As we got up and ready for another day on the road, Mark saw a herd of javelinas crossing the road in front of our motor home. They came in assorted sizes, and there was a long line crossing the road as he took this picture from the windshield.
By the time Denisa got the camera from the car, she caught only the last of the group, meandering through the campground. This picture shows the diagonal line on their necks, so we knew they were "collared peccary." If you've ever been down-wind, you might agree with their common nickname, "skunk pig." As judged by sight or smell, they are not the most beautiful creature around.
As we drove out of the park, we saw another of God's (ahem) less beautiful creatures. This vulture had his wings spread, enjoying the warm sunshine of South Texas.
We're not sure if having a herd of javelinas or a black vulture cross your path is akin to a black cat, but we are sad to report that we had a touch of bad luck on today's journey. The black smudge in the center of the picture is not the usual bug splatter.
After two years of driving some tough roads across the United States, we got a rock thrown up on our windshield. We were on a smooth Texas highway, and it was a pickup truck passing us that threw the rock. We got an instant star-shaped chip.
Now we'll be looking for some best advice on ways to repair that chip, and we're certainly hoping it doesn't include replacing that huge windshield!
We normally drive 2-3 hours between camping destinations. But we have to be honest--there's not a lot to see in west Texas. There are a few charming towns along the way, like Leakey, Texas. We had to giggle as we passed the Leakey Inn and wondered if there were buckets set up in every room to catch the drips. We also had to laugh at the school mascot, thinking it wouldn't be fun to play ball against a Leakey Eagle.
But we have learned that instead of pronouncing the town name "leaky," the locals say "lakey" and all our jokes no longer made any sense. We have already stayed in this part of the state two years ago, so we found that we needed to drive 4 hours to get to a new location that we wanted to visit. It was a long day driving through mesquite and cactus. During the last hour, however, the scenery changed into junipers and live oaks as we entered the edge of Texas Hill Country.
We made our way into South Llano River State Park, using our fourth (and last) half-price camping night since we purchased our Texas state park pass. It took us a while to find the best camping spot. We are always looking for a level site with good space, but today we were also hoping for the tiniest of phone signal as well. The ranger had already told us that AT&T has no coverage here, but we found that site 52 has a tiny signal. With our cell phone booster, Mark was able to get us enough signal to make phone calls and use our data plan. In fact, this blog is typed in the motor home in a park that is supposed to be off the grid. Have we mentioned that we love our cell phone booster?!?
As soon as we got set up, we noticed a neighbor out patrolling the area beside the motor home. Denisa ran out with the camera, in order to take this picture of the resident armadillo lit up by the setting sun.
Armadillos don't have very good eye sight, and this guy headed towards Denisa as she continued taking pictures.
So we've had an interesting travel day that started and ended with some of God's interesting creatures, with a chip of bad luck in between. We're planning to be at South Llano River State Park for several days, hoping the rest of the surprises will be good ones.
After spending 2016 in the eastern half of the country, our plan for 2017 is to head west. So as we left the warm tip of Texas, we pointed the motor home towards the west along Highway 83. Actually, we were heading northwest, as the highway hugs the US/Mexico border. We were surrounded by mesquite and cactus, and many of the little towns along the way felt more like Old Mexico than Texas. There was definitely a police presence along this stretch of highway, as we saw highway patrol and/or border patrol every few miles.
There was also an eye in the sky, as we saw several of these blimps tethered to the ground along the border. Part of the TARS (Tethered Aerostat Radar System), these blimps are watching the border from above.
After a three-hour drive, we pulled into Lake Casa Blanca International State Park. Mark is sitting at the top of the hill that is actually an earthen water tank, once used for holding water to fight fires in the area. Today it serves as the highest point in the state park, making a good place to watch the sunset over the lake and one of the campgrounds.
There are several trails in the park, and we rode our bikes on all of them.
We found that it's important to keep your eyes on the road. Losing your balance around one of those curves would lead to an unwelcome appointment with a prickly pear cactus.
We rode over the dam on the bike trail as the sun was getting lower in the sky. During the summer, this is a great place to watch the Mexican free-tailed bats as they leave the bridge on their nightly mosquito feast. Each one of these tiny bats can eat 1,000 insects in an hour, so this colony is a welcome addition in community. But in January, the bats have flown south for warmer temperatures. With highs in the 60's and 70's, we think this could be a great place to spend the winter.
We saw half a dozen white tail deer in the park during our bike ride, but didn't get any pictures. We did snap this photo of a few of the multitude of grackles hanging out near the entrance of the park. We stirred them off their perches in the trees as we rode past, and it felt like we were in the middle of some horror movie as birds filled the sky.
Lake Casa Blanca International State Park is on the northeast side of the city of Laredo. With a population of almost a quarter of a million people, this city has all the shopping and restaurants one could wish for. But when we consulted tripadvisor for attractions to see, we didn't find much. The main thing to do seemed to entail a visit to San Agustin Plaza. Our drive to the plaza took us right up to the international bridge and the Mexico border.
We were literally a block away from the Rio Grande River when we got to the plaza. The best part of the old plaza is the Cathedral of San Agustin. Established in 1755, it is still an active Catholic parish that was celebrating mass while we were there.
In a poor neighborhood that felt more like Mexico than Texas, we walked along the streets and ducked into a few shops. We recognized that we were one of the few people speaking English. Many of the signs were in Spanish, so it felt like we had accidentally crossed the border.
We were also surprised to see the stately Posada Hotel in this neighborhood. Complete with valet parking and a beautiful pool, it feels a little misplaced. The lobby was decorated with costumes worn at the annual George Washington Birthday Celebration. This is Laredo's claim to fame, as they host the largest month-long birthday party for the nation's first president. This year they will host the 120th annual party, and we were sad to be a month too early to enjoy a festival that should draw 400,000 people.
We had a great Mexican food lunch at the local Taco Palenque Restaurant, and did a little shopping while we were in the city. We were surprised when the first store handed us our purchase without a bag. When Walmart packed up our purchases in paper bags, we knew something was different about Laredo.
In 2015, Laredo outlawed single-use plastic bags. What a great idea! But on the local news we found that the city has been sued by the local retailers, and has already spent big money in legal fees defending this decision. The news story went on to say that the mayor plans to defend the bag ban all the way to the Supreme Court.
We always find interesting things to see and learn when we visit new places. So we enjoyed our two night stay at Lake Casa Blanca International State Park, on our first stop to points west!
One of our favorite things about staying in the Rio Grande Valley in the winter is the fruit available right outside our door. So as we pack up to leave here, we are glad to take a taste of the valley with us. Denisa's Mother has grapefruit, orange, and tangerine trees and she lets us pick the fruit from the top. These fruit will over-ripen and fall eventually, and then go to waste because she can't pick them herself. Mark is always climbing trees and rocks on hikes, so for once those skills come in handy.
By standing on the top rung of the ladder that clearly states "Do not step here" he could pick most of those tasty pieces of fruit.
Still leaving plenty of fruit at the bottom of the tree, we ended up with ten bags of grapefruit! That will keep us with morning and evening snacks for a long time!
Another day we concentrated on taking a touch of lemon on the road with us. We are used to thick-skinned, hard lemons we find at grocery stores in middle America that we work hard to extract a tablespoon of juice. The lemons in the Rio Grande Valley are bigger than baseballs, with thin skins that hold in a cup of juice.
This year we bought some of those lemons, and froze the juice in ice cube trays. Adding a cube to a glass of water turns it into a Rio Grande treat that we can take on the road with us.
We also squeezed the sweet oranges from the tree right beside our motor home. We learned last year that these bags of pure juice defrost into orange slushies that taste like liquid sunshine after we headed north.
Denisa also bought fresh vegetables that are raised in the valley. Every Friday afternoon, a produce truck visits the park to sell some of the freshest and biggest vegetables we have seen. This broccoli was picked that morning. The giant carrots are sweet, and Denisa eats these cucumbers like they are candy. Besides, the shopping list looks as pretty as a picture!
We have discovered that some of the northerners bring their harvest with them. We found two different campers that brought a hundred pounds of pecans to the valley. They use the beautiful weather here to pick through the nuts and then sell them by the bags to help fund their winter vacation. We were happy to help them out.
The last day at the park, we picked the most tender citrus fruit. Denisa' Mother has a prolific tangerine tree, and we always enjoy these easy-to-peel fruits on our hikes or on road trips. But they are easy to bruise, and we wanted to leave them on the tree as long as possible. Some of the fruit at the top of the tree is the biggest and prettiest.
Once again, Mark used his monkey-like skills to climb high into the tree to get all those fruits that would have been wasted.
There are still hundreds of low-hanging fruit, that will keep Denisa's Mother happy for the rest of the season.
During our last few days, we were blessed with more close-up visits from the wild parakeets. Earlier Denisa wrongly called them parrots, but her bird-smart friend set her straight. These bright green parakeets travel in large flocks around our campground.
Occasionally, the parakeets stop in a tree with fewer leaves, so we can see them more easily. Denisa got this picture of some of the wild green parakeets hanging out on our street.
The last evening at the park, we went to the bingo night at the park as usual. We have gone to seven different bingo nights, and Denisa has yelled, "Bingo!" with great enthusiasm six different times. On that last evening, Mark finally got his first bingo, so it was officially time to head down the road!
We were busy on our last morning. Denisa got a hair cut from a trusted place in Mission. Mark got the motor home inspected so we could renew our Texas registration. Most importantly, we picked up burgers at the Y Cook cafe at the park, grilled by our favorite burger chef. We'll miss this park where we have made lots of friends and got to spend good time with Denisa's Mother. But we're looking forward to more travel adventures down the road!
As we drove back into the resort after our family Christmas celebration, Denisa noted that her throat felt scratchy. She immediately started massive doses of Vitamin C in the form of oranges, grapefruits, and tangerines. She usually has a pretty tough immune system, but this bug slowed her down for over a week! We don't have any pictures of her red nose and watery eyes, but we can verify they happened. Mark got an abridged case of the same virus, but he must be tougher because he bounced back quickly.
So our usual activities were slowed some as we finished up our last two weeks in Bentsen Grove Resort. Mark is glad to get to the pickle ball courts, now that he is swinging his new Christmas present.
We could still play card bingo, and Denisa is proud to announce that she was the queen one night. The female who wins the first bingo of the evening is crowned queen. Besides getting to wear the crown all evening, the other perk is a share of the pot of nickels at the end of the games.
We even took a picture of the lucky hand that won that first bingo. Denisa had selected the five Christmas cards--the ace of diamonds (the star), the queen of hearts (Mary), and three kings (representing the three wise men). It was good Christmas karma to win the first bingo!
There are usually 40-50 people playing bingo, so this is a rare honor. Denisa's sister had been the queen when they visited, so Denisa's Mother was lamenting the fact that she had raised two queens but never got to be queen herself. We thought it was interesting that she had been given the following plaque last year:
The park really fills up after Christmas, when more northerners head south after the holidays. There are noticeably longer lines at meals and bigger crowds for activities. The activity office in the park is always busy, hosting a tremendous number of events. Besides the every-day hourly activities, they often host special entertainment in the evening. During the month of January, there are 20 different evening activities to attend in this park! Many of them are musicians that perform at places like Branson in the summer, and swing through the Rio Grande Valley during the winter. For $7-12, one can buy a ticket for a good show. We bought advance tickets for one of the most popular--Mollie B. Mark's parents are fans of this queen of polka music, so we emailed them this picture to prove that we saw her.
Mollie was only in the valley for two nights, so her performance was packed with people from all over the Rio Grande Valley. We got good pictures because we had front row seats! We had seen her on television before, and she is known for being able to play a multitude of instruments--some of them at the same time. She is also a talented vocalist, and you can see some of her instruments on the floor beside her. She changes from singing while she accompanies herself on the keyboard, to playing other instruments. During one song, she sang and played 11 different instruments--keyboard, trumpet, slide trombone, valve trombone, clarinet, button box, miniature trumpet, drums . . .
She even helped her husband play the accordian.
One of the most impressive instruments on the stage was this ten-foot-long alpenhorn. We're not sure how it fits into the van they travel in, but Mollie can play it too.
If there isn't enough entertainment just steps away in this park, there are more options throughout the valley. Within the past year, the city of McAllen just built a new Performing Arts Center. We went to the riveting performance of classical pianist Alina Kiryayeva at the beautiful new concert hall. It made Denisa's feeble attempts on her new keyboard seem like beginner piano.
So even though we have been under the weather for the last week, we are still enjoying our activities at Bentsen Grove. With more ice and snow throughout the rest of the country, we are really enjoying our weather. We have been blessed with temperatures in the 70s and 80s, and lots of fun!
Just four miles down the road from our campground is one of the best birding locations in the country--the Bentsen-Rio Grande World Birding Center. We have visited here many times in the past, and using our Texas state park pass, we went back again this year. It's an easy bike ride to get to the state park on a beautiful January afternoon.
There is an education center at the park, where we learned that 80% of all birds migrate south for the winter. Many of them will make their way through this park, flying over the narrow neck of land heading toward central and South America. We pedaled the loop around the park, filled with mesquite trees, and a few retama trees. This area was completely flooded in 2010 when the Rio Grande River went out of its banks. Because there was water standing in the park for months, many of the mesquite trees, and all of the cactus that were indigenous to this area were killed. Neither mesquite nor cactus like standing in water!
There are actually three cactuses left in the park, and we challenge you to find one of them in the picture below.
Any logical person would be scanning the ground for those cactus. But we'll zoom in to show a close-up of one of the surviving prickly pear cactus plants. It's in the top branch of the tree in the picture above. It was probably deposited as a seed in the form of bird poop. That resourceful cactus managed to latch on to the tree trunk to develop roots that were far above the flood waters.
There are several bird blinds in the park. We parked our bikes to spend some time in one of the adjustable blinds that allows observer to use the proper height openings to best view the birds at the feeder.
We saw a few colorful birds during our visit, including this cardinal with bad table manners. He was eating with his mouth open when we took his picture.
This is a green jay, one of the most colorful birds. Denisa thinks it is easy to confuse the green jays with the flocks of green parrots we often see overhead. The wild parrots are easy to spot because they squawk loudly as they fly. But the parrots seem to stay high in the palm trees, far away from our camera lens. So we appreciated this green jay, who stays closer to the ground.
We also got a fuzzy picture of two birds bathing in the water feature. The Great Kiskadee is showing off the yellow breast that makes him easy to spot among the trees.
The chachalaca are less colorful, but one of the larger birds at the park. About the size of a chicken, they have grown accustomed to the humans in the park and will let people get close. "Chachalaca" is a fun word to say when we see this chocolate-colored bird.
We wish we had a picture of the resident bob cat, but he has eluded us on our trips to the state park. We talked with another couple that had great pictures of the cat when he crossed the road right in front of them.
Besides riding bikes, another way to see this state park is via the trams that circle the roads every hour. Our favorite tram ride is at 2:00, when the park ranger drives and gives entertaining comments throughout the tour.
We took Denisa's Mother on one of these tram rides, that offer just enough walking for an 86-year-old to appreciate. So even though we prefer riding our bikes through the World Birding Center, we enjoyed this option that will work for other travelers.
Ranger Amber also told about the history of this park that lies along the border of Mexico. Before the days of GPS computer mapping, concrete markers were used to mark national boundaries. It wouldn't work to have this survey marker in the middle of the Rio Grande River, as rivers tend to change their course over time. So there are actually two markers--this one in the United States, and another one three miles away in Mexico. The official border is exactly halfway between the two markers. So at this point we are exactly 1.5 miles away from the official U.S./Mexico border.
We have found that the population of this part of the Rio Grande Valley has really exploded in the thirty years that Denisa's Mother has been wintering here. The quaint little towns have grown together into one large city along a very busy expressway. This metropolitan atmosphere means that every type of restaurant and big box store imaginable is close-by. But we really enjoy this little chunk of natural Texas in our backyard that is so easy to visit!
