Orange and grapefruit picking has been taking place for a couple of months, but a large proportion of the fields look still like this.(Click on photo for panoramic view)
It won’t be long before we are treated to breezes carrying the most wonderful smell of oranges. The cool winter has slowed the process, but usually, by mid February, oranges that have fallen off of the trees and decay on the ground produce a fabulous aroma.
My cardiologist said to me, “Do you remember what you did to build up the plaque in your system?” Following my affirmative response, he added, “Well, stop it.”
So, the week following my procedure and with out of town guests here wanting to dine out, we visited many of the wonderful contributors to my heart issues.
In Mission, Texas, we stopped at Pepe’s on the River to watch our friend Ruthi perform.
Pepe’s has some outstanding nachos. It takes at least two people to tackle a piling order of this dish. We enjoyed an afternoon of dancing.
My favorite restaurant south of the border is Angel’s in Progreso. They have the best salsa I’ve ever had. The place was teaming with senior citizens. Imagine that.
Then it was off to South Padre Island and lunch at our favorite restaurant on the island, Daddy’s. The dish called the Cowboy Joe’s is absolutely wonderful. It is a ribeye with a shrimp, spinach and 3-cheese sauce.
We also visited two fine Mexican restaurants, Costa Messa Restaurant in McAllen. I’m not crazy about chipolte anything, but their chipolte salsa is great. The second restaurant is Casa Del Tacos in Weslaco. It isn’t just a house of tacos. You’ll find a wide menu that includes homemade soups and good steaks.
Finally, we went to Donna, TX to visit Gonzales Burgers. This place doesn’t even have a sign except the one that says “OPEN”. You need to get there early. People start lining up at about 10:30 AM. Even if you are first in line, you may wait about 30 minutes for your order. The burgers are enormous.
You can see the huge patties. The burgers fill the over sized buns.
If that won’t clog your arteries, nothing will.
Ok, my Nutrisystems food just arrived. Now I can work toward better health.
We had to take a short time-out. Rick went to the hospital yesterday and was the recipient of a coronary artery stent. It turns out that he had a 99.5% blockage in an artery.
All went well and we’ve made it back home with only one night in the hospital.
We want to thank Dr. Hugo Blake and his staff as well as the good people at the Harlingen Medical Center.
Here’s a little wrap-up data for our travels and blog for 2009.
The year found us on the road again. Our goal was to work our way through the Midwest and over to New England. Because of the rainy and relatively cool summer, we passed on the Dakotas and Minnesota. Our 2009 Travel Map turned out to look like this.
We kicked ourselves for not getting to Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont since we were so close. Chances are that we won’t have our rig that close again. Anyway, our combined US and Mexico for our three years of “full-timing” look a little better with the new additions.
We want to thank those who stop by to read our blog and are happy that we are having so many visitors. We were amazed to find over 200,000 visitors found us in 2009. The three year growth has been astounding.
2007 – 41,157 2008 – 133,433 2009 – 200,126
For 2010, we’re looking forward to another fantastic year. It may sound a little wimpy, since the temperature at this writing is in the 70’s, but, as chilly as it is here in South Texas, we may find ourselves back in Mexico next winter.
About twenty people from our RV park planned a crossing to Mexico by bicycle and we decided to go along. For two reasons; 1) It was the coldest day of the year, and 2) Rick’s knee was bothering him, we opted to follow along in the jeep. Here are a few of the bikers making preparations.
By now, you’re probably thinking that we spend all of our time in Mexico. Well, we do make quite a few crossings. This entry into Mexico was made by way of the only human powered ferry along any US border.
The Rio Grande ferry crossing is located at Sullivan City, Texas. The ferry is known as the Los Ebanos Ferry because it has been tethered to a couple of Texas Ebony trees for years. This crossing has been in use since the 1740’s.
Spanish explorers and colonists, under Jose de Escandon, made use of this Rio Grande crossing in the 1740s. A salt trail led from here to El Sal del Rey (40 mi. NE). The ford was used by Mexican War troops circa 1846, by Texas Rangers chasing cattle rustlers from 1874, and by smugglers in many eras, especially during the American prohibition years, 1920s and 30s. The ferry and inspection station were established in 1950. Named for the ebony trees here, this is known as the only government licensed, hand-pulled ferry on any boundary of the United States.
We tried to make this crossing last year, but it was closed due to high water.
The ferry can carry two cars and some pedestrians. A round trip for the ferry is about 10 minutes. Here, some of the bikers and a couple of cars made it across and the rest are waiting to follow.
The town on the Mexican side of the river is Ciudad Gustav Díaz Ordaz in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. By the way, the Mexican name for the Rio Grande is El Rio Bravo del Norte, or more simply, El Rio Bravo, like the John Wayne movie.
We were impressed with the conditions on the Mexican side of the river. This is the approach from the ferry to the Mexican customs and immigration station.
The town of Gustav Díaz Ordaz is quite old, but a lot more prosperous than its US counterpart of Sullivan City. Here is one of the many nice houses that we spotted on the way through town.
The entire group gathered for a wonderful lunch at the Restaurante Vallarta.
The wait for the ferry was extremely short as we entered Mexico, but we had about an hour wait on our return. We would have headed to another crossing, but we weren’t in any hurry. The bikers made it back with no wait.
While we waited, we spotted some very nice rest rooms and there were vendor stations selling food and souvenirs.
Finally, we were next to go on the ferry. This picture shows some interesting things. Uncharacteristically, the Mexican side of the crossing was far better maintained. You can see the Mexican cement ramps and walls to prevent erosion. On the US side you’ll notice the unimproved dirt road heading to the Homeland Security station. The road was full of ruts and holes. Luckily, it wasn’t raining or the mud would have been incredible.
As the ferry came back to get us, we got a good shot of the boat’s “engine”. They didn’t work all that hard.
With the jeep loaded, we were ready for our crossing.
The southbound crossing cost $2.75 and the northbound $2.00. Pedestrians paid $1.00 each way. We had a thoroughly enjoyable day.