A Surprise and A Treat

Yesterday, we woke to a windy, but beautiful Sunday.  After church, we stopped by the WalMart store to get several items we needed.  Then, back to the RV Park where Mark settled in for the first of two football games.  Later, we will be going to Mac and Lynette’s for dinner.

Soon, later came, and it was time for me to get my salad put together.  With that done, we headed out to 7 Oaks.

As, we drove into the RV Park, much to my astonishment, I saw this guy walking down the street.  And, as it registered from one side of my brain to the other, I looked at Mark and said….that guy looks just like Rod.  By this time Mark had parked at Mac’s and I was out of the car….it was Rod!

Now, we have been totally harassing Rod and Deb for about a month now, that they could come here to see us on their way to San Antonio.  And, come to find out, they have been giving us every excuse known to man, why they couldn’t come here….and all the time they were planning on surprising us….and

surprising us they did.

And, we were also nicely surprised to find out they are going to stay two weeks with us before going to San Antonio!  We are so glad you guys are here!

In addition to the surprise, we also had a treat.  I know you have heard all of us say that the nice thing about this lifestyle is all the nice folks you get to meet along the way.

  And, once again, we were able to meet yet another of our RV Dreams chat-room family….

Gale and Anna.

We learned the other night that they were coming to the RGV for awhile.  Lynette and I quickly invited them to join us for dinner last night.  What a nice treat to get to add one more set of faces with names that you have known for so long!

So, along with Chuck, Kathy, Nolan and Donna, our surprise visitors and our new friends we all gathered in Mac and Lynette’s kitchen for a great dinner of

fajitas and

roasted stuffed peppers.

After dinner, we enjoyed lots of laughs and oh my….all the plan making that was going on.  So, you will have to stayed tuned to see just how all that turns out.  I am sure there will be a new adventure every day.

What a great day of surprises and treats!

Party Time

Today took us on an adventure to

Music Valley to the the Chicken House Opry.  Today was Nolan’s birthday and Donna made the plans for the day.  Along with Donna and Nolan, Mac, Lynette, Mark, and I, we met Jerry and Leona in the parking lot at the Opry.   Cathy and Chuck were holding our place in the long

food line.  Once we had our food, a barbeque sandwich, beans, chips, and a drink, we found

these nice standing room only tables!  After lunch, we made our way over to the

opry house where Donna had arranged for

reserved seating.

Soon, it was

show time.  We were entertained with

singing,

funny stories from the Crazy Cajun, Charlie LeBlanc, and even a visit from

Elvis.

There was more

singing and stories

some funny ladies.

After the show, we treated Nolan to some ice cream at the Dairy Queen.  We also spent a little time just driving around looking at some of the RV Parks in the area.  Soon we were back to Seven Oaks so Donna could check on her fur kids.  We said our good nights and headed for our own park.

And, this ended…

and what a

beautiful ending it was!

Again, Happy Birthday, Nolan, thanks for sharing it with us!

What A Burger!

Today’s adventure took us to lunch at

Gonzales Burgers.  Mac and Lynette had already been here, and after hearing them talk about it, Mark has just been biding his time to go try the burgers for himself.  Well, today was the day.

They open at 10:45 and are open until 2:00 or until the meat runs out.  They grind the meat fresh every day.  Therefore, they only have a limited amount each day.  We understood that we would need to arrive early…okay…let’s see…we are 23 miles away so, that meant we needed to be headed that way by 10:30 to arrive by around 11:00.

When we arrived, Chuck and Kathy were there and saving us a table.  It seemed that we arrived just before the crowd, but by the time we got inside, to the table, and figured out what we wanted to order, the line was almost out the front door.

Once our order was placed, we waited about 20 minutes for our name to be called…and this is the

hamburger and onion rings we shared.  In fact, I only ate half of a half.  What A Burger!

The line of customers continued to be out the door for most of the time we were there.  It was crazy….I don’t think I have ever seen anything quite like it.  And when we left

the cook was still grilling meat and

the assembly line was just trying to keep up with the orders (all those little blue post-it notes)!

So, if you are ever at the corner of

14th and Silver in Donna, Texas, be sure to plan on a stop at Gonzales Burgers!

A Leisure Day

This day started with an early morning walk.  Mark got in about 3 miles before he decided the coffee was calling his name.  I don’t drink coffee, so I continued on for another 1/2 mile or so.

Next on the agenda was a hair cut for Mark.  So, out came the shears and in a matter of a few minutes, I had him looking good as new.

Then, once showered and cleaned up for the day, we headed out for a walk over to the clubhouse to sign up for an upcoming BBQ and check the mailbox.

By now, it was time for us to head for Seven Oaks to meet

the gang….Mac, Lynette, Nolan, and Donna.  Today, we were headed

down the Levee Road to the

Riverside Club for a late lunch/early dinner.  I enjoyed a great chicken salad, while the others chose chicken strips and pork tenderloin sandwiches.  It was all very good.

After lunch, we spent some time

just sitting out on the patio overlooking the

Rio Grande River.  Just up the river from the grill is

an RV Park that is located right on the riverside.

In a few weeks, we are looking forward to going back to the Riverside Grill with another group, some of Escapees Class of ‘07,

to take a 2 hour ride on the Riverside Dreamer boat and have lunch.

On the way back to the RV Park, we saw

this old building….hum…might be an adventure for another day.

Life Is Good

Yesterday we met up with the gang.  We had just enough time to do a little shopping and have lunch before we had to head back to Retama to meet the RV Serviceman.

We had noticed that the propane hot water was not working.  We had this problem once before and the valve was bad.  Sounds like that might be the problem again.  The service tech was right on time and confirmed that there was no gas flow.  However, he did not have a valve and would have to order one.  He will have to come back next week to replace it.

We had a problem with the gas line when we first got the motor home and Mark is going to have the serviceman check that out when he returns.  Hopefully, it is just the valve.  In the meantime, we will just use the electric hot water.

Other than a walk in the warm afternoon sun, that is about the story for yesterday.

This morning we were up early and Mark headed out for his walk while I was busy getting ready for an appointment at the hair salon.  Wow….it is so nice to go get my hair done….makes me feel like a new person. LOL

After the salon, I made a stop for a few items at Wal Mart before heading home.

Once I was back to the motor home, Mark was almost finished with his lunch, so I made myself a sandwich. I grabbed my book and headed outside to sit in the lounger to soak up a little Vitiman D.  And, that is where I stayed until time to put the chicken in the oven.

Tonight we had

a little community get together

at the home of the Pike’s.  Thanks guys for being a great host.  Once we had our food, we moved

across the street to the vacant lot…in fact we took up

two lots.  This is a great little community and everyone has been very friendly.  We stayed and visited until

it was time to light the fire and by then the mosquitoes were out and the air was too chilly for me.

What a fun evening….this is just one of the things that make this lifestyle so much fun….yes, Life Is Good!

An Almost Perfect Day…

It’s Sunday and it has the promise of being a really good day.  The sun was up and you could already feel the warmth that was in store for the day.

We headed out to

services at First Baptist Church of McAllen.  We attended this church when we were here a few years ago and loved the fellowship and services.  It has not changed much and today’s service was great.  They have a large program designed just for Winter Texans.  We are looking forward to being here for the next couple of months and worshiping at this church.

After services, we headed back to the motor home.  It was such a nice day, so we decided to take advantage of our beautiful patio.  So, while I got some pork chops ready to grill, Mark tuned in the Cowboys on the outside TV.  We enjoyed some chips and salsa while the grill was heating.  While Mark grilled the chops, I fixed some brown and wild rice and some green beans.  We topped that off with some caramel apple salad for desert.

We tried to cheer the Cowboys to a win, but it wasn’t in the cards for today.  Oh, well, there is always next season.  Guess, I will have to yell for Deb’s Chargers.

Mark cleaned up outside while I did the dishes and put everything away inside.   Now, we had plenty of time left in this beautiful day to get in a little exercise.

We walked out of our RV Park to Bentsen Palms which is just next door.  There they have a guest service area where we, as residents of Retama, can use free of charge

bicycles,

canoes, and kayaks, or

ATV’s.

Great, today, we thought we would take a bike ride through the State Park.  Well, too bad, we got there too late to start as all the equipment has to be checked in by 5:00 p.m.  Okay…another day.

Well, we are already walking, so we just turned around and decided to walk around and through our park.

Here is the tour…

At

the club house, we have

this beautiful pool and

two hot tubs.  I think the weather this week will allow us a dip or two.

We also have this great

outdoor kitchen.  Looks like the making of a party to me.

Out behind this facility is where we pick up our

mail.  All UPS deliveries are made directly to your site.

This is the

main street of Phase one of Retama.  We live on the next street over, but it looks just like this one.

From here we walked to the back of the property where they are just developing

Phase 2.  These RV sites are just a little larger than Phase 1 and the coach house is 4 feet longer, with the patio area to the back of the lot.

If you are interested in more than this, then you can move on up to the

section were they offer the Casita, a 2 bedroom home and attached RV port.  Here is one that is

under construction.  We took a peek inside the

model.  Pretty nice.  And, then, if this doesn’t interest you or you don’t have an RV, they offer a section of

one and two bedroom homes for ages 55 and older residents.

Well, our almost three mile walk finally brought us back to

our house and to the end of an almost perfect day.  The only flaw it had was the Cowboys and the Chargers losing!