February, 2006

February, and we are still parked in the sunny Rio Grande Valley.

We had an interesting experience on the 1st. Our good friends Floyd Charles and Evaline Phipps who are neighbors here at Tip O' Texas and our Airstream Park took us to lunch at a place on the Rio Grande River. I'll get the name of the place when my memory comes back, but it's right next door to Pepe's. After lunch we were out on the deck and we watched a young woman paddle across the river in an innertube, get out of the river, and run towards town. I wish I had been packing the camera. Thus the name 'wetback'.

We made our nearly annual trip to the SAS shoe outlet in Brownsville on the 2nd. Even at the outlet store it was a budget shock - but Randy found a pair of sandals that are really great - we've been looking for two years for a pair that would work with his bad foot. We picked up Randy's uncle LeRoy and went to South Padre for lunch (oysters - yum!) and had a nice walk on the beach - it was not windy - a first for our trips to the island. On the way back we stopped at the Palo Alto National Battlefield (link) just north of Brownsville. Palo Alto means 'Tall Trees' in Spanish. This battlefield is an uninspiring scene (pic), but was a very important battle which started the Mexican-American war. This first battle of the war eventually resulted in the United States acquiring the Republic of Texas and lands to the West - including California.

On 2/6 we went out to the Santa Ana wildlife refuge to look at birds (pics). We went in the middle of the day - when the wind was highest - but still saw some neat birds. Added to our life list today were the Plain Chachlaca, Great Kiskadee, Black-crested Titmouse, and Green Jays.

On the way home from Santa Ana we took a couple pictures of some produce fields (pics). That's one thing we find unique about the valley - acres and acres of crops like onions, cabbage, cilantro, sugar cane, tomatoes, etc.

On the 18th we drove up to Georgetown, TX. Our friends Rich and Suzette came to look at houses in the Sun City, TX, and our friends Vicky and Joseph - who live in Sun City - let us stay at their house for a couple nights. The had been doing volunteer work Big Bend National Park, and they returned in time for us to visit with them for a couple days as we.

It's hard to believe that we've only got a few more weeks here in the Rio Grande Valley. We'll have to see if our volunteer position application is accepted in North Carolina - if not, we just might stay another few weeks.