Off to Nuevo Progresso, Mexico

On the bridge over the Reo Grande there is little turning back here.

This is the Mexican border check. They are not very worried about what you are bringing in so only one person on duty.















Main street Progresso. It is crowded and there are many vendors set up outside stores to sell their stuff. Walking through is a one-lane operation most of the time. Several stores are really nice and air conditioned while others; we will just say they were a little rough.













This was the most impressive sign of all the many medical related businesses we passed. We have many here at the RV park that have dentists in Progresso.

11/30 Friday I began the post and had to look at the clock that tells me what day it is; ain’t retirement great!! I had it wrong, I thought it was Thursday and I had a day to take care of some business before the weekend – Oh well, who really gives a flip?

The day began a little early as the dog said she needed to take a quick trot outside. Me, once up it is hard to head back to bed. Coffee and looking at the Internet seemed to be important at the time.

We decided to head to Progresso, Mexico today and see what everyone is taking about. Yes, it is a darn sight better than our experience in Reynosa two days ago. Although the streets are not that much better, there is signage we are able to read. There were also lots of cars with Texas plates unlike Reynosa. This town does cater to the American tourist and offers very good dental care are great prices. They also offer medical services, glasses, hair cuts and of course medicines and liquor at much better prices.

We shopped around for a while and then picked up some liquor to see what would happen at the border crossing. As none Texans, we were able to bring back 4 quarts each vs. only one for a Texan. Arriving at the Texas checkpoint for liquor and cigarettes, we were only charged $1.25 for each of two quarts we had and $1.75 for the 1.75L bottle we brought in. Considering we were dealing with Kahula that cost about $35 in the states, we made out well considering we paid $8.70 for the bottle in Mexico. Even with the tax, we were still under $10. So it cost .25 to cross the border going south and .30 going north and $1.50 to park, we still had money in the pocket even after buying gasoline. After all, we were going to go somewhere and do something, so we could have been out some money for travel in any case.

Progresso is not so bad a town to visit. Just like many years ago, the kids are panhandling anyone who comes by. There are also many adults who are sitting out there with a cup (normally a clean, white Styrofoam cup) hoping you will drop in coins or better. Walking back across the bridge there were kids with a hat or cup extended through the railing of the bridge looking for coins. You could not see them at all, nor could they see you until you were immediately in front of them. As an educator, the number of kids begging instead of in school disturbed me. No, I have no confidence that they were home schooled, so what future could they have? Still, it was an experience and causes us to realize just how blessed we are in life.

Thanksgiving and Reynosa, Mexico

11/28 Wednesday Thankfully we are back in Mission! Seems we have been on the road long enough to develop an appreciation for non-chaotic life, one that is quiet, organized and lacks sudden outbursts that grate on the nerves. First night back we slept like we had not in many days. Yes, we did enjoy going and visiting the daughters, but they live in the rush of work and getting it done along with touching base with this person and that person at prescribed times. To us, it was an exhausting race to get things done. Our lives, as retired people living on the road, we have discovered the slow lane and are quite content to stay there. In fact, if the speed limit is 70 or so, we still drive at 61; better fuel mileage at 1600 RPM! If we don’t get there by a certain time, who cares? There is a Wal-Mart just down the road and we can just ‘drop an anchor for the night’ and we will maybe get to where we should have been tomorrow! Our bed was so wonderful; we did not wake up for about 1.5 hours past the normal time. The alarm clock in our life style is not an option. It is funny how your employer gives you a ‘gold watch’ like keeping track of time is critical when you retire. I have not worn a watch since before October 2004; however I know where the watch is but I am sure the battery ran down at least a year ago.

Well, to the more current, we did enjoy some time with the kids in the Dallas and Houston areas for Thanksgiving. We managed to find turkey on Thanksgiving with one group but then switched to Mexican on Friday with the kids. We enjoy Mexican, or more a Tex-Mex food offered by Nifa’s Restaurant. This Houston based chain cranks out some good food; our estimate.

Back in Mission after a 12 day absence finds the weather more pleasant than Dallas or Houston. It got to about 51o here, but the days are more like low 70o. For folks who enjoy the shorts and T-shirt life, this is much better. We actually had to dig out long pants in both Dallas and Houston. I did find a pair of jean I had not had on for 3 years that still fit; Mom says much better fit now than before, something about I have a butt. I will take this as a complement.

Today we made a trip to Reynosa, Mexico. Returning to the campground, we learned you do not go to Reynosa, instead you go to Progresso, Mexico if you are American. The former is just a large Mexican town (by their standards) with many rough edges. Signage in town is very lacking and I went down at least two roads the wrong direction. Unlike the US, Mexico, or Reynosa has no interest in dual signage to aid Americans find their way. One way streets are sometimes marked with an arrow, but the locals are just as likely to park on the left of a road as on the right, so looking at cars does not give you a clew if you are on a two-way street or not. Yes, we did drive the car into Mexico; our first and last such activity. Not sure what the insurance company would say about being less than 5-miles inside the border, but we managed to get home intact. We were really happy to see the Texas sign as we drove back into the state!

What is disturbing to us is the way the border is patrolled, or not patrolled. We went in to Mexico and had to stop because we got a red light instead of a green light; a random check. They looked in the back of the car – no sweat. On the way back, we had to stop at a post and show our passports. Once cleared there we were clear to run through a maze of pylons and structures like those you see at a tollbooth. Once through this, with no stops and no people other than drivers who wanted to get ahead and bet the rest of the drivers into Texas, we saw no American or Border Patrol people or big dogs with equally big teeth. I guess this is why we are finding so many Hispanics on the Texas side of the border.

Listening to the radio here in Mission, we are finding there are about twice the number of Hispanic radio stations broadcasting in Brownsville, McAllen and Mission as English stations. On the TV, it is an even greater number of Hispanic channels. You can tell these stations with the sound muted because they broadcast more exposed flesh than we see on US channels. The only place we have seen more flesh was a channel coming from Canada where full frontal topless was the norm on late evening air signal channels (10 PM and later). We were trying to catch a Fox channel for news at 10 eastern time (regular news was at 11 in this time zone) and found the programming introduced by topless women. The show was presented much like Saturday Night Live. I will admit they were attractive women whether you look more toward the top of the screen or toward the bottom. Unlike the news in England that features the nude news, no subscription was required.

Going to margarita night here at the park, we learned no one goes to Reynosa. Instead they go to Progresso where the town caters to the American public. There it is safe to drive over and this is where you go to get some really good dental work at great prices. We will be checking this out soon. Meantime, Reynosa is off the list of places to visit! Otherwise, we are most THANKFUL to be back safely in Mission!

As we drove around McAllen (who says you need to come home by a direct route?) we saw the Hummer in the picture. I guess this is a step between a normal stretch Hummer and an RV of some description. We agreed it was generally ugly with the exposed shocks and the inability of many people, especially women wearing a dress, to reasonably access the thing. In addition, the A/C unit on the top would make a racket that would make conversation or watching TV difficult. It is understandable that they could not generate enough cooled air to handle this long back section, but I would hate to be the person who paid major bucks to rent this.

As a side note, liquor stores around here are thin. We are guessing this is the result of duty free stores along the Mexican border, but we have no idea how much you can bring back or how much tax you must pay. It would really suck if you found you could have bought the bottle in the states for less or the same as you paid in Mexico, but you had to lug the bottle home you bought in Mexico!

Plano and Sunday = Church

11/18 Sunday We attended church with our daughter and son-in-law at Bent Tree of Life Bible Church where they are members. Pete, the senior pastor was less than our image of a ‘senior’ pastor. He is all of about 45 and now leads a congregation nearing 5,000; we typically see senior pastors with a lot more gray hair. Pete has a real relaxed style but surely gets the message across. He comes from a family with parents and siblings all in various ministries. In early January the congregation will move into their new sanctuary that will seat 5.000.

This week the minister of music had a couple as his houseguests whom he had worked with at a church in Chicago. He handled the piano and she was one of the praise team. Together they all made some great music that everyone wanted to join in singing.

If you want to take a look, their web site is btbf.org. We recommend taking advantage of any opportunity to attend one of their services.

As for the rest of the afternoon, after lunch it was home to catch the final NASCAR race for this season. It was not as nail biting as last week with Jimmy Johnson coming to the front in the last few laps, but it was a good race.

Heading for Dallas

11/15 Thursday Today was a long day of driving north. Mom has an appointment with a neurosurgeon to see why she is having problems with her neck and arms. To accomplish this we are going to Dr. Courtney in Dallas as our Dallas son-in-law has seen him with great success. Asking around, we could not find anyone who had first hand information on someone in this specialty. Although the drive was 574 miles from the Valley, hopefully it will be worth the time.

Heading out of Mission, we passed a tire store. What made this special or humorous is their sales gimmick. They rent tires to own. I heard of furniture you rent to own but not tires. Coincidently and likely important was the location of this tire store immediately across the street from the local pawnshop.

Heading north it appeared the Dept. of Public Safety was on focusing on the traffic speed on the road. They had multiple units patrolling in addition to at least two unmarked cars. Obviously one driver failed to recognize the dirty Crown Vic with the very dark tinted windows until the car suddenly lit up with all these pretty red and blue lights – okay, there were also some clear strobe mixed in.

Continuing on we saw a sign saying it was a federal crime to smuggle illegals into the country. Just a bit further all traffic was routed through a checkpoint manned by offices in brown uniforms and big guns. They also had at least one dog that kept reminding everyone both of his presence and how big and mean he could be. A quick salutation and we were on our way.

Fortunately the road is flat and the cruise control was working or I would have had a problem staying at an acceptable legal limit. Knowing we had over 500 miles to cover before seeing a bed, I found myself trying to fug on the speed whenever my foot was used to determine the speed. The only problem on our drive was the almost constant 25 MPH plus winds in our face. Running our gas mileage, on the second fill of the day and with the wind still in our face, we are up 11 MPG over the mileages in the previous 4 fills. I just wonder what the mileage would have been had the wind been on our tail instead of right on our nose.


Arriving in Dallas, we were caught up in traffic, something we have not experienced in over a year; we most certainly have not missed it! We were caught in the wrong lane and suddenly found ourselves on I-30 and off I-35. In this lower section of roads below the city, there is no way off I-30 until you get to I-45 south or US-75 north. Because US-75 is also Central Expressway and the other route to the daughter’s house, we rode this. At 5:50 PM, this is not the thing to have done. Going 30 miles took only 1:20 minutes so next time we will be sure to catch the right road.


11/16 Friday We saw Dr. Courtney this morning. He is younger than envisioned; maybe at our age almost everyone outside the RV park looks younger. Although we had been warned his ‘bedside’ manors were a little short or one person reported him to be a typical arrogant surgeon, he was anything but. He was cordial and took time to have a few laughs while sitting on the exam table and leaning against the wall for support. He cracked a few jokes but you had to listen carefully as his humor can be dry. Careful listening is also needed as he talks fast and he is giving you information you need that is woven into whatever conversation is going on. He gives multi-tasking a new definition.

To our surprise, our appointment was at 9:30; however, we arrived at 8:50 and by 9:50, we had seen the nurse, had X-rays, seen the doctor, talked with the insurance verification person, paid for our visit and were back in the car to leave. Did I mention he is very much business and talks fast?

With Rx for multiple prescriptions in hand we were off to the drug store and breakfast. Unlike our experience with CVS and Wal-Mart, our prescription was ready in 35 minutes. Before breakfast was over we had insurance clearance, two level MRI scheduled and a follow-up appointment with the doctor to discuss the results. We were even ‘back home’ at the daughter’s home before 11:25. This type of speed is unheard of in the general medical community. So, it appears the rest of the day is just kicking back and enjoying the cool (under 70 degree) day.

11-12 A fun Monday

Dixie says "I hate the vacuum cleaner, so I will just take this and you can't make it work!!"

11-12 Monday We had a very pleasant visit from Bobbie Fosbrink, the one lady welcoming committee from the First United Methodist Church in Mission this morning. For some reason we both came bounding out of bed early this morning. For those who know my wife, ‘bounding’ and ‘early’ cannot be used in the same paragraph. Nonetheless, we launched into a cleaning binge. When dealing with a motorhome, this is normally a hour project on a bad day. Fortunately we were in the put-it-back-together stage when Bobbie called to say she wanted to drop by for a short time. We had a very pleasant time and Bobbie ended up staying much longer than I think she expected.

After other cleaning projects we decided the car needed a thorough cleaning. Neither of us could remember when it was last vacuumed. Dixie, the sweet little dog raised by the Florida granddaughter hates the vacuum cleaner. When it is run and the wife is around, Dixie just goes crazy and attacks something related to the vacuum. When there is nothing related to the vacuum, she attacks pill bottles or toys. Today she was outside when it started, so she found the crevice tool. When we attempted to retrieve it, she was more than a little reluctant to turn loose.
Once completed, it is just amassing how good the car looks. In the morning it gets a bath! When this is completed, our gas mileage is bound to go up at least 5MPG.

Sunday, 11-11 activities

11-11 Sunday Being Sunday it is time to get to church! Mom decided she wanted to go to the Methodist church, the one with the big banner in front. I head off and start to drop off at the Mission exit when she asked where I was going? I told her the Methodist church and she announced the one she was talking about was on 10th Street in McAllen. I decided to just go along and see what she was talking about since we had time, so about 8 miles later we were on 10th Street and there is no church. I tried, in my nicest voice, to say I would like to take her to the church I remember had a banner. Pulling up in front of the church she said it was the right one.

Charles Baskin is the pastor there and he was outside greeting those arriving for the service. He was most relaxed and acted as if he had all the time in the world to talk. Having now gone to the Good Shepherd UMC in Charlotte, NC and to the Faith UMC in Elkhart where pastors Talbot and Larry, respectively, both took time to walk around and great people both outside and inside the sanctuary, as did Charlie, we seem to be finding a very nice common thread among Methodist pastors. These are not the only churches where this happened, but they are the three most memorable.
Charlie’s wife Heidi plays the keyboards and leads the singing at the contemporary service. She is also the one who makes pumpkin bread in a mason jar for guests. She prepares the mixture, then puts it into the jar and bakes it there. She seals the jar and puts a Bible verse on as a final touch. Bobbie, the one woman welcome committee who visited us this morning (Monday) to great us says we should enjoy the bread, but bringing the jar back does not equate to a refill – Oh, shucks.

Bentsen State Park

Happy birds enjoying the regular handouts.











Saw these but unable to get my own shot.















Some local residents.


An uncooperative Javelina







11-10 Saturday We took advantage of the cool morning and road our bikes through the Bentsen State Park. This is a park that adjoins the campground property. As guests here, we have unlimited access to this park. It is a birding center and one of the reasons we decided on this location in the Valley. The road through the park is four miles. It is an old campground that closed so that it could be better used as a birding center. The campground is still there, but you can see it was designed for RVs that were sold in the 50’s. With only state vehicles allowed in the park, it remains very quiet. One of the workers coming through checking the park on a golf cart was the nosiest thing we heard.

Riding through the park we saw a lot of birds. They were being fed so they are like cats; if you feed them they never leave. We also saw a few Green Jays. They have a nice call to go with their blue heads, black throat, green backs and yellow tails. In flight they are very colorful as well as being fast and agile. Without a longer lens, I was unable to get a picture of a single one.
We had been told the there were Javelinas in the park but did not expect to see any – it is a very large park measured in miles. To our surprise, six ran out of the woods in front of us. They can move quickly so I only got a shot of 3 of them before they disappeared into the woods. A bit further down the road and we spotted another grazing alone. He did not want to turn around and I was not about to get off the bike to get a better shot. Maybe another time one will be more willing to show his or her better side or end.

Things around Mission, TX

11/5 – 11/9 Monday – Friday We are still involved in getting settled and finding our way around. It is interesting how here, like some of the NE states, they don’t bother to put street signs up. You must do a lot of guessing to get around or have a GPS to help navigate.

The homes run from some REALLLLY nice homes to some that look as if they should have been condemned several years ago but no one has gotten around to posting the notice. Concrete blocks are used in much of the construction. One home we saw today was made of poured concrete or thin concrete blocks with stucco outside. I am sure the fire insurance on that home will be much cheaper than that of the neighbors.

Something very prevalent in the area is the use of burglar bars on both homes and businesses, even in some nice areas and serious fences around homes. These are not your typical chain link or board fences, instead they are 7’ and 8’ metal and concrete fences the are all the way around the house with large gates to drive through. Another thing is the amount of graffiti on any flat surface from a highway sign that has nothing but a number to the side of a building or wall. Most of the bridge walls have managed to escape these delinquents attention.

Should you drive in the area, especially on US-83, be warned that TxDOT has designed the road exits where you exit on the backside of a bridge and the road you have exited for may be a mile or more down the service road. This is in contrast to a place like Houston where you exit for a cross street and you can see the traffic light or stop sign as you exit. If you guess wrong on the exit, it is easily 2 miles back to the business you just past. This frequently means you cannot see the business you want to reach and get off the road to pull into their parking lot. Here you must know your exit and get off without the comfort of seeing your destination.

I did some investigating and found the woodshop here at the park is a well-equipped shop in a large metal building. The machines are more of the lighter weight category, but they are all full size. They have wood and metal lathes, table saw, miter saw, grinder and a knife sharpener, routers, jointer, planner, drill press, radial arm saw and band saw; think that is all the power equipment. The tool room is well equipped with air nailers and staplers, Forstner bit sets, sanders, grinders, saber saws, quality bar clamps, just to name a few. Some of the people who come here spend so much time there that they have lockers for their projects. I have not had time to go there to work, but I did get some supplies to use for various projects just as soon as time permits. The only problem I found was the blade on the table saw is a carpenter’s grade carbide blade. I will be encouraging them to get a blade more consistent with cabinetmaking so we are able to do more quality work.

We did go out tonight and found the local Harbor Freight, and then we headed off to a Mexican restaurant that has been around for 24 years and has four locations in this area. It sounded as if this was going to be a good location, but as our RV club says, this was both our first time and our last time there. It is fun checking out places, but we need to work more on not setting our expectations quite so high, instead we should set a middle ground and then be pleased when the food exceeds this measure.

We just read a story in the AARP Magazine about a man who had never driven or camped in an RV who, when loaned an RV for a month and hit the road in the Northeast, found food at local restaurants vs. chain establishments to frequently be disappointing regardless how tasty the name sounded. These same entrepreneurs frequently advertised the best (what ever) in the state or region of the country, and then when you order it you suddenly realized the owner never leaves his or her home county.
At least at this Mexican restaurant the staff was Hispanic and dressed the part. Our waiter was an older man and he was dressed well above the level of the others. It did make for a fun experience in a new town, so the experience on a scale of 1 to 10 was about a 5+.

Home in Mission,TX

Don't know why Google printed the pictures twice, but here goes anyway! I need to get this out before the grass dries out any more! Yes, it is dry here now, yet it is reported that the grass and everything was so green earlier this spring and summer when the rains were very frequent.

Home in Mission, TX at the park. A few shots of the RV all settled in.

11-1 Thursday - Sunday We arrived in Mission, Texas for the winter. With a bit of difficulty we located the park. Our GPS wanted us to exit well before our correct exit causing confusion. Finally arriving, we were extremely pleased to find this is a 5-year old park and the owner is making it a premium quality park. There is another park going in with considerable similarity to this park that is another venture of this owner. In that case, the lots are selling for $39,900. In this park all the sites are either paved with asphalt or concrete. All the roads are wide, smooth asphalt. All the sites have native plants and other native landscaping.

Everything is clean and well organized throughout the park. I did a bicycle tour of the park in the evening again in the morning. Getting around at night was not especially difficult as there is some lighting around the park but not enough to cancel out the stars. The day tour just showed how neat everything was.

I took some pictures but discovered when downloading them to the computer I had bumped the setting and everything was dark so the pictures reflect day 4 on the site. Things are really dry here after having had a very rainy spring and summer leaving everything then very well watered. We did water the plants and found the dirt here really loses all strength when wet; more than normal mud. Even the stakes I put in the ground to hold the awning are pulling out with almost no pressure.

Doing some scouting around, the park I found it is adjacent to a butterfly park. It must be busy in season as there is considerable paved parking. We have a gate from the park giving us direct access without having to through the front gate and down the road. In addition, there is a state park a short distance down the road that is a bird sanctuary. This area is on the bird flyway coming from Mexico and South America to the northern states and Canada. Right now the majority of the birds are grackles and they are very vocal.

The park has a 4-wheel ATV and kayaks they loan to guests. At first they send someone out with you when you take the ATV the first time to show you the roads and trails so you do not get on the wrong trail and suddenly you are crossways with the Border Patrol. We hope to do this on Monday for the first time. They also have a 12-passenger ‘ATV’ that is a modified buggy operating on large tires to get through mud and swamps. That “GATV” as they call it (G is for giant) and is operated by the park owner for the enjoyment of the guests and their friends on Wednesdays.

The pictures are taken around the park.