A Birthday and a Surprise Gift

At the end of our first week here in Weslaco, it was time to celebrate Dave's 69th birthday. Isn't it a wonderful thing that I'm still middle-aged? (What'd he say????)  To look at the celebration, you'd think that I was still a kid - or certainly acting like a juvenile. Still - lots of fun.

At the end of the second week - uh-oh - time for the sinus surgery. I'm really feeling pretty good, probably from those super antibiotics I took four weeks ago. Can't we just skip this??? Oh, don't be a baby, Dave.

So off we go to the outpatient surgery wing of the Knapp Medical Center.







                                                                            Let's get prepped.






The helpful nursing staff.

                                                                                  Four hours later.







And finally out the door.





This was a very nice facility - outstanding, really - from the pre-check-in procedure the day before, through the pre- and post-op activities ( I was asleep during the middle of that) to collecting my patient records a few days later. We were surprised at the level of friendly and helpful professionalism by everyone. Made the whole activity relatively (and literally) painless. And a few weeks later, I'm sooo glad I had the procedure done. I still feel very good, and realize now how crummy I had felt and acted for so long, (sorry Baby) and I'm really ready to move on. Wow, the gift of good health!

So let's get back to the party. This time we're at a beer and wings place in town called the Paradise Roadhouse. On Tuesdays, 12-String Tim and Sharon entertain, and they're a hoot.

      

I think we'd better get on our way to California!

SUPRISE - A Month in the Valley

Here we are again - Snow to Sun RV Park in Weslaco, TX. This was our winter home for three months in 2008-2009. Although, when we set out on our return to California, we had no plan for a stop-over here, we're  excited at the prospect of visiting our many friends who make this area their annual residence during the cold weather months.

On our drive from south Texas (Houston) to really south Texas (the Valley, a 400-mile trip) we stopped over in Goliad. This small town was the site of a critically important event in Texas' fight for independence from Mexico in the 1830's. A massacre of over 300 prisoners by Mexican troops after their surrender to overwhelming odds in a battle a few days earlier fueled the determination of the "rebels" under the leadership of Sam Houston. A month later, after defeats at the Alamo and this one near Goliad, Houston led a force at San Jacinto (near present-day Houston) which routed the Mexicans under General (and President) Santa Anna, which resulted in Texas independence. This beautiful mission (built in the mid 1700's) is the site of Goliad State Park where we overnighted. The site of the massacre (the La Bahia presidio) is about a half-mile south.



Things are setting up nicely for putting this sinus surgery in the rearview mirror. (See previous post.) Got a great deal on a monthly rate at our old park (from Nov 10 to Dec 10,) and found an ENT (ear, nose, and throat) doctor who could see me on day 2 of our stay. He agreed with the Houston-area doc about the need for roto-rootering my sinuses (was there ever any doubt??) and correcting a deviated septum I have been living with for years. Got the surgery set up for the day before Thanksgiving, and with that task done, it's time to party!!

Friends Bill and Josie are already here, and on Day 3, we head down with them to Progreso, Mexico, the border town seven miles south of the park. Much has been written lately about the safety of travel to these towns and cities along our border with Mexico, and there are some like Ciudad Juarez and Reynosa and Nogales and Tijuana that we avoid, but others like here in Progreso and in Algodones (near Yuma) that we still look forward to visiting. We use common sense in our behavior and feel as safe as we do on any American street. (We are careful not to find fault with those who stay clear - even of the Rio Grande Valley at all. It's a matter of personal comfort with the potential for dangerous situations.) We can see the effect that the drug wars are having on the local merchants, especially on the south side of the river. But even in the Texas towns, the winter population has been effected by continuing violence.

But for us, (this pic is from a second trip with more friends Bob and Georgine,) it's still fun to shop and restaurant/bar-hop in Progreso. The people are warm and friendly and welcoming. The streets and buildings are clean, and everyone is happy to see us. And the prices for booze and meds and dental and optical work are the real bargains. We target-shop some clothing and glassware items, but normally refrain from the goo-gaws and pirated DVDs. As you can see, we eat, drink, and are merry.

A Few Weeks Near Houston

As we continue our trek from the Keys to California, we are spending some time at our Thousand Trails preserve on the shores of Lake Conroe, north of Houston. I need to revisit my allergist as I continue to try to solve the chronic sinus and bronchial infections that persistently put a damper on our fun times.

At least we can enjoy meeting up with friends like Rick and Vicky (see previous post) and Lloyd and Marian, our crazy Vancouver pals, as they pass through Bush Intercontinental on their way from the Rio Grande Valley to visit friends and family in Newfoundland. (And we think we get around!) We chose the Olive Garden near the airport for lunch, one of our favorite nationwide restaurant choices. Turns out the only pasta Lloyd will eat is lasagna, but it looks like he got it down okay. Maybe anything goes good with beer.

We've stayed at this park many times in the past five years, and this time we finally made the 70-mile drive down to our first liveaboad boating home (a few months short of 20 years ago) in Kemah, a nice little yachting community on the Clear Lake estuary of Galveston Bay. This area was clobbered by Hurricane Ike two years ago and our old marina home, Watergate Yachting Center, is still trying to finish the rebuilding effort. The new docks are pretty spiffy (a common nautical term meaning "snazzy")

By now, you know us and food, so we could hardly come this far and skip eating lunch at our favorite Texas seafood restaurant, Pappa's in nearby Webster (home of NASA.) Yummmm. Bloody Marys, raw oysters, Oysters Rockefeller, and redfish. Dang - where did it go???

   

By the way, over our three-week stay, the allergist dosed me up with a powerful bacteria killer (one of those "last resort" antibiotic) and convinced us (me) to get my sinuses cat-scanned. The result of the scan was his strong recommendation to get sinus surgery at the earliest possible time. But the holidays are coming up and we are wanting to get out west - WHINE, WHINE. Rats! This is an argument I know I will lose.

Shuffle Off to Buffalo

Many times our journey takes us within a few hundred miles of friends, but usually when this happens, our schedules still prevent us from getting together, even if only for a quick meal and round of hugs. Our stay in the north Houston area (very close to the city of Conroe) has given us the chance to see two couples that you have already met in the pages of our blog.

Marian and Lloyd, our dear friends from Vancouver, BC, will be leaving from Houston Intercontinental next week to visit friends in Newfoundland, (they are currently wintering in the Rio Grande Valley - that would be a little out of the way to drive to Bush Intl from Vancouver, wouldn't it???) so we will catch them for lunch near the airport  a short 30 miles away, and give you a full update.

But this week we asked Rick and Vicky (more dear friends who live in Grand Prairie, TX) to meet us halfway for lunch, maybe about 100 miles for each couple. See, we have our new HHR, but Vicky just got a new car too, so they were just looking for an excuse to take it out on an American Autobahn, I45 - it's a Mercedes SUV, you see. Rick checked the lunchtime opportunities, and found one of our faaaavorite BBQ restaurants - Dickey's - in the town of Buffalo, TX, almost exactly equidistant for us. It must be fate.

We met up in the Dickey's parking lot, and cruised around the town (about ten minutes to take it all in,) and we discovered a neat little book store/coffee shop called the Horse's Mouth ("You got this from the Horse's Mouth," their slogan goes.) right next to the pawn shop and gun store - this is central Texas, you know...

Then it was back to lunch (before the crowds built up.) Typically great food and great conversation as we got caught up on each other's summers.

Just a quick 2 1/2 hours together, but sooo good to see them again. Might not be back this way for a couple of years. Wonder if we can talk them into joining us in Vegas between now and then????

One more thing - in a major coincidence - would you believe that the proprietors of the Horses Mouth, Glenn and Laura, are an ex-liveaboard boating couple, recently returned from cruising the Caribbean. They resettled in Buffalo to be close to her parents. A really neat couple. Enjoyed trading tales and favorite stops from our sailing days.

Joining the RVing Parade

The trip to the Keys was intended to include renewing one of our longest running boating friendships - Skip and Faith onboard Endeavor. (The timing of the visit coincided with their return from the Bahamas.) But a few weeks before we arrived, we heard from Faith that they were relocating to a marina on the Florida Gulf coast near Apollo Beach. (And we thought our planning was so clever!)

After twenty years onboard together - we first met them in Marathon in 1998 - Skip and Faith have decided to "swallow the anchor" by selling their beautiful 43-foot sailboat, and buying an RV to stay mobile during part of each year, and to search for the right place to invest in property. Faith told us that our success in transitioning from boating to RVing and our excitement over this new lifestyle has convinced even Skip , a 30-year liveaboarder, to seriously look at this option.

The move from liveaboard boating to full-time RVing is not uncommon. We have met many in our travels during the past five years.

Bill and Josie

                         and Guy and Carole

to name a couple - two couples, actually. 

Fun with Friends - This time in the Florida Keys

Nothing like a three-day blast with friends to get over the "parting blues." And what good friends! Deb and Lew (she of blogspot Free and Clear) are permanent liveaboard boaters in Boot Key Harbor and Marathon. Guy and Carol Styles (she of blogspot Roving Irish Gypsy) are also boating friends (and now fulltime RVing friends) from Florida. Jan and Don are ex-boating, workmate, and parttime RVing friends from Lauderdale.

We all got together at a really neat little RV Park on Grassy Key overlooking the sparkling waters of Florida Bay, over food, drink, and lots of catching-up conversations.

It's really wonderful to be with such good friends, to share so very many of the good memories in each other's company, and get up-to-date on our continuing travels. Even though we are in close email touch (and share enough photos that our appearances doesn't scare one another) there is nothing like the hugs and the sound of each other's voices and laughter to make you all warm inside.

It was the perfect ending for us to the literal end-of-the-road trip back East. Now it's back to Texas and California for the next act in our lives.

Fun with Family - This Time in Ft Lauderdale

Fort Lauderdale, Florida - a tale of two cities. One is a hustling, bustling, and depressing city, part of a 6-million strong megalopolis. Another is a seaside resort filled with vacationers and boaters, rich and poor, (and sometimes very poor,) a wonderful beach scene and picturesque waterways. The dividing line is somewhere between US 1/I95 and the coast. Guess which we avoid like the plague, and which draws us back every time.

Our lives here and in the Keys in the 90's and early 2000's is chucked full of great memories - life on the boat, lifelong friends met and rejoined, fun times working (if you can believe that,) and children and grandkids all around. Since we said goodbye to the city in May '04, we came back few times to see friends and family at holidays, but when we set off on our new "land" adventure, Ft Lahdeedah has only dragged us back twice - present case included.

We can squeeze alot into a week though - a wonderful time with our son, Trace, (who we have missed for the past two years,) and his love, Davi, and a few jampacked days with our two Florida grandchildren, Austin and Emily, whom we haven't seen since last Thanksgiving.

We impressed Trace and Davi with the new coach - they're such soft touches - and they serenaded us and the kids with new compositions on guitar and vocal - fantastic talents, if they can only catch that one elusive break - but then we're such soft touches, too. But really, they are sooo good! Davi (short for Davinee) and Trace have been together for two years and are a perfect match - temperament, talent, and togetherness.

And the kids - wow - it's only been ten months, and suddenly that deep voice (that would be Austin) and that girlish figure (that would be Emily.) They took us around with a friend to see their new schools, and we took them to a little park to visit with Trace and Davi and get the musical treatment too! Then it was on to a traditional, favorite stop - Jaxson's Ice Cream  in Dania Beach for some tasty treats. The next day we went to the beach for sun and sand and boogie boards - well beyond our limits on the boards. This is part of what makes south Florida bearable for the residents - it really is a spectacular scene - bridges across the ICW, prominade along A1A, and tourists galore.

Finish the visit off with a get-together with old workmates, and you have the makings of a great week. It was great getting to spend so much quality time together. Hope it can hold us for awhile. We miss them already.