Farewell to Brownsville

And the winds they did blow…

This sums up our week in the Valley. The temperatures were warm, and we had very little rain. But the winds kept the birds hunkered down deep in the brush. We decided to spend our week taking care of life and preparing for the trip ahead.

 

Mondays have become routine while we have been in Brownsville. I have my ZOOM with some retired clergy friends. However, this week, it was far from the ordinary. I had scheduled a second ZOOM with a tax accountant. Fortunately, his office sent an invoice for the consultation before the meeting. I considered this meeting an interview to decide whether I would hire him. But he considered it a consult and was billing me a non-refundable $240. After looking a bit deeper at the costs of Accountants, I canceled the meeting. Instead, I wandered into the weeds of Clergy taxes and downloaded HR Block software once again. I spent a large part of the rest of the day wading through 1099s, Schedule Cs, and 1040-SRs. But I got them done and saved myself $750-$1,000. I should have left well enough alone and walked away with a victory. But I suppose I was feeling a bit cocky! So, I decided to tackle my prescriptions for our time on the road. 

 

Like most seniors, I take a handful of pills every day. These are ordered through a mail-order pharmacy and depend on the USPS for delivery. This gets very complicated when the delivery must be done on the road. USPS seems unable to deliver anything on time. And suppose they miss a delivery on the road. In that case, it is nearly impossible to have the delivery forwarded or sent back and re-sent.

 

Further, the online pharmacy is unwilling to give accurate information about delivery timing. I generally deal with this by getting 6 -7 months of meds on hand before we set out on our travels. Timing is everything. But this year, the pharmacy could not do anything without unnecessary delays. Long story short, I got three of the four delivered and on hand. But the fourth, due to confusion at the pharmacy, could only be delivered after we left Brownsville. So, I spent most of the day sorting through options for this last script. No, it is still unresolved, but I have no choice. A day of victories ended with frustration. I should have left well enough alone, but as young Scarlett said, “After all, tomorrow is another day!”

 

The Resaca is dry due to water rationing!

The next day, the winds died down, and we needed to take the recycling to Resaca de la Palm State Park. So, we decided to check out the elusive Roadside Hawk and Gray-collared Becard. We spent several hours and got skunked for the fourth time. We then learned that the Becard had only been seen between 7:30 and 8:00 AM. The construction at the park has been chasing the hawk deeper into the brush. So, we chose to live with our failure. “Ob-la-di, ob-la-da Life goes on, bra.” Here are a few of the shots from the day.

The Javelina welcomed us back.

Orange-crowned Warbler also said hi!

Mrs. Cardinal

Mr. Cardinal

Anacua Berries

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Great-tailed Grackle

Altamira Oriole Nest from 2023

A beautiful day comes to a close.

 

On Wednesday, the wind returned with a vengeance. The sustained winds of 20 mph with higher gusts led us to stick around the Koko. We ran to HEB for groceries and started planning what we would need on the road. Wednesday. When we returned to Koko, I started playing around with some slideshow software to make slideshows of our trips. In the process, I discovered that I had not planned our gas stops for our upcoming trip. You cannot go in reverse when driving a 32-foot motorhome and dragging a jeep. This makes refueling a bit complicated, so we map out our gas stops using Google Maps and our trip-planning software. It takes time, and I spent most of the evening on Wednesday and much of the morning on Thursday finding 40+ gas stations along our route through the Midwest that would accommodate Koko and Nakai. I got er' dun, and we are good to go! Thursday was the windiest day yet, so we stayed close, enjoying an otherwise relaxing day at the RV Resort.

 

On Friday, the winds dropped a little, and I made an early drive to Weslaco to enjoy the last weekend of the tram through Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge. Afterward, we walked several trails and climbed the Hawk Watch Tower. The winds were still blowing, and we did not see many birds. But it was a lovely day for a walk. We had lunch with the mosquitos. Afterward, we went to the Valley Nature Center in Harlingen. We continued to enjoy a warm, sunny day among the birds. Before heading back to Brownsville, we went to the Weslaco Museum. Here are a few pics from the day.

Turkey Vulture

Damaged Paper Wasp Nest

Great Horned Owl Nest

Mexican Prickly Poppy

A 2024 Altamira Oriole Nest

Greater Roadrunner

Pintail Ducks

Great Horned Owl on nest (Look closely)

A pair of Gadwalls

Gadwall Portrait

A molting Shoveler Duck

We have all had days like this!

A Great Egret's Kingdom

A Diving Duck surfacing!

Rose-bellied Lizard

The Santa Ana NWR Chachalaca Trail

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Nashville Warbler

And it is fitting that the Chachalacas would see us off!

This will be my last Blog from Brownsville for this trip. Next week, we will move to Lake Corpus Christi State Park in Mathis. Our two months in Brownsville is our first planned extended stay while full timing. Our last extended stay was planned only a week or two at a time, and we had the grandkids to keep us entertained. But these last two months were something different. We went to 22 Nature and History Sites in the Valley and returned to a few of them more than once. Marlene added 12 new species of birds to her life list. Some of these were from Mexico and Central and South America. I have taken 3,800 photos and added 993 shots to my library on Flickr.com. We have enjoyed meals at 20+ restaurants (not including national chains) and savored many of the unique tastes of the Valley. The Cucumber Lemonade I had at Gazpachos will linger in my memory for a long time. (No, it really was good!) I confess that a couple of months of just taking care of life is okay. Two months in the same place has made me a bit lazy. I am eager to get back to the spontaneity of travel, but I will miss the routines (dare I say habits) we have developed since January 1^st. I yearn for more than habitual living if we can live it on the road.

 

These words by Robert Frost echo in the hollow space between my ears as we finish our time wintering in Brownsville.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

 

Will this be our last year on the road? Will we be able to walk across the Mississippi? Will the road through the Midwest offer as much joy in 2024 as the road through California, the Pacific Northwest, and the West did in 2023? I can’t answer any of these or hundreds of other questions that bounce around in my thoughts. All I know is that I have miles to go before I sleep. And I am ready to start ticking them off on our 2024 odometer. 

 

As always, I look forward to sharing the coming 7 months with you. We should be back in Texas on November 1^st. See you out there on the road!

 

Bob

 

 

Time for a Little Leaning

Last Sunday, we watched the Super Bowl in Koko. We have attended friends' Super Bowl Parties and thoroughly enjoyed our time. The resort sponsored a party in the clubhouse, complete with potluck snacks, appetizers, and a betting pool. It was well attended, and the pictures on the Park's FB page show the attendees had a good time. However, as I mentioned, we didn't go. This was one of many get-togethers the Activity Director for the Park has put together each month. To date, we have only attended a shrimp boil, and we did that one for the shrimp that we took back to Koko to eat. Why?

The Avenue

One of the attractions of Full-time RV life for many people is the opportunity to meet and make new friends from all over the country. These get-togethers are intended to support that, and some folks return year after year to winter at the same Park with many of the same people. I get this, and I would likely join right in at a different time. But frankly, most of the people in these parks are older white people. Many are proud of their military service and come from small towns and the suburbs. And, if they are like the US population, 25% - 30 % are Trump supporters. And a fair percentage of these folks are "in your face" supporters who feel totally justified in saying and doing anything to defend their leader. This has led me to keep to myself, preferring to maintain some measure of control over who I associate with by avoiding toxic people. People can believe what they want. That is none of my business. But I am not interested in engaging these folks in conversation and subjecting myself to their venom. So we enjoyed watching Kansas City and San Francisco play a great game in the safety of our home, Koko. Did I miss out? Hmmm….

 

Huisache in Bloom

We had a windy, cloudy day on Monday and decided to stick around Brownsville. After my regular morning Zoom with friends, we went to Russo's for lunch and returned to Koko for the afternoon. Marlene takes regular walks around the Park to get her 10K steps in each day. She gets to know several other campers and their pets during these walks. I am less social than her, and she enjoys these interactions. Today, I took my camera to have an excuse to avoid talking to the folks, if needed. We did not run into any of her regulars, and it was a simple and pleasant walk. But I can’t help but wonder how it would have gone if we had run into some of her park buddies?

 

Diamond-backed Watersnake

Tuesday was Mardi Gras, and we decided to celebrate with a return to the Edinburg Wetlands Center. We were there a few weeks ago and saw several new birds. We have been planning a return trip. The sunshine and low winds made this the perfect day. The rare birds did not show themselves. The trees were budding out, and seeing the critters in the shrubs was more difficult. However, we did see a few of our favorites: a Texas Diamond-backed Watersnake (pictured here), Red-eared Turtles, and a Softshell Turtle. Lizards and butterflies were also enjoying the beautiful weather. We met a young family that was enjoying the Center as well. Seeing children excited about birds, snakes, and turtles is always good. It was a lovely day that we ended at a Mom-and-Pop Mexican Restaurant in San Benito, the home of Freddy Fender. It was a good day. Here are a few of the shots from the day.

Lesser Scaup

Least Grebe

Cormorant vs. Fish

Southern Dogface

Southern Dogface redux

Butterfly Portrait

Blowing in the Wind

Texas Spiny Lizard

Cloudless Sulphur

Orange-crowned Warbler

Female Cardinal Portrait

Queen

A Small Fly

Gulf Fritillary

Curved-billed Thrasher

Great Kiskadee

Huisache Bloom

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Gulf Fritillary

A Hungry Watersnake

Red Eared Turtle

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Softshell Turtle

A very old Red Eared Turtle

Turtle Family Day at the Park

This Snake is quite a beauty!

As is the Least Grebe

Summer Tanager

Orange-crowned Warbler

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Chacalaca

White-winged Dove

Inca Dove

Stared down by a dove!

Inca Dove Portrait

Inca Dove striking a pose!

 

The rest of the week was cloudy, and we stayed in and worked on several projects. I began working on building our list of things to do and places to eat for our 2024 trip. In less than two weeks, we start our tour through the Midwest. We will drive north through Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, and Minnesota. While in Minnesota, we will walk across the Mississippi River at Lake Itasca State Park. Then, we will head back to the Texas Gulf Coast for the winter via Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, and Arkansas. We only book RV Parks. This ensures that we have a place to park Koko. Our activities are planned the day before from a list of places we build as we hear about opportunities. We check them off to keep a record of what we did and keep the rest as a list of things to do the next time we are in the area. We would love to hear from you if you have any favorite things to do and see in the Midwest. We will add them to the list. Some of our best restaurant experiences and places to visit have come from suggestions from our friends. Please drop us a note on FB or post a comment on the blog.

 

For the next two weeks, we will be finishing up our preparation for our 2024 trip. But one item is going to take some thought. Am I sacrificing the opportunities to meet some fascinating people who share a love for RV travel with my concern about having to deal with toxic people? The next 10 months will be challenging for us all. I could easily hide out in Koko and avoid all this, but is that the best course of action? Yep, I will sort through this before we hit the road! Your ideas and comments on this are welcome. Feel free to send me a comment, a text, an email, or a post on FB. We all need to buckle our seat belts because it will be a bumpy ride. But having you along means a great deal to us.

 

Some-times in our lives

We all have pain

We all have sorrow

 

But if we are wise

We know that there's always tomorrow

 

Lean on me

When you're not strong

And I'll be your friend

I'll help you carry on...

 

For it won't be long

Till I'm gonna need somebody to lean on

(Lean on Me, by Bill Withers)

 

May we all enjoy the journey because it is all we have!

 

Bob