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.