The 2004 Adventure, March 16, 2004, Winter Texan Musings

Seems the Rio Grande Valley is a better place to look for winter coats than a Michigan mall in December. I have been trying to find a winter coat for 2 years, shopping till I want to drop, and not finding anything. Last time was at Briarwood Mall, December 2003. So, we happen into a Burlington Coat Factory a week or so ago, and in less than 30 minutes I walk out with a pretty nice new winter coat, pretty dark red, pockets where I want them, and all for under $60.00. Go figure, come all the way to the sub tropics to buy a winter coat. Bizarre, eh???

The Rio Grande Valley is not really a valley, but rather a delta, formed by years of flooding of the Rio Grande River (before it was dammed and controlled).

There are roses in full bloom, some very pretty ones. So are the grapefruit trees, the air smells so sweet, there are so many trees you can smell them just walking through the park. The spring flowering bushes are all a bloom, color is rampant. Bougainvillea is in full bloom, the color vibrant beyond belief.

We have seen 1 snake (very small), several “inch long” spiders, and the fire ants are starting to become a nuisance. There was a infestation in the park of killer bees, that was interesting. We have been told, that any bee found in the valley is probably a killer bee, from all the inbreeding between the old bees and the killers. We occasionally see a jack rabbit in the park, whewie, those babies are big with very long legs!

Winter Texans are a busy people. They don’t seem to ever stop. They are always walking around the park, walking their dogs, or just walking for exercise. The exercise room in the park is heavily used, as is the billards room, the card playing rooms, the pool and hot tubs. The pool exercise class meets TWO times a day, once at 7 AM. The programs here are well attended, the Winter Texan likes to be entertained! There are a number of clubs, wood carving, stained glass making, doll making, bike club, birding club, just to name a few, and all are well attended. They have Border Life, a group dedicated to educating Winter Texans about the Rio Grande Valley, and all of their programs and trips are well attended and are very interesting and are FREE! Winter Texans go on trips, day trips, shopping trips, tours, and more. They go to Mexico, some go to buy medicines, or see the dentist. They can frequently save enough money at the dentist (or on their medicines) in Mexico to pay for their trip to the Rio Grande Valley each year, and some of them stay for months! Winter Texans LOVE to eat, any excuse for a pot luck dinner is enthusiastically received and attended! Winter Texans are some of the nicest people we have ever met, narry a cranky one, ANYWHERE! Winter Texans are from Ontario, Manitoba, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Arkansas, Michigan, Ohio, just to name a few places. Some Winter Texans are even from northern Texas! Rarely do you see such an active bunch of people! They laugh at themselves, at their infirmities, baldness, soreness, aches and pains, all become a venue for JOKES! Winter Texans are pretty neat people!

The 2004 Adventure, March 15, 2004, Cactus Salad

It is Prickly Pear season here in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. They are blooming and putting out new little paddles (leaves). Did you know you could eat the paddles?? The are called nopalitos, they are boiled and eaten in salads or as a cooked vegetable. You can buy them at the local grocery stores. Here is a recipe for you to try, they tell me it can be found in one of the Betty Crocker recipe books:

Cactus Salad (Ensalada De Nopalitos)
4 servings

24 ounces sliced or diced prickly pear cactus
2 med tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1 sm onion, chopped
1/4 teaspoon drived oregano leaves
2 tablespoons snipped fresh cilantro
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 teaspoons white wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
a dash of pepper

Place cactus, tomatoes, onion and cilantro in a glass or plastic bowl. Shake remaining ingredients in tightly covered jar. Pour over vegetables; toss. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours. Serve on lettuce leaves if desired.

Personally I am confused by the recipe, not sure if you need to boil this before you chop, or just skin the little rascals. Was told to use as vegetable you must boil first for 15 minutes, drain and then boil again for 15 minutes (using fresh water each time).

The 2004 Adventure, March 14, 2004, Citrus Farm

We went with Border Life, a group dedicated to educating Winter Texans' about the Rio Grande Valley to a citrus farm. The grapefruit were blooming, the air was sweet with the smell. We learned a lot and had a fun afternoon.

Above:  A grapefruit tree with the last of this years harvest.

These are Rio Red grapefruit. They are marketed as Rio Stars,

indicating they were grown in Texas, not in any other state.

Above, looking down the rows of grapefruit trees. At this farm

they cut off the tops of the trees with a hedge cutter. They also

never till inbetwen the rows and they use chemical weed control.

At the end of the season, they will clean all the debris

from under the trees and in the rows.

Above is an aspargus fern. This one started out as a house

 plant, was moved into the yard of the owner of the citrus farm.

It is hard to tell the size, but it is about 4 to 5 feet TALL!

Note the wooden fence in the background, it is about 6 foot tall.

Above: I call this a houseplant gone mad! This plant was planted

as ground cover, the leaves are about 4 inches long. Once

it starts up the tree, the leaves get substantially larger, some were

about 12 inches or more long, and they get pretty splits in them.

I grow this plant at home in Michigan as a houseplant, leaves about 3 inches long.

It has been very interesting seeing plants growing in the ground here in the Rio Grande Valley, that are grown as houseplants in the north. They grow ficus trees here in the RV park as ornamental trees (in the ground!). The ficus trees are 20 foot tall or taller. Takes my breath away every time I see them!

Above, beautiful hot pink bougainvillea between two century plants. This is in a garden area at the citrus farm. I think that might be a rubber plant in the right rear. Bougainvillea comes in lovely shades of hot pink and purple. They are stunning in a land that many times is dusty and windy.

The 2004 Adventure, February 29 to March 11, 2004, Neuvo Progreso Mexico

We have been to Mexico several times. The border town of Progresso, is very close to where we are staying. It is fun to go shop there, and we have had several great lunches over there, yum, great Mexican meals.

We walk from the USA over to Mexico. This is a brand new bridge, finished in 2003 from Progresso Texas to Neuvo Progreso Mexico. We walk under the covered portion, this is going into Mexico. It cost 25 cents to go over and 25 cents to come back.

Above: The Rio Grande River at Progresso, looking west.

Above: Main street, Neuvo Progreso Mexico

Above:  inside a pharmacy in Neuvo Progreso Mexico. You can buy many prescription drugs here without a prescription. You can buy antibiotics off the counter, and they are very cheap. You can buy generic allergy medications for much less, one brand we checked, you can get for about 10 cents a pill instead of $1.00 a pill (what I have paid in Michigan). Needless to say, many Americans with minimal or no benefits come here and buy their medicines. There are also cheap dentists working here. Many Americans who have no dental coverage come here for their dental work.

Above:  shows several pharmacies and at least one dentist in less than one block. Someone told us there are 400 dentists and 400 pharmacies in Neuvo Progreso, I am not sure about that, but there are a LOT of each!

The 2004 Adventure, February 29 to March 11, 2004, Aloe Vera Farm

We took a tour to a Aloe Vera farm. The parents of the current owner do the tours, she talks about Aloe Vera products, and he takes you out to the field. They are both past 80 years old, and to say they are "characters", is truly an understatement.

Acres of aloe vera plants. These are all in bloom. They plant them about 40 inches apart on center (both directions). If there is not enough rain, they water the fields by flooding them with water from the Rio Grande River. Many farmers do that here in the Rio Grande Valley.

Flower can be eaten, AFTER it has opened, not before. Hummingbirds can drink the nectar, but cannot get their little beaks into the flower.

Above are boxes of aloe stems, cut and ready for processing.

NOW, let see what this stuff really is all about, the INSIDE stuff:

Above, fillet of aloe, cutting away all the green outer layer of the plant to get to the middle. Below, they cut a small piece for all of us to feel and rub on our hands. It reminded me of jello, in a way, a slimy gelatin. They say it is loaded with protein, and all kinds of other things that are good for us. They drink it, make it into creams for healing and soothing, and they even make jelly out of it.

The 2004 Adventure, February 29 to March 11, 2004, Santa Anna Refuge

We went to Santa Anna National Refuge. It borders on the Rio Grande River on the south. It is a interesting place, we went on a trolley tour around the park.

There is not a lot of Spanish Moss in this area, except in the Santa Anna park, this was a great speciman.

This cemetery is in the Santa Anna park, there are about 40 graves.

Only about 3 or 4 names are known of these 40.

Cemetery Gate

The 2004 Adventure, February 29 to March 11, 2004, Beauty and the Bad Dudes

We have spent the last several weeks doing a little sightseeing and shopping, and enjoying the weather. We went to Mexico several times, once on a tour, other times to Progresso, for shopping and lunch. We visited several parks nearby.

The flowers and flowering bushes are starting to bloom. It is so warm here that there have been petunias and geraniums in full bloom for weeks. They look like mine do in Michigan about July!

Al and I hosted a small get together for other Montana owners here in the park. We shared finger foods and information about the Montana Owners Club online forum. It was a very nice evening.

There was a bit of excitement here in the park. Seems we had a crook amid our ranks. The police came in here and took possession of a $450,000 motor home. The story is (allowing for exageration of those who told us), that he wrote a $70,000 check for the deposit of this motor home and of course, the check bounced. It is possible that he also had a new truck that he towed behind this motor home, also not paid for. We heard that the wife of this stellar person had a accident on a cycle here, and somehow that got the attention of the authorities. We also heard that they had been in the park for about a month. My response was, "I hope I did not have dinner with this creep!" Anyway, when the local police got into the motor home they found a lot of false identities, checkbooks, and reportedly a roll of checks from State Farm Insurance. We were told there were at least 8 full identities. Not sure how much of this story is really true, but part of it was, cause they reported the removal of the motor home on the local news stations.

Not sure what this bush is, but it surely is pretty. There are a number of these in the park.