Florida, We're Here

From Bradenton, the drive South was all wet. Yes, we drove through rain all the way. It was still raining when we pulled into the storage facility where we had arranged to park "The Bus" for two weeks.

We unhooked the Blazer, packed some plastic boxes and lots of plastic grocery bags with the stuff we wanted to take with us to the condo . . . all in the rain. We don't have suitcases with us, so we had to improvise.

We then drove the rest of the way to Fort Myers Beach and the weather began to clear. We stopped at the liquor store, filled the gas tank in the Blazer, picked up a few groceries, then drove straight to the condo. The weather cleared up, the rain stopped, and the sun came out!

The picture below was taken out the front door of our condo unit. It's really nice to be here again and see old friends and neighbors I've know for many years.

"Florida, We're Here!"

Bradenton

We had planned on stopping at the Moose Lodge in Gibsonton, Florida, but all of their RV parking spots were filled. So we located a commercial RV Park in Bradenton, Florida, the Arbor Glen RV Park. The site was pretty tight, but we managed to squeeze in.

Most of the units in the Park were tied down permanently, so this was obviously a Park filled with retirees who live here year 'round. It also appeared to be an older Park as the spaces were all pretty small . . . but it will do for one night.





My brother, Ron, was in the area visiting a friend of his, Tom Davis. They both came over to the RV Park to see us and we all ended up going out to eat at Hooters, where the wings were very good, as usual . . . and the beer was cold, as usual.

Tomorrow, Saturday, will be our last day of driving before reaching our destination of Fort Myers.

Tallahassee Moose Lodge

We stopped for the night at a wonderful Moose Lodge in Tallahassee, Florida. They had RV parking spaces with utility hook-ups behind the Lodge in a flat sandy area under a huge tree with spreading limbs. I don't know what kind of a tree it was, but the limbs had to spread out at least a hundred feet. Just look at the picture below, compare the spread of the tree limbs with "The Bus" which is 60 feet long with the Blazer in tow.


















After we parked "The Bus", we went inside the Lodge for a drink where the members welcomed us warmly. After a stiff drink, on the house, they brought out left-overs from a Lodge dinner the night before . . . ham, potato casserole and corn-on-the-cob. They warmed it up just for us, so we had dinner at the Lodge. After lots of interesting conversation, meeting many pleasant people, and a couple more stiff drinks, we wandered back to "The Bus" and turned in for the night.

Tomorrow we'll be back on the road, again!

Fountainebleau State Park

When we awoke Wednesday morning in Houston, the sun was shining bright and there was no snow on the ground. The streets were a little damp and the air was a little cool, but it looked like a beautiful day with bright sunshine.

We were on the road by about 9:30 AM. The drive across the oil fields and refineries area of East Texas and the rice paddies and swamplands of Western Louisiana was uneventful.

In the early evening, just East of New Orleans, we saw a sign for Fountainebleau State Park with campgrounds, so we followed the signs into a really nice camping area in the woods along Lake Pontchartrain. It was a wooded area and many of the trees had Spanish moss hanging, a really pretty setting.


The site we were assigned was a semi-circular pull-thru. It was fairly short for us to fit in our 65 feet or so with the Blazer in tow, but I tried to pull in . . . until Carole screamed and caused me to stop abruptly. I got out and was shocked that the side of "The Bus" was only inches away from a large tree, but it was getting late so I decided to let it set until morning.

The next morning, I had to unhook the Blazer, back it out, and then back out "The Bus". The curve of the semi-circular pull-thru campsite was just too sharp to make the turn without scrapping against the tree in the center.

Because Carole had screamed in time, no harm was done. We were back on the road Thursday morning un-scathed.

Florida . . Here We Come!

After a last futile attempt to find beach towels at the Flea Market, I came to the realization that we will have to wait until we get to Fort Myers Beach in Florida to get beach towels . . . which will be at a much higher price, I'm sure.

Today we finished getting everything packed, put up, stored, or put away . . . and left Palm Shadows RV Park in Donna, Texas, at about 10:00 AM headed for Florida. It was a heavily overcast day, but no rain was forecast until late in the day. Don't believe the weather forecasters . . . we ran into rain at Harlingen, Texas, only about 20 miles down the road and then drove through rain all day long, not heavy rain, but rain none the less. The windshield wipers on "The Bus" were never turned off!

We pulled off the road at the Moose Lodge in Pasadena, Texas, just East of Houston to park for the night. However, they wouldn't let us stay in the RV Parking area because they were expecting 150 Trail Riders, which would really fill up the place, so we needed another plan.

We had paid over $20.00 in tolls on the "Beltway" around Houston, Texas. I can't believe their tollway was was so expensive. But that's the last time we'll take the "Beltway" around Houston . . . next time we're going right through the center of town . . . free of tolls.

Anyway, we got back on Interstate 10 headed East and stopped about 5:30 PM a few miles further down the road at the Houston Leisure RV Resort in Highlands, Texas. This appears to be a very nice RV Park with almost 200 sites. Cable TV and wifi are both furnished free of additional charges along with the usual RV utility connections. We have a 'pull-through' site, so we didn't have to unhook the Blazer.

The rain is expected to turn to snow overnight, but the temperature is forecast to be up in the 50's tomorrow. Other than the possibility of ice on bridges and overpasses, the roads should be clear as we head on East. "Florida . . . Here We Come!"

Flea Market Bargins

We are preparing to leave "The Valley" on Tuesday and head on over to Fort Myers Beach, Florida, where we plan to lay in the sand on the beach for a couple of weeks.

I realized that I had only brought one bathing suit from home, which is OK for an occasional dip in the pool or a hot tub quickie. However, one bathing suit just won't do for living on the beach for a couple of weeks. Carole also has only one bathing suit with her.

So we went off to a large local Flea Market looking for bathing suits.


I found three bathing suits for $8.00 each . . . three suits for a total of only $24.00! One made in China, one made in Indonesia, and one made in Bangladesh. I told Carole that they will probably dissolve in water . . . or turn blue in the pool. But at only $8.00 each, I guess they can be disposable. Any other bathing suit would have cost many times that much at a conventional store.









Carole only found one bathing suit she liked and it was only $10.00, but most of the women's suits had the tops in one place and the bottoms in another . . . and nothing matched. I think I discovered why . . . her top was made in China and the bottom was made in Indonesia. It would be pretty hard to coordinate tops and bottoms from two different countries!









I'm going back tomorrow to see if I can pick up a few beach towels as we also forgot to bring any of those with us.

After a few more trips for "Flea Market Bargains", we should be ready for the beach.

Busy Day . . . for a Retired Person

The ice maker in the refrigerator/freezer in "The Bus" quit working last summer. I could hear it continuing to run, but it never made ice. I guess I was hoping it would cure itself . . . but it didn't. So when I had an RV Repairman out to "The Bus" to repair the hot water heater the other day, I asked him about the ice maker. He said it was shot and I needed a new one!


So today I removed it, ran down to a nearby RV Parts Store, picked up a new one, and installed it. Installation only took about 30 minutes. It was making ice in about an hour and has been dumping out ice cubes regularly since.











While I had the RV Repairman here, I also asked him how the ceiling exhaust fan in the bathroom could be removed. It was really dirty and I couldn't figure out how to get it out for cleaning. I was on a roll today, so I followed his instructions, removed it, cleaned it, and replaced it. I don't think anyone had ever cleaned that exhaust fan since "The Bus" left the factory . . . but it's sure clean now!








In the evening, we went to dinner with friends here in the Park, Jack & Bev Wolfe, from Manitoba, Canada. We led them to Carole's favorite restaurant, China Cafe, in McAllen. Carole sure loves Chinese food and tonight it was as good as usual.

Today was a "Busy Day . . . for a Retired Person"!

A Depressing Day Inside

The weather here in "The Valley" has generally been pretty nice this winter, especially when compared with the weather up North. I played golf the last few days wearing only a short sleeve golf shirt, so I shouldn't complain.

But that nice weather came to an end this morning. It has rained all day long and the temperature only reached 58 degrees . . . so we stayed inside "The Bus" all day. I got caught up on some paperwork and Carole watched a series of old movies on the Turner Classic Movie Channel. It's kind of a depressing day.

We are making a list, and checking it twice, in preparation for leaving "The Valley" next Tuesday and heading over to Fort Myers Beach, Florida. I sure hope the weather over there is hot and sunny while we lay in the sand on the beach.

But for today, it's just "A Depressing Day Inside".

License Plate Geography II

Since I posted the "License Plate Geography" Blog in January, I have stumbled across a number of cars and trucks here in The Valley with license plates not included in the original post. I was surprised that I found 27 states represented originally, but since then I have seen 6 more.


Maine from the New England area . . .








Alabama and Louisiana down South . . .




and Arizona, Nevada and Wyoming out West . . .



That brings the total number of states sighted to 33. Only 15 state license plates, plus Alaska and Hawaii, have not been sighted in "The Valley".

A couple more Canadian Provinces have also been sighted, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.




Plus another vehicle from South of the border in the Mexican state of Jalisco . . .







"License Plate Geography" in "The Valley" is beginning to cover a lot more territory!

Formerly Mexico

Prior to the end of the Mexican-American war in 1848, the border between the two countries was the Nueces River which flows from the San Antonio area Southeasterly into the Gulf of Mexico at Corpus Christie. Prior to that time, the area between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande was part of the country of Mexico. This area was "Formerly Mexico".

At the end of the war in 1848, the border was moved South to the Rio Grande and many Mexican residents moved South of the Rio Grande at that time to continue living in their native country. However, many Mexican residents in that area remained in the new United States territory between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande, including what is known as the Rio Grande Valley, or simply "The Valley".

"The Valley" is today populated largely by the descendants of those Mexican residents who remained in the United States following the Mexican-American War. Many of those descendants apparently did not adopt the language and customs of the United States, but retained the language and customs of their Mexican ancestors.

In many stores and at numerous gatherings here in "The Valley", Spanish is the predominant language. I have stopped in stores in the area to make a purchase, but had to leave because none of the clerks spoke English and they didn't understand what I was looking for.

The Mexican heritage of the area is also very evident in roadside billboards . . .














I don't read or speak Spanish, but it looks to me like the sign on the left above may be a law firm soliciting business concerning immigration and the sign on the right above advertises mobile phones.

This is a sign in front of one of the many local flea markets. I recognize that it is advertising a "Flea Market Open Wed, Thurs, Sat & Sun", but I have no idea what they are promoting.










Even amateur signs posted by individuals are usually in Spanish. I'm told "pollo" means chicken, so maybe this person is selling chickens . . . or?











Even the local churches post information about their services in Spanish . . .















But the most surprising to me are the school bulletin boards announcing activities in Spanish. What ever happened to Spanish as a second language? Looks to me like English is the second language around here . . . even in the schools!

These signs are all examples of Spanish only, not examples of multi-lingual signs in English and Spanish. These signs are Spanish only!

Also, these are not isolated examples, but typical of numerous signs throughout The Valley.



I can understand (but not agree with) catering to recent legal immigrants, but the ancestors of many local families voluntarily stayed behind in "The Valley" when it became part of the United States in 1848 . . . over 150 years ago . . . spanning perhaps five generations!

Having voluntarily stayed in "The Valley" and adopted the United States as their new country, which granted them citizenship, why didn't they adopt the language and customs of their new country? Instead, it appears they chose not only to retain their Mexican language and customs, but to pass that language and way of life on to their ancestors who still live in "The Valley" today.

When I'm shopping here in The Valley, I often feel like I'm in a foreign country, with everyone around me speaking Spanish while I'm trying to figure out what the many Spanish signs around me mean.

This area may have been "Formerly Mexico", but it makes you wonder who really won the Mexican-American War of 1848!