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!
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!
