Going, Going, Gone!!

Hi all, Dianne here.  What's wrong with this picture?

We're the only ones left from our nightly happy hour group!  Much of Retama Village is emptying out as snow birds head north.  Our friends Jim and Sue are still here, but our East Mallard Drive group has already left.  It all began just a couple of days ago when Tim and Bonnie headed out for their summer in Colorado.  I missed getting their photo as they left, but yesterday Bob and Linda were next...

Pulling Out...

Hooking Up...

Hope we remember all the steps when we leave April 11...haven't had to do it since September!

Off to start their summer adventures!

Finally, this morning Jeff and Val headed north to their home in Manitoba, Canada:

If you look closely, you can spot Val and their cute dog Maggie in the Passenger Seat

Roger and I have been working hard to get ourselves ready to hit the road April 11.  We've had the motorhome carpet cleaned, cabinets cleaned out and rearranged, but there's still more work to do before we're ready to leave.  We have a wash and wax scheduled for the motor home next Friday, and we're still moving things back and forth trying to decide what to take and what to leave behind for six months.

On March 21-26  I took a short spring break to join high school girlfriends at a condo near Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  We all went to school together in Frankfort, Indiana, but flew in from Chicago, Indiana, Michigan and me from Texas. Penny was our guide, since she lives there on Pompano Beach.  Some of my high school buds read our blog, so here are photos of the highlights of my trip for them:

 My friend Karen brought matching cover-ups for all of us so we could be "quintuplets" on our girls weekend.  Trouble is, we wore them so much and forgot we had them on -- you should have seen the looks we got from people who didn't know why five 62-year-old grandmothers (except Margy, she's just 62, not a grandma so far) would be acting so silly and dressed alike!  Let's just say those huge bubba mugs in the photo didn't contain water....

Then there was the happy hour at the Tiki Bar...

Matching eyewear courtesy of Nancy...

More strange looks, and more silliness...

Two of the guys from our Indiana high school, one a '68 classmate and another from the class of '65 joined us for a barbecue at the beach.  We can all proudly call ourselves Frankfort Hot Dogs (that really is the mascot name!)  Actually, Nancy (in the middle) wasn't from our school, but she might as well have been, and we consider her an honorary Frankfort Hot Dog.

Larry, Me, Karen, Nancy, Margy, Chuck, and Penny

On our final evening together we took a dinner cruise through the intracoastal waterway:

 As you can see in the photo, we came well-equipped (Penny and Margy discreetly hid their bottle).  We all had a wonderful time and it was great to see them and revert back to our high school silliness for a while.  It was kinda like the slumber parties we used to have, although we didn't stay up nearly as late as we did back in the day.

Back in Texas, one of the things Roger and I wanted to do before we hit the road was to make a quick day trip across the border to Progreso, Mexico for some cheap prescription drugs and shopping.  We managed to get over and back in under two hours, mainly because our favorite outdoor margarita bar wasn't open the day we were there.  I stocked up on Mexican vanilla and found some very heavy, colorful drinking glasses and a salsa decanter:

I think the glasses will go well with my Fiesta dishes.  I'll be leaving the Fiesta and glassware behind when we hit the road, for it will be paper and plastic for us for the next six months.

My wildlife cam took some exciting night-life photos behind our fence this month.  Here's just a sampling:

Big Ole' Coyote

Big Ole' Skunk

Since the local sugar cane fields have been harvested (good hiding places), there has been a lot of Border Patrol activity right here near our neighborhood lately.  If any of you have watched  Border Wars on the National Geographic Channel, much of the activity when they film in Texas takes place right here in the Mission/McAllen area.  We don't need to watch TV to catch the action.  Here are some shots of the Border Patrol agents searching the trench behind our place for illegals trying to pass through.  Most of us have the phone numbers for Border Patrol programmed into our cell phones to phone in any activity we might see. Believe it or not, we slept right through this activity which took place right behind our bedroom in the motor home.  Bandido didn't even wake up!

A little blurry, but you get the idea.  They must have been moving fast!

I'm sure the question in your mind is "Are you afraid to be there?"  My answer is no, not at all.  We feel only compassion for the poor souls who try to cross the river to find a better life.  Most have paid large sums of money to crooks who have taken terrible advantage of them.  The Border Patrol here is very responsive and constantly on the alert, and the illegals are routinely rounded up and sent back over the border.

Back here, the view through our back pergola shows empty patios where once was snacking and laughter and friends gathered around fire pits.  We know that we'll pick up next fall right where we left off, but today it sure is lonely on East Mallard Drive!

The pet photo of the day shows Bandido and Tequila as Jeff and Val drove past on their way north.  They seem to be saying "Where is everybody??!! 

Bye, Maggie!  See you next year!

New Experiences on Our Last Day at Retama

Roger here....    Well, the kids have gone back to their lives.  Dianne and I have been working like dogs to get ready for new travels.  Lots to do to get the coach house and motor home ready for our departure -- most of it done :-).


On our last day at Retama Village, we decided to experience a couple of new things before leaving civilization and traveling to the wilderness of West Texas.  


Our first new adventure involved getting our teeth cleaned.  Oh, we have gotten our teeth cleaned before (twice a year for many years), but this time it was in Mexico!  Lots of Winter Texans do this, so.... with some encouragement from new friends, we decided to give it a try.  It was a good experience.

The first step was traveling to Progreso, TX and parking on the U.S. side of the border.
Love the sign and the laid-back attitude.  (We did pay the $2 :-)


Dianne took a picture of the bridge over the Rio Grande and we walked across to Nuevo Progreso, Mexico (a safe haven in a dangerous area) after dropping a quarter into the turnstile.

There are literally dozens of dentists in Nuevo Progreso.  Friends gave us several recommendations.  We chose Dr. Mustre, whose office was a half a block from the bridge.  See the sign on the right side of the photo?

Our teeth are now sparkling and for only $20 per person.  Please don't tell our dentist (and good friend) back home.  No appointment, up-to-date equipment, and the wait was only five minutes.

After the cleaning, we wandered across the street and made a couple of purchases.  The first was a set of Talavera tequila/cordial glasses.

The second was an impulse buy by Dianne, the stoic, "don't-buy-anything-we-don't-need" person.  She saw a Mexican pottery Nativity Scene for only $14.  So cool.  

Clean teeth, Mexican tequila glasses, a new Nativity scene -- time to celebrate.  No better place than the Happy Dentist Plaza, where Dianne and I had the best margaritas ever (for three dollars).

The friendly (everyone here is friendly) couple at the bar were waiting to see their dentist.  The guy, with a smile, told me that the margaritas looked "dangerous."  

We enjoyed our drinks while watching a stream of cars crossing the border.

Time to move on to the second new experience...  We have bought phones before, but they were evidently dumb phones.  Our two daughters (and our granddaughter) have been cajoling us to move into the next century.  Since my dumb phone has been turning itself off (without any prompting from me -- evidently, it is also a lazy phone), the time arrived to upgrade.  After a quick drive to McAllen, and some advice from the Verizon salesman, Carlos, we are now the proud owners of a new pair of iPhones.  G-4's, no less (whatever that means.)

The learning curve will be steep (probably not for Dianne), but our kids are s-o-o-o-o proud.  Can't wait to figure out what an "app" is!  

The pet picture of the day shows Bandido, who has now mastered the ramps at the agility course.  Makes a dad so proud!

Stick with us as we leave the comforts of Retama Village and move on to the wilds of West Texas;  hopefully, avoiding the WILDFIRES.

Nuevo Progreso, Mexico

Hi all -- Dianne here. We finally took a day trip across the border to Progreso, Mexico on Monday. It was about a 45-minute drive from our campground to the international bridge. We parked ($2 for all day) on the U.S. side (along with hundreds of other "Winter Texans"), put 25 cents into a turnstile, and walked across the bridge.

That's all there is to it, to enter Mexico here from the U.S. (Coming back to the U.S. we had to show our passports and answer questions from the border agent about our purchases.)

It looks like Roger is in jail, but this is just a shot of him looking out at the river from the bridge.

Once across the bridge it is like a cruise port, with hundreds of people crowding the sidewalks, and shops catering to tourists all up and down the streets. The main difference is that at least half, if not more, of the shops were dental offices, pharmacias, optometrist offices, barber/beauty shops, even shoe shine entrepreneurs right on the sidewalk. Of course, there are people everywhere hawking merchandise as you walk along and handing out business cards for the many dentists and other services.

We didn't take advantage of these services this trip over, because we wanted to do a little shopping and have margaritas and lunch. We'll probably go back and at least get our teeth cleaned (I hear it's only $15 with no appointment necessary!) Many people have extensive dental work done and come here just for that. From all reports we have from talking to people who have done it, the dentists there do beautiful work and have all been trained in the U.S. Some even live in the U.S. and do business in Mexico. It's economically beneficial to them to do this, because they can avoid paying malpractice insurance and can therefore charge lower prices.

We had a delicious lunch at Arturo's, with white linen tablecloths, attentive wait staff, and delicious food. We each had a margarita; mine frozen and Roger's on the rocks. The fresh salsa was especially tasty.

I took a quick photo before we finished if off, to give you an idea of how fresh it was. The warm baked tortilla chips were also especially good.

Roger had beef tacos

and I had something called Arturo's torta, which was soft bread rolls with beef and peppers inside, smothered with a spicy sauce.

We split some caramel cheesecake for dessert.

Kaia, when we see you next month, we'll give you the little bracelet we had made for you with your name on it. Here is a photo of the young man

making the bracelet for us as we watched. Kaia is an unusual name, so it was fun to be able to get this custom made so quickly. Of course, it's always fun to buy trinkets for our granddaughter!