After a quiet few days, yesterday began a whirlwind several days for us. Today we met Lin, Tom, Karen, and Warren for a trip to Progresso, Mexico. We enjoy going to Progresso, always buying a few things, including some meds, and having lunch. After a couple hours of shopping, we walked to Arturo’s for lunch, and had great Mexican food. As we were finishing our meal, Karen remarked that she had to dig out her passport; Kay and I looked at each other with dropped jaws, both realizing at the same time that we had forgotten our passports. After a short panic attack, we figured the worse case basis would be a severe lecture by customs agents, and a long wait while the others went to retrieve our passports.

We left the restaurant and picked up a few remaining items from the store across the street, and began the dreaded walk to the border. There are two lines for exiting Mexico to the US, one is a seemingly fast line outside and the other line is inside, both for those with passports. Assuming the worst, we got in the line for the inside check station, figuring we would be interrogated in an office.  The lines seemed to move faster than usual, and before we knew it we were at the guard station. Kay gave her drivers license to the agent and said, “We don’t have passports.” He exclaimed, “You don’t have passports!”  Realizing her faux pas, I quickly said we had passports but had forgotten them. He asked Kay for her birthday, punched in a few numbers and signaled for her to go on through. I gave him my drivers license and he again punched in some numbers and waved me through as well. I whispered to Kay to not say anything, and keep moving until we got into the public area. That may have been the fastest we’ve ever walked across the border. Anyway, all is well that ends well. We said our goodbyes, and drove to Costco for gasoline, while Lin, Tom, Karen, and Warren drove to their motel.

We arrived back at BPVRV Resort just in time for happy hour at which much discussion continued about the future of the resort.

Our Friday night entertainment was The Coins, Andy and Brenda.  While they traveled with country-western stars. Some time ago, they now split their time between Branson and the Rio Grande Valley. They were okay, but our poorest entertainers to date.

It’s Thursday, and that means it’s birding day. We convoyed the short distance to Anzalduas Park, about 7 miles from the resort. Anzalduas Park is ust upstream of an International Boundary Commission dam on the Rio Grande River. We ended with 55 species with the
best being great looks at the Peregrine Falcon, Wood Stork and Yellow-headed Parrot; the pair below were looking for a nesting site. 

Jerry and Karen Smith, our “bird club” leaders, announced that this was their last year at BPVRV Resort as they had bought a place in another resort in the RGV, but not too far away.  As full timers this will give them a place to store personal things during their spring, summer, and fall travels—a place to call home base.  We are very happy for them and though we will miss them in our resort, we look forward to spending many days afield in the future looking for birds.

The “big” Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort meeting began at 1:30 PM today, but the auditorium was full shortly after 1:00 PM.  Mike Rhodes, owner and CEO of the corporation that owns the resort opened the meeting, giving a brief bio and his vision for the Bentsen Palm development.  Richard Parker, whose management firm has been hired to manage operations, future development, and sales at Bentsen Palm properties provided an outline of their plans for the future.  Speculation among resort residents was that “super” sites, 31 in all, would be placed on the market for sale for about $25,000, with some shuffling of displaced renters.  Much to everyone’s surprise, ALL lots were listed for sale (except for some of the less desirable one which will be made available for marketing), with prices beginning at over $40,000, with some near $100,000 with attendant “condo” fees of just less than $200 per month.  Virtually everyone in attendance was in shock.  Needless to say, that was the topic of happy hour at the palapa, with much speculation about who would go, who would stay, etc.—certainly unsettling to say the least.  Kay and I will be formulating our plans for next winter in the coming days, after we look/inspect other RV parks in the area.

We returned dinner favors to Bessie and Wayne Nickerson from Nova Scotia who entertained us last week with fish cakes, beans, etc. Kay’s chicken enchiladas, refried beans, and Mexican rice were a real treat and quite tasty.  We have immensely enjoyed getting to know Bessie and Wayne this year, and look forward to next year with them even though they are moving to another resort up the road.  We, for sure, will take dancing lessons together.

Kay and I wrapped up the evening washing dishes, ending a very stressful day.

It’s Monday, and everyone remains on pins and needles, awaiting information to be presented in the big meeting on Thursday, February 21, concerning the future of Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort, and whether or not we will be able to even rent here next year, and if so, if we’ll still be able to remain at the same site. This has been the winter home for some of our Canadian friends for many years, and the uncertainty has caused significant discomfort.  Consequently, most BPVRV Resort residents were in bit of a depressed state, and there was not a lot of activity.  And, to make things worse, at least for us, the pool heater has been in a state of disrepair for over two weeks now, and at 70 degrees is a little cold for us.  We were able to play Court Whist tonight, and had a blast, though neither of us won.

Tuesday was much the same as Monday, and folks again were still kind of sluggish, awaiting word on the future of the park.  We played party bridge in the evening, and my streak of really bad hands continued, though Kay was the big winner, taking home all the money.

Again, Wednesday was just like Monday and Tuesday.  The pall hanging over the resort and its future is definitely noticeable—otherwise, not too much is going on.

Several photos of us have been posted to the resort’s Facebook page, all taken by Beverly, our resort photographer, and I am copying them below.  The first photo was taken at the Valentine’s Dance, the others at another dance in the resort.

We have “lived” here long enough now to have established a weekly and daily routine, including Sunday. On Sundays, We typically awake early enough to read e-mail and newspapers online, shower and dress for early church (in our case, we attend the 9:00 AM Praise and Worship service. After church, we grab breakfast, usually fast food, and drive to Costco for their 10:30 AM opening for gasoline and shopping. By the time we get back to BPVRV Resort, it’s close to 12 noon.  And then, we have the afternoon for bicycling, bird watching, butterflying, etc.

Today, BPVRV Resort celebrated its first Derby Days, complete with stick horses and beautiful hats for the ladies and Al Crawford, our good friend.

The races consisted of “riders” on stick horses lined up at the “starting” gate, a chalk line on the pavement.  And then, based on the roll of a large pair of dice, riders took a step toward the finish.  For example, a pair of really large dice were thrown and if the numbers “2” and “5” came up, riders “2” and “5” take one step toward the finish line.  This was continued until a rider crossed the line and won.  Of course, my favorite jockey was Kay, but she didn’t finish in the money.

Bets were made, and the betting line was quite long. We all had a great time and it appears that this will become an annual event as it proved to be very popular and well attended.

Afterwards, our neighbors in Circle 3 gathered at the palapa for happy hour.  Kay and I then retired to the coach for a much needed quiet evening.

I helped next door neighbor Lorna this morning set up Picasa on her computer for cataloging and editing photos, and for emailing them to family and friends.  Lorna is an excellent birder and amateur lepidopterist (butterflyer), and had been having problems emailing photos from Kodak Easyshare.  Regrettably, Kodak no long supports this software, so she opted for Picasa.

An email from Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort was sent out to resort residents this morning inviting us to a meeting on Thursday afternoon.  Preceded by an emailed survey, speculation is running high among resort residents as to what will be said at the meeting.  Some believe the park may be changed to accommodate more park models, others believe that lots may be sold, and others believe that residents will be given a chance to lock in a long-term commitment to reserve a site at a fixed price—only time will tell.  My view is that Kay and I have lots of choices, and after collecting all the information we want/need, we’ll decide what to do.  Frankly, I do not see any significant changes for next year, except for rate increases.  We’ll keep you posted, but fully anticipate having reservations for here again next year! 

Wayne and Bessie Nickerson from near Lunenburg, Nova Scotia invited us over for a traditional Nova Scotia “fish cakes and beans” dinner; Bessie has been cooking this scrumptious meal all her life and was fortunate to find salted cod down here in the RGV.  Our meal tonight consisted of fish cakes, beans, and salad, a meal I had several times during our September visit to the Maritime Provinces with John and Sandy Simank.  As a side note, many Canadians have beans for breakfast as a side dish to accompany eggs, ham, sausage, bacon, and even pancakes.

After our typical morning routine of coffee, email, and newspapers, walking through the resort, and breakfast, I accompanied Jerry and Kerry to view some Burrowing Owls. The Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia) is a tiny but long-legged owl found throughout open landscapes of North and South America.  It is endangered in Canada, threatened in Mexico, and a species of special concern in Florida and most of the western USA.  It is a state threatened species in Colorado.

Our entertainment tonight was Wade Landry.  Born and raised in Abbeville, Louisiana, he has played fiddle for many great artists including Jimmy C. Newman, George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Buck Trent, and Mel Tillis, and often plays with Bob Wills’ Texas Playboys.  His Branson show, Wade Benson Landry’s Swingin’ Cajun Style Show appears at the God and Country Theatre located at 1840 W. Hwy 76 in Branson, usually starting at 10:00 AM.  He is appearing in 20+ shows in the RGV this year, and is already scheduled for 30+ shows in the Valley next year.  He is an excellent fiddler and singer, and his wife is a terrific singer, sounding much like Connie Smith, Brenda Lee, and Patsy Cline, rolled into one.

It’s Thursday, our “birding trip day”.  The Birding Club drove the short distance to Edinburg Scenic Wetlands and World Birding Center.  This city park has lots of trails for birding and observing butterflies, and other great areas for walking, jogging, and cycling.  We ended the day with 56 species, including several wading birds, a Buff-bellied Hummingbird (shown below), a couple of woodpeckers, and many others, the best being the Warbling Vireo and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (shown on the right).

Kay continued her Swedish Weaving class in the afternoon.

We attended the Valentine’s Day dance at the clubhouse tonight, sharing a table with Chuck, Sue, Wayne, Bessie, and another Canadian couple who we do not know.  Ron O’Neil provided the music, and he is literally a one man band.  Most of his repertoire is ‘50s and ‘60s music with a bit of Texas 2-step, waltzes, and polkas thrown in. We heard him last year, and he seems to be slipping a bit, maybe because of his poor eyesight.  We still enjoyed the night.

After our morning walk, Kay did laundry, while I cleaned the interior of the motorhome. We do these two chores about twice a week, minimizing the amount of clothes we pack ridding the motorhome of dust brought in by the almost constant winds over the Mexican desert just south of us.

We joined our neighbors at 4:00 PM for happy hour at the palapa.  The photo shows us today, circling up, and talking about everything, including the weather.  Typically, the men have one or more conversations and the women have conversations.

We all were entertained by a parade of mostly bicycles celebrating Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras.  It seems that residents of BPVRV Resort are always looking for any excuse to have a party or enjoy good times. We even got beads and candy tossed our direction.

Several of us attended the Vipers basketball game later in the evening. The Vipers are a “”D” league professional basketball team. Royce White, a first-round draft choice of the Houston Rockets had been sent down to this minor-league team after an absence of several months, playing basketball. His is an interesting story—he suffers from mental illness, i.e. OCD and anxiety disorder. He first refused to fly to games, then refused an assignment to the minor leagues; he finally acquiesced and is traveling in a highly customized bus, i.e. a $1,000,000+ motorhome. He was not that impressive, but must be awesome to have been the #19 pick overall. We immensely enjoyed the night, however, and there was far more going on outside the court than on the court.

After a day’s rest, we’re ready for some action!

Kay typically goes to exercise class at the clubhouse at 8:30 AM on Monday’s, Wednesdays, and Fridays. This morning, while she was exercising, I did a walking circuit through BPVRV Resort, about 2 1/2 miles. With some energy left over, I invited Chuck for a bicycle ride, and we pedaled to Anzulduas Dam Park, returning via Conaway Avenue to the bike path trailhead, then back to BPVRV Resort, a distance of about 18 miles. A soak in the hot tub helped relax overused muscles.

BPVRV Resort hosted Roland Garcia, Jr. again tonight for a dance. It was not a sellout, which allowed for more space on the dance floor. At some of the dances, the line dancers take up so much room that there is little room left for couples dancing. We dressed up in our best Western wear—Wrangler jeans, Resistol hat, and Tony Lama boots, and danced the night away—or at least until Quiet Hour at 10:00 PM.