Leaving Mexico with no purchases made and nothing to declare entering back into the US of A

Busy, moving on to the next store to do more shopping

The ladies shopping in one of the stores in Progresso Mx.

Walking over the Rio Grande into Mexico. No bars on the bridge over the river , you can jump off the bridge here if you want to swim the river.

A view from the bridge crossing from the U.S. into Mexico. Note the bars at each end of the bridge which keeps people from jumping from the bridge before they reach immigration on the U.S. side

Christmas afternoon

Sure is better then scraping the frost off the windows or clearing the snow from the walks

Merry Christmas

Harry & Bobbi

Christmas Morning

Checked the weather outside the window no snow. O well must be time to head to the pool

This is our home for the next week here in S. Texas

Dec 24 th

Had to make a booze run to Mexico.

Step 1 Stop at duty free store make purchase

Step 2 Cross the river.

Step 3 Make a big U turn and back to the U.S.

SANTA OR SCROGGE ????

MONDAY Happy Christmas Eve everyone !
No, this is not Santa checking his list twice. It's H trying to get the wifi hooked up and working so we can do the blog from "home" instead of some library.

CHRISTMAS IN HIDALGO TEXAS

SUNDAY Our new taxi driver, Bud drove and we

went to enjoy the drive thru lights in Hidalgo, a little town 20 miles or so west of here. Competition for the Lights Before Christmas at the Toledo Zoo. We wore light jackets to walk thru the maze of lights and didn't have to worry about the snow!

Sunday Morning ! GOOD MORNING TEXAS ! Isn't this a great way to start the day ? We enjoyed our 1st cup of coffee, looking out the "dining room" window, before hooking up and heading south to Harlingen Texas. We FINALLY met up with Bud and Carol, our dear friends from Lambertville, Mich. We will be at the Palm Court with them till Jan 3rd when we will go wandering again for a bit.

CORPUS CHRISTI BEACH, TEXAS

Thursday - Saturday - Not the sparkling white

beaches like up north but waterfront none the less! We rode our bikes up and down the beach on the very ample sidewalk to tour the Lexington, a WWII aircraft carrier. H got in trouble because he deleted in error a whole bunch of neat pictures that I had taken of the boat/ ship!

FRIDAY - Our campground is right out around the end of the long beach in the background. We rode our bikes on the big sidewalk that goes between the resorts and the USS Lexington. What a huge ship! Watched a really good movie about jet fighter pilots before we went up and down all the stairs/ ladders, saw all the airplanes, the Pearl Harbor display and all the rest. I think H was most impressed with the engine rooms and how they communicated from the bridge.

Yes ! I have yet another patch for my very croweded blue jacket !

Harry did not want to go up in the bridge part of the tour but after a bit of fussing , he relented and climbed up those steep DARK stairs. He now says he's glad he did! What a view! Ofcourse, it was also neat sitting in the captain's chair and doing some imagining. The trick to climbing back down those steep dark stairs - - - do them backwards - just like going down a ladder. MUCH easier!

FRIDAY. Now our dates are catching up to us! For a day anyway. Moved from Mustang Island to Corpus Cristi and to a private campground, right on the bay only 1 1/2 miles from the Lexington Museum. Took a nice bike ride to check out the area. Downtown library is huge and full. Downtown seems to be modern, except for the huge and obviously very old Corpus Cristi Cathedral. On Saturday we will tour the boat and then make plans to move down the road some more. Weather is still great! Weekend to be cooler.
H says gotta go - - - time to burn some burgers on the grill !

OFF ROADING ON MUSTANG ISLAND !

THURSDAY Mustang Island and we stayed at
another neat Texas county park. Neuces county
park has brand new bath facilities that were really great. And a neat office lady, Linda, that answered a whole bunch of questions for us. The beach was not the sparkling white sand and the water was not emerald , but was still great. Fun to drive on and , thanks to Linda and her advise as to when to go looking for shells - I have added 2 starfish to my growing collection.

Wednesday we left Beaumont and headed south and got to enjoy a boat ride across Galveston Bay which was FULL of big boat traffic ! Watched several pods of dolphins on the way. From the boat ride we kept south and stayed at a county park just north of Freeport Texas. The park was actually on it's own little island. Mosquitoes as big as hummingbirds but when the sun went down- they did too! The lady in the office said it had to do with the tides. Lots of neat birds!

Can you beleive - over 100 rose bushes in the garden and they are all in full bloom! You'll have to wait till we get home to see the rest of the pictures!

H is tired of the way that our view from our kitchen window looks the same so we're moving on! Breakfast in Winnie Texas. Then on to Galveston. Temps this morning at 9am is 65.

H is fussing - - - gotta go

BEAUMONT , TEXAS

Monday and Tuesday in Beaumont.

Lots to tell you about ! We were dissappointed to find out that our friends , Steve and Diane were not able to join us for a visit after all. Maybe on our return north trip.

H had a filling that came out Monday evening so Tues morning was spent finding a dentist that could/ would take care of him. There are good dentists in Beaumont! We also found the Spindletop Oil Museum but it was not open yet, due to damage from hurricane Rita. So we did the next best - - - toured the Energy Museum in downtown. We then by accident found the McFadden-Ward home that was built in 1906 . It has over 12000 sq ft and is furnished with it's original furniture and family possessions. H says its the nicest home that we've ever toured !

TEXAS !

Monday , 10:00 am - - It's official - we have made it to Texas. We are sitting in the Welcome Center parking lot, using their free wifi. 19 days for this part of our journey - but we made it !

Was the 2nd cold night last night but the the heater works great and each morning we have woke up to a beautiful blue sky. It's already in the 50's. H just checked WTOL channel 11 tv site and got the snow report. Sorry!

Today's destination will be the Beaumont area for a day or so before heading to Galveston. H's friend Steve is coming down from north of Houston to meet us before we go.

The date says Sunday , but while camped at Fountainbleau, we toured this 1880's restored lumber baron's home. The Otis house is on the property of the Riverside State Park, just west of Mandeville La. Since then we hve moved on to Lake Charles La and are staying at the Sam Houston State Park till Monday morning. H is still fussing about keeping this puter connected to the internet. Once he figures things out, maybe we can get our stuff in order , eh ??!! We'll make it to Texas on Monday - - - maybe.

The inside of the Otis house was pretty neat. I could have selected a bunch of pictures to blog with but I chose this one because of the "laptop". This was Mr Otis' room and he loved to play solitare. The other rooms were done really well and the tour guide was great! In the kitchen was also a drying rack - just like the one we got from H's mom!

Ocean Springs Mississippi has lots of storm damage yet, but the downtown is redone and still has retained all of it's quaintness ! Can you see the truck parked down the block ?? The town is decorated very nicely for Christmas but there are also summer flowers in bloom yet !

Thursday and we're in Fontainebleau State Park just north of New Orleans on the north side of Lake Ponchatrain. We stayed at this very same campground on a previous bike trip, probably about 20 years ago !! On that trip we took a picture of a HUGE live oak tree that may be this same tree. This one has been damaged by the hurricane. Can you see Harry standing on it's root ?

Wednesday in downtown Biloxi, Ms. Really got into the gambling at the Hard Rock ! We each spent a whole $1 to play the quarter machines. Good view of this part of the city from the 6th floor of the parking garage. Lots of hurricane damage still along the coast.

Our stop at the Naval Air Museum

Our stop at the Air Force Museum at Elgin Air Force Base

Barefootin' and Christmas Boat Parades

I've put a lot of miles on these bare feet of mine! It's more than a mile up and down this Henderson State Park Beach and I/ we have walked it more than once a day! Beautiful sunsets each night. Missed an awesome picture of shorebirds in silhouette against the transparent sea waves and the coral hues of the setting sun. Can you see it ??

We found a local Am Vets post that was having a fish fry so we stuffed ourselves with fresh grouper, crap cakes and yummy hush puppies. We "missed" the actual sunset but made it to the harbor in time to talk to the young owner of a sailboat that was moored and also waiting for the parade to begin. The young man worked on the docks for a local resort and was originally from St Ignace Mich! His sailboat, "One More day" was a Katrina survivor!

The parade was late getting started but well worth the wait! We were on the docks in time for the sunsets afterglow and posted ourselves on the end of a pier that happened to have a railing to lean against so this old couple wouldn't fall in the drink in the dark. There were all kinds of boats decorated to the hilt for the event. One trimaran had its lines to the top done in all green, as a Christmas tree, with a bright white light at the top. It was my favorite! H's was a HUGE big yacht that had a real lady on the front deck who was dressed in a white sundress.s Miss Monroe herself. They were broadcasting her singing "Santa Baby" !! It was cool !There were also tour boats that were decorated and one could buy a ticket and be IN the parade. Obviously, the whole harbor, including restaurants were lit up and playing Christmas music.

Today is Monday and we're on our way again - to places that we've never been ! H says to say that it is almost 80 degrees and he's fussing to get outside and enjoy it. Bye!

Panama City Florida

Parked by the sea in Panama City Beach in St Andrews State Rec Area. Really nice campground- nicely spaced spots with obviously a great veiw. H was uspset tho, because our bathhouse was not heated and the new one down the way was.

Lots of birds to watch ! And even a pod of dolphins out in the bay. In the evening the place was full of deer! Imagine walking to the bath house and have 4 or 5 run out in front of you. H was great at seeing them in the shadows.

Downtown Panama City was kinda touristy quaint and the harbor was right there and decorated for Christmas. Each of the docks had a wreath on their privacy door. We even stopped long enough to watch 3 loons feeding and diving right at the edge of the breakwall. Yeah - got a picture - or two. Stopped at a little shop and bought a seahorse for the Christmas tree.

And the beach! Talk about suger sand ! Every bit as gorgeous as Ft Desota st Prk in Tampa. By the time we got back to the trailer, H was fussing about his sore feet and legs. Get used to it Buddy-- we've only just begun, eh?

Today is Saturday and we are waiting for the Christmas parade to begin , here in Destin. We're staying at Henderson St Park which is fairly new. And - loaded with amenities- heat lamps in the showers too! We'll be here till Monday morning because there is the Christmas BOAT Parade Sunday evening.

H says : we may not make it to Texas/ Mexican border before next year ! Our average mileage per day since we left home is now 176 and is dropping fast !! And - the temps last night went way down to 61 - - - - today is to be high 70's. 80's by Sunday!! Oh, yes, we have seen the weather in Toledo. Sorry ?? NAH!

blog on !

Panama City

Visted the captiol on Monday and had good time at Wakulla Spring, nice boat ride up the river and a very nice dinner at the lodge. Beautiful old lodge built in 1937 as a private lodge.
Now have a water front camp site in Panama City. Nice weather nicer by the weekend highs of 78.

Beach at Panama Beach Fl.

lodge at Wakulla Spring State Park

Old capitol building Tallahasse Fl.

Now In Florida

Stopped at Lake Cumberland on the way down. Nice weather and not many people at the park. Had breakfast at the lodge. Nice view out the window as we ate breakfast.


Now in Florida just south of Tallahassee nice weather so far. Yesterday was a nice 78 degrees, however a cold front is coming through Tues. night and it is suppose to get down to 31 at night ,but back up in the 60s durning the day. Will be moving on from here Wed.

Lake Cumberland

the wreath

On the Road Again !

We saw the sun come up on 475 this morning and ALL the American flags were hanging on for dear life. When we parked the trailer this evening the temps were up near 50 and the flags were just barely waving. It was a clear sunny day all the way. H's gas mileage was only 10 mpg instead of the 14 he was hoping for.

Traffic on 75 was bumper to bumper and mostly semi's. We passed 2 bad accidents and one involved a fairly new high camper. Did I mention the wind ??!!

We are camped at a very nice Lake Cumberland RV park , just south of Somerset Ky off 27. We would stop here again ! Not for a week, but great for passing thru. Wi Fi and cable !! H is happy! If the campground were closer to the water it would be great !

After we got settled in ( leveled and the heaters plugged in) we drove back to town and went thru a drive thru Christmas display that was set up on a hill overlooking one of the many marina's on Lake Cumberland. The lights that lit up the docks also made their own "light display" that danced on the dark waters. One of the Christmas displays was a wreath that went up and over the roadway so you had to drive thru it. When H learns how to attach photos to this blog, we'll share that photo with you !