Another overcast day with an opening temp of 8C. If someone says the weather is good or great in Southern TX , don't trust them. It is always windy and sunny; cold and rainy or cool and windy. However, you don't have to shovel it and most likely you don't need to wear gloves. Always an upside.
This overcast day had Costco written all over it so went there to look for a few items, some of which we probably didn't need as usual. I mentioned earlier that our GPS let us down so we checked on a price of a new one at Costco. Too our surprise, they do not sell then in this store anymore. The supervisor said that there is not a sufficient demand mainly because most new vehicles have a built in GPS and the iPhone is being used in lieu of the GPS. I never thought about that until now but I can understand Costco's point. They are a demand driven business.
We had a late lunch at Costco and it was terrible. I had Chili and most of it went in the garbage. If you want Chili go to Wendy's.
We spent the rest of the day watching Curling and Hockey as it was Hockey day in Canada. Cheers
Thursday, 14 February 2019
MX/TX Trip #71 Got Internet today ( Friday )
Weather for today was rain overnight, overcast and the temp at 8 AM was 4 C. Dam it we are freezing!!!!
Spectrum , the internet provider said they would connect us up today at 8 AM and the tech, whose name is Armand ( there are no caucasians workers living in TX) would call me one hour before arriving. Really, a Tech is going to call a customer at 7 AM to say he will arrive at 8 AM. This is all done by text and you can follow the truck as he leaves his shop and arrives at your door. " Ain't the internet great. "
At 9 AM there is no Armand so I text him with " Armand, where are you; you said 8 AM ". A few minute later a Tech shows up so I greet with , Hi Armand and he says I'm not Armand but I'm here to hook up your Internet. He said where is you connection and I said you can run it thru a window. He said no way, we do not our cable run thru a window, we need a connection so I said you can use my TV connection, knowing full well I would change it as soon as he left the park.
During our conversations he told me he was seconded from there office in Austin, TX for 3 months due to the overload of work by all the Winter Texans in this area. He thought it was a joke because he did not know what a " Winter Texans" was. He had never been to this part of TX before and he was shocked at all the RV Parks.
He said why would we leave Canada in the winter. I said -35 C will convince you to leave and he said that he considers 60 F to be too cold to work outside. He was told by other Techs that Canadians say " EH" all the time but he did not believe it until he came here. He was a nice young Tech and made sure we were connected and that all 3 computers/iPhone worked before he left. So now we are happy, we got satellite TV , Internet and beer in the fridge; what more can a guy ask for????
The weather was overcast and Carroll seen the trailer on a movie called " The Upside" with a 3:30 PM start. It is from a True Story. So we called our friends in another park ( the Naha's from Brandon ) and said that we would pick them up, go to the movie and then for supper. They never turn down and offer like that. The movie was great and we strongly recommend that you see it when it comes to a theatre near you. Cheers
Spectrum , the internet provider said they would connect us up today at 8 AM and the tech, whose name is Armand ( there are no caucasians workers living in TX) would call me one hour before arriving. Really, a Tech is going to call a customer at 7 AM to say he will arrive at 8 AM. This is all done by text and you can follow the truck as he leaves his shop and arrives at your door. " Ain't the internet great. "
At 9 AM there is no Armand so I text him with " Armand, where are you; you said 8 AM ". A few minute later a Tech shows up so I greet with , Hi Armand and he says I'm not Armand but I'm here to hook up your Internet. He said where is you connection and I said you can run it thru a window. He said no way, we do not our cable run thru a window, we need a connection so I said you can use my TV connection, knowing full well I would change it as soon as he left the park.
During our conversations he told me he was seconded from there office in Austin, TX for 3 months due to the overload of work by all the Winter Texans in this area. He thought it was a joke because he did not know what a " Winter Texans" was. He had never been to this part of TX before and he was shocked at all the RV Parks.
He said why would we leave Canada in the winter. I said -35 C will convince you to leave and he said that he considers 60 F to be too cold to work outside. He was told by other Techs that Canadians say " EH" all the time but he did not believe it until he came here. He was a nice young Tech and made sure we were connected and that all 3 computers/iPhone worked before he left. So now we are happy, we got satellite TV , Internet and beer in the fridge; what more can a guy ask for????
The weather was overcast and Carroll seen the trailer on a movie called " The Upside" with a 3:30 PM start. It is from a True Story. So we called our friends in another park ( the Naha's from Brandon ) and said that we would pick them up, go to the movie and then for supper. They never turn down and offer like that. The movie was great and we strongly recommend that you see it when it comes to a theatre near you. Cheers
MX/TX # 70 Called TD for a new Access Card ( Thursday )
Our weather has been shitty as the north wind brought rain the last 2 days along with cool temp.
You may recall that the ATM machine in La Penita, MX ate my card in February and I called TD for a new card. However, they said I had to stay in one place for 2 weeks as it would take that long for it to arrive. Since we could not stay in Guayabitos that long, I had to wait until I got to the US to order a new card.
Well today I called TD again because we will be in this park for at least a month . I must have got a new Kid on the block because I told him I was calling from TX and needed a new card. He said the only way to get a new card was to go to my bank. I think I said " you have got to be shitting me because I'm 3000 KM from my bank and I need a card ASP " ; Carroll said I was a little more forceful. He said I'm sorry and I said no you are not sorry , you better talk to a supervisor. He put me on hold and then returned with; OK Mr, Esler , we can get you a card but I need some particulars. After that he said it would take 5 to 7 days and he would mail it. I corrected him again and said you will send it by courier and he agreed. I believe he learn something about dealing with grouchy old customer today!!!
Since the north wind blew my satellite over ( without breaking it ) I got it anchored behind my MH and out of the wind. It did take some adjusting because I have 2 park models in the way and a large tree. But the satellite height angle is over 55 degrees which allows me too shoot over the park models. We had to have the TV as the Provincial Curling finals is on this weekend.
We finished the day off by attending the music of the "Legions of Buddy Holly" at another Park and it was a good show. Our last minute ticket were in the 2 nd last row in a 400 seat Rec Hall but it was better than a front row were they blast you out of your seat. Cheers
Monday, 11 February 2019
MX/TX Trip 69 Wifi Charades ( Wednesday )
Yesterday, I called Spectrum, the Internet provider for this Park and after 20 minutes or so they advised me that my address was taken on their data base so I can not get internet. I think I used the word ridiculous along with some stronger adjectives and finally the agent agreed to phone the Park office to try to straighten out , what I considered a small error. The problem, considered by the agent is that we have several addresses at # 208 but they all have a street name and ours is Spruce. Carol, the office manager, has been thru this "dance " before so she tried to inform the agent that we have several 208's but all with a street name. He would not accept Carol's analysis and then he called me back and said no internet because 208 is taken. Final answer.
Most residents share their Internet with a neighbour and Neil on one side already shares with someone. Since I need internet I ask the neighbour on the other side if he would share his and I would pay half but he says he can't make that decision until his wife comes home so I gave up on that idea and went to the office to press the issue. Guess who wears the pants in that family.
Carol, the office manager agreed to call Spectrum and try to help me get internet. She explained the problem we had yesterday and he said he would check with his supervisor and lo and behold there was no problem. So Carol handed me the phone and now I get to talk to Spectrum and final get internet. But not before that this Dork tried to up sell me on every frigging options they had so I had to raise my voice and emphasised that I wanted internet and nothing else. When all was said and done they said they could connect me on Friday between 8 and 9 AM. The agent must have been new on the job because he put me on hold after every question and it took over 1/2 an hour to complete the contract. I told him my ear was sore!!!
In the afternoon we went searching for tickets to the Music of Legends. The majority of the ticket were sold out because they are on sale a year in advance but a few tickets were returned so we managed to tickets for Buddy Holly; Jim Buffet and The Piano Man. Cheers
Most residents share their Internet with a neighbour and Neil on one side already shares with someone. Since I need internet I ask the neighbour on the other side if he would share his and I would pay half but he says he can't make that decision until his wife comes home so I gave up on that idea and went to the office to press the issue. Guess who wears the pants in that family.
Carol, the office manager agreed to call Spectrum and try to help me get internet. She explained the problem we had yesterday and he said he would check with his supervisor and lo and behold there was no problem. So Carol handed me the phone and now I get to talk to Spectrum and final get internet. But not before that this Dork tried to up sell me on every frigging options they had so I had to raise my voice and emphasised that I wanted internet and nothing else. When all was said and done they said they could connect me on Friday between 8 and 9 AM. The agent must have been new on the job because he put me on hold after every question and it took over 1/2 an hour to complete the contract. I told him my ear was sore!!!
In the afternoon we went searching for tickets to the Music of Legends. The majority of the ticket were sold out because they are on sale a year in advance but a few tickets were returned so we managed to tickets for Buddy Holly; Jim Buffet and The Piano Man. Cheers
Saturday, 9 February 2019
MX/ TX Trip # 68 Setup day ( Tuesday )
First item on the list for today was to get the TV setup. We have been without TV for 3 days and for all we know Trump could have built a Northern wall by now and of course Trudeau would have agreed to pay for it.
In TX the direction and the wind speed determines where and how you setup the satellite and we have a south wind ( which is warm ) with an estimated speed of 30/40 mph so I had to anchor the satellite substantially even though we are protected by 3 other park model. Rumor has it that a cold front is coming on the weekend so the temperature will like drop and the wind will pick up and shift to the north and then I will have to move the satellite to a protected area. Anyway we found the satellite and we now have TV.
We were advised by Spectrum, the internet provider, that they could not connect us until Friday so I headed to T-mobile to find out the cost to get cell service on my iPhone. I got a very knowledgeable young lady who understands "cell illiterate people", to look after my request and she answered all my questions, which are many. Telus needs to take a lesson from T-Mobile. I got unlimited Talk and Text ( USA and Canada ) and 10 GB of data for 45.00 per month.
Then we dropped over to see our long time friends from Brandon. They were teachers at Shilo when we were there in the late 70's. We did not advised them that we were in Weslaco , TX so they were shocked to see us walk in. We will be seeing them often now that we are here. cheers
Mx Trip # 67 P2P RV Park ( Monday )
We are going to the Pine to Palm RV ( P2P ) Park and Resort. The "Resort" is added so they can charge more but it is no more a resort than home is a Mansion. However it is a reasonable priced park and the people are friendly and genuine so we like it and we have been here on several occasions.
We know that the office doesn't open until 9 AM and we gave away all our food in MX before we crossed so we venture to an old haunt for breakfast. Then we took a tour of the Park to see what sites were available before we moved the MH and to our surprise there wasn't much to chose from. We chose two nice spots but we later found out that they were reserved.
We needed propane for the MH so I took the MH to get propane and Carroll took the car to the park and waited for me. Then when we got to the park office we where advised that then only had a few sites available and we were told to go find one that you can get into because they were old park model sites that had not been upgraded yet.
We found one but we could see that it would be tight. However, I used Carroll as my "backup monitor " and she directed me right over the water spigot. She said I better take a look because I may have broke a pipe. The early clue was the water was shooting out of the ground so I went to the office and declared an emergency. The maintenance men arrived within minutes and luckily they only had to shut off the water to this one street. Sometimes in these old parks they have to shut off the water to the entire park. There are only 8 sites on this street and the maintenance men did not have time to advise anyone so naturally they residence started to ask around about no water and they found out that some "dork " had caused the water curtailment. Then , of course everyone had to see for themselves but they were friendly and even introduced themselves. One wag said; it a great way to meet your neighbours.
Our site is all grass so we now have a water soaked lawn under our MH. However they are predicting rain for Saturday so it won't matter much by then.
We spent the next few hours getting set up and then off to Walmart for groceries. I tried to set up the satellite but I was fighting a very strong south wind so I had to tie it down and it became a pain so I filed that job away until tomorrow. Cheers
We know that the office doesn't open until 9 AM and we gave away all our food in MX before we crossed so we venture to an old haunt for breakfast. Then we took a tour of the Park to see what sites were available before we moved the MH and to our surprise there wasn't much to chose from. We chose two nice spots but we later found out that they were reserved.
We needed propane for the MH so I took the MH to get propane and Carroll took the car to the park and waited for me. Then when we got to the park office we where advised that then only had a few sites available and we were told to go find one that you can get into because they were old park model sites that had not been upgraded yet.
We found one but we could see that it would be tight. However, I used Carroll as my "backup monitor " and she directed me right over the water spigot. She said I better take a look because I may have broke a pipe. The early clue was the water was shooting out of the ground so I went to the office and declared an emergency. The maintenance men arrived within minutes and luckily they only had to shut off the water to this one street. Sometimes in these old parks they have to shut off the water to the entire park. There are only 8 sites on this street and the maintenance men did not have time to advise anyone so naturally they residence started to ask around about no water and they found out that some "dork " had caused the water curtailment. Then , of course everyone had to see for themselves but they were friendly and even introduced themselves. One wag said; it a great way to meet your neighbours.
Our site is all grass so we now have a water soaked lawn under our MH. However they are predicting rain for Saturday so it won't matter much by then.
We spent the next few hours getting set up and then off to Walmart for groceries. I tried to set up the satellite but I was fighting a very strong south wind so I had to tie it down and it became a pain so I filed that job away until tomorrow. Cheers
Thursday, 7 February 2019
MX Trip # 66 La Poste to TX ( Sunday )
We left our overnight camp site at the Toll booth and headed for the industrial city of La Poste, where the Toll booth attendant said there was fuel some 23 KM ahead. We entered the city looking for the Pemex station but to no avail and since I had at least 1/2 a tank I wasn't overly concerned. However, we were about to enter another toll road and there are not many Pemex on toll roads. However we seen a fuel sign that said fuel in 11 KM so we just hoped that it had fuel. It did have fuel but only one pump per island so I'm not sure it they were rationing it or running low but they did give me a fill up.
Since Pharr TX was a little over 500 KM away we decided that we could make it that far before night fall so that was our aim. We reached the Pharr , TX border area on the MX side at 6 PM but could not located the the crossing because our GD GPS quit. Finally we seen a sign for the border crossing but it said it was for Truck. We assumed that the vehicle crossing must be close by so we took it.
As we entered the truck crossing we noticed that it was closed and now we were in a jam. Luckily there was enough room to do a U-turn. But where the hell do we cross was the question. Then we seen a truck ( tractor only) and 2 cars enter at an odd place but what the hell; that must be the entrance. Remember , we are still in MX so there was no signage. Then we entered the booth to pay for the border crossing and I ask to be directed to MX immigration to turn in our vehicle passes. The attendants at the toll booth spoke no English but out of the blue, a man who I thought was a beggar directed us , in English to the parking area. After 20 mins or so we cleared MX immigration and headed across the bridge to the US customs at Pharr, TX.
It took us 1 hour and 15 mins in line before we could even see the US customs. When we were about 10 vehicles for the booth I notice a customs office walking towards us and I said to Carroll, " I don't think he is coming to welcome us to the USA; we must have done something wrong". He actually said the RVs are not allowed at this crossing because we are not equipped to handle them. However, since you are now here, we will open a truck booth and he directed us to it. Once we entered the booth we were advised that we would require a full vehicle search, including an agricultural search , which was OK with us. We were ask to step outside and 3 inspector went into our MH. After a few mins the only question was about a frozen bag with spaghetti sauce and it was cleared. One inspector was holding our Passports and he hollered to someone in the booth if we were cleared and I heard a voice say" they are Cdns; they are cleared to go. During the conversation I did just happen to mention that I spent 30 years in the Air Force because many customs officer are ex-military and it never hurts to let then know. After clearing the customs we went to a local Wal-Mart for the evening and we will go to the RV Park in the morning. Cheers
Since Pharr TX was a little over 500 KM away we decided that we could make it that far before night fall so that was our aim. We reached the Pharr , TX border area on the MX side at 6 PM but could not located the the crossing because our GD GPS quit. Finally we seen a sign for the border crossing but it said it was for Truck. We assumed that the vehicle crossing must be close by so we took it.
As we entered the truck crossing we noticed that it was closed and now we were in a jam. Luckily there was enough room to do a U-turn. But where the hell do we cross was the question. Then we seen a truck ( tractor only) and 2 cars enter at an odd place but what the hell; that must be the entrance. Remember , we are still in MX so there was no signage. Then we entered the booth to pay for the border crossing and I ask to be directed to MX immigration to turn in our vehicle passes. The attendants at the toll booth spoke no English but out of the blue, a man who I thought was a beggar directed us , in English to the parking area. After 20 mins or so we cleared MX immigration and headed across the bridge to the US customs at Pharr, TX.
It took us 1 hour and 15 mins in line before we could even see the US customs. When we were about 10 vehicles for the booth I notice a customs office walking towards us and I said to Carroll, " I don't think he is coming to welcome us to the USA; we must have done something wrong". He actually said the RVs are not allowed at this crossing because we are not equipped to handle them. However, since you are now here, we will open a truck booth and he directed us to it. Once we entered the booth we were advised that we would require a full vehicle search, including an agricultural search , which was OK with us. We were ask to step outside and 3 inspector went into our MH. After a few mins the only question was about a frozen bag with spaghetti sauce and it was cleared. One inspector was holding our Passports and he hollered to someone in the booth if we were cleared and I heard a voice say" they are Cdns; they are cleared to go. During the conversation I did just happen to mention that I spent 30 years in the Air Force because many customs officer are ex-military and it never hurts to let then know. After clearing the customs we went to a local Wal-Mart for the evening and we will go to the RV Park in the morning. Cheers
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