HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RONNIE First off, today, Sunday, is Donald’s brother’s birthday. He was born 66 years ago in Vallejo, California. He has been Donald’s life-long mentor, both personally and professionally. As a cancer survivor, he has been in our thoughts and prayers every single day for 16 months and we wish him a great birthday, and a great year. Happy birthday, Ronnie.
FINALLY, A “NORMAL” WEEK We finally experienced a “normal” week, and were able to do some much-delayed fun things after our last Sunday evening’s “A Little Bit of Heaven”.
We both attended the Tourist Club meeting, followed by Spring Chorus practice, on Monday morning. Then, it was off to South Padre Island with the Worthams

and Zelks to eat great seafood. On Tuesday, Kay was back at Bible study while Donald worked, but she skipped their luncheon to make our weekly dance lesson. (Maybe the Bible study offsets the dance lesson, sin-wise! The church in which Donald grew up forbade dancing.) The dance lesson was a hoot; we actually made it to the advanced stage in the Texas Two Step and the Texas Waltz, having gone through our complete “basic” course outline. We should finish all the “basic” lessons for the Texas Polka and Texas Swing this next week. We actually made it to the pool a couple of afternoons this week as well. However, spring has arrived in the RGV and the trees are shedding their seed cases, so the pool was full of them. The maintenance crew finally ended up closing the pool late in the week for “chemical treatment”. Kay has become the female vocalist for the band here in Pine to Palm Resort Park, and practiced Wednesday morning, while Donald worked. Needless to say, she adds a lot to the band, both visually and musically. They will be performing at the Pancake Supper Monday evening. After her practice, we drove to Mexico for lunch and to purchase meds and gifts.  Lunch at Arturo’s was great, as usual. After lunch we hit the “pharmacias” for meds. We typically buy antibiotics and Z-packs, available over the counter, for our use during travels. Because of our time constraints, neither of us had a pedicure or manicure. On the way back to the US, we photographed the border wall; our daughter, Karyn, is the project manager for this section. Donald continued working Wednesday night, completing a PowerPoint presentation for the project he’s been working on while we’re in the RGV. He worked most of the day on Thursday, then, we both practiced for song specials for church on Sunday, followed by church choir practice. We did make it to Fat Daddy’s, a hamburger and BBQ joint just down the road, Thursday evening. We both had BBQ—Kay had ribs and pork, Donald had beef and sausage—and it was a LOT of food, enough left over for another meal, in fact. It was pretty noisy, but it otherwise had a great atmosphere. On Friday, we had a great Tex-Mex breakfast with the Worthams at one of our favorite restaurants in the RGV, after which we returned to DunnGone so Donald could work. Saturday, we did our weekly “maintenance” on DunnGone, dumping the tanks, doing laundry, and cleaning our living quarters; sounds like fun, huh? Saturday afternoon saw Kay ferreting out income tax deductions. Taking a break, we did walk down towards the Park building complex to watch “Fun Day” activities Donald sang Sunday morning, backed up by Vicky Wortham and Kay. After lunch at Chili’s with the Mountain Home, AR, group, we drove to Mission to meet Carolyn Todd’s uncle and aunt at Lemon Tree Resort, then to Bentsen Palm RV Resort Park to visit our neighbors from Norfork, who arrived on Saturday. We’re sure hoping Rod and Rita have a good time there; we’re on the waiting list there for next winter. Of course, it seems like every spare moment, day and evening alike, we continue our non-Winter Texan activities of internet based college courses (Kay) and consulting work (Donald). This is happening on every outing and trip, and it’s really dragging us down; something’s got to give!
GREAT WEATHER Our weather this week has been pretty consistent with highs in the mid 80s, lows in the 60s, and wind blowing 20 to 25 miles per hour gusting to 40 miles per hour. Yeah, that’s right, gusting to 40 miles per hour. That’s pretty typical in the valley, so we never put our awning out. Some people can’t stand the wind in the RGV, and never return. It must be something like the dust bowl days, because it can get to you. We often hear it howling, and it constantly rocks DunnGone. Last year, Donald got motion sickness in DunnGone during a blow. It also makes for a bad hair day for those who have hair; though it doesn’t bother Donald! We’ve both gotten used to the wind, and don’t notice it much unless it really blows like it did Saturday. Otherwise, we open the windows most nights and mornings, with AC in the afternoons and evenings. Most of the Canadians down here don’t use their ACs at all, but practically live in their Texas rooms, usually built as add-ons to their “trailer”.
SATURDAY, FUN DAY AT PINE TO PALM RESORT PARK
COUNTING OUR BLESSINGS Over the course of our travels, we’ve seen lots of family and friends experience difficult times. We are pleased that our good friend, Ed, had successful eye surgery a few weeks ago. Lisa, the mother-in-law of our daughter, Jenny, had foot surgery on Friday, and we trust she is having a good convalescence. We continue to keep Donald’s brother, Ronnie, in our thoughts and prayers. Our friends and fellow RVers, Jerry and Ann, have temporarily given up retirement and are caretaking his older brother and wife in California; we pray that they be richly blessed for what they are doing, and that they be given endurance, strength, and patience. We are also praying for Yoland and her family; Yoland is a pediatrician who goes to our church in Mountain Home, has two children still at home, and has terminal cancer with only weeks to live. We also are praying for Lou and Dale. Lou is another member of our church, suffering with terminal liver cancer. And, we are praying for our neighbors, Phyllis and Jim. Phyllis has recently undergone some difficult and painful treatments and is in convalescence. There are others, but names escape us.
SIX MORE SLEEPS We’re down to 3 days, starting Monday, before we head north Thursday morning, March 12. We’re both ready for the big house—no, not prison, but our real house in Norfork, “stick” house as RVers refer to them—having been close, really close, together for several weeks now. Donald has been watching the river data and weather and is chomping at the bit to fish. We’re going to be a little more flexible in our return trip, and limit our driving to a reasonable distance each day, about 300 miles. As we get closer to home though, we will have to seriously negotiate the meaning of reasonable distance as Donald gets the homing instinct and wants to drive straight through. That should get us home in six more sleeps. Consequently, this is our last post before arriving home…maybe.

DOWN AND OUT—SICK BAY The week started OK, but declined rapidly. We attended church Sunday morning, and Kay performed a beautiful rendition of Praise His Name. We skipped lunch outside the park, and enjoyed a quiet afternoon in DunnGone. Monday morning, neither of us felt like going to the Tourist Club meeting, but we both went to Spring Chorus practice, and returned to DunnGone for rest. Donald finished his pancake flipping duties for the month and Kay served as greeter for the supper. She continued to feel worse, and rested uncomfortably, at best, on the lounge. Her crud worsened, and she stayed in bed all Tuesday. She awoke Wednesday morning feeling somewhat better, but Donald’s crud had worsened. Thursday saw Donald staying in bed most of the day, while Kay was much better, but having a cough that sounded like pneumonia. We were both better on Friday, returning pretty much to normal, even getting in our 3 mile walk. In addition, Kay ventured out on her bicycle.

Consequently, we were down and out this week. It did give us time to do some serious planning for our proposed Alaska trip later this year. As a planner, Donald has over planned as usual, using Microsoft Streets and Trips mapping software, and creating a comprehensive Excel spreadsheet, with Kay researching the unknown details and filling in the remaining blanks. We are thankful for all the information provided by our friends, Ann and Jerry, who made the trip a couple of years ago. Note: All photos this week featured Kay, by popular request. Here’s one of Kay at the Don Wes Flea Market.

YO YO WEATHER—IT’S GETTING HOT DOWN HERE Weather must exhibit similar patterns everywhere—changing constantly. If you don’t like it, wait around a few minutes and it will change. Last weekend, we experienced cool nights with lows in the 40s, then late this week we had mid-90 temps with 100 degrees recorded only a few miles west of us. It was so hot here on Friday that our AC could not keep us. Then last night (Saturday), temps again fell back to the low 40s—that is almost a 50 degree drop in 24 hours. And yet, it is sleeting and snowing back home!

SATURDAY, A SAD DAY We enjoyed our last half-price dinners at Luby’s this Saturday; it was a sad day indeed. Donald has been hanging around our neighbors in Norfork, his friends in Memphis, and his brother-in-law George entirely too long, and is changing his name to Dunnstein. He can ferret out a food bargain in a New York second.

SUNDAY EVENING GOSPEL SING Vicky Wortham, our friend from TLBC in Mountain Home, produced a Gospel Sing in Pine to Palm Resort Park tonight (Sunday). We both participated, singing solo parts as well as singing in the choir. The sound set-up was not too great, but it was a lot of fun, and well attended; it’s obvious our Canadian friends like Southern Gospel music.

LESS THAN TWO WEEKS AND COUNTING We’re down to 12 days and counting before our return home. We’re both ready, and would leave tomorrow if we had not committed to the Spring Chorus on March 11. Donald is ready to fish, but has some serious tying to do beforehand. As it stands, we’re contemplating leaving on Thursday, March 12, spending a night in the hill country of Texas near Austin, driving to Wright Patman Reservoir near the Texas-Arkansas border on Friday, March 13, and then the rest of the way home on Saturday, March 14.

FINALLY A FLIPPER After a couple of missed opportunities, Donald finally got to flip pancakes at the weekly Pine to Palm Resort Park’s Pancake Supper. This is a well organized event that occurs every Monday evening, and is attended by some 400+ people. Work actually begins at 10:00 AM when sausage links are cooked, and continues through the morning as ham is sliced. The kitchen and dining room work crew reports at 3:30 PM, readies the kitchen, prepares coffee, makes other beverages, and puts out all the add-ons such as butter, syrup, strawberries, pineapple, etc. Shortly before 4 PM, pancake batter is made in a 5 gallon container, and three 36-inch grills are loaded with pancakes, which are cooked for the “crew”. Then, after eating our own cooking, the real show begins. A team makes the batter according to a tried and true recipe, another person loads the batter into three batter droppers, and the “flippers” drop the batter onto the grill, and flip the pancakes. The flippers begin in sequence, with the first filling his grill, then the second, then the third. As folks come through the line, fresh pancakes hot off the grill, are served in their plates (over 1,000 pancakes are cooked and served), and the diners then pick up all the fixings. This lasts from 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM and goes by lightening fast.

JUST A TYPICAL WEEK, FINALLY This week was a typical week in the RGV, finally. Combined with our usual activities that included the spring chorus practice, pancake supper, Bible study, dance lessons, church choir practice, and church, we were able to do some other things on our list. We visited the Don Wes Flea Market and adjacent fruit market Wednesday morning. Late Wednesday, Donald finished the first phase of the project he’d been working on, and was much relieved—making for a much more pleasant atmosphere in DunnGone. On Thursday morning, we hiked around the Estero Llano Grande Birding Center, a Texas state park. It was a good outing, and we saw lots of water birds, though the international birding center near Mission seems to be bigger and has more species. Pine to Palm Park sponsored a dance on Thursday evening, finally bringing in a decent band, Jealous Heart. They had a large following and the doors had to be closed at 7:00 PM because of an overflow crowd; many people didn’t get in. This caused for a packed dance floor, and when combined with people who do not know how to dance the Texas Two Step (couples dancing the two-step, and moving in a large circle like skaters in a skating rink), it made for a bumper car experience. Donald’s a very big guy, so when he would get bumped, it was like a Volkswagon bumping into a Lincoln. We had cloudy days on Thursday and Friday, and it rained all day Saturday. A cold front came in with the rain, and dropped temps to the mid 40s Saturday night, making sleep come easy. We had not experienced a full day’s rain in the RGV before, and it gave us an opportunity to do some much needed shopping. Kay sang at church on Sunday, we relaxed in the hot tub for a couple of hours, and we enjoyed the rest of the day planning our Alaska 2009 trip.

DONALD’S PREJUDICES ARE SHOWING Because of their February special—half price dinners—we have been eating at Luby’s on weekend evenings. On Friday evening, we arrived later than usual, and experienced longer lines than usual. It seemed that every senior citizen over 80 would have to have the servers repeat all the special dishes, then these seniors would take forever to make their choice. This also happened with the Mexican families. And as he often does, Donald remarked that the only things he didn’t like about the RGV were the old people (really old, and that target moves up every year) and the Mexicans. He’s not really that prejudiced, but he is that impatient, and a wee bit intolerant. Even though you love him, you’ve got to forgive him for these errors in his personna! However, knowing most of you, you’re probably just like him!

BACK TO UNNORMAL After a quick trip to central Arkansas, Donald returned to the Rio Grande Valley Monday evening. While he was away, Kay got a great lesson in being a minority as she shopped at the outlet mall. Weekends at stores in the RGV are somewhat like it was in rural areas of the South 50 years ago—everyone goes to town—including at least 4 generations. Many South Texans, virtually all Hispanic, come, and many Mexican families cross the border, all to shop at the Outlet Mall, Walmart, and other major stores in the RGV. Kay was unaware of this cultural aspect of the RGV, and many Winter Texans laughed when they found that she ventured out on the weekend. It’s safe enough, just really crowded. Kay asked one of the security guards at the mall if this was an unusual crowd, and he said “no”. She remarked to Donald, that it was like a crowd at Christmas back home. After the weekend, Kay had a busy Monday doing Excel homework, practicing for the choir, lunch, more Excel homework, pancake supper, and picking Donald up at the Harlingen airport. We received a great email from our neighbor, Charlie Duvall, in which he reminded us that life is much better when you realize there is no such thing as normal. That’s one of the best philosophical statements we’ve heard in many years, and it definitely applies to us. So, after a hectic week and a half, we’re back to unnormal, which to us is normal! Hehehe!

THE WEEK THAT WAS This week was supposed to be a tough one for Donald as he wraps up a major report; he purposefully didn’t schedule any activities this week as a result. Then, the information he needed only partially dribbled in, pretty much ruining his week, and forcing him to leave next week unscheduled as well—just part of being a part-time consultant. We definitely have to make other arrangements for future travel. After we realized Donald would not be working all week, we met some new acquaintances from Northwest Arkansas at Logan’s for dinner Tuesday evening. They, too, are wintering in the RGV. We met them at an RV.net gathering a couple of weeks ago. Wednesday was an off day, but we made up for it on Thursday with a brief shopping trip to the Outlet Mall, an “ice cream and cake” going-away party for some neighbors followed by choir practice, followed by a patio party at the Worthams. Larry is getting to be quite the ‘smoker’. Late Thursday afternoon Donald received some of the data he needed, so he worked most all night, and then Friday as well, finishing in time to spend a couple of hours at the hot tub and pool. Luby’s Restaurant features a 50% discount on their “LuAnn” meal on Friday and Saturday evenings the month of February, so we ate dinner there on Friday evening for $8.66; we are really learning to adapt to this senior lifestyle.

After returning to Pine to Palm Park for our evening walk, we discovered a music jam at the end of the street, so we grabbed our lawn chairs and listened to some pretty bad music for an hour or so.  Kay, however, brightened up the place with a rendition of “Tom Dooley”, even though the accompaniment left lots to be desired. Saturday, we celebrated Valentine’s Day by touring the RGV and having a late lunch at Macaroni Grill. The park had a “Peel ‘Em and Eat ‘Em” Shrimp Dinner Saturday afternoon, but we got “To Go” plates and spent a couple of hours at the pool. Sunday was cool for us, with temps near 70 degrees. It had been in the high 80s the last few days of the week. It was a pretty typical Sunday with church, lunch, and a quiet afternoon.

COCOON As you have read, we are spending considerable time at the pool and hot tub. Since this is a 55+ park, we’re all overweight, most of the men are gray and balding, and the women sag in the wrong places; that is to say, we all look alike. So, no one is too embarrassed to be seen at the pool, and it is packed day in, day out. One afternoon after watching so many “old” people sunning and swimming, we both began laughing and related as to how we were experiencing the “cocoon” phenomenon. And there might be something to it, if folks who winter down here live 5 to 10 years longer. Now, just about every time we go to the pool, we think about the movie, Cocoon. See my long blond hair!

THANK GOODNESS FOR GREAT NEIGHBORS As you read from last week’s journal, we departed the RGV, January 30, driving 16 hours straight through to tend to ice storm impacts at our house near Mountain Home. Our wonderful neighbor and friend, Wayne, kept the home fires burning, or better yet, kept the generators running, so that we didn’t lose any food. Wayne loaned us a generator which we used to keep the food cool/frozen, and light and warm the upstairs to a very comfortable temperature. We supplemented his generator with a smaller one we bought in Marshall, TX, enroute home. After a couple of days, we were able to streamline our situation with no electricity, and even listened to the radio for news and music. Our air card worked great and the broadband router worked off of generator power, giving us internet capability. Finally, our electricity was restored Tuesday at 8:30 AM. We immediately turned on the well, heater, and hot water. While these were becoming operational, we began emptying water containers, rolling up extension cords, returning borrowed generators, getting our generator ready for storage, and Donald managed to get a much needed haircut. We were both able to take hot showers, and wash and dry several loads of clothes. Kay cleaned the house and made preparations for our return to the warm RGV. We continue to thank our good friend, Wayne, for all he did for us. As an aside, he kept his home “fires” burning, and assisted 4 other neighbors. Sometimes it doesn’t pay to be a jack of all trades!

RETURNING TO THE RGV We departed for the RGV Wednesday AM after Kay finished an internet-based course test which had been postponed because of the ice storm. She has to take the test on the day it is scheduled, within a 24-hour window. This particular test was on Microsoft PowerPoint, and the questions were a bit cheesy—like differentiating between “poly” and “multi”. We’re not sure what that has to do with PowerPoint, but…oh well. We had terrible traffic between Mountain View and Clinton, AR, getting behind a log truck the entire way. Then, we were stopped dead still south of Benton in I-30 for a full 45 minutes due to an accident between 2 semis. After the delays, we opted to stop for the night at Schulenburg, TX, and arrived there at 8:00 PM, leaving us a 4-hour drive Thursday AM. We arrived at Weslaco around noon, had a quick lunch, and hurried to the hot tub for some soothing water on our weary muscles. Donald hurt his back cranking a generator, and could hardly move Tuesday and Wednesday. The hot water worked miracles. After the hot tub, swimming pool, and some sun, we practiced with the “choir” for the park’s gospel jam in a few weeks. Friday morning saw us returning to normal, with Larry Wortham and Donald competing in a fun shuffleboard match. Though they lost, Donald made much better strategic decisions. After the match, Donald worked on a consulting project with a very tight deadline.

HAVING TO SAY GOODBYE, AGAIN After we thought our lives had returned to normal, Donald’s daughter called to report that her grandmother, Bernice Witt, had passed away in Arkansas (NLR). Donald flew out on Sunday morning and will return to the RGV Monday evening. This was the second consecutive Sunday we were supposed to sing at church, and the second consecutive Monday Donald was to have flipped pancakes at the weekly pancake supper. So when does life return to normal?

ALMOST ANOTHER GREAT WEEK Monday was a great day, beginning with a “Tourist Council” meeting which I managed to miss (too much like work), followed by the Spring Choral practice. We attended an RV.net gathering for winter Texans; RV.net is a web forum for RVers, and the gathering was an opportunity to put faces with names and “handles”. We departed early to pick up a new CPAP machine in McAllen, followed by an early dinner at Red Lobster; we don’t get to eat at Red Lobster often, so this was a treat for us. Tuesday was a great day, and we got in our 2-hour dance lesson. With highs in the mid-80s, it was also great pool weather. We had a patio party at Larry and Vickie Wortham’s Tuesday evening featuring smoked pork shoulder, cooked by Larry. It was great, and the other folks who attended brought wonderful side dishes. (We’ll come back to Tuesday in the paragraph below). Wednesday was a quiet day, our church choir practiced on Thursday afternoon, and I lost really bad in a shuffleboard match Friday morning. Now, returning to Tuesday evening.

BAD NEW FROM HOME Tuesday was a wonderful RGV day. However, we got bad news from home Tuesday evening—an ice storm centered over Baxter County, Arkansas, Monday evening and Tuesday, dropping as much as 3 inches of ice. We lost power at our house on Tuesday evening at 5:30 PM, but our wonderful neighbor and friend, Wayne Bodenhamer, moved one of his generators to our house and kept the 2 refrigerator/freezers and chest freezer “charged”, saving us lots of money and time. Additionally, he was taking care of 3 other neighbors. What an unsung hero! Also, Barry Block from our quartet came down from Mountain Home despite bad road conditions, and checked on our place. Typically, our neighborhood maintains power in disasters, and we had plenty of them last year, with only a brief loss of power. However, each day we talked to Wayne, things continued to worsen. Finally, we could no longer allow him to carry our burden while we were having fun and left for home on Friday afternoon, leaving DunnGone in the RGV, driving 16 hours straight through, stopping only for gasoline and some emergency supplies at Marshall, TX. We were able to purchase a small generator there as well as propane cylinders and Coleman fuel. We arrived home at 6 AM, and immediately crawled into a cold bed. After three hours of sleep, we awoke Saturday morning, drove into Mountain Home, and purchased gasoline to run the generators. Since that time, we’ve been maintaining generators; Kay consolidated food into one refrigerator/freezer and chest freezer, and trying to heat the house for more expected cold weather this coming week. We did manage to attend dinner with some friends, hosted by Ray Minardi, and celebrated Carolyn Todd’s 70th birthday; way to go, girl! We were both able to shower today (Sunday), thanks to a solar shower we use for wilderness camping. We plan to depart again for the RGV as soon as the power comes back up. Kay has done yeoman’s work in getting us ready to depart the RGV and taking care of household chores at home. We have great internet service, relying on an air card and a wireless router hooked up to the generator. We have to be careful, though to maintain battery power in our computers since charging them is more of a chore than one would guess. Anyway, that’s how our week went. How about yours?

NICE, VERY NICE—THE WEEK IN REVIW We had really great weather this week, with highs in the 70s and 80s, lows in the 40s and 50s—great for daytime activities and for sleeping. And next week’s weather is supposed to be a mirror image. This is why we’re in the Rio Grande Valley. Monday saw the weekly “Tourist Council” meeting, choir practice, and pancake supper, followed by shuffleboard. Tuesday was a quiet day before and after our dance class. On Wednesday, Donald cleaned DunnGone while Kay began her online course from Arkansas State University at Mountain Home. This Microsoft Office systems course is going to be time-consuming, but very good. At mid-day, we made our first trip to Mexico where we lunched at Arturo’s, and enjoyed both a pedicure and manicure. We also received the first package of mail from home, thanks to our great friends and good neighbors, the Bodenhamers. Thursday was our first day at the swimming pool. With our weather, it is nigh impossible to ignore the pool, and though it is heated, it is not too hot. Thursday afternoon was the weekly church choir practice. After a quick change of clothes, we were off to Snow to Sun RV Resort to see a comedic duo from Canada perform their act. Early Friday morning we had our weekly shuffleboard match with the resort next door. Thanks to Larry Wortham, Donald’s partner, they won their match while Kay did some necessary grocery shopping. With fresh tomatoes, cilantro, onions, garlic, and peppers, Donald made some wonderful salsa, Mexican rice, and fajita chicken. After more homework for Kay, we were off to the pool for some rest and relaxation, and it was so nice. Kay returned to Mexico on Saturday to help with the childrens’ church, and we spent another afternoon at the pool. While in the hot tub, a north wind suddenly developed, dropping temps a few degrees. Saturday evening found us at the annual Pine to Palm Resort Spaghetti Supper; because it was card night, the dinner was a speedy affair, though the food was very good. Sunday, it was off to church, lunch at Luby’s, with an afternoon of Wal-Mart shopping (Kay got a brand new bicycle), shuffleboard, and reading. Maybe next week, our activities will slow down.

SAND BURRS AND TEXAS SNOW Two things we forgot to mention last year were the presence of sand burrs in the grass lawns at Pine to Palm Resort Park and Texas snow falling on everything in sight. First, the sand burrs; we rediscovered these as we were setting the leveling blocks under DunnGone when we first arrived, and again when we emptied the black and gray tanks last week. They stick in our bare knees and any other exposed skin that touches the grass. We wear Crocs a lot down here and the sand burrs stick in their soles, then track into the motor home, sticking in the carpet and ultimately in our bare feet. Also, a lot of sugar cane fields are burned and the resulting ash that falls is called Texas snow. Consequently, when you walk the streets, you pick up the black ash on your shoes, and track it into your place of residence. We learned early last year, by observing other residents, to take off our shoes at the door. This also serves to keep the sand burrs out. Because of the dry climate, we actually keep our sneakers outside under DunnGone and near the entrance.

IT’S COLD IN SOUTH TEXAS Guess the north arctic winds followed us down, because the week started out rather cool by South Texas standards, with highs in the 50s and lows in the low 40s. Fortunately for us, the cool weather abated about mid-week, and temps returned more to normal, with lows in the 50s and highs in the 70s.

WE’RE GETTING TOO BUSY AGAIN Both of us had forgotten how busy one can be down here. Our Monday AM started with a “Tourist” Club meeting, which is a meeting summarizing upcoming activities for the week. This was followed by choir rehearsal. This is the choir that will perform at the annual spring show in March. Free time Monday afternoon allowed us to do some much needed shopping (yeah, right) at the Outlet Mall for Crocs; at the fruit market for fresh pineapple, oranges, and peppers; and the hardware store in Mercedes for a shuffleboard stick—you know, all the necessities. Then, it was back to the park for the weekly Monday evening pancake supper, followed by shuffleboard. And it’s only Monday! The rest of the week found us cleaning DunnGone, washing the Saturn, and washing clothes; Kay doing some hard core shopping with Karyn who is down for business (as a government employee, she works about 12 hours a day, getting paid for 8), reading (Kay finishing The Shack, one of her best reads ever, and Donald reading 4 westerns), renewing our Texas 2-step dance lessons on Tuesday afternoon (we hadn’t forgotten everything, didn’t try anything fancy, and were more tired than we remembered from last year), church choir practice, a friendly shuffleboard tournament with the park next door, dinner and a movie on Friday evening, a quiet day on Saturday, and church, homework for Kay, and our January street party, all on Sunday. The street party deserves some additional mention. The theme was Robbie Burns Birthday, celebrating famous poet and song writer Robert Burns. The party began with a short quiz about Robert Burns’ life, followed by saying of a Scottish grace. We ate traditional Scottish food, mince and tatties, which is sort of a ground beef cooked au jus with green peas served over mashed potatoes. Both lad and lassie toasts were offered, and a somewhat naughty Scottish song was sung. All residents of our street were present except for one. After the street party, Kay attended a concert in the main hall. WOW, we can rest until 9 AM tomorrow, Monday, only 12 hours away!

SNOWBIRD SUBCULTURE The snowbird subculture still amazes us. There are a couple of hundred parks like ours in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV), and our park has about 1,000 residents. Ours is a gated community where most people walk or ride bicycles for their most basic needs, everyone is friendly, and you know your neighbors, as well as many others in your “park city”. Activities are too numerous to mention, let alone in which to participate, and almost everyone volunteers to help or do what’s needed to be done; the one thing you don’t hear is, “We’ve already served and done our part, and it’s our time to rest.” Everyone participates in some form or fashion. Also, almost everyone is internet and email savvy, communicating with folks back home. About 65% of our park residents are from Canada, and most of those from Manitoba. A vast majority of the residents were farmers in Canada, Iowa, and other midwestern states. They seem to have brought the farm culture to us.

THE TRIP DOWN, 2009 WOW! Can you believe this is our second year to winter in the RGV. We departed home on Friday AM with a temperature of 25 degrees, driving all the way to just south of Oakwood, TX, where we stayed at the Buffalo RV Park. This was an austere park with only electric and water (EW), but we really only needed electric, and were just staying for the evening. It was T-shirt weather when we arrived, but sweatshirt weather when we left on Saturday AM. We drove the final leg of the trip with a strong tailwind from the north, and accompanying cooler temps, arriving at Pine to Palm Resort at 3:30 PM.

GETTING BACK IN THE WINTER TEXAN CULTURE After a hasty set-up, we headed immediately to the hot tub to soak out travel kinks, followed by a TexMex meal at one of our favorite restaurants, courtesy of Vicky and Larry Wortham. Kay was asked to sing at Pine to Palm church the following morning, so we retrieved the CD containing the soundtrack. After a good night’s sleep, we arrived at church to a very warm welcome, after which we had lunch with friends. The early afternoon was spent finishing organizing DunnGone, and traveling to near the border to view the BORDER FENCE, being project managed by none other than Karyn, Kay’s daughter

LONG DRIVE Despite sleeping late, for us, we got on the road by 8 AM. The big question of the day was whether to drive straight home or stop for the night. We opted to drive until we got tired. As we got up to road speed, a crosswind of 25 mph, gusting to 35 mph, blasted us all the way to the Arkansas state line. Driving through the Arkansas, we concluded Ad driving, reaching home at 8:45 PM.