Tuesday, 5 April 2011
Packing Up to Leave
30 Mar: This is the worst job and the downside of leaving to head home. I don't know why but it seems that the things that fit in at home, no longer fit in the same spot. And of course we gained more Stuff. Also, some things can not be packed until the morning that we leave so we have to make room for them; as an example, the Satellite does not come down until the last min and since I always carry the 3 foot dish and the tripod I need quite abit of space. Well, we packed and repacked and repacked until we managed to find a home for everything. Since we where not going straight home we needed to keep enough clothes available to last us for the 10 days trip home. The trip from TX to Yuma would take 3 days and then we would stay in Yuma for 3 days so it became obvious that we would have to "re-jig " the Van once we were ready to leave Yuma. We always get ready for the " Border Crossing" ahead of time because we have stuff that Carroll bought for the Kids and of course we do have a few litres of Booze over the limit. By earlier afternoon we were all packed so we relaxed for an hour because we were invited out for supper by the Nahachewshys from Brandon. As usually Holly made another excellent meal and we were thankful that we did not have to eat out. 31 Mar; We were up at 6 AM as we needed to pack the rest of our belongings, which included the Satellite and then we had to leave the Park Model clean and tidy. The landlord was not available as he had left for a Cruise about a week earlier so he ask us to turn of the Water and Power Off and to leave the keys on the storage shed. He is very trusting but then so are we. By 8 AM we were finally on our way but we had to head for " The Golden Arches " for our fix of coffee and an Egg McMuffin before starting this journey. I must admit ;it is kind of a relief to head down the road. Since we have traveled this route several time we decided to get off the Freeway and to go across country. It is somewhat slower but you get to see the countryside and to go thru several small farming town, which are always interesting. Most Winter Texans never " stop to smell the roses" . They drive like Hell to get to Texas and drive like Hell to get home. What a boring life for those folks. We got to Ft. Stockton, TX around 5:30 so we called it a day, found a nice hotel for 70.00 and then went for a Chinese supper. Ft. Stockton about 35,000 and is an Oil Town, much like Medicine Hat so there is lots of Oil Service vehicles and of course many 3/4 Ton trucks.
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
Getting Ready to Leave
Starting around mid March RVers and Renters are slowly starting to pack up or for the Home owners , they are preparing to close-up. Closing a home in TX does take some preperation such as getting the Pest Control company to spray inside your home, along the baseboards and under the cupboards to make sure those little bugs don't use your home as a residence while you are away. The outside perperation is slightly more enduring. The Pest company has to remove several pieces of skirting so they can crawl under the house and spray for those bugs that like to live under that area home. The main culprits are Ants and Termites. However, I must admit I have never seen a Termite nor has anyone I have spoken too. But as long as the Pest company convince you that it is there " Spraying " that keeps them at bay , people will continue to pay the 65.00 to ease there mind. I can just imagine how much Chemical must be soaked into the ground under these homes after 10 or 20 years of spraying. 25 Mar; All this to say that we had the Pest Control company spray Doreen Ludwar's home as she did not come this year due to the passing of her husband in Dec. 26 Mar; OH NO; another Happy Hour to say so long to some more friends that we met while " serving time" as a winter Texan. Mel and Ron are from Ottawa ( Ron was a Mountie ) and where leaving on Tues so they invited several friends to "clean up " the residule snack food and refreshments than might not last until next Dec. I realize the Rye, Rum etc will not spoil but beer must be consumed as it would get Skunky. 27 Mar; We decided this would be Pool day as we have not taken advantage of the pool as we should have. They Pool is always a great place to Swap storys with peole you never met before and , amazingly enough, it is were you find all the necessary info about where to go and what to see and ,more important where the bargains are. You must remember, Seniors like to hear the words ; Cheap, Discount, Coupons and Free. Anyhow, we had our last " Happy Hour " with our neighbours ( Roy and Bya Jewsbury ) and from Dauphin, MB as they were leaving for home on Monday. We became good friends our the past 3 months and I'm sure we will keep in touch and hopefully meet again on our travels.
Monday, 28 March 2011
Where has the time Gone
I'm a little tardy with my Blog but there are two excuses. First, there is not much to say and second everybody is leaving so there is less and less material. OK so here goes catchup; 18 MAR; This is a Friday so we did the perverbial Fish Fry at the local Legion with the group from Shilo/ Manitoba. There were 16 people , mostly from another park called Magic Valley but we are usually included in their group. After our meal and 3 hours of dancing from a DJ singing the same old songs, we have heard a hundred time, ( he works for tips so what do you expect) we relocated to Elma and Les Turcotte's place for a night cap which is normally a Liquor unless of course, if you are driving then it is a coffee.... laced with Bailey's. 20 MAR; Now, this is time of our winter vacation where people start advise each on their " Go Home " date. Otherwise know, as "clean out the fridge time". So the Nahachewskys got the jump on the rest of us by anouncing that they were hosting a Happy Hour, with food on Sunday . Apparently Holly found a Ham that she was not taking home so all were invitied to devour this Ham along with the trimmings. Turcottes, not wanting to be "Tail end Charlie" took this opportunity to anounce that they were inviting everyone to another Happy Hour on Wed and as expected " food would be served".. They abviously had food that they do not want to take home. 21 Mar; Our friends, whom we first met down here in 1999, Gerry and Marlene from Corunna, Ont where leaving for home on Wed so we hosted them for Supper before they left. For various reason we had not seen them for over a month ( they were on a Curise ) and they had just purchased a Mobile home down here, so we had some " catching up to do". As you know, friends need to know all the details such as price, reason for buying, how good a deal they made, etc etc. After supper we bide farewell as we will probably not see them for a few years but we will email often. 23 MAR; We did attend the Turcotte's Happy Hour ( 4 to 6 ) but our "Dance Card " was a little crowded as we also had a previous supper date at 6:30. So, at 6:00 we left the Turcotte's party for our supper date with 2 couples from Manitoba and as it turns out; 3 of us had March birthdays. After supper we returned to one couples abode for an " after Dinner Drink". I'm not sure how much more Fun I can handle. 24 MAR; Our friends, Marilyn and Keith Thistles, had just returned from a 2 month trip to the Middle East ( Thailand, China, Hongkong and Vietnam and other small countries ) and they invited us to supper so we could hear about this wonderful trip. The Thistles are "World Travellers" and we are only to happy to listen all about there trip. They write an excellent Blog as they travel so we had actually followed them via there ( daily/ weekly ) Blog. So we had many question about their trip but of course we will never be able to duplicate it. We had an excellent supper as Marilyn is an excellent cook and Keith is Mr. Bar-B-Q.
Sunday, 20 March 2011
St. Patty's Day with a Soup Soup
17 FEB: The Winter goodbye parties have just begun; better known as the last supper but there never seems to any " Last " one. On this day there was a schedule " Soup Supper" and dance and by coincident it was also St. Patty's Day. Any excuse for a party. In way of explanation, a "Soup Supper" provided by a group of voluteers who cook three different Soups and sell advance tickets to ensure that there is enough to go round. There is always " seconds " and I always accommodate the Cooks by going for seconds. Being St. Patty's Day , one of the soups was actually Irish Stew which I sample a couple of ladles full. Then for seconds I tried the Hamburger soup which was just a good as the Stew. I suppose you are wondering if there was thirds... of course there is; and not to make the cooks feel bad I also sampled the bean soup.
The party started at 3 PM with Happy Hour and dance , with the soup to be served at 5 PM. As usual there was an excellent tourn out with 282 attendences but what would you expect as you know that Senior would never cook a meal when you can buy it for 2.00 a person. Another great Year end party.
The party started at 3 PM with Happy Hour and dance , with the soup to be served at 5 PM. As usual there was an excellent tourn out with 282 attendences but what would you expect as you know that Senior would never cook a meal when you can buy it for 2.00 a person. Another great Year end party.
Saturday, 19 March 2011
Willie B's and the Rio Grande
14 FEB: We decided to give Pat and Henry a day off from our travels so they did a little shopping in the morning and we ( the 4 of us ) had a Pool Day for a couple of hours in the early afternoon. I say early because we scheduled a 4 to 6 PM Happy Hours so P and H could meet a few of our friends. That way they can "measure" the type of people we "hangout "with. Hell; how exotic can a bunch of 70 year old seniors be.
After the Happy Hour we took Pat and Henry to one of the " Fine Dinning " resturants in this area called Willie B's and one that is frequented by most Winter Texans. The House Speciality is a baked potatoe covered with a handful of Bar-B-Q Brisket. The potatoe also comes with all the trimmings, such a butter, sour cream and Willie special Bar-B-Q sauce that he probably buys at Wal-Mart. The potatoe is larger than the 10 inch plate it is served on, therefore it is best shared between two people because very people seniors can devour the whole potatoe plate. I have to add that Willie B's is not renowed because of the Ambiance. The building was purposely build much like you would picture very aged Western Saloon. The interior has wood floors that squeak as you walk over them, the table are covered with oil cloth and the chairs are a mis-match. The meals are served cafateria style on Styrofoam plates and plastic cutlery. Willie B's is also known for their Carrott cake but if you arrive after 7 PM you are usually out of luck.
15 FEB: Today we scheduled a boat trip on the Rio Grande river. I believe it is advertised as a Crusie but that would be stretch as it turns out. The Rio Grande divides the USA and MX. In most case you could easily swim across ; ask any Mexican who would like to live in the USA. It is not a huge river , unless of course you where standing on the bank on 13 June when it rose 18 feet in a few hours, when they had to DUMP the dam up stream. This flood wiped our many RV parks, several business and many recreation areas on both sides , moreso in MX than the USA. It seems funny to think that this area survived several Hurricanes in the past few years and then got wiped out because some Civic Flood Control Dept did not realize that snow melt coupled with rain would cause the Dam to fill so quickly.
Getting back to the boat trip; the cost was 8.00 per person and the trip took an hour and a quarter, so you knew right away it was not serving food and refreshments. The boat held 40 people and had twin 135 HP engines which I thought was overpowered as the river only flows at 3 knots. The Captain started his narration about the boat constuction, depth of the river , the damaged caused by the flood but not one word about life jackets or flotation devices so I assume that the company figured we could either swim or walk to shore should should the boat sink or meet with ( heaven forbide ) a tsuamia. The Captained finished his speech with " if you have any question we will try to answer them". People did have questions but they were asking each other not the Captain so I thought I would go first and get the ball rolling so to speak. I ask where the mouth of the river was located and where did it empty. I knew the anwer but I could not think of anything else and that was the question on some of the peoples mind. The Captain said he would advise us in a few minutes soI did not know, if he knew the anwers or not. But I do know, he got on the cell right away which lead me to believe I may have stumped him. He gave us the answer later and the Rio Grande starts in Alomosa, CO and dumps into the Gulf of Mexico at Brownsville, TX. So now you know and if you are every on Jeopardy, you already have the answer.
However, the day was not too hot and we did learn a few things about the Rio Grande such as this river provides much of the water to irrigate this area. This are grows many of the vegtable crops for both MX and the USA. Crops that we daily on our travels are Texas Sweet Onions, Cauliflower, Cabbage, Broccalli, Carrotts, potatoes and of course Sugar Canes. All these products are grown in "Hilled Rows " and irrigated with Flood Irrigation between each row. This area also has many Orange and Grapefruit orchards and they too are irrigated by flooding.
Tomorow Pat and Henry return to the real world for them. We may have pushed them a little but we wanted them to see the area because it is highly unlikely they will be this way again.
After the Happy Hour we took Pat and Henry to one of the " Fine Dinning " resturants in this area called Willie B's and one that is frequented by most Winter Texans. The House Speciality is a baked potatoe covered with a handful of Bar-B-Q Brisket. The potatoe also comes with all the trimmings, such a butter, sour cream and Willie special Bar-B-Q sauce that he probably buys at Wal-Mart. The potatoe is larger than the 10 inch plate it is served on, therefore it is best shared between two people because very people seniors can devour the whole potatoe plate. I have to add that Willie B's is not renowed because of the Ambiance. The building was purposely build much like you would picture very aged Western Saloon. The interior has wood floors that squeak as you walk over them, the table are covered with oil cloth and the chairs are a mis-match. The meals are served cafateria style on Styrofoam plates and plastic cutlery. Willie B's is also known for their Carrott cake but if you arrive after 7 PM you are usually out of luck.
15 FEB: Today we scheduled a boat trip on the Rio Grande river. I believe it is advertised as a Crusie but that would be stretch as it turns out. The Rio Grande divides the USA and MX. In most case you could easily swim across ; ask any Mexican who would like to live in the USA. It is not a huge river , unless of course you where standing on the bank on 13 June when it rose 18 feet in a few hours, when they had to DUMP the dam up stream. This flood wiped our many RV parks, several business and many recreation areas on both sides , moreso in MX than the USA. It seems funny to think that this area survived several Hurricanes in the past few years and then got wiped out because some Civic Flood Control Dept did not realize that snow melt coupled with rain would cause the Dam to fill so quickly.
Getting back to the boat trip; the cost was 8.00 per person and the trip took an hour and a quarter, so you knew right away it was not serving food and refreshments. The boat held 40 people and had twin 135 HP engines which I thought was overpowered as the river only flows at 3 knots. The Captain started his narration about the boat constuction, depth of the river , the damaged caused by the flood but not one word about life jackets or flotation devices so I assume that the company figured we could either swim or walk to shore should should the boat sink or meet with ( heaven forbide ) a tsuamia. The Captained finished his speech with " if you have any question we will try to answer them". People did have questions but they were asking each other not the Captain so I thought I would go first and get the ball rolling so to speak. I ask where the mouth of the river was located and where did it empty. I knew the anwer but I could not think of anything else and that was the question on some of the peoples mind. The Captain said he would advise us in a few minutes soI did not know, if he knew the anwers or not. But I do know, he got on the cell right away which lead me to believe I may have stumped him. He gave us the answer later and the Rio Grande starts in Alomosa, CO and dumps into the Gulf of Mexico at Brownsville, TX. So now you know and if you are every on Jeopardy, you already have the answer.
However, the day was not too hot and we did learn a few things about the Rio Grande such as this river provides much of the water to irrigate this area. This are grows many of the vegtable crops for both MX and the USA. Crops that we daily on our travels are Texas Sweet Onions, Cauliflower, Cabbage, Broccalli, Carrotts, potatoes and of course Sugar Canes. All these products are grown in "Hilled Rows " and irrigated with Flood Irrigation between each row. This area also has many Orange and Grapefruit orchards and they too are irrigated by flooding.
Tomorow Pat and Henry return to the real world for them. We may have pushed them a little but we wanted them to see the area because it is highly unlikely they will be this way again.
Thursday, 17 March 2011
South Padre Island or Bust
13 FEB: As you know, this is March Break and S Padre Island ( SPI ) is a magnet for the University / college students. The title was actually written on the rear window of the car ahead of us we took Pat and Henry to tour SPI. Our biggest mistake was going on a Sunday. We knew there would be many many kids but we did not intend to go to the same area as they Hangout.
We decided to go to the general beach area not usually the haunt of the Kids. What we did not realize was that all of the working class families visited the beach in mass, on the weekends. I have never in my life seen so many people in one are at the same time. This beach area allows vehicles to drive on the beach and to park at random, everywhere and anywhere and they do just that. Once we got into the beach area we seen a contiuious stream of traffic going both ways, , however we wrongly assumed that after we drove a mile or so the traffic would Peter out. We could not even find a spot to stop and enjoy the beach. The beach traffic was so heavy that after traveling for 20 mins at a Snails pace we covered about a mile. The Gulf of MX was on our right, and I mean it was so close we were actually driving in the water as the waves slapped the shore so we had hoped to find an opening on the left to turn around and get out of the of our delemia. The vehicles were so close if you tried to stop the guy behind you was so close you could not back into a spot and those on our left would not let you cross in front of them. Finally Henry got out and stopped the traffic which allowed me to back into a very small opening and we got turned around and got out of the madness. It is interesting to note that we did not see many, if any people who I would consider as Cacausions: most beach goers where of Hispanic decent. Finally we broke away from the crowd and got the hell out of the area.
We then crossed over to the inland beach which only attracts Wind Surfers, Ski Doos and 3 wheel Wind Buggies. The Inland water way is shallow body of water about 1 1/2 miles wide which sepates the main land from SPI. However , in the centre of the inland water ways is trenched deep enough for ships and barges to travel thru this passage. There is a bridge connecting the mainland to SPI. You can actually walk out about 300M and the water would still not even up to you waist. However, one guy backed his truck and trailer , loaded with a large type Seadoo, into the water. After backing in about 300 M his truck dropped into a hole aand got stuck. The tide came in and was high enough that the water entered the cab . We watched the charades for about an hour but the truck was stuck. Finally, a guy came along with a " Bigfoot" type of truck and he drove into the water, hooked his winch on the semi-submegred truck and with a little resistance pulled the tuck to safety. It was funny when the driver reached the shore and opened the truck door and the water poured out.
Well, that was all the excitment for the day so we went to the local Seafood resturaunt and had an excellent meal of Shrimp and/or Fish. Each plate had more food than one person could eat and the cost was 12.00 for the Shrimp and 10.00 for the fish. In the final analyis we had a great day.
We decided to go to the general beach area not usually the haunt of the Kids. What we did not realize was that all of the working class families visited the beach in mass, on the weekends. I have never in my life seen so many people in one are at the same time. This beach area allows vehicles to drive on the beach and to park at random, everywhere and anywhere and they do just that. Once we got into the beach area we seen a contiuious stream of traffic going both ways, , however we wrongly assumed that after we drove a mile or so the traffic would Peter out. We could not even find a spot to stop and enjoy the beach. The beach traffic was so heavy that after traveling for 20 mins at a Snails pace we covered about a mile. The Gulf of MX was on our right, and I mean it was so close we were actually driving in the water as the waves slapped the shore so we had hoped to find an opening on the left to turn around and get out of the of our delemia. The vehicles were so close if you tried to stop the guy behind you was so close you could not back into a spot and those on our left would not let you cross in front of them. Finally Henry got out and stopped the traffic which allowed me to back into a very small opening and we got turned around and got out of the madness. It is interesting to note that we did not see many, if any people who I would consider as Cacausions: most beach goers where of Hispanic decent. Finally we broke away from the crowd and got the hell out of the area.
We then crossed over to the inland beach which only attracts Wind Surfers, Ski Doos and 3 wheel Wind Buggies. The Inland water way is shallow body of water about 1 1/2 miles wide which sepates the main land from SPI. However , in the centre of the inland water ways is trenched deep enough for ships and barges to travel thru this passage. There is a bridge connecting the mainland to SPI. You can actually walk out about 300M and the water would still not even up to you waist. However, one guy backed his truck and trailer , loaded with a large type Seadoo, into the water. After backing in about 300 M his truck dropped into a hole aand got stuck. The tide came in and was high enough that the water entered the cab . We watched the charades for about an hour but the truck was stuck. Finally, a guy came along with a " Bigfoot" type of truck and he drove into the water, hooked his winch on the semi-submegred truck and with a little resistance pulled the tuck to safety. It was funny when the driver reached the shore and opened the truck door and the water poured out.
Well, that was all the excitment for the day so we went to the local Seafood resturaunt and had an excellent meal of Shrimp and/or Fish. Each plate had more food than one person could eat and the cost was 12.00 for the Shrimp and 10.00 for the fish. In the final analyis we had a great day.
Another Complusory Party
I'm sure most you: the reades, r realized that my last Blog which was dated 10 and 11 Feb should have read March. I'm sure that mistake will not radically change anyone's life but we will write it off as a " Senior Moment ".
12 March: Today our park scheduled a Cookout. The definite of a CookOut is that you bring your steak or whatever you want to Bar-B-Q and for 2.00 a person , the Park supplies the Bake potatoe, a Bread stick and desert. However, the Bar-B-Q's are not gas but Bricgettes so the "Fire Starters" need time to get the coals hot so that calls for a Happy Hour. Since the Cookout starts at 5 PM , the Happy Hour in the Rec Hall starts at 4 PM. Most, if not all bring your choice of refreshment ( and I don't mean Diet Coke ) and we usually sit with friends which has been previously organized by Carroll. We had 16 at our table and by co-incident everyone was Cdn. It seems funny how only 8 of us plan to sit together but as the other Cdns walked thru the door they spotted us and joined in.
Now, there were 280 attendees, so everyone could not Bar-B-Q at once so the only fair thing to do was number the table and draw table numbers from a hat. This was not the first " Kick at the Cat" so to speak as all parties are done this way but I was amazed, as were others, that within 25 mins all 280 steaks were Bar-B-Q . One other noticeable factor was how the noise level was reduced by about 90 % from the Happy Hour chatter. Even Seniors can't talk with their mouth full of food. Another comical feature is that we Party Goers had to clear the Hall by 6:30 as the Card Player where moving in and you better not be sitting there unless you are a card player. Oh well... as I said many times before, Seniors are just Older kids. Pat and Henry enjoyed the outing as they got to swap stories with folks from different parts of Canada.
12 March: Today our park scheduled a Cookout. The definite of a CookOut is that you bring your steak or whatever you want to Bar-B-Q and for 2.00 a person , the Park supplies the Bake potatoe, a Bread stick and desert. However, the Bar-B-Q's are not gas but Bricgettes so the "Fire Starters" need time to get the coals hot so that calls for a Happy Hour. Since the Cookout starts at 5 PM , the Happy Hour in the Rec Hall starts at 4 PM. Most, if not all bring your choice of refreshment ( and I don't mean Diet Coke ) and we usually sit with friends which has been previously organized by Carroll. We had 16 at our table and by co-incident everyone was Cdn. It seems funny how only 8 of us plan to sit together but as the other Cdns walked thru the door they spotted us and joined in.
Now, there were 280 attendees, so everyone could not Bar-B-Q at once so the only fair thing to do was number the table and draw table numbers from a hat. This was not the first " Kick at the Cat" so to speak as all parties are done this way but I was amazed, as were others, that within 25 mins all 280 steaks were Bar-B-Q . One other noticeable factor was how the noise level was reduced by about 90 % from the Happy Hour chatter. Even Seniors can't talk with their mouth full of food. Another comical feature is that we Party Goers had to clear the Hall by 6:30 as the Card Player where moving in and you better not be sitting there unless you are a card player. Oh well... as I said many times before, Seniors are just Older kids. Pat and Henry enjoyed the outing as they got to swap stories with folks from different parts of Canada.
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