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!

A Day Gone To The Birds…

Wow…finally we woke to warm temperatures and a forecast of warming throughout the day.  It was going to be a good day.

After visiting with a couple of the ladies here in the RV Park, we decided to get out and run a few errands.  First, we stopped in at Home Depot to pick up some cleaning supplies.  We also looked at some flooring materials for the basement of the motor home.  Something that would replace the cardboard we use to protect the carpeting.  Found a couple of ideas, but we will have to ponder on that thought for a while.

From Home Depot, Mark drove me to find the Zen Day Salon so I could make an appointment to get my hair done next week.  Mission accomplished.

By this time it was way past lunch time, so we decided that we would stop at Chili’s and use a gift card we had received at Christmas.  We chose the 3 courses for 2 for $20.  We shared an appetizer of skinny onion rings and jalapeños, for an entree, Mark had ribs and I had shrimp tacos, and we shared a dessert.  Wow, what a great lunch and  a great deal.

Now, after a lunch like that, we decided we better take a good walk and certainly knew that that was our only meal for the day.  So, when we returned to the RV Park, I changed from my flip flops to my tennis shoes, we grabbed our cameras and headed out…

With our

card we checked in at

visitor center at the state park which is located within walking distance from our RV Park.  From here, we

headed off down the road.  It wasn’t long before we

came across the first group of birders.  There are alot of these viewing areas/bird feeding stations set up throughout the park.  There are benches and swings and you just sit with binoculars and cameras and wait

for the birds to come.  We are not birders, so this was fascinating to me.

We continued our walk and soon we found

several Javelina roaming freely through the park.  They didn’t seem to mind all the people wandering freely around in the park.

We  continued

on with our walk.  We saw

birds in the trees and

birds on the ground, and birds

with pretty colors from head to tail feathers.

  There were feeders all over the park.  I was amused at the ones that served

grapefruit as the main course.

We walked on and found a

path that we will save for another day…for by this time, we needed to head back to the front of the park.

On the way we passed

the Nature Center.  Again…another day.  And just as we got back to the park entrance, there was the photo opportunity of the day…

I got several great shots, before this guy decided

enough is enough. LOL

What a great afternoon walk in the state park.  I can’t wait to go back.

More Fun…More Friends…

We were up and ready to go at 8:45 when Mac, Lynette, Nolan and Donna got to the RV Park.  We all loaded in Mac’s truck and headed East to the

Rio Grande Valley RV Show.  Mark, Mac, and Nolan were anxious to get there.  We saw lots of trailers and 5th Wheels there…some

were big and elegant and had

built in hair dryers as Donna found in this bathroom cabinet.  Others had

big windows with a great view.  While others

were small and cozy and just right for a weekend get away.

There were only a couple of

motor homes, but…I wasn’t interested…I still like mine!

And, in addition to the motor homes and trailers, there were lots of

park models.  These are small homes that will fit in many of the RV parks in this area.  They are really nice for those folks that don’t want to own a RV.  They

are quite roomy inside…some even have

an upstairs sleeping loft.

There were also

boats and

ATV’s for two and/or

four.  Man, would our grandson, Andrew, really like this one!

Then, there were all the vendors who offered everything from something to eat and drink, to those who offered

a prize for spinning the wheel.

Soon, we needed a

break and to regroup before heading to

Arturo’s for lunch.  When we arrived we found

our table was all set.  All we needed now was

12 more friends and we were ready for a party.  It was great to see

Jesse and Ginger and

Kathy and Chuck…with Nolan in between.  Kathy is really busy telling Donna a great story.

Ed and Marilyn were really concentrating on Chuck’s story at the other end of the table.

And, we were able to re-acquaint ourselves with

Roger and Barb who are experimenting with full-timing.  Good luck you guys.

After a good lunch and lots of visiting and laughing and catching up, it was time for everyone to go their separate ways for today.  I am sure this crowd will get together again real soon.

A couple of stops at some local flea markets took up the rest of our afternoon, and then it was time to get back to our own homes which brought this adventure to a close.