Laninga's Travel Blog

Woke up this morning to a wintry scene outside our motor home.  But wait, this is getting to the end of March, and this is Dallas!  What happened to spring?

A view out our front window

Yesterday, our camp host asked us to detach all water hoses to prevent freezing of the lines going into the motor home.  No problem, we have plenty of on-board water, so we’re OK.  Weather forecasts call for weather returning to spring like conditions by tomorrow.

Good!

Well, we’re back in the Dallas area, staying at the Grapevine RV park.  We like this park; it isn’t cheap but reasonable especially as it is VERY close to pretty well anything you want in way of shopping.  The park is very open and right on Grapevine lake.  Our site looks over the marina, and a great sunrise helped make this pretty early morning view out our window.

A view at the marina

The water level is very high; several sites are under water.  Let’s hope the water level stays well below our coach!

A friend of mine has a coach just like mine, but a 2007 model.  It is only 2 years older than mine, but he had to replace the awning material over the slide toppers.  Turned out is really is a bad design by Carefree, the manufacturer of the awnings.  Our coach has the awnings you’ll find on many higer end coaches, and the fancy cover is also the problem.

See, the cover has a long, sharp edge that is very close to the awning when it is in.  So, when you’re driving, the wind will cause the awning material to flap, and prematurely wear out the material.  See the picture for the damage on my coach, and it is only 9 months old with 12,000 miles.

You can see where the cover edge damages the fabric

So what I did is buy some chrome edging for car doors.  This is actually a plastic material with adhesive inside.  All you do is clean the offending edge, slide the edging in place, press firmly, and it is done.  It took me about one hour to add this to all four slides.  I would expect this will eliminate the damage caused by the sharp edge.

You can see the plastic edging over the sharp edge

Another easy project that I expect to save a bunch of money down the road.  Total cost: $36.

Today we’re on our way to Conroe, TX where we will spend three nights.  While there, we will get our mail, do some shopping, and then it’s on to Grapevine.  Looking forwad to seeing the kids, enjoying some family and friends visits, and of course– Phantom of the Opera Saturday night!

Sunset by the river

We did enjoy our stay here in Columbus.  We were parked right alongside the Colorado River, the grass was greening, and the trees just beginning to bud out.  Lots of deer, too.  Maybe you can see them in the picture.  And of course we met up with many friends as this weekend was a Rally of the Thousand Trails Texas Chapter of the FMCA.  Only drawback:  WAAAAY too much food!  Back on a diet….  OK, pack it up and on our way.

We took a day trip with some fellow travelers to the Texas Country side.  Although we only met Jack and Sylvia Napoles a month or so ago, we have traveled similar paths.  Not only do we come from the same DFW area, but last year we traveled almost the same routes, although we didn’t even know it.   All up and down the West coast.  Too bad we didn’t know it because we really enjoy their company.  Even when we went to the Marcus playoff game in Cowboy Stadium, they were there.  On the opposite side, but still there.  One of the pleasure of our mobile lifestyle is making new friends,  I’m sure we will travel together again in the future.

We started out trip to Brenham, where we toured the Blue Bell ice cream factory.  Sure, the tour was interesting, but the ice cream sample was great!  No picture allowed inside, so only exterior shots.  Forgot my camera, thanks for the great pictures Sylvia!

Then we went on  to a miniature horse farm.  Saw these cute mini horses, including a week old baby.  The horse were kind of fuzzy because they had their winter coats on, but they are in all respects a horse, just smaller.  There are national events for show, riding, harness racing, and more.  No milking contests, though.

The original Blue Bell refrigerated delivery truck

We felt real bad (hah!) for those in the NorthEast since they had snow and more snow.  And we could walk around with our jackets off.  Now I know why we moved into a motor home!

Trying to get some fresh milk. Alas, no luck.

Just had to try my hand at getting fresh cream. Don’t know how those farmers do it. Cold on the hands, so I guess that is where the ice cream comes from.

Full size mini horse

Small, about 36″ tall but in all respects a horse.  We understand that these also make great service animals, and have the benefit of a much longer life than dogs so they are companions for a longer time.

Five day old baby horse, getting a drink

The baby horse had more luck getting milk than I did at Blue Bell. The mother isn’t too sure about us though, maybe she was worried we’d use cold hands to get at her milk.  Looks like she’s giving us the evil eye….

For comparison, Romola with full size horse

It was a great day.  We capped it off with home made spaghetti, some fine wine, and some delicious desert Sylvia made.

When it came time to star heading back “up north” we decided to stop for a few nights at a campsite at Padre Island National Seashore.  This is a 70 mile strip of beach (actually listed as a Texas highway) made famous by spring break antics.  It certainly was cheap enough; $4 a night senior rate.  This was for a camp site, no hookups, so we were on our own.  No problem!

We really enjoyed our short stay.  The sound of surf was relaxing, the scenery great, and teh weather cooperated.  Some pictures below.  We were invited to a fish fry Sunday afternoon.  About 5 or 6 of the local campers went out and caught a bunch of fish, which were fried up in a light coating of cornmeal.  About 60 or 70 people were there, and since it was a potluck, lots of side dishes.  The fish was about as good a fried fish as I’ve ever had.

A view from inside the coach, out the windshield.

Early morning view as the sun rises over the Gulf of Mexico

Sunrise, viewed from the pier from the campground to the beach

Palapas in the early sun

The early bird gets the worm (fish, actually)

Now we’ve camped on the shores of the Atlantic, Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico.  Doubt if we will add any more!

When it rains it the RGV (Rio Grande Valley) it really rains.  Even though average rainfall in the RGV is about half of the US average, it can come down hard.  And the ground does not seem to absorb much.  Although it rained about 2″ in the last 2 days, which isn’t a huge amount, the campsites are soaking wet and flooded.  The forecast is for a few days of sun, then more rain.  Let’s hope we don’t have trouble when we have to move on Saturday….

Parked in the puddles....

Our schedule calls for us to go to Lake Medina (near San Antonio) on Saturday.  We may move that a bit sine the temperatures ther are some 20 degrees colder than here, even though we’re only 189 miles south… must be the Gulf effect.

This weekend there was a kite flying demo on Padre Island.  Never thought too much about kite flying, couldn’t see how they could put on a show.  But once I got there I was quite impressed.  I put a short video on my Apple account, enter this in your browser:

http://gallery.me.com/john.laninga#100220

In addition to the flying, there were some very impressive kites on display.  Check out the following:

There were all linds of kites in the air -- and on the ground.

Some kites were whimsical, such as this "half woman"

All kinds of shapes, all kinds of motions

The shark kite stole the show

The shark kite was huge, with surf, a number of “fish” swimming below it, and two “sharks” following along.  Quite impressive….

About a year ago, I broke a tooth (bicuspid) that needed emergency repair.  Had a crown put on in San Diego ($1,050), but it never fit right,  Needed two more dentist visits to try to fix the height, as constant pressure eventually inflamed and infected the root.  So, since we’re close to Mexico, I decided to have my tooth repaired in Progresso.  There are hundreds of dentists here, I used one that was recommended by multiple people (Dr. Carreon).

Now I’m not much of a fan of Mexico border shopping.   Check out the main shopping district:

Looking down Main Street

You can shop for dentists or boots with only a few paces from each other.

As far as drugs go, your choice as well….

Whatever your (drug) heart desires....

This is the office of Dr. Carreon, where I had my work done

The "medical plaza" where my dentist is

Dr. Carreon and his staff are English speaking, and in the case of the dentists, US trained.  The equipment was modern and efficient, but the office has no wasted space.  There are 5 dentists on staff, including a periodontist, who did my actual root canal.  There is a gazebo in the courtyard, with benches for those who wish to wait outside.  More importantly, there is a margarita vendor in the courtyard as well, so you can numb any residual pain you may have.

So once I arrived they interviewed me, then took an X Ray, and determined that I needed a root canal and new crown.  I was moved to the periodontist chair, who did a thorough job of removing the old crown and performing the root canal itself.  Then, Dr. Carreon came back and prepped the tooth for the crown. The necessary imprints were done and I was sent home, along with some prescriptions (filled in Mexico) for infection and pain.  Two days later I was fitted with my new crown, and I must say it fits very well.

The two technicians who installed and adjusted the crown

Now, one day later, I am satisfied with the work done.  I have had very little pain, the fit seems excellent, so we’ll see.  Oh yes, the cost: $560 for the entire procedure.  Near as I can tell, stateside this would have cost somewhere around $2,500.  Worth my while, since we are wintering close to Mexico, and we have to stretch our Social Security income as much as we can!

One thing I haven’t figure out.  The US border has agents that check people coming in, but not out.  The Mexican border has armed (to the teeth!) army personnel to keep people in, not out.  They have mobile machine guns, riot equipped patrols, and camouflaged guards at the exits.  They all point their weapons back into Mexico…… Seems like they are trying to avoid a large scale exodus…

Armed patrol at Mexican border crossing

We are parked at the Tropic Winds park in Harlingen, TX.  It is a large park, and full of winter Texans.  And with good reason:  today the high is 62, in Dallas 32, and Chicago something like 12.  Much better here….

Club house of Tropic Winds RV Park

The parking spots are relatively spacious, each spot has a concrete pad for car and chairs as well as a grassy area.  But you are in a high density park, as this picture will show:

"Our" parking spot

We will be here for 2 weeks total.  I have done some cycling here, great roads with lots of room for cycling, but the winds… today again winds are in the 30MPH range with gusts to 40MPH.  No way I’m going out in that!

On to Progresso, Mexico this afternoon, but more about that later.