Butterflies and Bugs

One of the regular activities at the state park next to our RV park is a butterfly walk. We took that in this afternoon. A park naturalist and a volunteer butterfly expert led the walk.

Some of the volunteers we've seen in the park wore the same khaki and green uniform as the park employees, but these volunteers were different. Mike is a lepidopterist, and his red jacket and soft hat were in sharp contrast to the uniform.
















Sometimes the group had the butterflies surrounded. The people who are really into butterflies came equipped with serious cameras and binoculars.














The expert commented that the cold weather we've had around here lately has reduced the number of butterfly species he sees during a day. During the summer it was 80-90 a day, lately it been only 30-40. Here are pictures of some of the butterflies we saw.





The Queen.






















The American Snout.

















The White Patch.











The White Peacock.













The Fatal Metalmark.












Besides the butterflies, we say a number of other interesting insects. One was a spider that was in the process of wrapping silk threads around a bee that had gotten caught in its web.















Then there's the Mesquite Bug.












And a pair of Cotton Stainers.
















Before going on the butterfly walk we enjoyed a couple of hours of square dancing. Mondays and Thursdays we dance to the calling of Jerry Story, one of Lee's favorite callers. Our new friends Bob and Doris are the couple in the white shirts in this picture.














After the square dance this morning, we stopped at a craft show and sale at Mission Bell to look for removable sequin appliques. I got some for Christmas, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, and Fourth of July. After the removable pressure sensitive glue is allowed to dry on the back of the appliques, they can be put on any shirt. The beauty of this for a fulltime RVer is that we have no room for holiday clothing that can only be worn for a short time each year.

For the last couple of days, I (Lee) have been sending out holiday "cards" by email, and we've gotten some replies. My niece Juli sent greetings--the first communication I've had from her since her dad's funeral over a year ago. It was good to hear from her. We've decided to save trees and postage and simplify our lives, now that we're retired and traveling, so we won't be sending out any paper Christmas cards. That is, unless Ken finds some with a fifth wheel and palm trees in the sunshine--his idea of a great Christmas scene.
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Sam Is Two

Today is Sam's second birthday, but his mom says that he is insisting that he is four. He is definitely a charmer. Julie posted some pictures of the birthday party on photobucket. It's not the same as being there, but it is wonderful to be able to see the photos so quickly at a distance.

Cate helped her brother celebrate.

We decided to put up our Christmas tree and decorations. This is the first Christmas we'll actually spend in Venture, and the holiday lights add to the Christmas feeling.

We got up at 9 after staying up late last night and had a lazy day. The wind blew, as it has been doing a lot lately. Ken put the rope lights we had bought around the patio, so we have some light at night.

We took a cd of our photos from last night over to share with Gary and Mary Ann and got copies of their photos. I showed Mary Ann how to email photos, so we hope to get more from them. They leave in the morning to celebrate Christmas in Kansas with their kids.

Breakfast was ham and french toast with applesauce topping and grapefruit. Supper turned out to be fish soup--mainly because I goofed and thought I was adding some frozen chicken bits to the soup, but they were actually tilapia intended for fish tacos--oops. The soup was okay but not especially good, so won't do that again....
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Holiday Fun

Gary and Mary Ann wanted to check out Pepe's on the River, a live entertainment bar and restaurant in a very large palapa overlooking the Rio Grande. We set out at 5 p.m., Gary driving and Ken navigating. Pepe's is at the southern end of Conway St., but the last part of the route is on top of the levee. When we arrived a country western band was playing in the palapa, which was somewhat enclosed by hanging tarps. We decided to eat on the deck overlooking the river, partly for the view and partly so we could talk more easily.

We ordered margaritas and nachos supreme, which had been recommended by someone in guest services. The margaritas and the company were great, and the view of the sunset over the river was too. However, the nachos took a very long time to arrive and were rather cool when we got them. We decided to leave rather than ordering food.

We drove to Hidalgo, a town south of McAllen, which has a very large holiday light show our friends had suggested. It was easy to tell when we had arrived--the lights were dazzling.

The most unusual and attractive display was of two Chinese lions made of bottles filled with colored water.

Gary parked and we walked into the central display area in front of City Hall. A boys choir in striking costumes was performing holiday songs in Spanish, with the younger boys having lovely clear soprano voices. Tours of the displays were offered by tram and by horse drawn wagons. Mary Ann's reaction to the horses was not positive--she said that the farm animal she liked was cows, because "they make money"! We took the tram ride to see the displays and heard a commentary about the light show and the history of the town that was quite interesting. The displays were quite eclectic--including Cinderalla's coach and a group of dinosaurs along with hundreds of large "Christmas card" posters. Before we left we posed for pictures in front of the City Hall Christmas tree.

















Afterwards we were hungry and went home to fix bacon and eggs with toast and fresh pineapple and mocha cappuchino, a delightful close to an evening with friends. Gary and Mary Ann are leaving Sunday morning to go home to Kansas for Christmas, and we aren't sure if they will return before we leave January 3. If not, we hope to renew our friendship next season when we all return.
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Chole and Rummikub

We did our laundry this morning, as usual, and danced to Jerry Story this afternoon. For supper we had a version of chole Masala, an Indian dish with garbanzo beans and tomato gravy spiced with garam masala. We ate it over brown rice and topped with plain yogurt. Ken and I both liked it, and the exotic smell was still in the air when Gary and Mary Ann came over to play Rummikub.


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A Touch of Frost

In the morning we square danced to Joe Saltel with our friends, then home to lunch. The day was sunny and fine, so we set out with our neighbors, Gary and Mary Ann, on a bike ride through the state park. It was their first trip to the park, and they were trying out their new folding bikes. We saw lots of chachalacas and javelinas and enjoyed the ebony grove and resaca.

Since we've ridden through the park a few times, Lee was able to use the park map to point out where we'd be going.


We paused at the ebony grove. It's across the trail from a group of bird feeders.
















We saw a lot of chachalacas today. Some of them were watching us as much as we were watching them.



















The water in the resaca was a smooth as glass today.










This evening we went with Gary and Mary Ann to the annual holiday concert of the Rio Grande Valley Symphony Orchestra and Chorale, called "A Touch of Frost." Not that there's actually any frost here, but the title works as a play on words, since the major sponsor is Frost Bank. We planned to arrive early, at 7:30 for an 8:00 show, but when we arrived we realized we were none too early. The lobby was jam packed with people. We joined a line snaking up and down the large area and waited patiently, making very slow progress, with thousands of other patrons (the audience was 2600). It turned out that the snaking line was a spontaneous creation of early arrivals, and as we were approaching the front of the line, the organization collapsed and everyone just started moving towards the entrance. We got to our seats with moments to spare, but the concert actually started late to permit most of the crowd to be seated.

The new McAllen Convention Center is a striking facility, but event planners clearly have some things to learn about crowd management. The seating in the vast hall was on folding chairs, and all the lighting and sound system was specially installed for the performance, a tremendous feat.

The performance included quite a variety of music. Several offerings were from the Messiah. Some were Mexican in origin; Mexico en la Piel, for example. In keeping with the festive nature of the holidays, there were several light-hearted works by Leroy Anderson: Sleigh Ride, Syncopated Clock, Bugler's Holiday, Forgotten Dreams, and Plink, Plank, Plunk. The musicians were talented. The music was upbeat. We had a great time. It was especially nice to be able to share the experience with friends.

For lunch we had BLT's with the leftover tomato soup. For supper we finished off the turkey green bean casserole along with yellow squash and onions, and of course salad. The fridge and freezer are packed to brimming again, so I'll have to work more assiduously to clear them out.
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Valley Real Estate

We've been noticing that winter Texans have a number of different types of housing available to them around here. Some live in RV parks like the one we're in. Some have their own homes, often in developments that have amenities like those we find in RV parks--community rooms, swimming pools, billiards rooms, etc. The latest options include homes with high-roofed storage for RVs--often with full RV utility hookups.

Today we decided to take a closer look at some of the possibilities. This seems to be a growing area, and it might pay us to invest in some local real estate. We drove through a few developments and looked at a few homes and some lots that are for sale. Then, on the way home, we took another look at the model home in Retama Village, the development just north of us.


We probably won't buy anything this year, but we feel good about starting to collect information on some possibilities for the future.

For supper we had planned a weenie roast with our neighbors, but the gusty winds made us decide that building a fire probably wasn't a good idea today. We had sweet potato pancakes, applesauce, ham, and tea instead. The pancakes were surprisingly good. Here's the recipe in case you'd like to try it:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 1/4 cups mashed cooked sweet potatoes
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup milk

In a mixing bowl, combine the flours and baking powder.

In another bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, and mashed sweet potatoes. Add the dry ingredients. Blend only until batter is evenly moistened. Add more milk if necessary to make the batter workable.

On griddle over medium heat, nonstick spray, ladle 1/4 cup of batter into the skillet. With the back of the ladle, spread batter out (it will be a bit thick). Cook for about 1 minute, then, using a spatula, turn and brown the other side. Continue with remaining batter, adding more spray as needed to prevent sticking. Serve immediately or keep warm in a 200 oven.

Note: if the heat is too high, the pancakes will burn before they are cooked in the center. You can microwave the sweet potato (one large one will do it)and let cool slightly before scooping out the flesh, or use canned, or boil and peel.

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Burger Bash

The park hosted a burger bash this evening, with burgers and fixings, potato salad, chips, barbecue beans, and M&M mini cookies. We went with Gary and Mary Ann and set up our lawn chairs outside because the clubhouse was crowded and the day was fine.












By the time we had finished eating, it was twilight and chilly. Gary and Mary Ann came back to the rig with us and taught us to play a card game, Play Nine. We used regular cards rather than the special card game, so we didn't have the cute little golf ball character on our cards, but it worked just fine. It's an easy social game to chat over, with lots of luck and some strategy.

For brunch I fixed whole grain silver dollar pancakes (oat flour and whole wheat) with blueberry topping, served with tropical fruit and bacon. Yumm--reminded Ken of the wonderful breakfasts we enjoyed at the Bed and Breakfast lodging we stayed at above Kealakekua Bay on Hawaii's Kona coast. For lunch we had homemade tomato soup with cheese toast and bananas. I think we're a bit short on veggies today.
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NABA International Butterfly Park

We went back to the butterfly park today. This time the air was still and the temperature around 75--a great day to view butterflies, and there were plenty of them. We saw some Zebra Helliconiums, a Common Mestra, a Brown Longtail, many Queens and Soldiers, and lots more we don't know the names of. Most of the rest of the people at the park were clearly experienced butterfly watchers. One group offered us advice on which binoculars to buy that wouldn't break the bank--but it turned out that they meant "under $400."


Butterfly "bait" had been put out on a number of logs and posts around the park. Today they were attracting more wasps and bees than butterflies.










Afterwards we biked through the State Park and took a short hike along the Kiskadee Trail. Along the trail we found a bird blind we hadn't seen before. We didn't see many birds, but one was a Great Kiskadee.


This is one of a number of places in the park for seeing birds and other wildlife up close. They usually have several bird feeders and a small pond or other water feature.











For breakfast today we had huevos rancheros and black beans with adobo sauce, spicy and good. One of the reasons was that we had bought some fresh corn tortillas, and yes, they are better. Tonight we had a version of tortilla soup, with crispy strips of corn tortilla for topping.
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Creatures of the Night

Another trip to Bentsen State Park--this time to view wildlife by night. Our tour leader, Josh, is a specialist in dragonflies, but very few of those are active at night. He was also a wealth of information about other night sights at the park, including the elusive Pauraque, a bird that looks for all the world like a heap of leaves--very well camouflaged.


Josh was scanning the area with a spotlight mounted on the top of the van, and the main indication that a pauraque was sitting along the roadside was the yellow eyeshine.

We saw lots of javelinas (as usual), mainly foraging under the bird feeders. We also saw a couple of raccoons, doing the same. One of them was perched on a hanging bird feeder, and when the spotlight surprised it, it scurried along the wire.

It was quite cold tonight, so few insects were active, but we did see a wasp nest. We sat quietly by the resaca and heard a leopard frog and a sheep frog, along with lots of crickets.

Earlier today Ken picked up his glasses with the new lenses he had ordered. We also dropped off our malfunctioning DirecTV receiver at a Fedex drop site, filled up on cheap diesel, stopped by the bank, and did some grocery shopping. This morning we did our laundry. Altogether a productive day, and we had fun dancing to Jerry Story this afternoon too.
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We Take Out the ATV

Bentsen Palm Village provides lots of amenities, including free use of an ATV. We took it out this morning, mainly exploring the areas that Mike had shown us on his tour a couple of weeks ago. However, we didn't include the trip through "the jungle." We also decided not to attempt the sheer drop down to the resaca which terrified me (Lee) when Mike did it in the big off-road vehicle.






We did get off the ATV to walk down to the resaca. We might want to kayak on this resaca if we decide we want to try to get the kayaks down to the water. Here's Lee checking her GPS unit to see how far we are from the Rio Grande.









We'd left the ATV on a levee, so getting back to it required a climb.












We also drove out to Mike Rhodes's Rio Grande River frontage. We wanted another look at the river.























Here's Lee ready to get back into the ATV for the trip back to the RV park.











A highlight of the trip was a visit to NABA, the North American Butterfly Association headquarters. It was a windy day, so we didn't see thousands of butterflies, but we did see a few Zebra Helliconias, real dazzlers.

We observed several Border Patrol agents, including a couple on horseback patrolling near the river. Have I mentioned that Ken is growing a beard? I managed to snap a photo showing the current progress.















We have new neighbors from Ames, Iowa, in a motorhome south of us. They were delayed by a snow storm or they would have been here a couple of days ago. I made some very easy cookies to take to the Margarita hour--pumpkin spice cookies. The two main ingredients were a spice cake mix and a can of pumpkin, and I added some raisins. They were quite popular.
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Busy Day

We danced this morning to Joe Saltel. Hardy and Judy stopped by towards the end of the dance and invited us to join them for lunch at Taco Fiesta, along with Bob and Pat. Hardy has recovered nicely from his cataract surgery and is scheduled to have his second eye done this Friday. The surgeon predicts that Hardy will have 20/20 vision.

After lunch we dropped Ken's Electra off at Bicycle World to have the headlight repaired. Then we went to McAllen Convention Center to buy tickets for us and for our neighbors for a holiday concert next Tuesday. The new convention center complex is quite impressive.

Then we stopped by Best Buy for Ken to look at cameras. He wants to replace the Kodak that has quit working (probably because it was involved in a collision with the ground when Ken fell crossing a stream while carrying it).
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Jerry Story

Jerry Story is one of our favorite callers, and today was his first dance of the season in the Rio Grande Valley. We had fun despite the fact that there were only three squares. Jerry quipped that there were a dozen and a half donuts per square. We expect that many more dancers will be joining us next week. Jerry calls at the Peppermint Palace--clearly so named because it is red and white striped--in El Valle del Sol RV Resort.

We drove around the park, which has lots of RV spaces, but didn't like it quite as much as Pharr South.
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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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