We arose early this morning (Thursday), and quickly headed out the door for the almost 14-hour trip south.  It was uneventful, with rain the last three hours.  Kay and I really enjoy road trips—we get time to talk without a lot of interruptions.  It was interesting to note that the terrain and vegetation both changed considerably at LaGrange, Texas, and leaves were just beginning to turn.  Everything south of there was green.  We arrived at “home” abut 7 PM, quickly unloaded the car, and relaxed for the first time in several days—it is good to be home.  As an aside, we listened to a lot of Texas Two Steppin’ music on the way down, and are ready to dance!

It was so good to sleep in our bed, and wake up in our house (the motorhome) Thursday night and Friday morning, respectively.  The rain we drove through last night continued, and in combination with cool temperatures, encouraged us to remain inside most of the day.  We used the time to clean up the remains of Christmas wrapping paper, boxes, and other holiday products.  Kay called Wayne and Bessie to inquire as to their availability for dancin’ tonight, and they readily accepted the invitation.  We picked them up shortly after 7 PM, and drove to a “joint” in Penitas, Texas, to hear Roland Garcia, Jr. play and sing.  We really enjoyed the dancin’ but the smoke-filled place was too much for my allergies, and we left after a couple of hours.

The rain that had been falling the last couple of days finally abated Saturday morning.  We drove to Costco for an appointment with the hearing center, to pick up a few items, and to just leisurely browse.  After a quiet afternoon, I left happy hour to retrieve Kay’s bicycle at The Bike Masters, a local bicycle shop where her bike was cleaned, tuned, and repaired.  It was thought that a new part was needed for the gears, but when I picked it up, the bike mechanic said it was a cable, and he replaced it for $8.65.  I could not believe his honesty, and that is a shame that our culture has degraded to the point that we don’t trust service businesses!

Attending church Sunday morning helped get us back to normal after the hectic  Christmas holiday.  The moderate temperatures and sunshine felt really good and refreshing, and after an early lunch, I took off for a long bike ride.  Some 12 miles away from the RV resort, I heard a spoke pop, the third one to break on the new bicycle in less than two months.  Fortunately, Kay had taken her phone to the laundry, and came to pick me up after I called her.  We drove immediately to the bike shop, and left the bicycle, hopefully for a new wheel, or complete respoking.    Palapa time was good as we continued “catching up” after Christmas.  After going to bed, the wind began howling, and I had left the awning deployed.  A quick look at the forecast showed heavy winds, plummeting temperatures, and more rain—just what we need—so, it was out of bed, and outside to untie the taut lines and retract the awning; that’ll put you to sleep!

Rain that began during the night continued Monday, and with everything already soaked, standing water is everywhere, including about and inch and a half on our patio.  This area is flat, and rain doesn’t run off very rapidly, particularly when it is a long, steady downpour.  Kay began making a bowl this morning, and cut out all the pieces and glued most of them together.  She will glue the base on in her next class, and then began turning the block of wood into a bowl shape on the lathe.  Shortly after lunch, Al and Sharon and Chuck and Sue arrived from eastern Ontario, and we welcomed them “home” in the rain.  Chuck and Sue came to our motorhome for a brief rest before setting up their RV as their winter home.  While they were here, I spent a portion of the afternoon resolving issues related to effecting the warranty on my bicycle.  Even though I registered it with TREK when it was purchased, the local bike shop was extra cautious in preparing a warranty claim, much to my dismay after half a dozen telephone calls!  In late afternoon, Chuck and Sue departed and began the set-up process, and Paul Graham and I plugged in their “shore” power, reconnected the battery,, turned on their propane, and connected the water as Chuck and Sue began the process of reorganizing their trailer and unpacking.  While away, the bike shop called and said they had everything need to file a warranty claim—yes!  Along with Van and Bonnie, Paul and Lorna, and Chuck and Sue, Kay and I went out to Cheddar’s for dinner so no one would have to cook and clean up.  Clint and Lynn took Al and Sharon out for the same reason.  After returning to the motorhome, Kay and I hunkered down for an evening of reading.

We awoke to continued rain on Tuesday, New Year’s Eve, and about two inches have fallen from this latest storm.  There are few complaints from locals as they experienced a near catastrophic drought this past summer.  Us Winter Texans, on the other hand, are ready for it to stop, the sun to shine, and warm temperatures to return—the RGV has been about 10° below normal the last few days—and we’re in much better spirits when we can spend time outdoors.  Kay and I cleaned the inside of the RV, having tracked in stuff from all the rain and muddy ground.  By lunch, the wind had abated sufficiently to allow deployment of the awning, helping us to at least have a covered entrance into the motorhome.  The rain continued to fall intermittently, but at a much less intensity, and we began to see dry spots on the patio.  A large group from the resort met for dinner at a great steak house, Republic of the Rio Grande, and the food was very tasty.  We returned to the resort and attended the New Year’s Eve party with two tables of neighbors and many friends, and danced the night away, saying farewell to a blessed 2013, and hailing in 2014.

Kay and I were up early to exchange gifts with Karyn and Matt, and watch Ridge open his gifts from Santa and from us.  We packed up all of our goodies, and drove to Memphis to share Christmas with Jenny, Brian, Harper, and Jenny’s mom.  Harper had a room packed full of gifts.  She particularly liked Bubble Guppies items, which were in abundance.  After the gift-opening, we all pitched in to assist Jenny in preparing a feast.  The food was extraordinary, and there was far too much, but we did our best to lessen the load!  This was a particularly poignant Christmas for Jenny as it was the first time that she, her mom, and I had spent Christmas together since she was 18, and of course we were joined by Kay, Jenny’s husband, and little Harper, the primary reason we were all together.

We left mid-afternoon driving back to central Arkansas to spend some short, but quality time with Ron, Kaden, and Cheryl.  Ron had prepared a great cabbage casserole for us, and after eating, we had another gift exchange.  It was really good to spend some time with Ron, Cheryl, and Kaden.  Kaden has grown into a really nice young man, and has decided to attend Arkansas Tech University in the fall, majoring in mechanical engineering—go Wonder Boys!   I would be remiss if no mention was made of our laughing at work stories told by Ron.  He kept us rolling in the aisles with elevator and restroom stories.

Kay and I have been especially blessed with respect to our kids.  While each is different, they all are wonderful parents, are caring and compassionate individuals, and are really good, innovative cooks—thank you, Lord, for our kids.

Karyn, Matt, and Ridge have their family Christmas dinner and open gifts on Christmas Eve; Ron, Cheryl, Kaden, and Jordan celebrate over the course of several days as is the case of most blended families; and Jenny, Brian, and Harper celebrate on Christmas Day.  Of course, all of the kids run themselves ragged traveling back and forth among in-laws, step-families, etc. opening gifts and eating large holiday meals at every stop—madness!   Kay and I took a break from all the hectic activities after noon, and attended Christmas Eve services at our old church, St. James United Methodist Church, in Little Rock.  Our former Mountain Home First United Methodist Church pastor is now the senior pastor at St. James, and it was especially good hearing him give the homily.  We also saw an old friend, Sally Graves, and caught each other up-to-date.  After church, Karyn and Matt prepared a scrumptious meal, and together with his family, we enjoyed a great Christmas Eve evening, particularly watching Ridge open and play with his many gifts.  Shortly after he went to bed, everyone else was too tired to enjoy more holiday spirit and retired for the night as well.

We awoke early today, Sunday, and were on the road at 5:40 AM, driving north.  The temperature in Mission was 69° as we departed.  Our drive was uneventful, except for the change in temperature near Victoria, Texas, where the thermometer showed 45°; it never got warmer, but instead continued dropping slightly as we drove north.  We switched off driving about every 3 hours, arriving in Maumelle at 7:00 PM to a great steak dinner with Karyn, Ridge, and Matt.  It was good to see everyone, but especially Ridge as he and I have a special bond.  With an early morning start, we went to bed early.

As Kay and Karyn shopped, cooked, and visited with each other Monday, I began driving toward home, stopping to visit my sister and her family in Judsonia.  At home, I visited with neighbor Wayne and he bought my lunch, contrary to our prior agreement!  I checked on the property, exchanged some clothes, picked up some miscellaneous items, took care of some end-of-year business in town, and got a much needed haircut.  I also cut a cedar log to take back to RGV neighbors who will use it to build something in the woodworking shop at the resort.  I arrived back in central Arkansas about 6 PM to find Kay babysitting Ridge to give Karyn and Matt a much needed date night.  We all went to bed early.

Wind!  It began blowing yesterday afternoon, Wednesday, and along with higher temperatures, windspeed has increased.  With dry conditions and burning of cane fields in Mexico, the atmosphere is full of haze, dust, and smoke.  As a result, we turned on the air conditioner, and stayed inside.  Dust and ash are covering everything outside, and helps us understand, though ever so little, the emotional and physical havoc experienced by the dust bowl people.  And, it reminded me of what we experienced everyday in Kuwait and Iran when I “visited” there in 2003.  The dust-filled wind subsided somewhat Friday afternoon, and we enjoyed a bit of outdoors.  We spent the better part of Saturday making preparations for our trip to central Arkansas and Memphis for Christmas with the kids and grandkids, and with 87° enjoyed some spa and pool time.  

The Christmas holiday is a mixed bag for Kay and me.  When I was growing up and even through my former married life, Christmas Eve was always the day we had a Dunn family (i.e. mom, dad, sister, brother, and their families) holiday meal, went to church services, and opened gifts.  That tradition continued until my mother passed away in 2000.   And in that former life, after spending Christmas Eve with my family, we would drive to North Little Rock to spend Christmas Day with my former in-laws.  Consequently, I never had a Christmas at my home as an adult.  Kay had similar, yet different experiences in her former life.  Thankfully, after we married, Kay and I did not keep the Christmas traditions of our former lives.  Nevertheless, with a blended family and 3 adult children spread over 3 cities in 2 states, it is difficult for us to grab time for Christmas for the two of us, to read the Christmas story, take time to reflect on the spirit of Christmas, have a good meal, and exchange gifts.  Thus, we took a few minutes Saturday evening after getting packed for our travels north to have a good, but brief gift exchange.  We really had a good time, and must make time available for ourselves in the future.  Tomorrow, we drive almost 14 hours to cold weather and warm family.

Windy weather was forecast for the next few days after today; consequently, today afforded an opportunity to visit Salaneno and some serious birding before we travel to central Arkansas for Christmas.  Last year, the land trust group to whom the area had been “willed” closed it because of liability issues (3 members of their board are lawyers) foreclosing the opportunity of hundreds, if not thousands, of people to view spectacular birds.  A few days ago, we heard that the land trust was negotiating with the US Fish andWildlife Service to take over the area, and we wanted to see it first hand.  Kay, Lorna Graham, and I drove to Alamo to pick up Jerry and Karen Smith, after which we all rode to Salaneno to begin our viewing at the Rio Grande River where we saw several species of water birds and a couple Ospreys.  In the “center”, I began salivating seeing all the orioles.  We were gratified to see Altimira Orioles, Hooded Orioles, and Audubon Orioles.  And Lorna spotted a “black” bird behind a Greater Kiskadee, and properly identified it as a somewhat rare Ani.  We also saw Green Jays, Ladderback and Golden-fronted Woodpeckers, Thrashers, Olive Sparrow, Orange-Crested Warbler, and others I did not identify.  Regrettably, I did not change the settings on the camera for shooting on a tripod, and the photos are not as good as they should be.

From there we drove to Falcon Lake State Park.  In their infinite wisdom, Texas State Parks opted to place so many restrictions on their birding volunteers in terms of feeding and collecting/accepting donations for bird feed that they did not return, severely limiting easy opportunities to see many species of birds.  We did see a Bobwhite Quail, but nowhere near the number of species we saw last year.

We returned back to the RV resort to download photos and rest!  We had dinner with a large group from the RV resort at PF Chang’s, and it was excellent.  A young retired couple, “new” to our circle, unfortunately had their truck stolen from the parking lot at the restaurant, putting a damper on the evening.

It gradually opened and remained in that position for several minutes, yielding great photographs of this rarely seen spectacle before it finally flew away.  Walking away amazed at the rare sight, we spotted a large Zebra Haleconian.  Afterwards, we stopped by the office gardens to visit with more of Lorna’s friends—more birding, butterfly, and dragonfly experts who have chosen the RGV as either their permanent or winter place of residence—before hurrying back to the RV resort to leave for the Hidalgo Festival of Lights.

Kay and I joined 33 other Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort residences for a convoy to the Hidalgo Festival of Lights.  After arriving at the parking area, we enjoyed a roast beef supper, followed by a short walk to view lights at nearby public buildings and private houses, including  a spectacular display of lights at the residence of Ramón Ayala.  He is a Mexican musician, composer, and songwriter of Norteño and Conjunto music. Known as the “King of the Accordion,” Ayala has recorded over 105 albums for which he has received four Grammy Awards.  The lights and many decorations at his house were programmed to Christmas music and was pretty awesome.  Following this short stroll, we listed to a less than good Magic Valley Chorus, a local Sweet Adelines group whose average ages had to be early 80s.  We all then enjoyed a narrated tour of the Hidalgo Festival of Lights; more than 3,000,000 bulbs light up in the largest, award-winning Christmas light display in Texas, and was very impressive!

Kay is still in central Arkansas, and I’m still recovering from an infection—no long distance bicycle riding today.  Neighbor Lorna and I drove the short distance to the National Butterfly Center (NBC) since she had only been once and I not been in almost two weeks because of cool and otherwise inclement weather.  Our goal was to view the West Coast Lady, a butterfly than makes an infrequent visit to the NBC.  Lorna had seen one two weeks before in an old tree-covered, but now dry ditch, and viewed one yesterday near the office building.  We spent considerable time walking through the gardens around the office building, but did not see the West Coast Lady.  We did, however, see many other great butterflies including a Monarch , Malachite, Buckeye, an assortment of Skippers, and several species of Fritillaries, in addition to the plethora of small white and yellow butterflies that frequent the gardens, and while there met old birding friends from last year’s birding trips.  We drove to the main gardens, and spotted the normal cast of characters including Red Admirals and Tropical Leafwings before deciding to walk down the tree-covered dry ditch bank back to the office gardens in hopes of spotting a West Coast Lady.  We were surprised by the number of birds using the tree-covered area, particularly warblers.  Shortly after arriving back at the office gardens, we received word that a rare Blonfild’s Beauty had been spotted back at the main gardens, so we hoofed it back there to be rewarded by great views of this rare Beauty, shown on the right.  After the appropriate “oohs and ahhs,” we drove back to the RV resort for happy hour at the palapa.

Court Whist tonight was filled with lousy hands, but it was fun nevertheless as there is a lot of visiting going on between hands and games.  It will be even more fun when Al and Sharon Crawford arrive after Christmas.

This is my last full day of being in charge as Kay returns tomorrow morning.

I slept late today, awakening just as Kay was calling from central Arkansas.  Church was not the same today, without Kay, but the message was good.  Afterwards, I returned to the motorhome and had breakfast. Van and I rode bikes this afternoon (here’s an over the shoulder shot of Van) despite the 15-20 mph winds.  It is hard to escape winds down here in the RGV, especially as the sun begins to heat the ground.  We rode a somewhat different route; here are the stats:

Ride Time: 1:57:37

Stopped Time: 57:38

Distance: 23.28 miles

Average: 11.87 mph

Fastest Speed: 19.43 mph

Ascent: 240 feet

Descent: 243 feet

Calories: 1601

Arriving back at the RV resort, we noted Jim and Ruth Alexander had arrived for the winter; we stopped by to say welcome them “home.”  Jim is a mechanical engineer, enjoys flying RC airplanes ,and is an avid birder.   Happy hour at the palapa was packed today with 21 folks present; Kay was conspicuous by her absence.  I wrapped up the evening updating the blog, and posted new entries just before midnight.