Things we learned today...

We learned that it's a short distance from Welfare to Comfort...

We learned that driving in West Texas Hill Country all day while towing your house down the road makes your fuel mileage terrible!...

We learned that driving two full days will not get you out of this state when you start out "deep in the heart of Texas". Tomorrow we will finally make it to New Mexico and will stop for the night in Deming, NM...

We also learned that there is a very large roadrunner dressed in a Santa suit in Fort Stockton, TX...

The Weather Outside is Delightful

Not to rub it in to our friends and family in the north, but here's a picture of the external temperature taken today in our truck...Bob thinks the actual temperature was a few degrees less than that, but it was still a nice, warm day in the Rio Grande Valley! We went to Los Ebanos, TX to try and see the hand-operated ferry, but we would have had to cross the border into Mexico to get that close to it and decided to pass on that. We drove on to Rio Grande City and checked out the town since we had not been that far west of here. We stopped at Chili's for dinner and then headed back here. We stopped by Reid & Debbie's and suddenly it was thundering & lightning and then it started raining. It had been a long time since it rained here. It was refreshing and Bob was a little disappointed that we weren't at our place so he could listen to it hitting the aluminum roof over our lot.

Hidalgo Festival of Lights

Last night we went to Hidalgo, TX for the Festival of Lights. We used to go to Domino's Farms in Ann Arbor, MI for their light show, but it paled in comparison to this one. We rode the trolley around town for the guided tour and then we walked around the center area and drove the truck around town to take more pictures. It was really something to see! The dragons pictured here are made with 8,000 tiny medicine bottles that are filled with colored water and then wired together and lit. There is a close-up picture to show the detail of the work.

Happy Holidays!

We spent Christmas Eve at George & Wilma's with Reid, Debbie, Danny & Stephanie. Wilma prepared a delicious meal with a variety of Mexican dishes. The pictures shown here are of poinsettia plants that have been planted in their RV park. I had never seen anything like it!

On Christmas Day we went to Reid & Debbie's for dinner. We had turkey, ham and all the trimmings. It was really good and we were all stuffed for hours afterwards. We really enjoyed spending meeting their son & daughter, Danny & Stephanie and spending some time with them.

Bentsen-Rio Grande State Park

Yesterday was a beautiful 83 degree day and we took advantage of it by visiting the Bentsen-Rio Grande State Park and then the Anzalduas County Park. The javelinas pictured here were at the state park and the view of the Rio Grande is at that county park...yep, that's Mexico on the other side. That's how close we are...our park is only about 4 miles from the border. We were going to go on a boat cruise on the Rio Grande today, but the winds have kicked up and they probably won't take the boat out today. We'll try again next Sunday. We will be leaving here on the 29th and heading toward Arizona. Have I mentioned that "THIS IS THE LIFE???"

South Padre Island, TX

Here's a picture of "The Beast on the Beach". (We saw a dually here the other day with lettering on the back window that said, "Do these fenders make my rear look too wide?") :-) We spent yesterday on South Padre Island. We drove the truck along the beach for about 2 miles and then stopped and collected some shells. It was a beautiful day and we really enjoyed the island. They were still repairing quite a bit of damage from Hurricane Ike. In fact, where we entered the beach the bathrooms and showers were still closed. The guard said they had about 3 feet of sand in the parking lot when it was over.

We thought we had a rear main seal leak on the truck, but it ended up being a coolant leak that was dripping from above. We were very relieved that they did not have to pull the engine to repair it and we can leave here on the 29th of December as planned.