Tuesday, January 30, 2018 - Laundry, Harlingen TX, Lunch at La Playa Mexican Cafe, Brownsville and Boca Chica, TX

January 30, 2018 - Laundry, Harlingen TX, Lunch at La Playa Mexican Cafe,  Brownsville and Boca Chica, TX

I was up early this morning so I could shower, gather up our laundry and visit the laundromat before get on the road to Harlingen where we will spend time with friends of ours who are also wintering here in South Texas.

We headed to the laundromat about 8 and we made it back to Bentley a little before 10.  I did 5 loads of laundry @ $1.75 per load and I used 3 large dryers at .50 for 12 minutes each.  It took $1.50 per dryer to get the clothes dry enough to hang up.  Once we returned I hung clothes up - in both the bedroom and bathroom so they could finish drying.  Soon after, I realized I could not find the dryer sheets or the pill bottle we use to keep our left over change in.  Dean spent another $5 on quarters so I would have enough to keep the dryers going and most of those quarters were in the bottle.  I decided I must have left them behind.  Dean drove back to the laundromat.  I went in to ask if anyone had found them but no luck.  Once we returned to Bentley, we gathered up our things to head to Harlingen when it occurred to me, maybe I had put the bag that I carry my clothes hangars in, in my closet - and sure enough the hangars, as well as the dryer sheets and the change were in the bag, laying on my closet floor.  Silly me!

Today we are meeting up with Dale & Donna, friends of ours from our Ozark Chapter 17 Escapees (SKP's) Club.  We really enjoy being around these two!  The drive from Mission to Harlingen took about an hour.  Our directions were pretty spot on per the GPS until we were almost to their RV Park and it just stopped.  I quickly input the name of the RV Park and it took us right to the front entrance.  Dale was waiting at the gate on their golf cart and escorted us to a vacant spot, just a few lots away from where their park model is located. 

We visited for awhile and then Dale took Dean on a tour of the park in their golf cart.  When they returned, Donna and I took a tour. Dale works each morning here in the park.  He likes to stay busy. Their park is quite a bit larger than where we are staying, with quite a few more activities.  Harlingen has much to offer and it seems the traffic is not quite as busy here.  The downtown was busy but the traffic was not overwhelming.  It is very busy in the Mission/McAllen area - possibly due to the Interstate.  After sitting in their home visiting, we decided to drive to Brownsville, but before we left town we stopped for lunch at La Playa Mexican Restaurant.  What a wonderful meal we had.  It started with tortilla chips and warm salsa, and a small cup of spicier salsa that tasted like a mixture of avocado and jalapeno.  Both salsas were very good.  We were so busy visiting I forgot to take pictures of our food.  When they brought it to the table, it looked so appetizing and I was so hungry I couldn't wait to dig in.  I ordered the fish and shrimp street tacos.  Each of the four tacos were on 2 small corn tortillas, with the meat (2 were shrimp and 2 were fish) cabbage and cheese.  There was a nice sweet sauce/dressing to top the taco with.  They were delicious!!  The plate also included rice and charro beans.  The more I have these charro beans, the more I love them.  Dean chose the carnitas street tacos, and he really enjoyed his meal as well.   

From LaPlaya's website - this is what I ordered

As we left Harlingen and headed towards the Gulf we took Interstate 69E, also known as US Highway 77, to Brownsville.  In Brownsville we continued south until we reached Texas SH 4, which is also known as Boca Chica Blvd.  We  headed east, then northeast on Boca Chica Blvd.  After driving a number of miles Dale took a turn to the right that headed south where a few houses were located.  This area was fairly close to the Mexican border.  There were two "homesteads" with a few RV's sitting within the fenced areas.  There were a number of dogs at each place, barking at us as we slowed down when we drove by.  

Then we ran across these two metal radio communication dishes with a sign that stated Space X.  Dennis and Pam had mentioned this yesterday.  Of course, I had to do a little research to find out more about this.

Two radio communication dishes on site at Space X.

Space X will be a private launch used for commercial launches, and to send supplies to the International Space Station.  Read here if you want to know a little more about Space X.


A short time later we came across this large black tank with the words "Boca Chica" painted on the side, located on LBJ Blvd.  

We first drove north where we found a house almost hidden behind trees and brush that took us to an area where water from South Bay works its way into a very large sandy area.  

Hidden amongst the trees as we drove by towards the South Bay area.

As we drove towards the sandy area, we could now see the back side of what we believed was a house, but discovered it was actually an RV with a large cover over it and a nice metal building that appeared to be the shop.  We turned around and drove toward Weems Street in Boca Chica Village.  Before we turned down Weems Street, we were interested in  a large building that appeared to have either been apartments or possibly a small motel.  You could tell each unit had a blue tiled area that we believe was a bathroom.  The units were not large and each one sported a door opening, although the doors and windows were no longer there.

I'm not sure what we were expecting to see when turned on to Weems Street, but we were quite surprised to find it was a pretty decent paved street, with a nice planted median down the center, with approximately 30 houses total located on one side of the street or the other.  Many of the houses were vacant and boarded up, although they did not appear that old.  By the style, I would guess they were built in the 60's-70's.  There were a few nicer homes, including at least two where folks are living today.  One couple was sitting on their front porch and waved to us as we passed by.  The second house we noticed a gentleman working outside.  He seemed to be scraping paint from the house trim in preparation for a painting project.  They were all brick homes.  About half of them appeared to be inhabited and were in fair to very nice condition.  The remaining homes were very run down and several had the windows and doors boarded up.  Here are a few pictures.  

Most of the homes had large containers in front at the side of the homes.  We wondered if this was some type of holding tank for water. 

Notice the large black container in the picture above.

I remember we remarked about the tag on the car of the couple sitting outside, but I cannot remember the state it was from, however Dean and I both think it was far north (possibly Minnesota or Michigan).  I have spent quite a bit of time this morning (Sat 2/3/18) looking for information on Boca Chica Village and finally found this.  Here are a couple of other sites that are interesting if you wish to know more about this little spot at the east edge of South Texas.  From Wikipedia - see here.  From Texas Monthly - see here.  As I've read and learned more about it, I would love to revisit Boca Chica Village, and have the opportunity to visit with the folks that were outside to learn more about the details of the home and how their utility services are handled (can you tell I worked for a city before?).  When looking at a map of the United States, it is almost due west of Key West.  Having never visited this part of Texas, I did not realize the state dipped so far south.  

Satellite picture of Boca Chica Village

Our last stop before turning and heading back toward Harlingen was Boca Chica Beach where you know I had to snap a few pictures.

Across the bay you can see the hotels of South Padre Island.

Boca Chica Beach - we drove out on this beach as well.  However, the sand was much softer than it was on South Padre Island's Beach and we turned around after a short distance.  It was getting later in the day and the tide was also coming in.

We saw this turtle on the beach.  It had died and Donna suspected it was due to the recent cold spells.  She told us the news was talking about volunteers trying to save them because of the very cold weather hitting the are this year.  

If you want to read more about how they were working to save turtles during the cold weather, click here.

We enjoyed the ride back to Dale and Donna's park while visiting together.  We visited for a short while at their home before we drove back to Mission.  It was about 7:30 or so when we returned home.  We enjoyed watching the sun set.

Thank you Dale and Donna for spending your day with us and for buying our lunch.  We really enjoyed our day.  I have to say RVer's are some of the best people ever.