the motor home/trailer, others have just a storage building and you live in your RV and most recently, like G&K's you have a tiny house and the option of living in the house or the RV when you are here. Many of the owners are northerners who winter here in south Texas.

Our hosts are in the process of upgrading their travel gear. Last week they bought a new Airstream Flying Cloud, a 25 foot beauty. Tomorrow they will be getting a new tow vehicle, a 2017 Dodge Ram 1500 pick-up truck.

We had a great first evening with George grilling lamb burgers for supper. We relaxed with a couple of beers and some good conversation before crashing for the night. It is cooling down to the mid-70's overnight and we feel comfortable enough to sleep in the un-airconditioned TaJ.

Oct 21 - After a fairly comfortable night, I am up at 6:00am, feeling the need to get some exercise. So I do a 30 minute power walk in the humid early morning air. It is still pitch black out, the sun does not rise until about 7:15am. Shortly after sunrise G&K are up and at it, getting their GMC Sierra emptied out prior to heading off to the Dodge dealer to get their new wheels.

We loaf about for the morning, with Karmen taking Jenny and I down to the Retama Village clubhouse, which houses the pool, exercise room and a multi-purpose clubhouse. Jenny gets some internet time and I browse their lending library.

Jenny and I are a bit at odds about our departure date for home. I want to set a date, as I don't like open-ended visits, and she wants to play it by ear and decide to leave on a moment's notice. We will get this worked out I am sure, as time progresses.

At Noon we make the vehicle swap and are soon headed off in search of a local bbq joint...Rudy's. Wow, was this place hopping at 1:30pm on a Saturday afternoon. Jenny and I split a 1/2 pound of brisket ($7.50) and we each had a beer a shared a coleslaw. Total bill $22.00 Delicious. G&K had smoked turkey which looked pretty good as well.

By late afternoon it was really hot, high 90's and very muggy. I caught a nap in TaJ and we decided this would be a good time for us to defrost the fridge in TaJ. It has been severely iced up over the last month. We hope to get to done by tomorrow, then turn it back on and give it a full day to re-cool before the 4 of us take off for South Padre Island on Tuesday.

Supper was pork in enchilada sauce, with a side of poblano peppers and rice. Delicious as usual. We killed off a margarita each, and then two bottles of wine before crashing for the night. A really hot evening in TaJ, but our super fan managed to create a breeze which allowed us to sleep.

Oct 22 - Back up for another power walk at 6:00am...Jenny not participating. It is going to be smoking hot today so I am glad to have gotten the exercise out of the way early.

WE lazed about for the morning, using the clubhouse for some internet time and planning our afternoon adventure. There is a River Club, right on the Rio Grande River that has an afternoon country and western dance from 2pm to 5pm. Now, none of us are dancers but it was fun to see mostly seniors enjoying a two-step dance out on the floor. The club also does a 1 hour cruise on the Rio Grande River. The river is the border between the two countries and there is no wall here...yet. The boat driver said there is a plan to build an 18 foot high wall on the levy next to the river, with gates for the businesses, like his, that would be outside the wall, but still in the US. At the end of his comments on the wall he noted that the Mexicans hadn't written the cheque yet, to pay for it.

This is a watch station on the border...both manned and camera mounted versions of these are all along the shore of the riv er.

We did get to finally wash TaJ. The R-pod was filthy after more than 60 days of dry weather. Lots of dead bugs, road tar and so on. It felt good to get here cleaned up once again.

Another great meal from Karmen, another couple of bottles of wine and another day.

Oct 23 - Our goal for today was to walk into Mexico at Progresso Nuevo. The border:

George bought a new hat for $6.95:

We had lunch on the street from a vendor. He got us beer for $1 a bottle and I got a real Coca Cola, made with cane sugar. Pretty good. Our lunch was $10 for a stuffed baked potato, and tacos and fajitas. Pretty darn good.

The street in Progresso Nuevo is all about shopping, with the predominate stores being discount pharmacies. Some street shots.

WE bought a litre of tequila for $11.95 and a litre of triple sec for $13.00, and had to pay duty of $7.50 when we crossed back into the US. Lots of fun for an afternoon.

When we got back to Retama Village, the Monarch butterflies were putting on a show. There were a dozen or so at G&K's place and Jenny got this shot:

Tomorrow we head off for three days on South Padre Island. Blog to follow once we return.