After three long days of driving (by our normal standards) we were glad to start seeing signs of our arrival into the sub-tropical zone of the Rio Grande Valley (RGV). Denisa loves the game of looking for the first palm trees, which show up next to houses, and then in the median of the highway.
The game gets really fun as we drive further south and there are too many palms to count as they are everywhere!
We pulled into our destination at Bentsen Grove Resort in Mission, Texas, in the afternoon. As we climbed out of the motor home, we already were greeted by friends we met in previous years that were welcoming us back for another month. Denisa's Mother has wintered here for more than 30 years, and she met us when we arrived. It felt good to return.
It was truly a warm welcome as we were glad to soak in temperatures in the 70s with sunny skies. 70 degrees certainly sounds much better than the -7 degrees we had on New Year's in Oklahoma!
Many of the winter residents here told us about the cool November and December in the RGV, with too much rain and too little sunshine. So they are hoping that 2018 is starting a new resolution with these sun-shiny days. We thought it was funny to see this very chilly temperature reading along the expressway, especially since we were wearing shorts at the time.
Mark backed the motor home into the same site we camped in last year. We pick our site based on the number of fruit trees around it, and this one has several good trees.
We have learned from experience that not all oranges that look good will actually taste good. This beautiful tree on our passenger side looks delicious, but we have found that it tastes more like battery acid than orange juice.
Besides six fruit trees, we have one other tree at our camping site--a very tall palm. Not much shade from this guy, but we know that Denisa likes her palm trees!
While the diesel engine was still running and before we had the jacks down, Denisa was already out of the motor home and picking her first orange of the season. We have a collection of fresh-picked oranges, grape fruit and tangerines in our kitchen. That big bowl should stay full for the next month while we enjoy our time here at Bentsen Grove Resort.
After our cold December, we're certainly enjoying the sunshine here. Welcome to the Rio Grand Valley!
After parking the motor home 52 days ago, we were excited (and relieved) that it started back up without a sputter. We have had temperatures below zero, so Mark plugged in the engine block heater to get everything warmed up for our trip south. Everything we left inside was frozen solid, including our liquid soap.
We also found out that the refrigerator is good at keeping things cool, but not so good at keeping things warm. The gallon of milk we purchased the day before was also frozen solid inside the refrigerator.
Just a few miles down the road, we crossed the state line into Texas. We traveled from this very northern point of the panhandle all the way to the very southern tip of this very big state.
Texas is now our address, and where we have our vehicles registered. Every year before we buy our tags, our two vehicles must be safety inspected. We have found that it can be a challenge to find a place that will inspect motor homes and also has a big enough parking lot for us to pull into. We got this hard-to-find combination in Wheeler, Texas at H&H Tire. We'll remember this stop for next time, as we checked another item off our annual to-do list.
Mark winterized the plumbing shortly after we parked the motor home 52 days ago. We haven't seen temperatures above freezing for many days, so we had to make this trip without any water on board. Instead of traveling slowly and stopping to camp after an hour's travel down the road, we're making a bee-line straight south for warmer weather. Our first stop was at Pioneer Park, just north of Wellington, Texas.
A great little county-owned park along an icy river, it is a bargain with 30-amp electric and water for just $10. There were lots of empty sites this cold January day, and we would definitely stop here again.
We had heard about the icy road conditions around Childress, Texas, and we had waited an extra day to allow the traffic to thaw the roads. With high temperatures in the 20's, it certainly wasn't the warm temperatures thawing the ice. We still ran into icy bridges, but we were glad that the worst of the icing was over.
The second day was an unusually long drive for us. Seven hours on the road brought us south through Texas Hill Country, and miles of cactus and mesquite. As we drove through Fredericksburg, we found that the streets are still busy with holiday shoppers in this cute little tourist town. From our perspective, the narrow streets of downtown are not conducive for easy motor home driving, but Mark got us safely through.
Our destination for this second day on the road was Mark's brother and sister-in-law's house between Boerne and Bulverde, Texas. We parked the motor home for a quick over-night stop, and enjoyed spending time with them in their beautiful home.
These trips south in Texas bring back fond memories. We have made this trip many times in the car, and we realized this is the fourth time we have driven the motor home toward an extended stay in the tip of Texas. It's good to be on the road again!
We were still hanging out in the Oklahoma Panhandle, "enjoying" some unusually cold temperatures at the end of 2017. With high temperatures in the teens, it doesn't seem a good time to be firing up the motor home, even though we would certainly like to be in the deep south right now. Our son and his fiance' came to spend time with us and the relatives here. They also enjoy the horses, that love the extra attention when the city folk come to visit.
Our family has always been good at inventing games and competitions to play. Welcome to the first annual cattle guard balance and agility races. This was a shot of the singles competition, but we also did couples races.
We took a picture of Blake and Claire with Mark's parents. Our timing for this extended stay has been great, as they have needed some extra care this winter.
We got to spend extra time with nieces and nephews that were also visiting for the holidays. We brought in the new year with some of them. We stopped eating and playing games long enough to take pictures sporting some fashionable 2018 eye-wear.
Yes, our great nephews are ridiculously tall, making their normal-height grandparents look short. It was great to see them again!
Shortly after bringing in the New Year with family, we drove through Beaver on the way back to the ranch. We are flirting with record cold temperatures, as it dipped down to -7 degrees tonight. You don't see that in Oklahoma very often!
The beginning of the new year is a great time to think back on 2017, and reflect on some of our favorite memories. Here are a few of our favorite things from 2017:
Picking (and eating) huckleberries in the mountains of Washington.
Hiking through the snow to stand at the foot of the world's tallest trees in California.
Hunting for glass floats on the coast of Oregon, and walking on a different beach every day for a month.
Hiking among wild animals in their natural environment. It was our first time to see grizzlies and big horn sheep, and we also saw moose and mountain goats while we were in the mountains of the north.
Winning the lottery so we were ten of the lucky hikers to get to enjoy The Wave in Arizona.
Witnessing the desert's super bloom in Southern California.
Paddling our inflatable kayak in the Pacific Ocean among the seals and sea otters in California.
Experiencing the marvels of Yellowstone National Park, including the neon colors of the Grand Prismatic Spring in Wyoming.
Hiking with flashlights through the Lava Tubes in New Mexico.
Hiking on top of twenty-foot snow drifts to see the crystal blue water of Crater Lake in Oregon.
Exploring the tide pools on the rocky beaches of the Pacific Ocean.
Watching the winter vegetable harvest near Yuma, Arizona in February.
Hiking through the snow to stand in front of Mount Rainier in Washington. Because we were alone, it was so quiet that we could hear the creaking and moaning of the glaciers as they moved on the rocky face of the mountain.
We will always look back fondly on 2017, but we are excited about the upcoming events of 2018. With our oldest son and wife expecting a baby in May, and our youngest son getting married in June, it's going to be another great year. Happy New Year!
The motor home is parked at Mark's parents' ranch while we are enjoying time with family and friends in Oklahoma. While we have planned weekend trips, we return to spend the weekdays at the ranch in the panhandle. This has allowed us to spend time with Mark's family that lives in that area. Mark got private baking lessons from the best pie crust chef in the country. His first-ever crust got a B+ grade from his Mother. We hope he brings that grade up to an "A" before we leave.
Being in Beaver has allowed us to attend several of our great niece's school events. Haleigh is a senior at Beaver High School. Besides being a beautiful young lady with an effervescent personality, she is multi-talented. We attended basketball games, where she is a starter on the varsity team. We also went to the school Christmas program, to listen to her sing with the choir and play her flute in the band.
We were thrilled to go to some of Haleigh's senior year events. Then we realized that this is the end of a legendary streak at Beaver schools. Sixty years ago, Mark's parents enrolled their first child in the first grade at Beaver. For the last sixty years they have had one of their descendants continually enrolled at Beaver schools. That includes their five children, five of their grandchildren, and now two great grandchildren. Haleigh's graduation this year will be the end of that very long streak. We snapped this picture of Mark's sister, Bonnie (the beginning of that long line of students) and her granddaughter Haleigh (the end of that line of students) at that final Christmas program. Many of those years Bonnie has been employed in the music department at the school as well.
Mark's parents weren't physically able to attend the Christmas program at the auditorium this year. So we brought the program home to them. Mark recorded Haleigh's songs on our phones, and then played them back through the speakers at home. Clarence was on the school board for many of those sixty years, so they have enjoyed most of those concerts in person.
While we are watching Haleigh get exercise, we aren't getting much exercise ourselves while we are staying in Beaver. We have taken a couple hikes through the pastures surrounding the ranch. Denisa prefers pasture hikes on cold days when she knows the resident rattlers won't be out.
We were a couple miles from the nearest road when we discovered this old truck in the middle of the pasture. We found that they used to truck some gravel out of a pit in this pasture. It was determined that this truck wasn't worth a tow to get it fixed, so it rusted its way into a skeleton over the years.
With the onset of cold weather, we are spending too much time indoors. But it is fun to be surrounded by the ranch animals.
Even though they are called wild turkeys, this flock spends so much time around the house that they are very tame.
It is amazing to watch them transform from sleek birds capable of flying to the top of the tall cottonwood trees to roost at night . . .
to a puffed up Tom turkey with his tail feathers fanned behind him. They don't even look like the same bird. This morning the guys were so busy impressing the hens that they didn't mind Denisa taking their pictures.
We got here two weeks before Thanksgiving, and we stayed until a week after Christmas this year. That's seven weeks. Not as impressive as sixty years, but another legendary streak in Beaver, Oklahoma!
We are excited to announce that we're going to be grandparents this spring! Our oldest son, Luke, and his wife Jordan are going to bless us with a granddaughter around May 5, and we couldn't be happier!
Jordan is a PA, and Luke is in his final year of pediatric residency at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. We were quarantined during our planned trip to see them at their home. Denisa was a very sad Mom at the thought of missing them, so we managed to make the trip to see them a little later.
We played games and cards, and got to see more of the details of their lives. This rescheduled visit meant we would be there when they had purchased tickets to see "The Nutcracker" at the Kauffman Performing Arts Center.
The Kauffman Center is an iconic clam-shell theater that looks a little like Sydney, Australia's Opera House. We couldn't get far enough away to take a picture of its double shell silhouette, but it is an impressive performing arts center.
It is equally impressive from the inside. Even though Luke and Jordan have lived in Kansas City for over two years, this was their first trip inside the Kauffman Center. They have been enduring the hectic schedule and long hours of a hospital resident, with little time for formal nights out.
We were blessed to be there during a rare time for Luke to be away from the hospital. We were also blessed to snag the last two seats available in the lower orchestra section of this mammoth theater. Our seats were discounted two days before the performance, because they were single seats on opposite sides of the theater. But we had great views of the stage.
At intermission, we switched seats with Luke and Jordan. Their side-by-side seats in the balcony gave a different view of the stage.
Our rescheduled visit also put us there during Luke's lasik eye surgery. He has worn glasses or contacts since middle school. We took this last be-spectacled picture right before we left for the ophthalmologist office for the laser procedure that would give him 20/20 vision. Amazing!
Even though it was delayed, we certainly enjoyed our trip to spend time with Luke and Jordan! Luke will graduate in June, and has already accepted a position with a pediatric clinic in the Kansas City area. With the birth of our first grandchild in May, it looks like we will have many more trips to Kansas City in our future travel plans.
We don't always get a flu shot. But this year we got it more to protect others rather than ourselves. We knew we were going to be spending a lot of time with our aging parents, and we certainly wouldn't want to get the flu and expose them to it. So we got the shot, but it didn't protect from the strain of flu that pounced on us. We read later that this year's flu shot is only 10% effective, and we got a good dose of the other 90%. As soon as she felt the symptoms coming on, Denisa quarantined herself upstairs away from Mark's parents. Mark was still feeling fine, so he was cooking and cleaning downstairs, then running food upstairs to Denisa. She had to take a picture, because that's some great room service!
Denisa kept shoo-ing Mark out of her sick room, hoping that he wouldn't catch this flu bug too. But within 24 hours, he started the same symptoms. The good news is that Denisa had some company in this quarantine. The bad news is that we have certainly messed up a lot of plans and inconvenienced a lot of people.
We were supposed to be making our fifth trip (in as many weeks) to Oklahoma City that weekend. We were supposed to pick up our son, Blake, to ride with us to Kansas City to spend several days with our other son and his wife. They had all kinds of fun meals and activities planned for us, and we were all so looking forward to it! Then this flu bug hit, and our plans soon evaporated as our fevers soared. To make matters worse, Blake had booked a flight onward from Kansas City to another destination. So we totally screwed up his travel plans! That made us feel even worse!
Fast forward three days, and we were still hanging out upstairs. It was a strange feeling to be trapped inside, looking at another sunset through an upstairs window.
We decided this was one of the worst flu bugs we've ever had--headaches, coughing, fever, and all-over aches--even our hair hurt. Mark's temperature soared up to 104 degrees on more than one occasion. His theory is to sleep until he gets well, but it didn't work too well on this flu. On the other hand, Denisa's theory is to stay busy and ignore the fact that she's sick. She put together two intricate puzzles during this quarantine. She must have been craving sweets, because this puzzle was themed in cupcakes, while the other was candy.
She also read a book, did some sewing, and played the piano every day. Mark--not so much. He is much better at staying still and being sick. But the days were certainly long! After three full days upstairs, Denisa finally made her escape when her temperature returned to normal. Then it was her turn to carry meals upstairs to Mark, who remained in quarantine for two more days.
There's never a good time to get sick, but this flu bug seemed to have especially bad timing. But the worst part is worrying this quarantined bug will sneak downstairs and infect an 89- and 91-year-old that we love.
