December 18 - 25, 2010 "Merry Christmas"

CC continues her chair and Zoomba classes, while Fester, always inquisitive researched the difference between tacos, burritos and fajitas; and there is a difference, albeit minute. Tacos are small, 6” tortillas, usually filled with one or more ingredients (cooked, as in bacon and eggs, but not grilled), and folded over. Fajitas are the same, but the ingredients are grilled meat or seafood and grilled vegetables. Burritos are larger, 12” tortillas, filled with 2 or more ingredients, and rolled with the ends sealed. Thus ends the first cooking class in Mexican 101. Next time we will cover salsa, picante and pico de gallo.



Naturally, everyday ends with the pool and hot tub. My back is starting to relax after punishing it unmercifully from April through September, with two house liquidations.


On the 21st, I awoke at 2 am to view the lunar eclipse and it was cloudy, so a wasted trip it was. Later that day CC cleaned the rig and did Zoomba. The pool and hot tub were very crowded today; maybe the word was out, “Swimsuits Optional”.


CC helped with buffet dinner preparations on Wednesday, by peeling apples and wrapping 120+ potatoes in foil. Later, at Don Wes, we purchased a gallon thermos ($2) for pool “strawberry” margaritas tomorrow. Hard to believe it’s Christmas week, as the temps the last 2 days have been in the 80-85 degree range during the day and 62-65 at night. I’m dreaming of a White Christmas for all of you, not us.


CC made her second Ropa visit with Terri and friends of hers from the UK, while I went to the store to purchase ingredients for “Pre Christmas Eve Margaritas” at the pool this afternoon. Margaritas were a hit; made a gallon and they went quickly.


Friday morning CC was up at 5am? Don’t ask, don’t tell? So at 6 am we ventured to HEB for Christmas Dinner “stuff”; asparagus and dinner rolls, which were our “contribution” to the Christmas Dinner Buffet, tomorrow at 2 pm. Then it was on to Progreso, MX, to do some more research on Pancho’s Pharmacy, to ascertain whether their margaritas are as good as they were last week or maybe it was just a onetime fluke. We left about 9:30 am, just in case the bridge was again closed. There was a bomb threat yesterday, and the bridge was closed for a few hours. Pictured below is the group, “judging” the margaritas at Pancho’s. It was no fluke, these are the real deal; no kool-aid here.

There are actually two Pancho’s  in Progreso. The first one is about a block from the bridge on the west side of the street, and is NOT the good one. Venture on down about 2 more blocks on the west side, until you see the Galerias (on the other side of the street). There is no hanging signage that says Pancho’s Bar, but it is in the El Disco "Pancho's" store, and the bar is on your right as you walk in the door.

After one $2 margarita, we all decided it was time for lunch. We each ordered another margarita at Pancho’s and carried our “to go” cups to the Red Snapper, where the food is fantastic, but their margaritas can’t compete with Pancho’s. Does this look like a happy crew, or what?

We all returned from MX around 2 pm, and naturally headed to the pool, and guess what? The “Swimsuits Optional” sign had been removed from the pool gate. Some people have no sense of humor AT ALL, and are simply “Old Fuddy Duddies”.

CC and I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas, and hope your day was as good as ours. Even without family, we have made friends here at the park, and spent some time at the buffet dinner with them. The food was outstanding, and what I really treasured, was sampling the many different foods that our group of 9 couples had prepared. It was NOT your traditional Christmas dinner; much better.

Until next time, take care and stay well……………….

November 3 – 18, 2010 - "We be Winter Texans"

We arrived at our new “home” for the winter in Weslaco, TX, the Country Sunshine RV Park. http://www.rvonthego.com/Country-Sunshine.html Originally, we had planned to stay here until Dec. 15, and move to either a different park in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV), OR, move to Arizona. The first week we were here, we drove around and looked at 20 – 25 different parks in the RGV, extending from Mission, TX on the west end to Port Isabel on the east end, a distance of about 60 miles. We also charted average daily high and low temperatures, not only in the RGV, but Arizona as well. After we discovered that the RV parks in Arizona are about 40% - 50% more than they are here, AND, the average temps in Arizona are 4 – 7 degrees cooler, we decided to extend our stay here until March 15. CC and I have made an appearance at the heated pool (85 degrees) and hot tub (104 degrees) every day since our arrival.

With that decision behind us, it was time to do some exploring, so it was off to Nuevo Progreso, south of the border, in Mexico. From our new “home” it’s a 5 mile drive to the parking lot, where $2 allows for all day parking. Walk up to the bridge, pay your $0.25 each and walk across. That’s it; no inspections, no customs, no immigration – nada. It didn’t take long to realize we were in Mexico, as the street vendors were aggressively “hawking” their wares as we strolled down the sidewalk. It reminded us of landing in Puerto Vallarta and being bombarded by the time share sales people at the airport. We just smiled, replied, “no gracias”, and kept walking. By the time we had covered 3 blocks, we were both in need of some refreshment, so we stopped at one of the many sidewalk bars, the Red Panty Bar. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ob-1/3323032415/

On to lunch, at The Arizona, where for $9.95 USD, two can dine with margaritas included. We chose the beef fajitas, and they were very good. The presentation is not exactly what we expected, but good, none the less, and the portions were sized perfectly for our appetites.

(CC blogs) I had the opportunity to go to a “Ropa” (Ropa vieja, which is Spanish for "Old Clothes"). Ropas are located in large buildings where the old clothes donated from Goodwill, Salvation Army and the like are piled up on the floor 10 or 12 feet high at times. Those interested shoppers can climb up on the piles and dig through, pulling and tugging for special treasures; the cost of these purchases is 20 to 30 cents a pound.

A Winter Texas couple here at County Sunshine had married earlier this year so the park residents decided to put on a mock wedding for them. Part of the wedding festivities was to find the wedding parties attire at the ropa. The ladies of the park invited me on this wonderful adventure. We had a lot of fun climbing, laughing, giggling, crawling, tugging and pulling clothes at three different ropa locations. At the end of the day the exhausted group found a bridal gown and numerous bridesmaids dresses in need of some alterations. (Pictured below, in the foreground is Gayle, the blushing bride) And finally, what better way to end a wonderful shopping trip, but with a dip in the pool.

Since South Padre Island (SPI) is less than 60 miles, we decided to make a day trip, and check out things just southeast of our “home”. It was wonderfully warm, around 83, when we arrived. I captured this flock of fledgling sandpipers as they scampered in the shallow waters looking for lunch, with watchful Mom nearby and out of the picture.

After a stroll along the beach, and some “shelling”, we decided it was time to silence our growling tummies. Daddy’s was recommended as THE place for seafood and Cajun on SPI. Starting with calamari, and culminating with the main entrée of blackened red snapper, topped with shrimp and crayfish, the food was fantastic.

The following day it was back to the grindstone, and our winter job with The Border Patrol of apprehending illegal immigrants.  In the picture below, CC and her partner, zoom by on their way up river to make an apprehension. No doubt the culprit was young, as CC the cougar, was wide-eyed as she flew by.

Neighbors here at the park, have told us about a “burger joint”, in nearby Donna, TX, Gonzales Burgers, with instructions to get there early, as they open at 10:30, and close when they are out of meat. It's difficult to see in the picture below, but there is NO signage at all; NONE. The place was very crowded, and we waited about 30 minutes after we placed our order, to get our meal. This place is truly amazing, no signs, no advertisement, only word of mouth that drives their business; the quintessential "American Dream Success Story". The burgers are HUGE, probably ¾ pound each. CC and I both ate only half, and were stuffed, so we took the remaining half home for dinner.

That pretty much sums up what we’ve been up to the last couple of weeks, not to mention a couple of pot luck and buffet dinners offered here at the park. These Winter Texans love to eat. If we have a meeting scheduled, be on time; but if there is food involved, get there at least 15 minutes early. As they say, “The early bird gets the worm”.

Till next time, take care and stay well…………………….