26 Mar
By 8 AM I had the satellite packed into the car and we were off by 8:30. We picked up our coffee/hot chocolate at Mac D's and we were on our way. Our next issue was San Antonia; actually it was do we go around it or thru it. I hate to drive into the heart of any city but my friend advised me that it was the best way to get thru San Antonia.
Four hours after leaving Weslaco, were cleared San Antonia and were on I-10 which would eventually take us to Mesa.AZ for a 2 day stay with friends and then to Yuma too also visit friends before heading home.
We did what we never do very often and that was to was to make a reservation. We booked a hotel in Van Horn, TX so we had to drive until 6 PM which was too much for me. Now that we are "Cell Phone " savvy we will now book a hotel in the late afternoon on travel day rather that days ahead. This way we can stop when we feel like it.
27 Mar
We left Van Horn and our next issue was El Paso , TX and it is dam need Gridlock just driving through this city but luckily they have build a bypass around the city a few years ago which we did not realize. However, our friends mentioned it so we took it and it was great, with limited traffic and we could travel at 75 MPH. There is a time change just before El Paso and another as we enter AZ so we will gain two hours today.
After leaving TX, we enter New Mexico. I know that the mid western states like Wisconsin, Indianapolis and Nebraska are Dairy producing states but New Mexico and AZ also has a host of dairy farms which can be seen from I-10. These farms have 1000's of cattle not just a few hundred and these are 24/7 operation as the milk the cows every 8 hours.
We had pre-planned to stop in Tucson and due to the 2 hour time change we arrived at our hotel in the early afternoon. Carroll wanted to go to a casino so while checking in I ask about the distance to the Dessert Diamond Casino since we had used their parking lot for an overnight stay on several occasions. The clerk strongly suggested we go to another casino as she said it was bigger and better so we took her advise.
Once I pulled into the Casino lot I realized that we had stay here in 1999 on our way to TX. Anyway we each got a Club Card which entitled us to 10.00 free play so Carroll played her money and mine and she ended up with 40.00
I spent my time at the Sports Bar and drummed up a conversation with a local Bar Fly. The bar tender was busy and seemed to ignored me so the Bar Fly called him by his first name and said I needed a beer. The Bar Fly then told me that the Bar had 1/2 price beer on one specific brand of beer all month ( changing monthly ) assuming that you drank that beer and for March the special was Dos Equuis XX. Since that is my beer of choice I took the offer.
When the Bar Fly realized I was Canadian he mentioned that he and his buddies go to the Pas. MB every year on a fishing trip and he says the fishing is so good you have to hide behind a tree to bait your hook.
Tomorrow, we head for Mesa, AZ. cheers
Tuesday, 4 April 2017
Friday, 31 March 2017
Final Packing Day
25 Mar
This is were the Rubber hits the Road. Somehow I have to find a way to pack everything today and still leave enough room for my satellite dish and tripod. The fridge door that I purchased for the MH is the linch pin as I can't pile things on top of it so it has to stand up on its' edge. Then we have a large plastic box for all the loose items such as 2 jars of MX honey, several bottles of vanilla, a few bags of Cinnamon and 6 bottles of booze, etc etc It surprised me just how heavy all this crap weights.
I have already given up on using the rear view mirror because we will be packed to the roof. Once we packed the car we now had to clean the house which took us a couple of hours. We are also going out at 5 PM for supper at Dirty Al's, with several friends.
When we arrive home at 9 PM our Landlord was parked in our driveway. We knew he was coming to do the " close up " but we thought it would be in April. The landlord is 82 year old and he drove from Winnipeg to Weslaco in 2 days just to close up and I already said I would do it. I hope he is not staying long because I had the power disconnected for Monday. He said he came to pick up some boxes to take home but he must have been dreaming as there is not one box in the house. His wife is very ill so I think he will sell the house.
Anyhow, all we have to do tomorrow morning is to disconnect and pack the Satellite and I believe I have enough space but just barely.cheers
This is were the Rubber hits the Road. Somehow I have to find a way to pack everything today and still leave enough room for my satellite dish and tripod. The fridge door that I purchased for the MH is the linch pin as I can't pile things on top of it so it has to stand up on its' edge. Then we have a large plastic box for all the loose items such as 2 jars of MX honey, several bottles of vanilla, a few bags of Cinnamon and 6 bottles of booze, etc etc It surprised me just how heavy all this crap weights.
I have already given up on using the rear view mirror because we will be packed to the roof. Once we packed the car we now had to clean the house which took us a couple of hours. We are also going out at 5 PM for supper at Dirty Al's, with several friends.
When we arrive home at 9 PM our Landlord was parked in our driveway. We knew he was coming to do the " close up " but we thought it would be in April. The landlord is 82 year old and he drove from Winnipeg to Weslaco in 2 days just to close up and I already said I would do it. I hope he is not staying long because I had the power disconnected for Monday. He said he came to pick up some boxes to take home but he must have been dreaming as there is not one box in the house. His wife is very ill so I think he will sell the house.
Anyhow, all we have to do tomorrow morning is to disconnect and pack the Satellite and I believe I have enough space but just barely.cheers
Thursday, 30 March 2017
Lazy Days
23 Mar
We can't do much but wait for Saturday so we can do the final packing and the cleaning of the house. We still have items in the fridge so that will be cleaned on Friday. I can't take my satellite dish down until Sunday morning because I need to watch a few hockey games on Saturday. Carroll thinks the Satellite dish should go on the roof of the car but I think I can get it in the car somehow????
At least we got some great curling to watch and since most of our food is gone we will go for lunch and supper at the local"Hispanic " restaurants just to get our last taste of Mexican "cuisine". cheers
24 Mar
It is amazing how much work is left to the last minute when you rent a place. With the MH you just close up the slide, raise the jacks and " Kick Ass ". However, with a rental you hope to leave it the way you found it and to the satisfaction of the owner.
Today we are putting everything that has to go in the car, in the kitchen / dining room area to make sure we have it all. There is much more "stuff" then I expected. If we shut off the fridge the beer will get cold so we can't clean the fridge until tomorrow. Carroll say she is doing the last washing today but I'm sure she will find clothes to wash again tomorrow.
Our friends who are also leaving on Sunday called to say that our group are going out to Dirty Al's for supper on Saturday and we are invited so we will accept the invite. We also took a paused to watch our favorite ladies curling team continue their winning ways. We hope they go all the way undefeated. cheers
We can't do much but wait for Saturday so we can do the final packing and the cleaning of the house. We still have items in the fridge so that will be cleaned on Friday. I can't take my satellite dish down until Sunday morning because I need to watch a few hockey games on Saturday. Carroll thinks the Satellite dish should go on the roof of the car but I think I can get it in the car somehow????
At least we got some great curling to watch and since most of our food is gone we will go for lunch and supper at the local"Hispanic " restaurants just to get our last taste of Mexican "cuisine". cheers
24 Mar
It is amazing how much work is left to the last minute when you rent a place. With the MH you just close up the slide, raise the jacks and " Kick Ass ". However, with a rental you hope to leave it the way you found it and to the satisfaction of the owner.
Today we are putting everything that has to go in the car, in the kitchen / dining room area to make sure we have it all. There is much more "stuff" then I expected. If we shut off the fridge the beer will get cold so we can't clean the fridge until tomorrow. Carroll say she is doing the last washing today but I'm sure she will find clothes to wash again tomorrow.
Our friends who are also leaving on Sunday called to say that our group are going out to Dirty Al's for supper on Saturday and we are invited so we will accept the invite. We also took a paused to watch our favorite ladies curling team continue their winning ways. We hope they go all the way undefeated. cheers
Wednesday, 29 March 2017
Packing/ Curling
20 Mar
We are doing what I will call pre-packing as we are leaving TX on the 26 th Mar, intending to arrive home on or about the 3 April. Since the Ladies World Curling is on this week we will be watching the games that are televised at a reasonable time. The games that are on at 2 AM will be watched on the re-run as they are not important enough for me to stay up to watch.
It also seems that when we leave home we have to take everything we can think of and once we get we wonder why the Hell we brought stuff we will never use. As an example we brought 2, folding chaise lounge chairs , thinking we would sit in them on our deck. As it turns out , we never took them out of the bags. Once we got here we realized that if we are going to sit in the Sun and read a book, we would do it at the pool where we could take a cool dip if it got too hot. I told Carroll that 6 Tee shirts and 3 pair of shorts,2 pair of shoe and 1 sweater was all I needed but " Oh No", she had to pack 15 Tee shirts and short and I swear I never worn 1/2 of them. I didn't even know I had some of these clothes until I got here.
Actually pre-packing meant Carroll making a list of things we brought and must remember to take home and me pretending I'm interested, because we are not leaving for 6 more days.
I also play Euchre on Monday evening but our group is dwindling as some folks have left already but I finally had the top point score for the first time. The top prize money is a dollar !!!! Cheers
21 Mar
As mentioned earlier I was looking all over NA for a used fridge door for our MH ( it's a 4 door fridge ) as the plastic hinge broke this past summer and since it is molded to the door you can not just replace the hinge. Incidentally, they do not make that fridge anymore. I finally for one in Red Bay, Alabama for the tune of 250.00 so I had it shipped UPS with hopes that it arrive before we left. It arrived today. It came in a box, 4 ft by 18 inches by 10 inches and this had to be included in our car that was already full when we came down. The roof was not an option since we don't have a roof rack. So I will cross that bridge on Friday when I actually pack the car.
We also got a call from some friends who have invited us to a Happy Hour followed by supper. They also said that the menu will be something in our fridge as we are cleaning it out, as they too are leaving on Sunday. Anytime there is a free beer and a meal , they don't have to ask me twice. Cheers
22 Mar
Today we actually stopped talking about packing and did some packing by putting things in boxes. I packed all the booze in a freezer box that I hope to get thru customs with paying a duty. I have 6 bottles but they are not all full. I found 4 bottles of wine so I will drop them off with our friends in Mesa whom we are visiting for 2 days. Those 4 bottles would definitely put me over the limit.
Carroll got the suite case out and packed it with the clothes we will need for our trip home which will likely take 9 days. Living out of a suite case is not much fun so we sure do miss our MH for travelling.
We decided to clean out the fridge freezer as we did have lots of frozen stuff so we gave it to our friends who had just return from their 2 month trip to South Africa. They mentioned that their daughter and family ( 3 Kids ) where coming for a week so they could use much of our frozen goods. These are the same folks who provided us with 2 days of B and B while we were in Nfld in Sept so this is our pay back. We then gathered up all the other food stuff's like cake mix, dry cereal, flour, sugar and condiments and gave it to the lady who does the daily cleaning of the rec centre. This lady wins the "food " Lotto at this time of the year because everyone gives here " leftover items " that won't keep until the fall when they return. Again , if we had the MH , all these items would be going home with us. Cheers
We are doing what I will call pre-packing as we are leaving TX on the 26 th Mar, intending to arrive home on or about the 3 April. Since the Ladies World Curling is on this week we will be watching the games that are televised at a reasonable time. The games that are on at 2 AM will be watched on the re-run as they are not important enough for me to stay up to watch.
It also seems that when we leave home we have to take everything we can think of and once we get we wonder why the Hell we brought stuff we will never use. As an example we brought 2, folding chaise lounge chairs , thinking we would sit in them on our deck. As it turns out , we never took them out of the bags. Once we got here we realized that if we are going to sit in the Sun and read a book, we would do it at the pool where we could take a cool dip if it got too hot. I told Carroll that 6 Tee shirts and 3 pair of shorts,2 pair of shoe and 1 sweater was all I needed but " Oh No", she had to pack 15 Tee shirts and short and I swear I never worn 1/2 of them. I didn't even know I had some of these clothes until I got here.
Actually pre-packing meant Carroll making a list of things we brought and must remember to take home and me pretending I'm interested, because we are not leaving for 6 more days.
I also play Euchre on Monday evening but our group is dwindling as some folks have left already but I finally had the top point score for the first time. The top prize money is a dollar !!!! Cheers
21 Mar
As mentioned earlier I was looking all over NA for a used fridge door for our MH ( it's a 4 door fridge ) as the plastic hinge broke this past summer and since it is molded to the door you can not just replace the hinge. Incidentally, they do not make that fridge anymore. I finally for one in Red Bay, Alabama for the tune of 250.00 so I had it shipped UPS with hopes that it arrive before we left. It arrived today. It came in a box, 4 ft by 18 inches by 10 inches and this had to be included in our car that was already full when we came down. The roof was not an option since we don't have a roof rack. So I will cross that bridge on Friday when I actually pack the car.
We also got a call from some friends who have invited us to a Happy Hour followed by supper. They also said that the menu will be something in our fridge as we are cleaning it out, as they too are leaving on Sunday. Anytime there is a free beer and a meal , they don't have to ask me twice. Cheers
22 Mar
Today we actually stopped talking about packing and did some packing by putting things in boxes. I packed all the booze in a freezer box that I hope to get thru customs with paying a duty. I have 6 bottles but they are not all full. I found 4 bottles of wine so I will drop them off with our friends in Mesa whom we are visiting for 2 days. Those 4 bottles would definitely put me over the limit.
Carroll got the suite case out and packed it with the clothes we will need for our trip home which will likely take 9 days. Living out of a suite case is not much fun so we sure do miss our MH for travelling.
We decided to clean out the fridge freezer as we did have lots of frozen stuff so we gave it to our friends who had just return from their 2 month trip to South Africa. They mentioned that their daughter and family ( 3 Kids ) where coming for a week so they could use much of our frozen goods. These are the same folks who provided us with 2 days of B and B while we were in Nfld in Sept so this is our pay back. We then gathered up all the other food stuff's like cake mix, dry cereal, flour, sugar and condiments and gave it to the lady who does the daily cleaning of the rec centre. This lady wins the "food " Lotto at this time of the year because everyone gives here " leftover items " that won't keep until the fall when they return. Again , if we had the MH , all these items would be going home with us. Cheers
Wednesday, 22 March 2017
Texas Rose.... 22 Mar 17
19 Mar
Next Sunday we will be on the road heading for AZ on the way home. So today it was our last Sunday breakfast with the 3 couples who are our friends. This group always chooses a different restaurant each Sunday and every restaurant , so far, has been a Mexican style menu. They do have all the "American " type menu items but those Hispanic's just have to have a "burning hot sauce " and "Re-fried Beans" for every meal.
During the breakfast conversation someone suggest that we go to the Texas Rose Bar in a small town at 2 PM which is about 10 KM away. We had nothing urgent so we agreed to join them.
As with most small Bars they serve only Beer and Pop so you can, if you want too, bring your own Liquor drinks. This bar has an outside dance area , with a covered roof with a 3 guys who actually play excellent western music. The roof over the dance floor would probably not meet any construction codes. The tables are set up in a long row so it is long before you are in conversation with someone you do not know and in fact will probably never see them again. But for today , all stories are fair game and many strangers are very interesting.
I joking ask if the was a cover charge which got a laugh out of many folks. Then I seriously ask if there was table service and the answer was '"Are you kidding ". I took that as a NO so I wandered into the bar and Holy Moly, I thought it was 1930. The bar was full with about 75 guys and a smattering of ladies. I glanced around the room to see what decade I was in , making sure not to stare , even thought it was not easy. Most people where dressed in " Early American Garage Sale clothes" and I was advised that a Plaid shirt is called a " Crona Jacket".
I bellied up to the Bar to put in my order, hoping the only bar maid would see me. Several guys at the tables where calling to the Bar Maid to bring them a beer and they would hold up the bottle so she could identify the order. The bar maid was partial running around the room, and these guys where hollered for a beer so I thought their beer would be deliver up their Ass or down their throat but she did not seem to mind. I did notice that the tip Jar on the bar was a gallon jug and it was full so maybe the tips are good. She actually passed me 3 times and then she finally assured me I was next and I did get served.
The Music boys looked like " Willie " and his 2 buddies but their music was great as they kepted the dance floor full. I can laugh at the Bar but I bet it is a money making with very little overhead and lots of Drinkers. I have concluded that Texas does not have any building codes, fire codes, liquor codes. Cheers.
Never laugh at your wife's choices ; you are one of them.
Next Sunday we will be on the road heading for AZ on the way home. So today it was our last Sunday breakfast with the 3 couples who are our friends. This group always chooses a different restaurant each Sunday and every restaurant , so far, has been a Mexican style menu. They do have all the "American " type menu items but those Hispanic's just have to have a "burning hot sauce " and "Re-fried Beans" for every meal.
During the breakfast conversation someone suggest that we go to the Texas Rose Bar in a small town at 2 PM which is about 10 KM away. We had nothing urgent so we agreed to join them.
As with most small Bars they serve only Beer and Pop so you can, if you want too, bring your own Liquor drinks. This bar has an outside dance area , with a covered roof with a 3 guys who actually play excellent western music. The roof over the dance floor would probably not meet any construction codes. The tables are set up in a long row so it is long before you are in conversation with someone you do not know and in fact will probably never see them again. But for today , all stories are fair game and many strangers are very interesting.
I joking ask if the was a cover charge which got a laugh out of many folks. Then I seriously ask if there was table service and the answer was '"Are you kidding ". I took that as a NO so I wandered into the bar and Holy Moly, I thought it was 1930. The bar was full with about 75 guys and a smattering of ladies. I glanced around the room to see what decade I was in , making sure not to stare , even thought it was not easy. Most people where dressed in " Early American Garage Sale clothes" and I was advised that a Plaid shirt is called a " Crona Jacket".
I bellied up to the Bar to put in my order, hoping the only bar maid would see me. Several guys at the tables where calling to the Bar Maid to bring them a beer and they would hold up the bottle so she could identify the order. The bar maid was partial running around the room, and these guys where hollered for a beer so I thought their beer would be deliver up their Ass or down their throat but she did not seem to mind. I did notice that the tip Jar on the bar was a gallon jug and it was full so maybe the tips are good. She actually passed me 3 times and then she finally assured me I was next and I did get served.
The Music boys looked like " Willie " and his 2 buddies but their music was great as they kepted the dance floor full. I can laugh at the Bar but I bet it is a money making with very little overhead and lots of Drinkers. I have concluded that Texas does not have any building codes, fire codes, liquor codes. Cheers.
Never laugh at your wife's choices ; you are one of them.
Monday, 20 March 2017
Supper with Friends.... 20 Mar 17
18 Mar
Our friends from Nfld, whom we visited in Sept, while touring Nfld, have just returned to their winter home in TX from a 2 1/2 month trip to South Africa ( ZA ). We provided them with our maps of our trip to ZA and we also gave them a chip for their GPS and we also provided our experience which they found very helpful.
Our friends returned from ZA on the 16 th and they had a small window of opportunity to visit with us so we had them over for a Happy Hour and for supper. We spend a few hours to swap our ZA travel stories as they did visit some areas that we did not get the opportunity to visit and vice verus.
During their travels around the world they write an excellent Blog complete with picture so we follow they on a daily basis both on the blog and on FB. Cheers
Our friends from Nfld, whom we visited in Sept, while touring Nfld, have just returned to their winter home in TX from a 2 1/2 month trip to South Africa ( ZA ). We provided them with our maps of our trip to ZA and we also gave them a chip for their GPS and we also provided our experience which they found very helpful.
Our friends returned from ZA on the 16 th and they had a small window of opportunity to visit with us so we had them over for a Happy Hour and for supper. We spend a few hours to swap our ZA travel stories as they did visit some areas that we did not get the opportunity to visit and vice verus.
During their travels around the world they write an excellent Blog complete with picture so we follow they on a daily basis both on the blog and on FB. Cheers
Happy St. Paddy's Day... dated 20 Mar 17
17 March
All the "wannabe " Irish where wearing green today and as being a Friday it was grounds for many parties. Although we did not partake in any, for reasons I can't recall. I had other things on my mind like a dental appointment.
Today is the day I got a partial Plate to complete my dental work. My appointment was for 9:30 AM ( in Mexico ) but I showed up early, hoping that I would be the first customers, which I was. The last time I had a partial was 20 plus years ago ( in Med Hat ) and I recall that I returned to the dentist several time for some adjustments so I expected the same this time. The fit was much better than my expectations but they had to adjust ( meaning grind away ) one tooth in the partial so my bite was to my satisfaction. Once I was happy I made the finally payment and got my receipt. Now I hope that the Dental Insurance will cover most of the cost. A friend told me he paid 2100.00 for his partial in Canada so I would think that my Insurance company would be glad to pay 385.00 USD for mine.
We decided to go to Dirty Al's for supper in McAllen. A little history on Dirt Al;s.
Dirty Al's first restaurant was built on the Wharf , just above where his fishing boat was tied up , on South Padre Island ( SPI ) many years ago and it just served sea food and was famous for its' shrimp. We first visited Dirty Al's original restaurant in 1999, which incidental is still operating. It was and still is as basic as it could be and still meet the health regulations. You do the "walk up " order and they call your order number when ready. Then you grab a table, with an oil cloth cover( easy to clean ) normally with several other folks because these are large tables and hold about a dozen people. Hence , a conversation ensues with these folks. Also the napkins are a roll of paper towel so you get the picture of the ambiance.
Then a few years later, Dirty Al opened another restaurant in SPI , which is a normal type restaurant and we are told it is run by his son. This year we where told that there was a Dirty Al's restaurant in McAllen so we had to check it out. This restaurant has a complete menu and is more upscale, much like a Keg or a Tony Roma's. We had to wait 20 minutes for a table so you know that it was a busy place and has up scaled from the original Sea Food idea. The food was great and the cost was 40.00 which include my 4.00 beer. cheers
Did you ever wonder why there is a Stairway to Heaven but a Highway to Hell. Apparently there is more traffic going to Hell.
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