March 16- 31, 2010

March 16, 2010, Tuesday
It started raining really early and continued most of the day. We had plans to go to an outlet mall over in Mercedes, Texas. The weather was really bad and I was feeling worst than the weather was looking with a sore throat. Rhonda called Clair and told her we were staying home because I wasn’t feeling good and we wouldn’t make it to the mall. We stayed inside watching TV all day and night. Our friends Tom & Barb called this morning letting us know she is having her operation tomorrow at 8 am on her knee. She is having the same operation that Rhonda’s mom had back in October of last year. This was a day we needed to stay in and take it easy.

March 17, 2010, Wednesday
We went over to Dave & Clair’s this morning forgetting there was a flea market on Wednesday in their area. It’s located right down from them. Once we passed over Business 83 Highway, we were only ½ mile from the turn-in to their park. It took us almost ½ hour to go that ½ mile. Once there we visited with them for a little while and then we all departed for an RV dealership to look around since we all enjoy looking at RV’s. After we wore ourselves out going up and down the RV steps for a few hours we went back to their unit. We visited with Sid and Dorothy Lawrence the babysitter (okay doggie-sitter for us); they are such a nice couple. The four of us (Dave, Clair, Rhonda and me) decided to go see a movie - $1 movie for seniors; now you can’t beat that price. Dave and Clair wanted to see, The Blind Side. It’s a movie we had already seen. We didn’t mind seeing the movie again because it was an excellent movie. After the movie we stopped at a nice Mexican restaurant for dinner and back to the 5th-wheel to play some cards.

March 18, 2010, Thursday
Didn’t get out of bed until after 8 am. I slept pretty good last night. Sadie did wake me up at 5:30 am so she could go outside, but we went back to bed right away. Rhonda went with Clair today running around. They went to Old McAllen. I thought it was a historical location but Dave told me it’s more a shopping area, kind of like the town of Progreso, the border town we go to every year. I found out that Rhonda and Clair went to what’s called a ropa, a warehouse loaded with bundle after bundle of clothing. You actually go in with the mindset of winning “the queen of the mountain title” wearing old clothes yourself, making sure not to wear any loose items, e.g. jewelry, glasses, sandals or footwear which might come off easily as you scale the mountain of clothes searching just for the right item(s). Yes that’s Rhonda in the middle of things right on top. I’m told you pay for the clothes by the pound - .35 cents per pound at most of the ropa’s, some even less. And it's my understand that all the clothes are new. My day consisted of watching NCAA basketball starting at 11 am until almost midnight. I went to bed at 12:32 am and laid there until 1:35 am. Getting up I went to the loveseat leaving Sadie in bed with Rhonda. It wasn’t ten minutes later Sadie came out to sleep with me. She needs to be near me most of the time. I like that. There were several upsets in the first round games of the NCAA Tournament. My son-in-law, Kevin did a bracket for the family members wanting to test their skills at picking the winners. It was mentioned by the ladies in the family that the three on top of the standings were all the girls, the guys are all at the bottom. So what does that tell you? It tells me skill and knowledge doesn’t play into the equation, only luck and whether or not the girls like a team name. The team I’m rooting for is Butler. They won their first game beating UTEP 77-59. They were six points behind at half-time but turned it on in the second half to win. They’re a small school from Indianapolis – so I have to root for them being a hometown boy. I don’t think they have enough firepower or bench strength to win the championship, but stranger things have happened (besides I’m in 6th place out of 7 in the standings of our family bracket). And I might add the 7th player didn’t pick any teams therefore his score was zero, otherwise I might be in 7th place.

March 19, 2010, Friday
I slept on loveseat last night, it wasn’t that bad. I woke up just before 7:30 am, turned on GMA, had a banana muffin for breakfast and waited on Rhonda to get up. About 9:10 am I went into bedroom to wake her up. She came out into living area and I went to the back to shave and shower. Completing everything I needed to do this morning I started a pot of coffee and started writing. Rhonda did dishes and her early morning routine. We went over to Dave & Clair’s for a dinner at their park. It was a good dinner consisting of roast beef, with gravy over mashed potatoes and again a wide variety of desserts tested out by yours truly.

March 20, 2010, Saturday
We stayed in most of the day. I watched the NCAA basketball games. Butler won over Murray State 54-52 it was an excellent game (sorry about that Neil & Joan). They now have made it to the sweet sixteen. Rhonda and I both took showers (no, not at the same time come on where’s your mind at?) Getting ready for an evening out with Tom and Barb our friends from Adventureland. We went to Applebee’s for dinner and a farewell visit with them since they are leaving next Friday – the 26th. We had a nice dinner and a good visit with them. We came home and I found out that Kansas (the #1 team in nation) lost to UNI (University of Northern Iowa). The bracket game that Kevin has us in is really messed up now because of this loss and I’m sure a lot of brackets throughout the nation were thrown into the round cylinder. Kimmy and I are the only ones who didn’t pick Kansas. We both picked Kentucky to win the championship. Kimmy (my oldest daughter) is in first place and I’m in sixth place. There’s no way I can beat her and in fact it looks like she will win the bracket game of the family.

March 21, 2010, Sunday
I didn’t get out of bed till after 9 am because it was cold outside and inside. Outside it was 42 degrees and inside it was 48 degrees, so I wasn’t in any hurry to get out of a warm bed. I started feeling bad around 12:30 pm with a headache. At 1pm I went to bed and stayed there until a little after 5 pm. This day was a wasted day just trying to feel better.

March 22, 2010, Monday
It was another cold morning again it was 42 degrees outside and inside it was 48 degrees. Threw some store bought waffles into the toaster and made a pot of coffee. I watched a little TV news turned on computer and printed off a birthday card for Rhonda’s mom, missing you cards for a friend of ours Nancy Biscardi, and my grandson Mikey’s birthday card. We went to see the movie Sherlock Holmes with Dave & Clair. Dave and I were going to golf after the movie but the course was having a tournament so we were unable to play today. Instead the four of us watched the TV shows Dancing with the Stars and Castle.

March 23, 2010, Tuesday
Today we went to Progreso, Mexico to finish up collecting all the medication we needed to pick-up. We had a real nice lunch at a place called Angel’s, I took more pictures, and we came home for a relaxing evening.

March 24, 2010, Wednesday
The day started out pretty good. We both woke-up on the right side of the bed –in a good mood. We were meeting Dave & Clair at a hamburger place well known in the Valley for its large or should I say huge hamburgers. (I’m so bummed out that I forgot my camera to have the proof I needed, now you will just have to take my word – they were gigantic). Meeting them at 10:30 (the place didn’t open up until 11 am) Rhonda brought a deck of cards and we sat at a table playing cards waiting for the owners to open up and take orders. This place only sold hamburgers, French-fries, onion rings, bottled water and Pepsi products. As we sat playing cards this establishment started filling up with hungry people. I was torn between ordering a hamburger for us individually or one double burger that we would split. As I approached the counter to place my order I saw what looked like a side of beef across the grill. My look of astonishment must have been evident to Clair as she said, “See I told you so.” The decision was made for me. The order was for one hamburger (okay, it was a cheese burger) that Rhonda and I would split. Oh yeah, Dave & Clair were braver than us, they each had their own hamburger. After breakfast/lunch the girls went shopping and Dave and I went golfing at a new course for both of us. After golf Dave & I came back to our unit waiting on the girls. We were both really tired. I turned on the TV with one hand while holding an ice cold coke in the other. We both sat back relaxing. Dave dozed off a few times and I just relaxed watching the tube-boob.

March 25, 2010, Thursday
I was out of bed at 7:20 am. Going out to living room I will work on the bills and blog since we are leaving Casa de Valle on March 31st and it will be hard to catch up if I wait too long.

March 26, 2010, Friday
Great day! The score Tom 14; Clair 21; Rhonda 22 and Dave 27, I will explain later. We are going out for a late breakfast at a place called Martha’s. We have been there before and it’s a hot spot for Winter Texans to eat. Today it was lukewarm, not because of the food it’s excellent, it’s because so many have departed the area. The restaurant only had eight customers in the whole place. Normally you are waiting outside the door for someone to finish up so you can get a table. We went over to pick up Dave and Clair. The four of us were making a day of it. First breakfast and then we were going to South Padre Island about 45 minutes away. Driving across Highway 83 eastbound until we reached Highway 100, we then turned left going straight toward the island. Just before arriving we spotted a place called Bobz Place. It reminded me of some place that would be owned by Jimmy Buffett. This store was full of shells – sea-shells. The gamut of merchandise was endless. Things such as jewelry boxes, nightlights, pictures, assorted whatnots all made out of sea-shells. And talk about colorful, WOW! (Tom in the head of a shark and Dave trying to get some headway on a surfboard) (Dave & Clair in a remake of Jaws) But our main purpose was to go for lunch at a place called Popa’s. There you could have all the shrimp you could eat for the low price of $9.99. Before we reached this destination we made a few stops in-between. A lighthouse where you could pay $3 and walk up it to the top, I opted out; for $3 I either needed an elevator or someone to take me piggy-back up to the top (and Dave wasn't up to that). The fight for Rocky-Road ice-cream and the winner is the one with the biggest mouth and she is ...... The girls had already left us because they didn’t want to walk up the stairs. So Dave & I went outside searching for them. Finally calling them on our Verizon system we located them at some condominiums a block or two from the lighthouse. Dave and I hooked up with them at Puerto De Sol Condominiums & Marina. We searched the grounds for a salesperson because the office was locked up. We ran into a gentleman named Mike who introduced himself as the contractor. He couldn’t find the salesperson either. We told him we would come back, but he insisted he would show us some models. There were 56 units in three buildings. So far 60% of the units have been sold. The units consist of three models. A 2 bedroom unit, 2 bedroom loft and a 3 bedroom unit, price ranged from $275,000 - $430,000. We looked at all three models. They were all furnished with the exception of the loft which was still under construction. There are too many amenities to list here. Just some of them are; this being a premier waterfront community with incredible views, a hot-tub and swimming pool kept at regulated temperatures year-round, granite countertops, washer and dryers, all Kenmore appliances and the list goes on and on. Oh did I forget to mention it has its own marina. Rhonda asked the question how much would a slip cost? The answer was $15,000 - $25,000 and that’s just to get started. Let me just say all-in-all a beautiful place to come home to after a hard days’ work (but I’m not working anymore). However, it’s not possible on a mailman’s pension. Oh darn and I so wanted one. (The 1st picture is the entrance to the comdominiums; the second picture is of seagulls sitting on poles around marina; the third picture is of pool from third floor balcony and the fourth picture is of marina and the Gulf waters as your front yard) Time for dinner at Popa’s restaurant. We drove just a short distance arriving a little earlier than our reservation. It was no problem again a lot of Winter Texans have already left the area and the spring break total of high school and college students was way down mostly because of colder weather and the economy. We were told to find a table right away and put in our request for four all you can eat jumbo-shrimp dinners. Within minutes we were served a plate full of 14 shrimp, French-fries and a salad to start us off. I became the first causality after 14 shrimp were brought out to me on the first serving. Then there were three. Another round was ordered of shrimp. It wasn’t enough for the three left standing – okay maybe standing is the wrong word. 3 after 3 – three rounds and three still hungry individuals,it was time for Clair to fall to the wayside after 21 shrimp. Believe me when I say using the word jumbo-shrimp really is an oxymoron. Rhonda made one more jumbo-shrimp find its way between her lips for a total of 22. Don’t believe it? I have proof look at the tails lined up in execution style on the napkin. Round four and we crowned ourselves a new king shrimp eater. Dave had a final count of 27. Now that’s the way to go down with the boat – shrimp boat that is. Departing Popa’s at a very slow rate of speed. We couldn’t move too fast for oblivious reasons (84 shrimp in all – reasons). I might point out at my absurd fertility of ordering two diet cokes with my meal, now how was that going to help? After all I did eat 14 shrimp, my French fries – AND I left the salad lying on my plate. Driving over to the beach we walked down to the waterline, where Clair was the only one brave enough to dip her toes in the Gulf waters. There were a lot of whitecaps coming to shore. It was a pleasant walk along the beach, watching the children play in the water, the pelicans flying in formation overhead, the dogs frolicking on the beach carefree, all-in-all it has been a wonderful day. Just a hop-skip and jump from the beach we stopped at one of Dave & Clair’s friends. A friend by the name of Gene or more commonly known to the locals as “Lefty.” They met him a few years back at a campground they were staying at. He’s quite a character coming from the UP of Michigan. He’s what I would call a free-spirit type of person. Gene is a cook at the largest eating establishment in South Padre Island. He along with his girlfriend Lisa and her son Matt live within a stone’s throw from the beach. It was a pleasure to meet them and their little dog Bubba, who seems to have an abundant amount of affection for Dave’s leg. Visiting with them for an hour or so we said our goodbyes heading back home. Arriving just after sunset we all sat down to relax and get our second wind before Rhonda and I came home for the evening. What a great day it has been. (1st picture beach at South Padre Island, TX; 2nd picture Tom & Rhonda; 3rd picture Dave & Clair; 4th picture is of family enjoying the whitecaps;5th picture is Bubba the dog enjoying Dave's company and 6th picture is of little Matt and Gene (or Lefty if you prefer)

March 27, 2010, Saturday
Today I worked on computer some and watched Butler get into the final four for the first time in school history. We went over to Dave & Clair’s later in the day for a nice dinner and to play cards until late in the evening.

March 28, 2010, Sunday
I worked on blog trying to keep it up to date. Downloading pictures takes the longest time for me so it’s best I try to stay ahead of the game. We went over to Dave and Clair’s again tonight for a spaghetti and meatball dinner. After dinner we watched a couple of TV shows and then we headed for home.

March 29, 2010, Monday
This morning I took the car to Firestone for an oil change and tire rotation. I wanted to get the front-end alignment done too, but the technician wasn’t in today so it will have to wait for another day. We have a 2002 KIA Optima with 114,000 plus miles on it. It just turned that nice round number since we have been down here. The car needed a wash bad, so for $3.99 I took it to have it hand-washed at a local spot close to where we are staying. There was a sign showing they renew headlights from a tarnished look to looking like new. I asked the owner to do this for me too. I waited almost one-hour to get it washed. The owner called his man to renew the headlights but he was unavailable. I was told to come back tomorrow. Arriving home I printed off some Easter cards for Rhonda’s mom and sisters and one for our friend, Nancy Biscardi. We took it easy the rest of the evening watching, Dancing with the Stars and Castle. Rhonda did order an edible fruit basket arrangement for her mom’s 83rd birthday to be delivered on the 31st. It was sent to her with love from Rhonda and me, Lynda and Barb and Noland. A couple of before pictures A work in progress in the middle picture and the after pictures - looks pretty good doesn't it?

March 30, 2010, Tuesday
Up early this morning 7:17 am so I could go to Wal-Mart and pick-up some cat litter and some cash. By the time I went back to car wash to get headlights worked on it was 8:25 am. The boss man wasn’t there and wouldn’t be back for another 30 minutes. Came home disappointed but Rhonda had me call Dave and Clair to see if they wanted to meet us at the hamburger place at 10:30 am for one last eat at the no name place. Rhonda is brining the cards, I’m bringing the camera and we’re all bringing our appetite. We pulled in behind them just before the appointed time. This time I didn’t forget my camera. We ordered two hamburgers (okay you caught me again, they were cheeseburgers), a family order of French-fries, one diet Pepsi and one water. All I can remember Rhonda saying in-between bites was, “What was I thinking?’ Clair and Dave ate their own supersize hamburgers too, with a family order of onion rings. All I can remember Clair saying in-between bites was, “Aahh!” and a look of I don’t think I can finish this sandwich. (but she did). After breakfast/lunch we departed company knowing we both had a few last minute things to take care of before we leave the Valley tomorrow. We headed over to the car wash to get the headlights buffed out and looking new. We came back to our motor home where I babysat our little dog Sadie. Rhonda went to Wal-Mart and Walgreens to pick-up a few more parting items we needed for the road. Upon her return she took the laundry so we wouldn’t have any dirty clothes in the laundry basket when we took off. Now all we have to do is get things ready in the morning for our departure. We hope to get either to Victoria or LaGrange, TX and spend the night at a Wal-Mart or Sam’s Club.

March 31, 2010, Wednesday
We were up early enough to get things started for pulling out today. Our goal was to be hooked-up, paid up and stoked-up to be on the road between 9-10 am. We pulled out of our spot #216, stopped at the office to pay our electric bill of $55.20 for the month and turned on highway 495 just a couple of short blocks south of the park. Driving over to highway 281 heading north for an hour or so. Making a turn onto highway 285 heading east we were looking for highway 77 which will take us directly into Victoria, Texas. We stopped at a location just north of a town called Sinton for lunch resting at a piece of property owned by the state of Texas. There was a sign warning about using the property for private use. We didn’t think a 30 minute lunch would impose on the state of Texas – so we took our chance. We stopped to top off our gas supply. It was a total of $63.for 23.7 gallons at $2.65. We were on the road for a total of 5 hours and 20 minutes including our lunch and gas stops. We pulled into the Sam’s/Wal-Mart parking lot at 3:10 pm. Traveling a total of 225.4 miles. I took Sadie out so she could take care of her business. Rhonda called Clair to find out where they were located. They were about 100 miles behind us. We expect them in around 4:45 pm. We set-up the living room putting the slide-out close to a light pole. We’ll wait to put the back slide-out later this evening. Now it’s just a matter of waiting on the Ton’s to arrive. Tomorrow we will make our way into Waco, Texas for the Good Sam’s Samboree being held April 1-4, 2010. I decided to upload a short video I took in Mexico, it's a video of three Mexicans playing music for an American getting his shoes shined. The shine cost him one American dollar and the music was whatever he wanted to give them for playing, normally around one or two dollars. Hope you enjoy it.