Thursday-Saturday, January 25-27, 2018

Thursday, January 25, 2018 - Bentsen RGV State Park; Follow-up Blood Test; Groceries; Heartland Meet & Greet

We are definitely staying busy - which is probably good.  The more we are moving and doing things the better.  Right?

This morning we were ready to walk - it's been awhile and we really have missed it.  We drove to the park, and since it was right at 8:00 am we needed to check in at the office instead of going directly to the park entrance and filling out paperwork there.  It took about 15 minutes to get us signed in while they waited for the computers to come up.  During that time I visited with a very nice lady who volunteers at the park.  She and her husband met in FL several years ago, married and decided to move to TX.  They have a 5th wheel a few miles north of us.  I really enjoyed visiting with her and hope we run into them again.   

Saw this Chachalaca as we were walking to the Park Office.

We started at the north end across from the irrigation canal, and walked south.  The Hawk Tower is a little further south and then east of the "You Are Here" Circle in the above picture.

The Two Story Hawk Tower Sign

About half way up the walkway to reach the Hawk Tower

Views from Hawk Tower of the rugged landscape.  We saw a few birds, but no hawks.

Birds in the area.  

Once the park attendant was able to enter us in the system and gave us our arm bands, we headed directly for the park so we could get our steps in today.  We walked all the way to the Hawk Tower this morning.  Unfortunately we did not see any hawks and very few birds.  We'd prefer to get to the park shortly after 7 but it is still pretty dark.  I think we need to try and be ready to walk in by 7:20-7:30 as the sun should be bright enough by then..

As we approached the ranger station, a volunteer was preparing to fill the bird feeders.  He told us we had just missed seeing the bobcat.  He told us as he walked around to fill the first feeder, the bobcat jumped up from where he was laying and ran into a hole in the ground to the left of the feeders.  This is another reason to try and get there a little earlier, as that would be exciting to see.

We walked for almost 70 minutes for a distance of 3.31 miles today.  Our average pace was 21:04/min but we stopped several times to look around.  As we were waiting for our wristbands at the park office, I was watching one of the rangers push bicycles outside.  The bicycles are available to rent by park visitors .  As we were walking, I suggested to Dean that we rent the park bicycles two or three times.  Once we've had a chance to use them, then we can decide if we think it's worth it to invest in our own bicycles.  Of course with the purchase of bicycles we would also need to consider how we are going to carry them, so it's something we want to give quite a bit of thought to before we spend the money.  The plus side is there are so many parks and cities with bicycle trails that we could utilize versus taking the truck everywhere we go.  Good exercise and less fuel purchases are always good.  The downside to both of us is the concern of making that type of an investment and then not using them.  Hopefully renting the park bicycles will give us some insight into what that final outcome might be.

We really enjoyed our walk this morning and we look forward to getting into a routine again where we walk most most days.  

After we returned to Bentley we went through our morning routines and then headed out to run a few errands.  When we stepped outside we realized it was raining again.  Not too hard, just enough to be a bit of a nuisance.  The urologist Dean seen right before we left for Texas wanted him to have a follow up blood test in approximately 30 days, so we headed to the Mission Hospital, just a few miles away from where we are parked.  When we arrived, the parking lots were quite full, and of course because of our "BIG" truck we had to park in the back 40 and walk.  Lol!  I had checked with the receptionist (Irene) here at our park to see if she knew the best place to get a blood test..  She told me there was a lady in the park that had to get that done frequently and she'd check with her and call me back.  The lady recommended the hospital because they work well with Medicare patients.  Irene told us where we needed to go at the hospital to check in.  Once there we had to wait in line to talk to a receptionist.  When it was Dean's turn, she asked him if he wanted to turn it into Medicare or did he want to pay a flat fee.  If he turns it into Medicare there were 8-9 patients  ahead of him.  If he wanted to pay the fee for the test he needed, which was $10, he could go right in and get it taken.  He opted to pay the $10 even though it will not be submitted to Medicare for payment.  Sometimes time is more important and this was one of those days.  We were able to leave there pretty quickly and our next stop was at the Mission Post Office.

Things are pretty simple at small town post offices.  The size of the office itself compared to ours was significantly different.  They had a number of automated services that you could make use of with a credit or debit card.  I needed to mail a letter, along with an invoice for the work that Gabriel's Maintenance completed on our gate valves so that we could be reimbursed from our warranty company.  Now, I've used many of these forms for years when I was working, but I'm still amazed how much you can forget in such a short time.  They all looked like Greek to me now!  When I walked in all of the attendants were busy with customers.  By the time I thought I had figured out what to do, I noticed the customers were gone.  I headed to a lady that looked very nice - and SHE WAS!  A really wonderful person who was very helpful, cheerful and took the time to explain things in detail.  She offered something different than I've ever seen.  If the post office had this available when I was still working I do not recall ever being aware of it.  It was a larger envelope with a clear front that I could insert my addressed envelope into.  Rather than having to pay a certified fee, and/or return receipt fee, I paid $6. and some cents.  The envelope has a tracking number and you can go online to see when it was delivered, and that's exactly what I wanted.

Our next and final stop was at Wal-mart to pick up a few groceries.  This afternoon all members of the Heartland Owners Club staying in the area have been invited to a Meet & Greet at Ratama Village.  I bought On the Border corn chips and the ingredients to make corn dip, which I'll mix up as soon as we get home.  One of the Heartland members owns a lot in the Village, where they park their 5th wheel while they are in South Texas.  This village is a beautiful place.  The meet and greet was held in the clubhouse.  Of course, there was quite a bit of wonderful food for us to choose from.  RVer's are excellent cooks and there is never a lack of food at these events. We met some new folks here, and had a chance to visit with several others we have not seen since June at the National Rally in Goshen, Indiana.   After our meal, we were invited over to Ken & Kathy's to sit under their pergola and enjoy the fire pit.  It was really nice and I think everyone that stopped by had a really nice time visiting with our hosts and each other.  

Another wonderful day here in the Rio Grande Valley with great friends.




Friday, January 26, 2018 - Shopping with Friends; Amazing Lunch; Bingo; Stopping at the "Texas Stop Sign"

I got up pretty early this morning so I would have plenty of time to drink my coffee, take a shower, and get things picked up before I take off with a couple of friends to have a Ladies Day Out.  Pam, and her friend Laurie, (which I met at the rag rug session a week or so ago) and I are going shopping today.  I've been wanting to buy a pair of new tennis shoes, something that looks a little nicer than walking/running shoes.  There is a large outlet mall near the park where Laurie and her husband Mark live, so we'll pick her up on the way.  

We arrived at the mall, parked, and began our walk to find shoe stores.  I don't know how many we ended up visiting but it was quite a few.  I finally found a pair I wanted in Shoe Carnival - after trying on 15-20 pairs of shoes, at least.  After taking them to the counter, the lady working the register told me they would be over $60.  I thought they were $34.98.  We walked back to the area, where there were several colors of this particular brand.  A maroon colored pair had a large $34.98 sign hanging underneath it, and I assumed it applied to all of the colors of this shoe style, but she said no, only the maroon ones.  I told her I would pass on them.  We had seen these same shoes for less price at the Skechers store earlier, but the only pair in my size had a flaw.  Pam told me there was another Skechers store on the way home and we could stop there.  Pam and Laurie were successful in their shoe shopping.  By the time we had looked at "way too many shoes", we were getting hungry.  We decided we'd rather find a local place to eat rather than a chain restaurant, so we began googling restaurants in the area to see how they rated.  Laurie found "Orale Super Tacos" and what a find it was!  They are known for their 14" tacos.  Once there, we all decided to try the same taco and it was a "VERY GOOD" decision.  

They immediately brought homemade tortilla chips and pico de gallo to our table for us to snack on while we studied the menu, and they were very good.   When they brought the tacos we were astounded - wow!  They ware quite large, and each of us immediately cut our taco in half, knowing it would make eating it much easier; besides, could we possibly eat all of it?

Wonderful 14" taco stuffed so full I chose to cut it up rather than try to pick it up.  

The taco was filled with beef strips, tomato, lettuce, sour cream, rice, cheese, onions, peppers and sauce.  Simply put, it was AMAZING!  I know all three of us would highly recommend this place to anyone visiting here.  To make the experience all the better, they had the TV on, and we were able to listen to an Alan Jackson concert.  Who doesn't love a little Alan Jackson?

When we dropped Laurie off at her RV Park, she invited me to look at their smoker/grills before we left.  Earlier we were discussing them and I was interested in what they were using.  They have both a small Traegar (which many of our Heartland and SKP friends own) and another brand that is quite a bit larger but it reaches higher temperatures which I prefer.  I can't remember the brand name right now but it was an impressive looking smoker/grill.  It definitely would be a great unit to have but it's a little big for us, unless we purchased a cargo carrier to haul it.  

After leaving Laurie's we made our last stop at the Skechers store where lo, and behold I found not one pair of shoes, but two!  So glad we waited.  I didn't end up buying the ones I originally found at the previous Skechers store. I liked the two pairs I found here much better and together both were less than $60.  The one pair I was going to buy was over $60, so I'm glad we made this last stop.

When we arrived at our rig, Pam walked up with me to say Hello and give Dean a hard time before leaving.  We are going to be taking another trip with Dennis and Pam on Monday.  We're really looking forward to our visit to Padre Island.  We so appreciate them and our Heartland friends for being so thoughtful and taking us under their wings for our first time trip to South Texas.  Both are a blessing to us!

I saved half of my taco to take home to Dean.  I was so full, I didn't think I could possibly eat anything for dinner. I had a few assorted nuts before we left for our next outing, but I was still too full to eat a meal.  Corbin and Flora had asked if we'd like to go play bingo.  Besides the two of them, Dave and Nancy and Stella will also be going.  We drove over to their park and visited with everyone until it was time to go.  Stella rode with Dean and I and we followed the others, with Corbin driving.  We drove quite aways, then exited I-2.  Next thing we knew we were turning around and going back up on to I-2 in the opposite direction.  Several miles down the road we took another exit and then headed north to the Bingo hall.  I guess they missed the turn and we had no idea where we were going.  We probably should have had the address because we were weaving in and out of traffic trying to stay with Corbin as he changed lanes and exited the Interstate.  We were giving him a hard time about it too!  Lol!!

We enjoyed playing and it was cheap entertainment.  For $6 a piece, we each had 9 bingo cards to play and we played 5 games total.  We also purchased daubers, so we could mark our cards, which were $1 each.  Hopefully, we'll use them another time.  None of us were winners, but that's okay, we still had lots of fun.  It's not about the money - although that IS a plus, it's about being with friends and just having a good time.

Afterwards, we visited "The Texas Stop Sign"!  What is that, you ask?  Well, Dairy Queen of course!  Dean and I can hardly pass a DQ without stopping, so I think we could say it's just about any state's stop sign!!  It's so much more fun to go to DQ with friends - there sure was a lot of laughing going on.  

Another fun day in South Texas with great friends.




Saturday, January 27, 2018 - Sister Talk; NY Phone Call; Laundry; More Tamales; Paperwork; Another Music Show

I woke up about 5:30 this morning, about an hour later than I've been getting up this week.  I immediately thought, oh, it's Saturday morning.  That means I can call Cindy and visit since she won't be working today!  I sent her a text message to see if she was up.  A short time later she responded: call me in 10 minutes.  I finished my second cup of coffee and dialed her number.  She answered right away.  We got caught up with what was going on - what she didn't already know from reading the blog, and everything I didn't know about what was going on at home.  Not that either amounted to much but we seemed to find plenty to talk about, as usual.

After we hung up, we had breakfast.  I told Dean I needed to go up to the laundry and wash some clothes.  I don't have any clean jeans to wear for tonight and I've got a full load of white clothes.  I told him when I got back I wanted to do some heavy cleaning in Bentley.  Before we had a chance to do much we received a text message from Matt wanting to know if we wanted to Skype - Josh has been wishing he could talk to Nana and Papa.  Well, you know all of the other stuff didn't mean much then, and two hours later we finally hung up.  Josh and Sarah are quite the pair.  They are like Pete and Repeat.  Josh (Pete) says or does it and Sarah (Repeat) repeats it.  Josh will be 4 in April and Sarah will be 2 in July.  Matt sent us a text last night of them dancing like the scarecrow on the Wizard of Oz.  It was so cute and they really did a good job.

Once we hung up I picked things up, and then took two loads of clothes up to the laundry.  Washing them went quickly and I dried both loads twice at .50 a load.  The jeans were still pretty damp, but I folded them and a few shirts to take home and hang up to dry.  It's just too expensive to keep feeding quarters until they are dry.  I split the white clothes which had also been through two drying cycles into the two dryers and other than some of the socks they dried fine.  I let Dean know I was ready for him to pick me up.  When he arrived, we loaded things up and drove back to Bentley.  I laid the socks over the laundry tub to finish drying.  Of course I had to hang up the jeans, and a few shirts and shorts to dry.  Fortunately we can hang these in the shower overnight and they'll be dry in the morning. 

Drying rack for the socks - Lol!

Jeans and a few shirts drying in the shower.

While I was at the laundry, Nancy sent a text to let me know the tamales I ordered through her had been delivered.  The mother of one of the guys who cleaned their rigs last week makes tamales every Saturday.  I ordered 1 dozen at a cost of $6.  They were still warm when Nancy handed them to us over the fence between us, so we had two each for lunch.  They were VERY, VERY good.  I think they were a little better than the ones we purchased at Delia's, and they were much cheaper.  

This afternoon I visited with granddaughter Kamron on the phone for a little while.  She had surgery on her leg this past Monday to remove a tumor.  This is the second surgery.  The tumor came back and the doctor was more aggressive in the removal this time.  It is benign, but it is near her growth plate so it needed to be removed.  She is doing great.  It was good to visit with her and she even got little brother Jaxson to come to the phone and tell me Hi.  He does not like to talk on the phone so I was happy to get that.  Lol!

After lunch I did a little paperwork and then worked on the blog until about 4:00.  I checked my jeans and they were still damp, so I took one pair back up to the laundry to put them in the dryer and fortunately 50 cents was all I needed to get them nice and dry.  While I was there earlier today and again this afternoon I made use of the stationary bicycle and pedaled approximately 7 miles - or at least that was what was registering on the machine.  At least I was able to get some exercise in today, and it helped pass the time until the dryer was done.

There are some dark clouds building outside.  It looks like there could be a good rain, but it never did.  

I took this from inside Bentley.  That's why you see the reflection of our inside lights in the picture.

After returning from the laundry I made grilled cheese sandwiches and used up the first of the two loaves of farm harvest bread I bought earlier this week.  I'll have to take the other loaf out of the freezer for next week.  I'm still not tired of eating those sandwiches.  Very, very good.

About 6:15 Corbin, Flora and Peg came over to pick us up for the show we will see this evening.  It's not too far from our park but we want to get there early enough to get good seats.  The duo we will see tonight is Bernie and Red.  They have been performing here in South Texas for 20 years, and this will be their last year to perform in South Texas.  The show was great.  They are both originally from England, and they immigrated to Western Canada.  They still plan to travel to California and Arizona for shows but have decided to drop Texas from their trip due to the additional miles they must cover each year.  I can see why they were a favorite of the South Texas crowds.  Not only was the musical aspect wonderful but they had everyone in stitches with their comical routines, and Bernie did a great Johnny Carson routine as The Great Carnac.  What fun!  We had a great time.

Bernie & Red

Flora told us about another show tomorrow afternoon and wanted to know if we'd like to go.  I told her I'd call and let her know in the morning.  After we returned home we talked about all we have going on and I decided I have too much to do here at the rig.  We want to walk in the morning and then we are going to church.  I had planned to clean Bentley today and it didn't work out.  I think we need to stay home tomorrow so I can do that.  It will be worth it!

Our calendar is almost full again for next week.  I also need to get a luncheon put together for our Escapee group.  Maybe the first or second full week of February will work for that.  I can't believe we have already been here over three weeks.  It has flown by!