Port Isabel & South Padre Island

We decided to drive over to the beach the other day. It's a little better than an hour from Alamo to Port Isabel, and then it's over the causeway and yer on South Padre Island.The drive is very flat. When you consider that Alamo is only 98 feet above sea level, that doesn't leave very much room for hills on the way. Port Isabel's claim to fame is it's lighthouse.
I understand it's one of the oldest lighthouses in the U. S. So they fixed it up, and there it stands. They don't use it anymore, but it has a long history. The rest of Port Isabel is restaurants, crafty little shoppes, and tacky stuff.But, it was a beautiful sunny day with temperatures in the high 80's, so we enjoyed it. That bridge you see to the right is the causeway. It's pretty high, but it has to be to allow ocean going ships to pass under it.This is a better picture of the bridge. Once you get over the bridge you have waterand more water, sandand more sand, and hotels/motels.Actually, South Padre Island and area was hit by hurricane Dolly. Several of the hotels suffered extensive damage. One we saw had parts of the brick side blown out. The papers say there are approximately 4500 hotel rooms on the island but only 3200 will be useable this winter season. The island is about 25 miles long. The populated portion is on the south end, and there's a road that runs about halfway up the island. We drove up to the end of the roadto look around. It was kinda cool, huge dunes on the bay side of the road and stuff. They use those big round bales of hay ya see in farmer's fields as windbreaks to start dune formation. There's signs all up the road warning to take care because of sand drifts on the road. Once you get to the end of the road, the beach goes on for miles.We coulda driven up the beach, but the cutouts from the road to the beach were really deep loose sand and even though we have a 4x4 we decided against it. We didn't need all that sand getting jammed up underneath the truck, and if you don't make it, they want $800.00 to pull you out. Anyhow, it was a good, fun day and we'll certainly be back to South Padre Island again while we're here.

Nuevo Progresso, Mexico

Well, Rod finally got me to go to mexico for the day. This is the bridge over the Rio Bravo river that you walk across, leaving your car on the american side. You pay 25 cents to cross. As soon as you get to the Mexican side of the bridge you see soldiers in sandbagged bunkers with guns checking the autos as they enter and leave Mexico.

There are people that stand under the bridge asking for money. They put their hats thru the slates in the railing. We were asked not to give them any money. When you reach the other side it reminds you of a huge flea market. There are a very large number of pharmacies, dentists, beauty salons, and the occational store filled with everything. The street vendors are all on the sidewalks lined one after another. There are people standing in every doorway to every establishment barking out......you want to buy ........whatever it is they are standing in front of, including the doctors and dentists offices, and the sidewalk vendors doing the same, its a busy walk. The colours are bright. The clothing beautiful.....and the experience an interesting one. Everything is reasonably priced and you can barter with the vendors. We had a very nice lunch in mexico of fillet mignon, potatoes, veggies and salad for less than 10.00 each. The waiters were all dressed in suits and we had a good time. It's not Mexico though! It's in Mexico, but it's really nothing like Mexico is supposed to be. Rod is talking about maybe taking a 3 day bus trip to Monteray in the new year. We'll see!!

Our trip to Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park

Bentsen State Park is a world birding centre. There are a great many birds here that cannot been seen anywhere else. The greenjay for example is a very bright green olive coloured bird. I couldn't take a picture of one because the darned things wouldnt land anywhere but in the bushes. There is an area set up for the butterflies of which there are more than 60 species. We walked the trails and you can take a tram to the offshoot trails. It wasn't busy the day we were there so Rod and I got to take in the "sounds" all around us. You couldnt tell what was there, but you could hear them... There is a space where you can tent camp in the middle of the park but as you can see, you have to share the area with the local residents lol.....no fences...they have a small conession and information building at the entrance. No automobiles allowed inside the park.

They have wild boars that are just around the corner and we took some pictures from a distance of course.

We came across a mother with some babies along the way. There is nothing between them and us so going into the offshoots was a bit spooky.

The park has a hawks peak to watch out over the water but trees blocked out most of it. Its a nice park to visit if you are ever down this way.

I digress!

We apologize for the lack of pictures and posts but after coming back from NB and buying the new trailer and truck, we also had the problem of lack of internet access so in this post we will update our adventures to bring us back to the present.

Our first weekend camping at Laurel Creek in Waterloo was with Theresa and Ron. Kristi, Phil, and James came up on the motorcycles. Alison and John joined us as well. All went really well. John made me a huge fire (my last one thus far, so thanks a bunch John). The park is well laid out with large sites. They do not have sewer but electric and water. There are seasonal sites available. A good time was had by all. We even had the opportunity to see a few hot air balloons fly by.

On the 15th of September we found a park that would allow us to stay until the end of October in Guelph (thanks to Theresa and Ron). The first picture is of the pond at our site at Riverbend Park. We would feed the fish every morning. Their size ranged from 2 inches to around 18 in. Rod had hurt his back and was chair ridden for the first couple of weeks so his view consisted of looking out our back window. Coming to keep me company and fix Rod up Theresa and Ron kindly came for a weekend . Lindy (Theresa's new dog) went swimming in her tub and ate lots of bubbles...she makes them then chases them. Theresa, Ron and I went for a stroll in the evening. Due to bylaws, campfires are not allowed in this park. There are only a few transient sites available but the prices are very good. We left here on the 27th of October with a quick stop at the RV dealer in Kitchener to have a recall on our fridge done. We headed on to meet Peggi and John at the Flying J in London where we dry camped until the morning then leave for the USA via the sarnia border. Peggi advised us on what fresh and canned foods were not allowed, which really saved time at the border. We were not held up and the border guard let us go right through. Thanks Peggi and John. The night was raining and cold so they were kind enough to let us plug in to warm up. 6am the next morning we were on our way. Peggi and John ended up having to stay one more day to have some work done, so we were a day ahead all the way down until San Antonio where we met up again.







Off we set, and shortly on the road and what do we see but snow!! It didn't last long but reminded us of what we were about to leave behind and left us with a sense of excitement of about we were about to experience for the first time. A Christmas without cold, snow, but also family. So with mixed emotions we continued on.







It took 6 days to reach our destination travelling about 5-7 hours a day. The campgrounds varied, some we liked more than others, prices stayed pretty much the same. It turned out less than budget so that was a plus. It also gave us a chance to get the feel for what we will look for when planning our trip back home. and it was interesting to note the change in the landscape as the farther we travelled the greener it became. Trees looked different, like moving back in time going from coloured leaves to green to lush. The lay of the land was very flat. I think we only had one or two hills the whole trip until we started our way into the valley. We stopped in Pendleton, Indiana the first night, Sikeston, Missouri the second, Arkadelphia the third night, Waco, Texas the fourth night, San Antonio, Texas the fifth night and into Alamo (the previous post on the sixth day. Now we're up to date. Our next posts will keep everyone informed of what we're up to now that we're in the Rio Grande Valley area of Texas.

Alamo Palms RV Resort

We're here! Sorry I haven't been at the blog in a while, but...............here I am now. We arrived at Alamo Palms RV Resort last Tuesday. It's a nice place (as RV resorts go). Lots and lots of palm trees and lots of cactus growing throughout the park.

There are orange and grapefruit trees growing all over the park from which you are allowed to pick a few at a time.

It's a big park with lots of park model mobile homes and lots of sites interspersed throughout the park that the rv's will slowly fill up as January gets here. They have lots of activities going on in the park, like shuffleboard, bridge, euchre, pool, and exercise things. The thing of it is, I'm not much of a joiner!

The weather has been unbelievable! The days are in the 90s and the nights are in the 70s! Actually, a cold front is supposed to pass through tonight and drop the temperatures down about 10 degrees.

It's a laid back lifestyle here. There's lots to see and do without driving very far. There are a few State Parks that are birding/butterfly centres. We're supposed to be going over to Progresso, Mexico on the 17th (happy birthday Mary!) and then later that week I think we're gonna run over to South Padre Island and check out the beaches, etc.

We've been out looking at some of the other RV resorts for comparison, and we're happy with the resort we're in. We want to check out the State parks and other "camping" facilities. We think we're more "Campers" than we are "RV Resorters".

Anyhow, we're off to Bentsen State Park which is a birding/butterfly/dragonfly viewing park. I'll let ya's know how that went once we're back. Bye for now.