Checking things off our list to hit the road

After flying back to South Texas, we had a long list of things to check off before we would be ready to hit the road. Top on the list was picking the rest of the fruit off Denisa's Mother's trees. Mark spent a good part of the next afternoon on the top rungs of a ladder.

The grapefruit and oranges can be pulled off the tree with a gentle tug. But you have to use a clipper to properly separate a tangerine from the tree. When standing on the top of the six-foot ladder wasn't tall enough, Mark climbed into the tangerine tree. His monkey-skills are serving him well this day.

We're a good team, with Mark tossing down the fruit that Denisa catches and bags. Sometimes Mark can only reach far enough to snip the stem, and Denisa's job is to catch the fruit as it pings its way downward through the branches. Picture a fruity version of a pinball game. Here's the view of Denisa's job as Mark is ready to cut that tangerine loose in the upper right hand corner of the picture.

Besides the fact that we enjoy taking this harvest on the road with with us, it's important to get this ripe fruit off the trees. The citrus growers association has worked hard to educate the public that removing fruit by the first of April is important to stop the growth of a fruit fly that is harmful to the fruit industry. It's also good to remove the mature fruit so the tree can put its energy into next year's crop. While on the ladder, Mark took this picture of pencil-eraser-sized grapefruits that are starting their journey for the harvest we'll enjoy a year from now. 

We learned a long time ago that you don't store this precious cargo in plastic bags, as it will mold. So we have a sizable collection of cloth bags and boxes that are now filled with enough fruit to keep us maxed out on Vitamin C until we hit the Canadian border. While it's still fresh and pretty, we'll also give it away to our neighbors that we meet along our journey. Fruit picked and loaded into the motor home - check!

Because we don't know if we'll have full hookups again for a while, we also did five loads of laundry that day. Clean clothes and linens - check!

One unexpected item on the list was to determine where the oil on one of our front tires was coming from. Mark did some research and then made a trip for lubricant to refill the wheel hub. He tightened some bolts, and hopes that will stop the leaking oil. Fixing the front tire hub - check!

The last piece of business was Denisa's hair cut. One of her least favorite parts of traveling full-time is finding a new place to get her hair trimmed every time. This winter she went to a salon just a half-mile from our park, and it's quite a bargain at just $8. At that price she will get as many hair cuts as she can fit into a stay in the valley. Haircut - check!

Each of these check marks on our list took a little bit longer than planned, as South Texas friends came by to say "good bye" while we were working. Many of our buddies have already left the valley, and this is the latest we have been here. The RV campground is beginning to feel a little like a ghost town compared to all the commotion of January and February. All the winter activities that kept us so busy have come to an end, so it is really time to say good bye to the Rio Grande Valley for another year - check!