Jeff, Amber and Coen Visit South Texas

A Pirate Ship touring the waters off Padre Island.

Our little pirate and his Dad waiting for lunch on Pier 19

Fish out of a cardboard pirate ship is delicious, and the tartar sauce dunk was tasty AND wearable!

The fish was very good. It was grouper, one of my favorites. I first had grouper in Florida where it was rather expensive, because (I was told) it was being fished out of the Gulf. They must not be aware of that on Padre.

Picking up shells on the Gulf side of P. I.

Amber and I took off our sandals to walk on the hard packed beach, and as soon as Coen got to walk on his own................
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Yep..... he thought it looked like fun.

Coen is not happy here.

Laughing again while Dad runs from the waves.

It was a great day for the beach. A week from now spring break will fill the Island with teens and make a trip like we had impossible.

This is the pier in Port Isabel across the bridge from Padre Island.

A guy has to be really brave to get next to a pirate!

You have to be really, really brave to touch a bird.

I see an aquarium in some one's future.

This parrot was bi-lingual-- saying both Hello and Hola!

When I aimed the camera at him he flipped upside down and scared the
Bejeezus outta me. I jumped backwards and nearly dropped the camera, but it was real entertaining for everyone else.

I let the guys get up-close with the smaller bird
You can't beat fun like this!


Jeff, Amber and Coen spent a week with us, and I kept apologizing for the weather all the time they were here. It was extra windy and more cloudy than usual for their stay. The day they left was beautiful, and they went home to icy roads in K C. We missed them before they were out of sight.

Car Wash Commandos

This is a group from Steves II - a company that comes to your site and washes your R V.

This was a crew of nine. Two people were on the roof before their van emptied. It's almost like watching ants attack.

The person in the bucket hat at the passenger door is a woman, the crew boss. When they arrived she came to the door and asked if we had ordered a wash and wax for the truck.
Her crew thought the truck was clean already. A hand wash and wax on the dually is $25.

It takes John all day plus a case of beer to wash the truck, and a case of Corona is $30
We're up $5!

Day Trip to (Little) Graceland

We went out for breakfast today with Jake and Candy, and the subject of "Little Graceland" came up. We went home to trade the bikes for the car and off we went in search of Elvis.

Taking 281 Hyway east is an adventure on it's own merit, because for a distance you drive right along the fence that separates Mexico and the United States. The bottom of the fence is concrete with metal poles above. Jake and Candy went closer for a better photo, but were stopped by a ditch unseen from this view.I thought I might need a picture to give the police in case they disappeared.

Shortly we arrived at the "Little Graceland Museum".
Part of a home has been dedicated to Elvis. The owners, Simon and Teresa Vega, are pictured on the sign above. Simon was in the Army with Elvis, both in basic training at Fort Hood and Germany. The photo of Teresa and Elvis was taken in Texas - Simon and Elvis in Germany.

Taking Care of Business.....six days a week.

That's Teresa letting us in the gates.

I really like Bruce Springsteen, so if he says it I believe it.

Candy and Elvis

The inside wall art.

A not-to-scale model of Elvis' childhood home.

Candy and I with Simon Vega.

I've never been a really dedicated Elvis fan. I thought the museum would be kinda hokey; a tacky, musty smelling room filled with posters and books maintaining that Elvis is still alive.
There were posters, album covers, plaster busts and assorted memorabilia. There was a National Enquirer cover showing Elvis in a wheelchair being rolled across the lawn at Graceland (the same issue with a story about an Al Gore statue crying real tears). The museum had one wonderful feature - Simon Vega. He was such a sweet guy, who loved to share his memories of the time he spent with Elvis Presley. He spoke with real affection of the humble and down-to-earth young soldier he knew. He claimed to be in the house in Germany when Elvis first met a 13 year old Priscilla and her older cousin. One of six soldiers who went through basic training and on to Germany with Elvis, he said Elvis played piano but never sang. Colonel Parker had insisted on a contract stating Elvis would not sing during his time in the service.

The museum accepts donations, and Simon sells a CD of a song he wrote in memory of Elvis.

I would recommend that everyone stop here, not for the museum, but to meet this
charming Presley Ambassador.

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On the way home we stopped at another RV park to check out the amenities. We're always on the lookout for other options just in case. There are certain criteria such as-

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A heated pool

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Hot tub

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Concrete parking pad

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Wide streets

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Ample lot size

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and

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Security....Security....Security!

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We are just across a river from a country run by drug cartels!

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We insist on a gated community!

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We demand a 24 hour gate guard!

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He was asleep when we drove in. He was asleep when we drove out.

In all fairness, Candy pointed out he might be dead.

In that case he gets a pass.

Born to be wi-i-ild!

The LLano Grande bikers meet on Wednesday mornings and ride to breakfast. This morning there were 24 bikes on the ride.

This was our first ride in a while due to the cold weather, and John had a terrible cough that kept us off the bike for two weeks.

One of the other riders is from Ava, Missouri; 25 miles from my home town. He graduated in 1966, the same year I did.







O K, you know I love weird signs. Check this out.






Do you love it!


Wouldn't you like to know the history of this business?











Check out this water tower.







San Benito - Hometown of Freddy Fender





Freddy Fender has been dead for 5 years, but they remember him here. San Benito even has a Freddy Fender (He picked the name because he played a Fender guitar!) Museum that we regretfully missed.


I've tried to find out how many water towers have people's pictures on them, but with little luck.
I've seen school mascots, eight balls, murals, fruit, a hot air balloon and golf balls but I don't remember ever seeing a person before. Finding unusual water towers might be my new hobby.


Take another look at the photo. There is a billboard advertising Vicki Roy's Home Health Care. You may need to double-click on the picture to get the full effect. I don't know why Vicki's husband is on there but I think he's channelling Elvis Presley.

Added 17 Feb--
I have discovered the man on Vicki Roy's billboard is her son - not her husband -
and he IS an Elvis impersonator

Parrots!

Finally!

I'd been told about the wild parrots here, but had given up on ever seeing them.

This morning Candy and Jake knocked on the door, asking if I could hear the birds.

I couldn't, but thank goodness they could, and off we went.

We rode our bikes to an area where they had seen many of the parrots earlier-

and there they were.

I could hear the birds when we got closer and knew what to listen for.
This tree is THE spot for parrots according to the man who lived across the street.

When I got home this shot and the next were in my mailbox. My neighbors Vikki and Charley had taken them this morning.

Parrots galore!

Texas "Snow"

The farmers are burning off their sugar cane fields.

The winds were fairly calm today, giving the opportunity to set fire to the cane. The smoke is black as coal, and comes up in a thick, boiling column. Sometimes we see only one area and other times we might see three or four - miles apart - at the same time. The fields burn so quickly it's hard to get a good photo. The above shot was taken too late to really show how much smoke is produced.
See the dark layer of cloud in the above photo? It's the ash produced by the burning sugar cane. It travels for miles before floating down in what the campers here call "Texas snow". The black ashes drift down out of a clear blue sky like snow flakes. All us rookie campers hurried out to hose down our steps and patios before we'd track the mess inside. The older residents of the park were using leaf blowers. If the ash had started falling again on the hosed down, wet pavement we'd have had a real mess.
My neighbor Linda told me about the ashes a few weeks ago. She was in the swimming pool last year when the ashes totally covered the surface. I'm really glad I had a warning.

"The streets of Laredo"

John and I took the day to drive up 83 Highway to Laredo Texas. Neither of us had been there, and that's excuse enough. This guy has a sound system in the shopping cart and a microphone in his hand. He's drumming up business for the clothing store behind him by singing old rock-and-roll and Elvis. This was taken in the old down town area, really close to the Mexican border.The drive up was a lot longer than we thought, but the scenery was nice. We actually saw hills for the first time since north of San Antonio in early November. There were more rivers too, with lots of onion fields green and irrigated.

This was what I expected to see in Texas; huge prickly pear cactus.

This is the Court House/ Post Office/ Customs House in old down town Laredo.

Laredo is the southern end of I-35, making it the busiest port of entry to Mexico.

Over 49% of our international trade goes through here, making Laredo prosperous.

The town square. Laredo was founded in 1755

Another shot of the plaza.

Now we can say we've "walked out on the streets of Laredo".

It was a full day's drive up and back.

We had lunch and wandered around the block, going into a few stores.

The other shoppers were, I think, Mexicans who came over to make purchases.

We noticed they spoke Spanish to each other in the restaurant and on the sidewalks,

unlike the Latinos here in Mercedes/McAllen who largely speak English. Our parking lot attendant spoke very little English but was very friendly.

I do get stared at a lot, because of my hair color, and today was no exception. There were even fewer blonds in Laredo than here in the valley.

John never loses me in the H E B.

Super Bowl 2011

Jake, John, Vikki, Charley and Candy

We are sitting outside watching the Super Bowl on a warm Sunday evening.

A few days ago in the middle of the "Arctic Blast" I started thinking about a Super Bowl
get-together with our friends here in the park. I always associate hot dogs with football;
probably because of those Friday night high school games I went to with my daughter's
drill team. Chili was a natural because of the cold temperatures.
Three days later when we met for the game it was in the 70s, and everyone else in the park was grilling out.