Wednesday, January 30, 2008 (DAY 34) The leak continues. This time it occurred while Kay was washing dishes, but I could not find any wet connection. This is really puzzling. Oh well, it didn’t leak all day, so we’ll see. This morning, over coffee, we took a picture of the 8:00 AM Pine to Palm bicycle ride through the neighborhood. We turned the rental car in in early afternoon, and will sure miss it. We liked it so well, in fact, we’re going to try to sell the truck and buy one. After turning in the car, we went to lunch at Pepe’s On The River with Larry, Vicky, Jerry, Doris, Wilbur and Diane. It’s a joint with pretty good food and great music and dancing. We arrived about 1:00 PM and had lunch, and at 2:00 PM when the music started, it got really crowded. In fact, T.G. Shepard is to appear there Saturday evening. Our friends insisted we dance before we leave, so we waited for a 2-step and danced one song. We returned to Pine to Palm Resort Park to ready DunnGone for the return trip home. It began misting, but I unhooked the water hoses, drained and flushed the tanks, and stowed the various hoses. In the meantime, Kay got online and noted the forecast for 1 to 3 inches of snow in northern Arkansas Thursday evening. She made an executive decision to stay at least one more day, which was the smart thing to do, since we don’t have any other commitments. This will put us in Saturday evening. If snow does occur, we may wait still another day. I’m having to really practice being flexible, but it’s kind of refreshing

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 (DAY 33) This was minor repair day for DunnGone. We were up fairly early, unhooked all the utilities, brought the slides in, and were ready to go a half hour ahead of time. We arrived at the RV repair shop at our appointed time, and the service manager was not there, and was going to be late. After a few minutes of my pacing back and forth, the lead mechanic began looking for the leak. After an hour, a cup of coffee, and a fast food breakfast, we finally left to look at other RV parks in the lower RGV. We found several we really liked, including Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort in Mission as our favorite, followed by Seven Oaks and Hidden Valley, both in Mission, and Llano Grande Lake Park Resort in Mercedes, though the latter 3 in no particular order. After our RV park searches, Kay visited the outlet mall, and bought a pair of really nice Crocs, regularly $49.95, for $24.95. Then, after "wasting" much of the day, we returned to the RV, and to our surprise (yeah, right), no one was working on it. Kay picked up the laundry, we came back to Pine to Palm, Kay did laundry, and I watched the Pine to Palm park shuffleboard trials for the lower RGV Olympics. These guys were awesome. After laundry, we picked up the RV and sure enough, they couldn’t find the leak, nor fix it; no surprises here! As luck would have it, it took no time to drive back to Pine to Palm Resort Park and set DunnGone up again. After cooling off, literally, we danced our final time in the lower RGV at Victoria Palms with my cousin and her husband from Houston and another couple from Judsonia, AR. The band was great and the dancin’ was super as well. We had a wonderful time! Tomorrow, the rental car goes back and we prepare for our trip home. We both are now wishing we could spend some more time down here as temperatures in the high 80s are very appealing.

Monday, January 28, 2008 (DAY 32) It was another beautiful day in the lower RGV. Our nuisance leak under the kitchen sink still persists. Kay called both our Emergency Road Service and Jayco, and we found a Jayco dealer who does warranty repairs. He boasted that he hasn’t seen a leak yet that he couldn’t fix in a day, so we made an appointment for 9:00 AM tomorrow. We killed time most of the morning with Kay going grocery shopping while I took some pictures of Pine to Palm Resort Park, as promised (see photos). We have been a litle disappointed with the park bcause of some trashy trailers that have been converted into semi-permanent dwellings, and I use the term loosely, the lack of other RVs, and the restrooms which stay moist and dirty. The park is friendly and has a lot of activities, though. After lunch, we sat in the spa for a half hour, then sun-bathed for an hour or so—enough for me to get a little sunburned. Kay had discovered a pottery shop on the way to Mexico, so we shopped for pottery, silver, and other gifts for friends and kids back home. While shopping, we noted another similar store across the highway, so we went into that store and it was more upscale, and served frozen margaritas; they had beautiful hand-painted pottery, masks, figurines, jewelry, and clothes. We managed to make it out of there for under $50. Back at the park, we enjoyed our last pancake supper, then played a game of shuffleboard with Vicky and Larry. Then it was the President’s State of the Union Address, or bedtime. Guess what we chose?

Sunday, January 27, 2008 (DAY 31) This is the longest we’ve been away from home, RVing. Our last long-term endeavor was for 29 days in August 2007 to Wyoming and Montana. We’ve enjoyed our stay here in the RGV, but the weather has been a little damp and cool the last few days, and we’ve endured each other in a pretty confined space (DunnGone is only 29 feet long). Fortunately, Kay has a wonderful personality, and accepts my little quirks. We sang He Made a Change in church today with Jerry, Doris, and Vicky, and it sounded good. After lunch at Luby’s we settled in for the afternoon. I enjoyed a nap, and then worked again to find and fix the leak under the sink. If it doesn’t stop tomorrow, DunnGone will be headed to the shop! As the sun came out late in the afternoon, Kay wanted to play shuffleboard, so we managed two games. Kay has a great eye and could be a very good player with a little practice. It’s just about time for bed, and tomorrow we should have another full slate of activities. I’ll take pictures of Pine to Palms for posting.

Saturday, January 26, 2008 (DAY 30) Our lives have slowed so much, we may be going backwards! It was still cool and overcast in the lower Rio Grande Valley. Kay went to Nuevo Progresso, Mexico, to help with Kids’ Church at one of the churches Pine to Palms Fellowship Church sponsors; I remained behind and cleaned DunnGone. After dinner, Kay discovered a leak in the cabinet under the kitchen sink. Because there were no drips, we couldn’t pinpoint the area of the leak, but cleaned and dried the floor and side walls. After a bit, we noticed a small wet spot on the floor in the cabinet, and having had a similar problem in our travel trailer, I tightened up a connection under the sink, and that seemed to fix the problem. Later in the night (I couldn’t sleep), I heard the drip, drip again, and it was coming from the same place. Re-tightened the connection and will see if this is a permanent fix. That was pretty much it for an uneventful day.

Thursday, January 24, 2008 (DAY 28) After a great night’s sleep in a bit cooler weather, we started our day at country western dance class. We decided to attend today rather than try to go Tuesday PM because we have to turn in the rental car on Tuesday at 3 PM. We did well, for beginners. After several lessons, we had become acquainted with the instructors and, consequently, got a lot of personal instruction today as they knew it was our last day. We have essentially completed the basic class, which included the 2-Step, the western polka, the swing, and the waltz, all with inside and outside turns, and conversation steps. We’re ready to put this into action! Actually, country western dance lessons were a high light of the trip. The weather today was cloudy and foggy, with occasional rain. After dance lessons, it was off to our last choir practice, followed by our quintet practice. Pine to Palm sponsored a dance in the evening, with a 4 piece country western band. It was time! While the band only played 2-step music, we danced part of the night away, and I didn’t embarrass Kay.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008 (DAY 27) This was a "free" day in as much as neither of us scheduled any activities. We decided to travel to Mission, TX, and visit the World Birding Center at the Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park. We hiked most of the roads and trails, a little over 4+ miles, and saw some very colorful birds, a raccoon, and several javelina, or collared peccary (see photos). Included in the bird species were green jays, chachalacas (about the size of a small pheasant), ladder-backed woodpeckers, mourning and white-winged doves, Harris hawk, cardinals, and Altamira orioles (much larger than the Baltimore oriole). We took several photos, but photography does not do the colors justice. Interestingly, the birding center is only about 0.2 mile from the US-Mexico border (see photo of boundary marker), and there is constant US Border Patrol traffic on the interior "no autos" roads, and it is somewhat a disturbance to the birds. Nevertheless, there were a couple of blinds, and they proved invaluable in watching different birds feed. After the long hike, we tried to make the senior lunch special at Golden Corral, but missed it by about 2 minutes. Here’s the thing about the senior lunch special, i.e. buffet. The senior lunch special is about $2.50 less than the regular buffet, and extends to 4:00 PM. Many of the RGV seniors, and Mexicans, try to arrive at Golden Corral about 3:45 PM as the steaks and shrimp begin showing up in the buffet line at 4:00 PM. That way, they get the full buffet at senior prices. You got to watch these seniors! Unfortunately, we got behind some folks who culturally don’t move too fast, nor did the young lady at the cash register, and we had to pay the full amount. Our friend, John, will have to let Ted, the Golden Corral CEO, in on this little tidbit of senior trickery. We watched television the rest of the evening. We’re sure going to miss HDTV.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008 (DAY 26) It was time again for dance lessons and I could hardly wait! Our classes consisted of practicing what we learned thus far, with focus on turns. Actually, we did pretty well. While we were not the best, we weren’t the worst either. Upon leaving Victoria Palms where the dance classes are held, we noted an Arkansas licenses plate. We rolled down the window and Kay asked where the folks were from. They were from Batesville, and were the Pooles. They had owned and operated a number of catfish restaurants in Arkansas, including Catfish Wharf in Batesville. When it came time to come south, they couldn’t find a suitable manager, and just closed the place. They were friendly folks, and we have to visit with them again at home. After dance classes, Kay visited the beauty shop to keep the gray away. If only I had enough hair… We attended Marriage Enrichment class in the evening, and got the results of our personality profile. Both of us had completed several of these previously, so no surprises. In fact, we’re pretty much like you all see us.

Monday, January 21, 2008 (DAY 25) Kay woke up early and did all the laundry while I emptied the black and gray tanks. As is the custom, Palm to Pine Resort Park general meetings are held on Monday mornings at 9:00, and Kay attended, though no new news. We decided to do some grocery shopping at Wal-Mart, after which we ate lunch at Fiesta TexMex. We were seated by the stand where the lady made tortillas, and she was good. After a lengthy delay in receiving our food, she offered us some hot tortillas with butter, and my oh my were they good. We learned that flour tortillas are rolled, corn tortillas are pressed. We had a great lunch, and returned to Pine to Palm where I played shuffleboard and Kay read. We bypassed the pancake dinner, but played shuffleboard again in the evening. I began formalizing this journal on Good Sam Club Personal Travel Website. It was another great weather day in the lower RGV, but we’re thinking more and more about returning home.

Friday, January 25, 2008 (DAY 29)  Only 6 days left now, and the weather is not cooperating; today was rainy and cool (high 40s) negating any outdoor activities. It still beats the weather at home, a high in the low 30s with some frozen precipitation. Kay and I discussed the insanity of our returning home to that kind of weather. Oh well, we’re both a little homesick for Dunnhill Lodge, our friends, and church. Because of the weather, we took it easy today (seems like we do that a lot), reading and surfing the internet. We did a little planning on our route home, and will probably go via Houston. Linda Hagedorn, our cousin from Houston, called and said she and Tom were coming down on Monday with Jack and Betty, from Judsonia, next door neighbors to my sister. My, but it’s a small world. All these folks, along with two or three other couples, camp together each spring and fall on one of the Corps lakes in Arkansas. Anyway, we plan to get together with them at least once before our leaving on Thursday AM. Larry and Vicky invited us to go with them and Lynnette to the Olive Garden in Harlingen, followed by a movie. Kay and I had our usual calamari, soup and salad, and it was all good. We opted to see Bucket List with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. It was a great movie about two guys who were diagnosed as terminally ill, became friends in the hospital, and made out a “kick the bucket” list of things to do before they die. We thought of our friend who, though not terminally ill, made out a “bucket” list several years ago, completed it, then made out another and completed it this fall with a safari to Africa and a trip to Switzerland. Kay and I made out our own “bucket” list when I retired, and are completing things one at a time. This trip to the RGV and learning to dance were on the list! Consequently, seeing the movie along with facing our own mortality, has caused us to renew our efforts to do the things on our own “bucket” list.