Houston

News flash!!!! Houston is hot, humid and has horrendous traffic. But on the plus side they have a wonderful Elks Club with full hookups and a swimming pool… all for $15/night. It was such a great deal that we stayed here almost a month. I personally liked all of the animals that were out and about. Two rigs down was a funny dog and a cat that came to call (I wasn’t very hospitable – I hissed!). Next door there were two graceful greyhounds who glided in and out of their motorhome several times a day.

While we were here Chris disappeared for about 10 days. I kept looking for her, but I couldn’t find her anywhere. Gary said she had gone to NJ to help her Mom celebrate her 90th birthday. So Gary and I hung out and got to know all the neighbors. He went swimming so much I thought he might bring me a fish or turn into one.

When Chris got back they went off sightseeing a couple of times. Once to see Galveston and once to tour the NASA space center. We stayed at the Elks through Memorial Day because they had a big party and because we didn’t want to be out traveling on the holiday weekend. I taught them that trick.

Check out our pictures from Houston…

 

Corpus Christi, TX

A whole week in one place! That’s my idea of traveling This place has lots of birds and people walking their dogs so I had plenty to keep me busy while the other two were off sightseeing.

With a whole week, they figured they would be able to sightsee every other day and relax on the down days. However…. we had a technological breakdown. Our four-year-old laptop (the one I’m sitting on in the picture) just wouldn’t start. We knew we were going to replace it this year, but just not at this moment. The Geek Squad was able to recover most of our data onto an external hard drive. So a large part of the week was spent learning the new Windows 7 environment and getting back to “normal”. Words to the wise… backup your stuff and write down accounts and passwords.

They did take breaks from the new computer to go off three times: to Padre Island National Seashore (yes, they do drive on the beach there); to tour the USS Lexington (aircraft carrier with lots of decks, stairs and ladders to climb that is permanently berthed in CC bay); and to drive around the bay stopping in Fulton for wonderful seafood lunch.

Rio Grande Valley

From Big Bend NP, we moseyed down to Del Rio where we stayed in a nice, new RV park called Broke Mill, just outside of town. Nearby there is a beautiful, big reservoir called Amistad. Gary and Chris had a great dinner at a place called the Sirloin Stockade. Gary had wanted a good steak and they were pleasantly surprised to find that it was a buffet and all the sides were as good as the state. I, as you might expect, had my usual in the go-mobile.

Somewhere between Del Rio and Laredo, the landscape changed from the Chihuahuan Desert to a more tropical look and feel. The only campground in Laredo is the Casa Blanca Lake State Park. The sites were big enough and very reasonably priced. We parked in a spot that was surrounded by trees that were full of birds. I had fun watching the birds while they explored the International shopping opportunities. They tell me a fun place to eat is Rudy’s BBQ where the food is served on butcher paper and the beer is self-served from an iced cooler.

Our third stop in the Rio Grande Valley was in Mission where we stayed at a place that sells RV lots called Retama Village. The development is beautiful with a lovely pool and club house. It is right next door to an international birding center Bentsen RGV State Park. BUT it was HOT… actually hotter and certainly more humid than Phoenix was at the same time. Hmmmm… what’s wrong with this picture?!? Most of the winter residents had cleverly departed by the time we arrived. We all figured it was a fun place to spend the winter.