We Arrive in Rockport

4:00 PM We are here in the Lagoons RV park. We are set up on a site right in the middle of the East side. Its just a quick cut through to the Bathrooms and Loyce has been over and says they are nice. If she likes it then so do I.

Internet is not free! It is pay service. I am connected with the repeater to a distant Linksys but it is way too slow to do anything serious. Will have to figure out how to get signed up and pay the money.

Gota set up the TV for the Super Bowl next. It was 69 and foggy when we arrived. It is 6 or 8 degrees cooler her than in the RGV. I see it is 82 down there. Will have to change the weather button once I get a better connection.

5:00 PM Weather button Fixed and TV on the Super Bowl, life is good.

9:30 NY Giants win? Can you believe it? The odds makers are totally wrong. Still New England had the season of a life time. But go away empty handed tonight.

The last couple of years the last name to have has been Manning! You can not fathom such success.

Tomorrow is the first day of our Port Aransas adventure. Loyce likes it here a lot better. It is colder here and reminds us that it is still winter.

Connected with the Repeater

3:ooPM

Hey I am connected with the repeater. I only have between 6 and 10 % signal with the router outside on the roof of the trailer. But at least it is a connection, no matter however slow. I won't try any pictures with this lash up.

We went back to the flee market this morning. I bought a 6 X 15 plastic ground mat from a fellow that has stacks and stacks of them on his tables. Wanted cash or a check. No charge cards costs too much to get the money. Oh and a bicycle flasher for the back of Loyce's bike. She rides around after dark and can't be seen too well.

Now I am just hanging out. Packing things and getting ready to go.

9:30 PM We got back from Chili's about an hour ago and learned that all Chili's menus are not the same. The one down here in real Mexican country is decidedly more Tex Mex than the gringo Chili's up North.

Fresh water in Fresh tank. Black water drained gray water drained, hoses washed and stowed.

In the morning we will jack up the jacks and disconnect the cable tv and the electric. Hitch up the truck and stow the last minute stuff and were off. Oh and I'll need to put away pitstop here as that is what I call the wifi repeater.....

Would you buy a camp site?

We were back over in McAllen again today. To pick up the prescriptions that we ordered yesterday. They didn't have all the meds we needed so they had to get them overnight. We were there for about 30 minutes, but I think some of the time was spent shopping, as it could not have taken that long to just pick up the scripts.

They have quite a line in all these pharmacies down here. And its not all us gray haired folks either. Most faces are the local hispanic folks. Just seems to take forever. You will remember my posts about Wal Mart from previous days.

We drove out West of Mission when we were done with the drug thing. The valley looks like more of the same. Field after field all irrigated. Some vegetables, but mostly sugar cane. As we came back, we went back down to the Bentsen Palms area, South of Mission.

Its my fault because I stopped to look in a model home. Looked at the plan and square feet and the cost and so forth. The salesman was a RV site owner from Detroit. He had a fifth wheel that he pulls with a shortened semi tractor. 40 Ft Fiver with three axles. Big momma. He was very enthusiastic about the place as he was an owner of a nice lot.

Two bedroom home 159K

Blurry but this was the living room

Once Loyce came in, he had us and we were captive for the entire sales pitch. We looked at houses, camper lots and the rec center. He was a good salesman and it was all we could do not to say sure we'll take one of each. We ended up with the entire sales package and a card to call when we make a decision. We were lucky to get away with our shirt.

Inside the Rec center

More Rec Center



That said it really is a nice park. Or should I call it a living community, as it was more house like lots that had common yard maintenance.

Because it is connected to the Bensten wildlife preserve, the outside plantings are controlled by the covenants. They landscape your yard like the preserve wants, and you have to please the Architectural Committee with anything you do. Still it is so nice compared with these old trailer parks, it is a breath of fresh air.


Super SiteThese sites have a 12 x 20 Coach House, complete with electric, water and sewer. Sites are 48 to 59K. The build out on the inside of your coach house, is on you ,after the lot is yours of course. We looked in the salesman's Coach shack, and he had it finished as a small living room with a toilet and shower. A private bath house with couch and TV. What's not to like.

Let see, Fiver 60 K, Truck 50K, Lot 49K= 159K Two bedroom house 159K. A push! What is your pleasure?

They do have a RV park adjacent to this property, but it is quite nice as well. Rules, rules, and more rules. This is way over to the West edge of the Valley which makes it as far as possible from the ocean. I would have to be totally sure that all I wanted to do every winter from now on was come to Texas. I'm not sure what I will do next summer let alone for years to come.


This is the night before the last day in Llano Grande. Tomorrow we will need to turn in our name badges and also the cable modem. That will effectively put me off the air until we get settled in the Lagoons Park in Rockport, Tx. on Sunday night. We will be brand new up there, so we will start over learning a new area. That should be fun!

Day by day

We got up today and couldn't come up with any plans. Just to do all the day by day stuff. Water the dog and go to the bath house. Make breakfast. check the weather report.

Weather report for today calls for wind and more wind. Gusts from the NW of 30 to 35. So the awning that we put out yesterday, needed to be taken down. No big deal just a reverse of putting it all up. Wish we could sit out under it more, but the wind will mess it all up. So down it came.

It wasn't away for more than ten minutes, and here came the wind. Not all at once, but over about 30 minutes it came rushing in. So we decided to go to McAllen. We had prescriptions that needed to be filled and we have used K-Mart pharmacy for years, starting in Des Moines so the closest store that I knew of was in McAllen. There are no doubt more here in the Valley but I just do not know about them.

As it turned out I didn't really know about the McAllen store either, as we drove for about 15 minutes looking for what I thought I knew all about. I hate it when that happens. Loyce was graceful about the extra travel, because she couldn't remember where the store was either.

We got there just in time for the pharmacy to close for the lunch hour. So we waited. As I was sitting in the car talking to number one son on the cell phone, I noticed a large number of folks going into a store or restaurant out by the frontage road. A buffet. Many of the cars had Mexican plates. People from Mexico that were shopping in the US thought this was the place to have their US dinner. Better check this out.

The place was called Furr Buffet. It was much like a Ryans with food bars in the center of the room and a waiter that gets your drinks and rolls and coffee. You go thru the food lines at each table and the waiter clears the table each time you leave to get something else.

Loyce got her fried chicken fix and I had Mexican ground beef on quesadillas and some baked fish. We ate way too much! But it hit the spot. I made a large green salad with all the good stuff, including things I don't need like cheese and bacon bits.

As a diabetic, the desert bar is off limits for me, so I just had more salad, oh and one cookie that somehow made it onto my plate. Not like a big piece of pie and ice cream or anything.

After further shopping at the dollar store and wal-mart, we came back to the trailer. It was 78 or so on the dash of the Pickup. Wind still blowing a gale.

We stayed close by and read the computer blogs and things that I follow on most days.

We are going down to the low 40's this evening so as I post this , we will see just how cold we will get tonight. It is still January, and even though it is mid 70;s in the day, it is entirely possible that it will be mid 30's by 4AM. At one AM we have reached 46 but I was out to go to the bath house one more time and it really didn't feel cold at all. Wind is down to 6MPH.