State Park Tram Tour

This morning we enjoyed another part of the state park's "walk off the turkey" program. A naturalist (Jerry Brite) drove us around the park, stopping here and there to introduce us to the birds, mammals, ants, and plants of the Rio Grande Valley.

Some of the birds are very colorful,


like the green jay--













and the fly-catching Kiskadee.



















At some stops we saw more peccaries than birds.









One peccary preferred plumbed water over ground water.















We were joined by another naturalist (Carol) and some college students who were doing a class project providing publicity for the park. Carol was very lively and a trove of information. We observed and noted a great deal that we would never have even noticed had we been alone exploring the park. For example, the peccaries have a musk gland with which they mark their territory, and all the members of the group participate in spreading the scent of the alpha male and female.

We saw harvester ants, whose nests were flat and surrounded by denuded soil. They had trails leading to the trees they were harvesting, and specialized workers snipped the leaves, carried them back to the nest, moved them underground, and arranged them in chambers to grow fungus on. It's actually the fungus that the ants eat.
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Rio Grande Hike

This morning we went on a 2-hour narrated hike through the Bentsen State Park. It was offered as an event for walking off the Thanksgiving turkey. Since the park is the headquarters of the World Birding Center, the staff includes a number of people who know a lot about birds and other wildlife. Our group consisted a naturalist, a volunteer on the staff, and seven of us civilians. We traveled by park van into the park to a trail head and then struck out on the hike. Our first stop was a tower set up for observing hawks. We didn't see any hawks, but we did get a good look at a large number of Ibis and a lot of ducks.




Lee stops on the way up the hawk tower to try (unsuccessfully) to find some hawks.










We saw water fowl feeding in one of the area's resacas--oxbow lakes. There are a number of these in and around the park. They're left over from times when the Rio Grande changed its path.















Then we hiked the main part of the trail, a 1.8 mile loop that took us to the Rio Grande River and back. Along the way the naturalist gave us some interesting information about some unusual birds, local plants, some spiders, and the general terrain.




Wildlife habitat is an important element of the Rio Grande Valley.









The plants around the observation deck by the river are similar to what we saw throughout the state park.















We got to try out the sort of binoculars that are used by real birders.












One of the couples on the hike with us decided that this long-deserted, dilapidated house is their dream house. They like the idea of a house on the Mexican side of the river, with plenty of river frontage. All they have to do is rebuild the house.
















Tomorrow we'll go back to the state park for a narrated tram ride that will introduce us to other sights around the park.
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Thanksgiving Redux

This morning we went to Darryl Lipscomb's A-2 Concept dance. There were 11 squares, and we hear that the dance just keeps getting bigger as more Winter Texans arrive. Afterwards we stopped for Ken to get a haircut and then went to the HEB for milk and a few items. Ken has decided to become an official retired guy--he's growing a beard. We'll have to wait a while to see how it grows out and how he wants to style it.

Our neighbors, Gary and Mary Ann, generously invited us to share their Thanksgiving leftovers, including delicious bread dressing like Mom used to make and a fruit salad along with turkey and gravy. We brought along the leftover green bean casserole and cranberry sauces. It was a scrumptious dinner in a much more intimate atmosphere than the clubhouse yesterday, and great company. Mary Ann was a second grade teacher for many years, and Gary is a rancher. They are warm, friendly, hospitable neighbors. After dinner we played a version of 500 rummy we adapted from one in our Hoyle's. Gary won handily, leaving the rest of us in the dust.

Earlier in the week we had stopped by Guest Services to reserve the ATV and some kayaks, as Mike had suggested when we took his tour last week. As we thought more about how to transport the kayaks and exactly where to go, we stopped in again. Another staff member was there who advised that we might want to hook up with someone with some prior experience with kayaking here, which we were glad to do. He suggested that we talk with some close neighbors of ours, Bill and June, who agreed to go with us next Wednesday. We are very glad to have access to their knowledge and experience--and their inflatable catamaran with electric trolling motor, just in case the current in the Rio Grande gets the better of us. Another kayaker, Robin, will probably also join us.
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A Rio Grande Valley Thanksgiving

We had Thanksgiving dinner with 126 friends in the RV park. The activities crew organizes holiday dinners each year. People signed up for the dinner by table--four couples to a table. Each table had its own dinner with turkey and gravy provided by the park and the folks at the table bringing potatoes, vegetables, cranberry sauce, dressing, rolls, and dessert.















Our table had scrumptious food! We plan to do this again next year.
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Another Day

We started the day by going to Randy Dougherty's "Wacky Wednesday" A-2 dance. We stopped by the store on the way home, then ate lunch. We watched a Mystery episode we had recorded last year and at 5:00 p.m. went to the regular Wednesday margarita gathering at the clubhouse and enjoyed frozen margaritas and appetizers everyone had brought to share. We took meatballs in spaghetti sauce. Besides the usual chips and deviled eggs, etc., there was a pan of pumpkin dessert--an early taste of Thanksgiving. Then we helped set up the room for the Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.

The highlight of the evening is that our DirecTV receiver decided to quit working. We tried all the troubleshooting tips several times and nothing worked. We ended up pulling out all the connections and hooking the receiver directly to the TV (usually it goes through the TIVO). This isn't easy, since the TIVO, video distribution box, and DirecTV receiver are in a small cabinet space above the TV, with Velcro and straps to hold them secure when we travel, plus the wires are tangled and too short to pull everything out and get a clear view of the connections . . . Arghh! Finally Ken ended up spending a long time on the phone to tech support, finally escalating to a supervisor who agreed to send a replacement receiver. Meanwhile we have the park cable, which is pretty basic.
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Chicken Soup

Quiet day today. I (Lee) went to the 30 minute "Video Exercize" at the clubhouse. The video this morning was a "walking" cardio program featuring Leslie Sansone. Then I took Sweetie to get a bath, only I couldn't find the shop...so all I accomplished was some grocery shopping and getting quarters for laundry.

While we ate our lunch we watched an episode of American Experience featuring Charles Schultz--one we had recorded months ago. Peanuts has always been one of my favorites, probably because it resonates with my own sense of the enigmas and frustrations of life, but within a context of a world in which there will always be another shot at the football....

This afternoon Ken went to order new lenses for his glasses, and I cooked chicken vegetable soup. Yummy, and leftovers to boot. This evening we'll attend an A-2 dance at Pharr South called by Randy Dougherty.

Today was sunny and actually so warm that we turned on the air conditioning. Ken located the NABA headquarters on Google maps. We think we will be able to bike there, but we'll try for a cooler time to do it.
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Ice Cream Social

The sunny weather is back, so we went for a quick bike ride this afternoon, checking out the Tanglewood development north of here. Big homes, nice neighborhood, but lots of empty lots . . . The economy probably isn't helping home sales here.

Afterwards we walked over to the ice cream social at the clubhouse with our neighbors. The social part was better than the ice cream. We met a fulltimer couple who went to Alaska last May and June. Their descriptions stoked our interest in making the trip ourselves, which we are definitely planning on doing, as soon as we have a spare summer 8-)

We had sweet potato hash with eggs for breakfast. It was surprisingly good. For dinner we had Cornish game hens cooked in my usual way, except that I didn't have Uncle Ben's Long Grain and Wild Rice, so I used a "copycat" recipe from the web. It was not a lot like the original, but still good. Read more!

Cold Day

It rained last night, with a low in the 40s, and today was cold, windy, and overcast to match. Brrrr. We definitely needed our jackets when we went dancing. The dancing was fun, but we missed our friends Hardy and Judy. Hardy had cataract surgery yesterday, and his eye is still swollen. They'll be leaving Monday to go to San Antonio to celebrate Thanksgiving with their family there and a son flying in from LA.

After the dance we went to the Barajas Vision Clinic to order Ken's new lenses. We had a bit of trouble locating it--Rosie wasn't aware that the street had been extended. We'll have to go back Monday, since the clinic had a sign in the window that they were closed until then. Maybe before then we'll load our new GPS map CD into the truck's nav system.

Tonight I baked a chocolate cobbler and served it with vanilla ice cream. It's an amazingly easy way to make a lowfat, luscious chocolate dessert. Yum.
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Rummikub

Tuesdays and Thursdays are card and game nights at Bentsen Palms, so after dinner we walked over to the clubhouse with our Rummikub game in hand. One table of Mexican train dominoes and one of "Hand and Foot" (a canasta variant)were already in progress. Our neighbors Gary and Mary Ann Erickson joined us for Rummikub, which they had never played. We played four hands, and each of us went out once (we didn't keep score), so everyone was satisfied with the evening's fun.

Gary and Mary Ann are Kansans and Excel owners, so we have some things in common. In other ways their lives have been very different from ours. Gary is a rancher, and Mary Ann taught second grade for years. They spend summers at their ranch in Kansas--Mary Ann says Gary will never retire.
Earlier in the day we biked over to Bentsen RGV State Park and went around the outside loop twice, for a trip of about 12 miles. We saw another peccary in the undergrowth and lots of birds and butterflies. Next time we'll take our bike lock and binoculars so we can take one of the hiking trails.
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Mr. Rhodes's Wild Ride

Today we had a little more excitement than usual. After square dancing in the morning, we went on a tour of the local real estate developer's property. The Bentsen Palm Village RV Park that we're staying in, and the Retama Village we rode our bikes through yesterday, are two parts of a single development project. Mike Rhodes, the man who owns the development company, takes people on tours of the property he's developing. That's the tour we took today.



Mike is both driver and tour guide.











The tour was as interesting as we expected, and a lot more exciting. The tour bus is an off-road vehicle of Mike's own design. The three-hour tour had only just begun when we found out why he needs this kind of rig. He stopped on one of the levees used along the Rio Grande. To stop he pulled off to the side of the road that runs along the top of the levee. But the road covers the whole top of the levee. So pulling off to the side meant that the rig ended up parked on the sloping side of the dirt levee. We found ourselves sitting at what felt like a 45 degree angle. It probably was less of an angle than that, but it was enough to feel very uncomfortable.



The Beast.











To show us everything he has planned, he had to take us into some of the undeveloped land along the Rio Grande. That involved some more use of the off-road capabilities of his vehicle. We plunged off the levee and onto a small track through the vegetation. Mike pointed out a resaca--an ox bow lake created when the Rio Grande took a more direct route and left one of its bends apparently unconnected to the current path of the river. The water remains fresh because the lake and the river still communicate underground. One route took us onto what Mike called the jungle road, which looked basically impassable.



Here's Mike explaining that it really does make sense to head into the "jungle."











Mike explained that his property measures 4 miles by 4.5. He has plans for 11 different housing developments in addition to the RV resort. He has worked out deals that involved changes in the use of the state park next door, the location of the North American Butterfly Association's headquarters, and the establishment of a charter school that's breaking all sorts of records.

Mike pointed out an interesting house that was bought recently in one of his neighborhoods. It's a big house--4700 square feet. It has 5 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, and a media room. Mike said it has almost all the available upgrades--like granite countertops. The house sold for $250,000.






Mike showing us the Rio Grande side of his property.









After the tour Mike treated us, and the whole campground, to free margaritas. It's a weekly event we plan to attend regularly.
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Video Exercise

Lee started the morning by joining a group of ladies in the clubhouse for "Video Exercize," which turned out to be an enjoyable aerobics video. An ongoing issue is how to stay fit while RVing. Unfortunately our square dancing plans will conflict with most of the exercise sessions, but I am walking more since I got my new high tech pedometer. It's especially good that I can carry it in my pocket, since I tend to drop the ones that you clip on your belt. Plus it has a 7 day memory, and it keeps track of aerobic steps and minutes.

Later Ken and I biked the Mission Hike and Bike Trail. You can see the route on our Rio Grande Valley map . (It's the blue line extending from the green placemark for Bentsen Palm RV Resort to the violet placemark for the Hike and Bike Park.)
















We also explored the Retama Village development next door created by the same company that developed Bentsen Palm RV Resort where we are staying. We toured models of small retirement homes and homes with attached RV "Coach port", both quite attractive.

We finished the day by dancing to the calling of Randy Dougherty at Pharr South. There were fewer couples than last week, and the floor level was low, but we got to visit and dance with our new friends Hardy and Judy, Bob and Doris, and Bob and Pat. Read more!

IMAS

Today we visited the International Museum of Art and Science in McAllen. The collection is quite eclectic. One hall was filled with an invitational presentation entitled "Black and White Redefined." It featured artists from Northern Tamaulipas (Mexico) and South East Texas. One curious entry was an acrylic of children's alphabet blocks spelling out the words "Black & White"--but the blocks were brightly colored. It's title was "Black and White in Color."















Highlights of the permanent collection included an array of masks from Africa and the Americas.






We had hoped to see some of the geological specimens from the museum's extensive collection, but none were on exhibit when we were there.

Another room featured stained glass window icons, including a Tiffany window.



















We didn't pay to see the special exhibit "Torture Instruments Through the Ages."

One theme running through many of the exhibits is the human suffering and humiliation involved in illegal immigration.

Earlier in the day we worked on cleaning the rig. Lee washed the rubber roof while Ken cleaned and partially waxed the front end cap (which always collects bugs when we travel).

This morning Sweetie actually ran around with a bounce in her step when she encountered other dogs in the large grassy dog park. This dog park is really something--it includes a dog agility course. (Somehow I couldn't see Sweetie jumping through hoops!) All the other dogs are much younger than Sweetie. One Sheltie named Captain is just six months old and would love for Sweetie to chase him.

We also signed up for the Thanksgiving dinner to be held at the park.


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Nuevo Progreso Trip

We square danced this morning at Darryl Lipscomb's concept dance. He uses some concepts borrowed from a level of dancing higher than the advertised level. This was the most challenging dance we've gone to since we arrived in the Rio Grande Valley. Forty-one couples were at the dance. Some of them have been coming to this dance for years. They tell us that during the winter, after all of the winter Texans have arrived in the valley; the attendance grows to over a hundred couples.

Among the square dancers we've met here are Hardy and Judy Pottinger. They live in the valley all year. We accepted their invitation to join them and a group of friends on their weekly trip into Mexico for drinks and lunch after the dance. We drove to the Rio Grande and then walked across a bridge into the town of Nuevo Progreso. It happened to be Hardy's birthday today, so the lunch turned into a birthday party. One of the guys brought a birthday cake, so we all had cake for dessert.


Lee sat next to Hardy and Judy at lunch.










Our friends told us about a shop near the restaurant that gives good haircuts. Lee decided to try it. She got a haircut that she likes a lot--and a neck and back massage--for five dollars.

On the way home we stopped at one of the local attractions, the La Lomita (Little Hill) Chapel. The chapel was first built in 1865 as an adobe overnight way station for padres who regularly traveled on horseback between nearby towns. The 12 by 25 foot structure was rebuilt of sandstone in 1889. It has original brick floors; rough, heavy-beamed ceilings shaped from native trees; an outdoor "beehive" oven; and the original water well. The chapel is in a park with picnic facilities and signs describing historical elements of the site.



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Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park

We checked out Bentsen RGV State Park today. We bicycled to the park office to get a map and information about the park. Then we bicycled through the park, checking out the facilities set up for bird watching. Although the emphasis in this area is on birds and butterflies, there is other wildlife in the park. We found this peccary looking for food under some bird feeders.
















As we rode along we couldn't help comparing the wild, natural state of this park with the concrete San Gabriel River that we used to bike along in Long Beach.


This trip was mainly to get to know the park. We saw several things we want to go back and check out--like a hiking trail that leads down to the Rio Grande, and a boat launch where we might be able to put a kayak into the water, and a hawk observation tower.
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The Move to Bentsen Palm Village

Today we moved to the RV park that will be our home for the rest of the year. Bentsen Palm Village RV Park has a lot going for it. It's very attractive (maybe because the palm trees remind us of Southern California). Most of the plantings are native host or nectar plants for butterflies, so everywhere you look is a swirl of butterflies. A paved bike path runs right by the entrance to the park, so our bikes will get plenty of use here. There are kayaks available for use on the Rio Grande, which is just half a mile down the road.






The park is right next to the Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park, It is lived in or visited by more than 325 species of birds and over 250 species of butterflies on 760 acres of riparian woodland. This is said to be a key migratory stopover. The park features nature trails, a hawk tower, birding blinds and viewing stations, tram tours and plenty of opportunities for bird and wildlife photography. Motorized vehicles aren't allowed, so this will be another place to use our bikes. We expect to visit the park a lot.

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A T. Rex Named Sue

The University of Texas has a Panamerican campus near us in the city of Edinburg, Texas. We stopped by this afternoon to see their replica of the skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex named Sue. Sue is impressive! When we went into the room where Sue has been put, her open mouth was pointed right at us. Reminded us of a scene from the movie Jurassic Park.










This is an almost complete skeleton from the western United States. The real skeleton is owned and displayed by the Field Museum of Chicago. Apparently several replicas have been made for display in other places, and one of the traveling replicas is here in Edinburg.
















Lee checks out a display of the skull.












Along one side of the room are some display panels with information and hands-on displays dealing with some of what is known about the T. Rex--like how its neck vertebrae move to allow it to pull its head back toward its body to maintain its balance.


The university was also showing a video about dinosaurs in its planetarium. The half-hour show covered a lot of interesting information that was new to us--like the fact that an area of the western states has an orange layer of rock that divides rock with dinosaur fossils from rock in which dinosaurs fossils are not found. Below this layer--lots of dinosaurs, above the layer--no dinosaurs. The source of this orange layer isn't known for sure. One possibility is that it's debris thrown into the atmosphere by the massive meteor often spoken of as hitting the earth 65 million years ago.

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Laundry and sun

We decided to do the laundry today. Nice that the laundry room in the park where we are staying is right next to the hot tub and pool, so while we waited for the machines, we got to soak and sun.

Later we went to HEB for milk, but otherwise just hung out. We're looking forward to doing a lot while we're in the Valley, but this week Lee has not been feeling great, so we're keeping it low key.
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Dancing Again!

Today we started our Rio Grande Valley square dancing experience. We went to an advanced dance in called by Randy Dougherty--his first Wednesday dance of the 2008-2009 season. The dance was in Pharr at a mobile home park named Pharr South. It was good to learn that we haven't forgotten everything over the summer, even though we haven't been dancing regularly.


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Bentsen Palm Village

We're going to spend several weeks at Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort. We've come to Texas's Rio Grande Valley to do some square dancing; and this park is in Mission, Texas, the town where a lot of the dances are held. Apparently most of the winter Texans fleeing the cold up north don't start arriving until January. So we had no trouble getting a place to stay for this coming weekend through December. That works out well for us, since we want to about the first of January to head of Quartzsite, Arizona, where we'll meet some friends for the RV show that takes place there every winter. Fortunately, the square dance callers start arriving the first of November, so we'll have plenty of dancing available between now and the end of the year.



Our campsite will look something like the one in this picture from the park's web site.











They've planted hundreds of trees (palm, mesquite, retama, fiddlewood, poinsiana, anacua and others) and lots of native plants and groundcover. They've made a point of including plants that attract butterflies, and there are butterflies all over the place.
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Arrival in the Rio Grande Valley

We left Lake Corpus Christi State Park this morning and headed south for the Rio Grande Valley. Ken drove all the way, with stops to do some grocery shopping and to have lunch. Today we looked at several RV parks in Mission. We have decided to stay at Bentsen Palms Village RV Resort. It's near the State Park and five miles of hike and bike trails.

After three hours of checking out parks, we stopped at a small Mexican restaurant for supper and had shrimp enchiladas. Lee is feeling better but still not over an upper respiratory infection that's been laying her low for the last few days, so we'll probably just hang out for the next couple of days.
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