Saturday, December 25, 2010

December 25, 2010 Saturday Christmas Day

 December 21st we were in Daggett, CA at the Desert Springs RV Park We had supper in the little bar and grill that is on the park grounds.  Fun little place with really good burgers.  Cost for the night was $27.00.  Nice clean park. 

When we left Daggett on the 22nd it was raining.  It had rained all night and we heard there were mudslides and flooding in California and in AZ where we were heading.  We also heard they were expecting hail to come through Daggett so we left earlier than expected to stay ahead of the bad weather.



Road to Earp, CA This is probably the worst of the flooding we saw.

their drain system, called a wash.  You can see there's no flooding here either


 We fueled up in Daggett, CA $270 and had driven 1169 miles from home.
This first video is driving into Parker, AZ
This video is driving into the Emerald Cove RV Park.

We arrived Emerald Cove RV Park right on schedule.  $165 for 14 nights.  Can you imagine what a hotel would cost?  We spent the day setting up, relaxed, enjoyed the warm weather and went to bed late.  They go by AZ time here and we were still on WA time. 

The 23rd, we were up as usual; the day was bright and sunny.  Went to a   b o r i n g   line dancing class but what do you expect after Zumba?  Met a couple ladies interested in Zumba-ing with me on Monday.  We'll see if they show up.  I think I'll go to a Zumba class in Lake Havasu City in the evening on Monday.

Anyway, Chuck washed the car and RV while I was gone.

24th - We took a ride to Quartzsite, AZ to figure out where we'll boondock (that's camping with no services) in January.  We're meeting some Billings friends there around the middle of January.  We found an RV parts store open and bought a couple items he needed. It was a beautifully sunny day for a ride and about 69 degrees.

Called and talked to Pat, Chris, Penny and Brian to wish them all a Merry Christmas.


25th  Merry Christmas!!

Another beautiful sunny warm day!  We drove back to Lake Havasu City (about 35 miles) to see the movie True Grit.  A very interesting version of the old movie.  We both liked it and ate too much popcorn.  We love movies and have been watching a few more here at home today.

Highway 95 south going through Lk Havasu City

Parker Dam near our RV park

looking through fencing on top of Parker Dam
 Got to talk to my favorite son!!  Jen is in Canada skiing so can't call her.  I really enjoyed talking to family Christmas eve and our son, Jack, today.

Tomorrow I will probably have to catch up on some laundry.  We always start our Sunday with coffee and the Sunday paper.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Monday, December 20, 2010

December 20, 2010







Tri Mountain RV Park, Ridgefield, WA
December 16, 2010
RV Park of Portland, December 17 and 18, 2010 Actually Tualatin, OR

December 18th, when we were in Tigard, OR, I attended a Zumba fitness workshop and am now officially an instructor.  Had the very best time ever but how could I not.  The energy in that room was amazing! 
Gina Grant, Zumba Instructor and one of the originals

December 19th we left the Tirgard/Tualatin, OR area and headed south on I 5, Sunday morning.  It was sunny but pretty cold by our standards.

At this point, we've driven 177 miles from Lake Sawyer RV Park in  Maple Valley, WA

We were pretty worried about the mountain pass on the OR CA border called the Siskiyous but they turned out to be warm, slushy and not so bad.  We wanted to get through there as we heard another front was coming through bringing lots of moisture.

We drove as far as we could after getting over the mountains but it turned out to be dark by the time we got to the RV park for the night.  Not the best park.
 This park might have been avoided if we had found it in the daylight.  Not our usual RV park choice but hey, it was dark and we were tired and it was raining.
looking out our side window
Looking out to the right from our windshield.  Can anyone say "Ma and Pa Kettle"?





It's actually run by some really nice men, very friendly and I think in the summertime, it would be a great place to go fishing and sightseeing. But a good lesson on how not to choose an RV park in the dark. 

We left this morning heading to Gustine, CA and had to stop for fuel and coffee.  Fuel was $274.00 but we drove 389 miles since leaving Lk Sawyer, Maple Valley, WA

We love these truckstops!  They have everything!  Even showers!  They really cater to the trucker nicely and the coffee is super strong and wonderful!


TA (Travel America) Truckstop, Redding, CA

We will be getting to our next stop we hope before dark but this next park has a website, be a little leery if they don't.  Last night the Trail In had no web site.   The website looks super nice and clean.  www.santanellarvpark.com

Friday, December 17, 2010

December 17, 2010 Friday

It's 10:40 am and we're leaving Ridgefield, Wa heading to Tualatin or Portland RV Park.  Tuallatin, Portland and Tigard all kind of run together.

The sun is shining and it's such a pretty day.  It was a little cold last night and there was frost on the car windows.

We had an amazing meatloaf dinner at Jen's last night, Grandpa got to spend some quality time with his grandsons while Jen and I were at her Zumba class.  She is an amazing instructor and should be very successful!  Her partner, too, they work very well together and compliment each other.  You wouldn't even know those two were new instructors........very professional and had an amazing class.  Thank you Jen and Tanya.

We're about ready to hit the road..........more later.

Tomorrow is the big day but I don't want to talk about it or think about it.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

December 16, 2010

Left Lake Sawyer RV Park about 9am.  Cloudy but yet sunny and a bit cold.

Stopped in Fife for fuel:  $220 to fill up which will get us to the CA border.  Should have to fill up at least two more times.  We use diesel which costs a bit more than regular.


Lots of semis on the road but about the normal amount.  Then, of course, they disappear when you take a picture!  Still sunny at mile marker 44 on I 5 South.
Pixie and Frank love to travel!!

Will be there real soon at Tri Mountain RV Park in Ridgefield.  Will give Jen a call so we know when she's home to go over there.  It's 11:36 am right now.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Heading South in the AM

Gifts are bought, packages wrapped and mailed, tanks are full,  prescriptions filled, that's important you know, tires are checked, GPS loaded with necessary park  info, mail taken care of, bills paid, chassis checked, seeyas said and we're ready to roll!

We leave sometime in the morning tomorrow heading to Ridgefield, WA (Tri Mountain RV Park) to see Jen and I'll take in one of her new Zumba fitness classes tomorrow night.  We'll say our "seeyas" and be on the road again Friday morning heading to Portland. (RVPark of Portland)

Tigard, Or is our destination for a workshop on Saturday for me and then we'll leave Tigard Sunday morning.

We'll be going south on I5 and will be listening to the weather to make sure the Siskiyous are passable and if not, we'll cut over to the coast and take Hwy 101 south.

Pictures coming soon!

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

New Update!


Picture of the desolate Lake Sawyer Park
Taken out our kitchen window

We leave Lake Sawyer RV Park on Thursday, today is Tuesday, (see my last post for our schedule for the next few months) and will head south to Ridgefield, WA and we'll be staying at Tri Mountain RV Park in Ridgefield right on I 5 and about 5 minutes from Jen!

I'll take in her Zumba class Thursday night, say our goodbyes, and we'll leave for Tigard, OR. Friday morning.  We'll stay at the RV Park of Portland for two nights, leaving Tigard, OR. on Sunday morning.

The weather has been really weird with a tornado in Salem, OR. today, just 100 miles south of Jen.  Last night we had winds that blew in every direction and the whole park has been without power since 1am last night.  Good thing we have a healthy generator.

We can't wait to get out of this weird weather.  We've been known to take the rain with us, however, so let's hope we don't this time.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone.  I won't be getting Christmas cards sent out this year! 

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Update





December 7 and 8 - take the motorhome to Frieghtliner for a safety inspection

December 16 - leave Black Diamond and stop by Jen's in Ridgefield, WA

December 17 - leave Ridgefield, Wa and arrive Tigard, OR

December 18 - Zumba workshop

December 19 - leave Tigard and head south through California
 and cut across at Bakersfield

December 22 - arrive Earp, CA Emerald Cove RV Park - our favorite park
Christmas dinner and New Year's Eve party, karaoke in the bar

December 25 - Merry Christmas

January 1 - Happy New Year

January 5 - leave Earp, Ca arrive Bull Head City, AZ

Januray 19 - leave Bull Head City, AZ arrive Quartzsite, AZ
Dry camping (boondocking) for 1 week.  Take in the BIG TENT RV show, meet friends from Billings, MT

January 31 - leave Quartzsite, AZ arrive Winterhaven, CA Pilot Knob RV Park
have lunch and shopping in Algadones, Mexico a few times (this is where we went into Mexico with the Missionaries last year)

February 1 - 15th - leave Winterhaven, CA arrive Casa Grande, AZ


February 15 - 22 Casa Grande, AZ  leave and head ??????


Might not get into Texas this year as we think we'd rather go west and spend some time in southern California

This is all tentative right now but hopefully will work out this way.

We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Fulltime RV Travel blog will become active again soon! 


Here's an update on our winter travels for 2010-2011.

Week of December 12 - taking the rig to Freightliner to have it inspected for the road

December 17th - leaving Lake Sawyer RV Park and the Maple Valley area

December 17th - arrive Tigard, Oregon

December 18th - Zumba workshop

December 19th - leave Tigard, Oregon and head south.

We're heading towards Earp, CA and hopefully will be there around December 22nd at the Emerald Cove RV Park.  That's my favorite park where I first sang karaoke.

Stay tuned for more updates.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

RV Travel Fun Update for family and friends


Thought I'd answer your question:  aren't you going south this winter?  Sorry to say the answer for now anyway, is no.  Chuck has taken a part time job which suddenly turned into a full time job when another sales person quit.  He committed to a full year but keeps saying he can quit any time he wants.  He seems to be enjoying being needed and getting back into the HVAC world.  The income isn't bad either.

Jack has a full time job himself finally.  He'll start his new job on Monday, the 27th, as a Trailer Mechanic for a company in Renton.  He's very excited about that.

I don't do too much to keep busy.  Having trouble with the transition of being a retired wife with a retired husband to a retired wife all by herself but I've never had trouble before so it shouldn't be long and I'll be finding fun things to do again.  Right now, with Christmas coming, I'm working on what to make for who.  Anyone want to go to lunch?

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

It's About Time I Update This Blog for the Family !!

I thought I'd spend some time updating our travel blog because we have 11 followers, mostly family I think, that are probably wondering what we've been up to since returning back to the Great NW.

We spent a few weeks in Black Diamond, WA at the Lake Sawyer RV Park when we arrived in April.  While there, I went down to Jen's to spend time with the boys.  I must say teenagers are different but actually these guys are very easy to supervise.  I loved spending time with them and my time with them went way to fast.  In fact, I haven't been back down there since and I'm ashamed to admit that.

When I got back home to our area, Chuck had moved the motorhome to the RV park in Sumner, WA.  Seemed strange to leave from one park and then come home and find your home in another park.  We really love the little community of Sumner but the rent just got way to expensive for us.  The rent went up and we had to pay for electricity.  I know, boo hoo, everyone has to pay for electricity.  But that's not true.  We don't in the park we're in now.

While in Sumner, we did lots of walking.  The little town has very beautiful with old quaint homes and lots of sidewalks and places to walk.  Just one little mile away was shopping and restaurants!  We were walking 100 miles a month while there! 

I found a Zumba class just blocks from the park and spent a month going to classes.   I really really miss that class and the girls.  If you've never tried Zumba fitness, make sure it's the basic class not the gold when you do...... you won't believe how much fun those classes are.  You won't believe how fast the time goes so you're never watching the clock wondering when you can go home.  It's awesome and one day I WILL return to a Zumba class someplace.  It wasn't easy to leave the girls and all my friends there.  An instructor actually cried when we said good bye and she gave me a Zumba Tshirt!

We spent 3 great months in Sumner, WA and we really miss it.  Not the park but Sumner.  The park doesn't have a clubhouse and everyone seems to work, so there was no socializing for me and I kind of got bored.

When they decided to raise our rent $75 a month, we decided that we just couldn't do that.  That would make our rent over $500 a month including ele.  $500!  That's a huge chunk out of our fixed income. 

Back to Lake Sawyer and Black Diamond we went on August 1st.  I love it here but it took Chuck some time to get used to not having good reliable power.  We only have 30 amps here, whatever that means, but we do pop a breaker now and then when the heat pump comes on.  The walking isn't as good around here but there's still plenty of good destinations.  Just not as safe and no sidewalks like Sumner.  We have to walk along a highway but there is a bike lane so the shoulders are nice and wide and there's the beautiful lake!  We now live in a very wooded setting like camping!  You can't dislike this area at all.

Just a couple miles away is great shopping........well, I should say a few not a couple, but there's grocery shopping, banks, restaurants, Pier 1, Dollar Tree, drug stores, health clubs with Zumba classes, HOme Depot, and the cutest little town of Black Diamond only 2 miles away.  I found a Zumba class there but it was a gold class and much, way too much too easy.  I didn't even break a sweat! 

This park is part of our membership park system so we only pay about $175 a month AND FREE electricity!  We pay nothing else.  No water, gas, electricity, garbage bills!  Nothing!  Peak season ends on the 15th so we pay only $1 a night for three weeks instead of two and then $150 for the 4th week instead of the 3rd.   We have a little grassy spot, a picnic table and a place to park the cars.  What more can you ask for? 

I've been spending lots of time in the clubhouse working jigsaw puzzles with my friends.  We have taco Tuesday and eggs, bacon and pancakes on Saturday morning.  I think all this ends soon with the coming of fall, though.  I love working on the puzzles, having a cup of coffee and spending time with my friends.  Many will be leaving, heading south for the winter soon so I'll be alone again except for any travelers that come and go during the winter.  I've made so many friends it's wonderful; hard to say good bye but wonderful.

A couple friends I met last year at this park and on the internet have returned one last time just recently.  We would normally see them in AZ or TX but we're not heading south this year.

You're probably wondering why we're not going south for the winter.  Well, we decided to stick around, help Jack out a little, be some support for him, be home for the holidays, save a little nest egg and then head south next year with lots of extra spending money!  Chuck was hired part time at his old office which was going to work out perfectly but their only sales person in Tacoma quit so they asked him to work full time.  He thinks he can do it for awhile but not sure he wants to commit to long term.  We'll see what happens.  It seems funny (weird) to be home alone all day again.

Forgot to mention that in June we spent two weeks at the ocean.  We went to Copalis Beach, near Ocean Shores, and had a fabulous time.  (in the RV) We had many walks on the beach, went to town shopping and eating.  We had an old old friend come visit us.  We found a guy that Chuck went to Dunwoody with way back in the early 60s on Facebook and we found out he was in the Portland area so on his way east, he stopped by to spend an night with us in Copalis Beach.  We had a great time reminiscing.  We hope to see him and little Boe, his tiny little dog, again next year when he's out this way.

Speaking of Boe, it was real interesting when it came time to bring Boe into the RV with our two cats.  They spent their time in the bedroom.  Frank was scared to death!

Well, that's really about all the news and it should catch everyone up.  I will try to post more often when there's actually something to tell you.  Maybe I'll get some pictures taken.

 

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Left Sundance, WY a few days ago and headed for Billings, MT. We stayed at a park towards the east end or at least on the east side of downtown Billings.  The park was Village Trailer RV Park and was really nice with paved roads and level sites.  It was small but the sites were generous.

We visited with my long time friend Diane Emmons and her husband.  They had us over for burgers and salads and lots of "catching up" chat.  Dick, her husband is really into old cars that he builds and shows.  He's built a 1932 and a 1934 car but don't ask what kind.  One was black and one yellow.  Beautiful cars.  They still own a chevy convertible that they've had since they got married.  They're in their 60s, too, so they've had that car for a long long time and it has very few miles on it and is in pristine condition as all their cars are.  He's obsessed!  But was a great hobby.  They travel around showing their cars and have many tropheys.  We hope to meet up with them in AZ next winter.

Then we spent Sunday driving around our old stomping grounds and saw all the places we used to live.  Wow! that's 40 years ago we moved there!  There was a lot to see from the houses we rented and bought along with the churches where the kids were baptized.  Such good memories but scary to think it's been so long ago.

We spent the rest of the day getting ready to leave on Monday.  We heard the weather was changing for the worse in Red Lodge so we didn't take the RV up there.  Chuck drove up early Monday morning and got the new tabs for the RV and came right back so we could get on the road.  We wanted to get as many miles behind us as we could.  Now we'll be pulling into Covington a day early but I am happy about that since I need to drive down to Jen's on the 16th.

We spent last night, Monday night, at rest stop 242 in Washington on the west side of Spokane.  We wanted to get beyond Spokane to avoid the morning traffic.  We were on the road by 8:30 or so.  It was raining but it didn't rain hard or for long.  We're about 109 miles from Seattle right now so getting closer and closer to home all the time.

We'll be at Lake Sawyer RV Park till May 1st when we'll move  back to the River Park in Sumner, WA.  Funny feeling to be back where it all started.  We should be here through the summer and will make a decision then as to where we'll be going this fall and winter.  There's so much yet to see in California and we never got to Colorado or Utah.

We traveled through about 16 states and stayed at 23 different parks.   What a great winter we had.

Friday, April 9, 2010

Mountain View RV Park and Campground was wonderful!


We spent the night at this little park in Sundance, WY.  Guess I told you.  It was a chilly night but we just cranked up the heat and were snug as a bug in a rug.

We were on the road by 8:20 this morning and it has been uneventful so far.  Nice to travel through areas we've traveled through so many times over all the years we've lived in Montana and Washington.

We're just a few miles out of Buffalo, WY right now and went through a little squal......snow and blowing snow but poof, it's done gone.

Just had coffee and another Wall Drug donut!  Only one left!  Oh no!  

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Getting settled in in Sundance, WY at Mountain View RV park and campgrounds.  Awesome place!


We here and settled for the night.  A pizza is in the oven and we'll have a good night's sleep.  We opted for Sundance instead of Gillette because the wind kicked up and made it difficult to drive.  This is a really nice park and the owners are exceptionally kind and friendly.

This is much easier to keep posting this way then waiting a few days.  But then, I don't have any pictures, either.

We'll be leaving bright and early in the morning and heading for Billings.

Wall Drug, SD donuts ROCK!  Bought 1/2 dozen......2 chocolate, 1 vanilla, 1 maple and two plain!  Awesome!


Stopled for donuts. Back on the road and think we'll only get to Sundance, WY tonight.  We found a really nice RV park.  Can empty tanks, refill water, watch a little TV and relax for tomorrow trip.

Called my best friend in Billings so will get to see her Saturday.  Happy Birthday Diane!  Her 60th is tomorrow!

The only pass that looks bad today is LookOut pass but it'll be a few days before we get there.  Will keep you posted.

Al's Oasis buffalo burgers were the best!


We had our buffalo burgers, fries and onion rings.  On the road again heading for Wall Drug and a donut!

Weather is gorgeous!  Sunny and warm.  I took a couple pictures but didn't downloadd them.

Traveling along and almost home!

  I know I haven't done well with keeping you posted on our travels.  It's supposed to be a fun thing to do and it really became a drag so I quit! 
We are now going down I90 heading towards Wyoming for tonight.  If we make it that far, ok, if not, that's ok, too.  I must get a donut at Wall Drug (those carbs I don't mind consuming) and we would love to have a buffalo burger at Al's Oasis.  We'll see what happens.  If you've never had either of these, you must the next time you travel through SD.

To all that followed along, I say thank you so much.  I don't remember the last time I posted but it was probably sometime while we were in Texas.

Texas is a wonderful state and so much to see and do, we'll have to go back next year.  We saw a neat parade in Fulton, TX and attended an oyster festival.  We saw South Padre Island and the islands farther north.  We spent a day in the sun at the beach, spent time wondering through museums and even got back into Mexico, even though we found out we shouldn't have gone the day we did.

Our travels north were uneventful through TX, OK and KS and IA.  We had a glorious time in Mpls staying at the Mystic Lake Casino RV park.  We ate too much and did a lot of running around to see family but it was all worth it and the time went much too fast.  We spent a week in Chuck's home town of Westbrook, MN and again, had a wonderfully fun filled time with friends and family.

Today is our travel day as I mentioned and we should get to Billings, MT tomorrow sometime.  We have friends to visit there and will leave about Sunday heading to Red Lodge, MT to visit another friend. 

We hope the mountain passes are passable!  We keep an eye on the weather and highway cams.  It'll be good to be home but yet, it's just another stop along our way.  We'll be on the road a few times during the summer to see more of our own state of WA.

I'll keep posting and might even find it fun again to post a few photos.  Boy, you get lazy when you get older but maybe it's not laziness.  Maybe it's just knowing that you aren't obligated anymore.........you can do what you want when you want!  LOL

Check back in a few days...........

Kathy and Chuck

Friday, March 5, 2010


Matamoras, MX border crossing.



Alfonso, the Mexican escort that took us to the market on the bus.

An update, finally............

We left Brownsville last Monday, the 1st of March, and headed to Rockport. We did some really fun things in Brownsville, like going into Matamoros, MX and riding one of their buses to the market, eating a terrific lunch there, visiting the zoo and taking in the Charro Days parade. Great city.

The day we left wasn't such a great day for some reason just kept going wrong. The park we were leaving was actually a mobile home park and the let RVs come in and fill in the empty spaces. Well......the streets were tight and the corners were sharp turns. We had a little trouble getting out but Chuck's a good driver and after backing up a few times, he made it out ok.

We arrived at this park, Bayview RV park in Rockport and the people in the office must have been new or something. They acted like they didn't know we were coming and we had made reservations a month ahead. They hemmed and hawed until they finally gave us a spot. We disconnected the car, which I drive and follow in, and took off down the really bumpy rutted road. They really need to grade these roads.

We found the site that was assigned to us but it had a sign on it that said occupied! Not good driving a 40 foot montster and you can't turn around all that easily, the roads were bad and the office way at the other end of the park. This is a beautiful park otherwise; so many great trees and the sites have lots of room. Anyway, I jumped in the car and drove back to the office. In the meantime, Chuck called the office and they told him to just go take a spot and let them know which one we took. Well, in the meantime, they gave the site he chose to the people coming down the road! I didn't like it anyway as it was muddy there. The drainage problem they have here is huge.

So while he was choosing another site, the office gave me site 507 so I drove back, found Chuck, and we drove around again to find 505 from site 200! There was an impossible turn into that part of the park coming from the direction we were coming from so AGAIN he had to go down and around and back up and come back. THAT spot was impossible for us to get into and a man over there even suggested we not try it. It was up a slight rise and looked too short. SO! We chose 505 across from 507 and I went back up to the office and told them which site we took. They seemed to be ok with that.

This site, I'll have to get some pictures, is a really great site! I can see the clubhouse and it's only about a block away, if that far. Getting out of here might be interesting, though with that tight turn. We'll make it.

On Tuesday we went to check out the town of Rockport. What a cute little seaside town with little shops I want to get back to see, some art galleries and a park or two, a museum and a mansion we could visit. OH! an aquarium that's free!

Wednesday Chuck woke up with a cold and has been miserable and I'm taking vitamin C and Quercitin to combat it. If I get it, maybe it won't be as bad as his. Anyway, we rode our bikes into Fulton where there's an oyster festival going on. It's about 4 miles from here so we did an 8 mile bike ride that day. The festival started yesterday, Thursday, and we're wanting to ride our bikes back later today if the weather looks good; which it doesn't.

Yesterday, we drove into Corpus Cristi mainly to find the Best Buy to drop my laptop off to get fixed again, and then drove out on Padre Island and Mustang Island. There's a camping area on the beach we heard about. It's a first come first serve basis but there were spots available yesterday if we were interested. The only thing is, the weather has to be pretty good or it's pretty cold and windy there.

On our way home, we stopped at Joes Crab Shack and had a wonderful lunch. He had a shrimp po boy and I had 3 crab cake sliders! The food was amazing and so good. I had string onions and he had the french fries.......nothing was greasy.

It was hard to say good bye again to my laptop but I didn't have much choice. One day the D didn't work and the next day the 3 didn't work. Of course, everything worked when the Geek tried it. This is the third time it's in for the same problem. One more time, and they said it's considered a lemon and will be replaced. They will call when they get it back and will send it to whatever Best Buy we are near. Maybe someplace in Mpls. Then I have only about 20 or less till the warranty is up to get that one more time in. Not that I would do anything dishonest..........

Well, I'm going to download some photos and see what happens. Google has changed things a bit and won't let you put too many pictures on one page. Let's see what happens.

Ok, it only let me download two on this post so the check the next few posts for more photos.
This is the market we had Alfonso take us to in Matamoras, MX.


Here's the bus we rode.  That's Chuck.



This doesn't show the condition of the bus very well.  There's graffiti all over the inside, the seats are all torn and they only run along the sides not in rows like we're used to in the US. The roads are so bumpy and you really bump along.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Brownsville, TX to San Padre Island

We went to San Padre Island, a long skinny island along the Texas coast.  The first photo is the causeway going over to the island.

You can see it wasn't a beautiful day but we went anyway.



Chuck was so excited to see the Gulf of Mexico!  He had to get out and see it close up.



 
Pictures are a little out of order.  This is driving on the Causeway.  A little rainy.



Driving around we found these pelicans resting on the dock.
 
There is this statue of Jesus at the water's edge with the names of people that have died at sea on each of those placks.


We saw these huge pipes along the beach and this tractor.  Chuck found out that at least once a year these huge pipes are put into place so sand can be sent down to the beach from a beach that higher up and doesn't get washed away.  At least ONCE A YEAR!  What a project.

I have this thing about birds and these seaguls were flying really really close so I tried to get their picture.  You really can't even though they seemed to have been floating up there.  He was a lot closer than it looks.

 
This is a beach restaurant that was closed for obvious reasons.  It was cold and it's winter!


We drove through town and these places were interesting to me.
 
Look at this store!  The shark mouth is the door!



Today we went to Blanco Chico beach. 


The road ended right on the beach as you can see straight ahead.


  
We didn't get out of the car today.  It was very windy and cold.
On the way home, we found the local VFW.  Boring place but we had a beer and some popcorn.  We went to the Sunrise Mall to walk and have lunch in the food court but found the theater.  We decided to have more popcorn for lunch and saw "Shutter Island".  Very good movie.  I really liked it and the acting was outstanding.  It leaves you drawing your own conclusion.  Hope that's not saying too much.  You gotta see it.

When we got home, we walked for about 1/2 hour since we didn't get much walking done at the mall.

Don't know what we'll do tomorrow but I kind of home we stay home for a day.  There's a Saturday market and a Charro festival this weekend.  I'd like to make some spaghetti sauce and I've been wanting to make some english muffins, work on my blogs and knitting.

Eidenburg, TX to Progreso, MX

 
Here's the Lazy Palms RV Park in Eidenburg, TX.  We're right down that street.  You can see it's a large park with wide open spaces.

Getting closer to our motorhome.  This park was really nice but the closest store was over 20 miles away and when it rained, there was mud everywhere.

Here's another view of the park.


This is our motorhome.  Not a good picture.  I guess I should have gotten out of the car.

We decided to make a trip into Progreso, Mx on a nice sunny day.  It was so fun.


The middle of the river is the US and Mexico boundry so right in the middle of the International Bridge they posted this sign.  We had to get in the picture. 


This is the bridge.  The Mexican people were on the right outside the bridge railing sitting in the dirt with their hat stuck through the rungs of the railing begging for money.  I don't think I got a picture of that but it was so sad.


I had to get a picture of the military presense in Mexico.  We haven't even hardly gotten off the bridge. 

 
We walked up one side of the street and down the other until we found a nice place to have lunch.  We chose the La Fagata.  Here we are waiting for our food.  We each had the lunch special and 5 margaritas between us and the bill came to $21!


They still had their Valentines decorations us and I thought it was pretty and colorful I had to take a picture.  Or two.


The man in the lower right corner was a really nice guy.  Didn't realize he got in the picture.  His wife is Italian and her family comes from the same area ours does so we had a little bit to talk about.

 
You know how some restaurants put up funny bumper stickers?


This is the place we had lunch.  The streets were still quit muddy and there were huge puddles everywhere.



One of the plazas we just had to walk down to see what was out the other end.  It wasn't in town, it was kind of like seeing how they really live.  Not pretty.
We had a great time and were so glad we went.  While walking down the street, of course, you're approached by many many vendors but this one little boy came up to me and my heart melted.  He was about Ethan's age, 3-4 and was selling bracelets for $1.00.  Of course, I bought one from him.  I did that in Algodones, too, only it was this cute tiny little lady that reminded me of my Grandmother so I had to buy something from her.  

We left in the afternoon and decided we had another great day in Mexico.