The Fence

For those of you who don't know, the US Government has built a fence along many, many miles of the US-Mexican border.  Without getting into politics a bunch, here is what happened.  President Bush started it; President Obama stopped it.

The fence has many openings and gates to allow farmers and others access to the land which lays between the fence and the Rio Grande River.  At most of these openings, the gates were not constructed so just an opening exists.  As you drive along the highway next to the fence, you will notice a Border Patrol vehicle at almost every one of these!

Of course, illegal immigrants ("undocumented" if you are a lefty) are a big topic in the Rio Grande Valley.  From where we were parked in LaFeria, we could see the expressway and there were Border Patrol busses running down that expressway all day every day (taking the illegals back home, I presume).  Now we are going to send the illegals back further into Mexico so that they won't be threatened by the drug cartels along the border!

One last note: it has been reported that of the illegals apprehended in South Texas, about 70% of them are "OTM"s, or "Other Than Mexican".  This includes people from Honduras, Guatemala, and several countries in the Middle East.  The fact is that if you want to enter the US illegally, the easiest way to do it is to go to Mexico, then come across the border.

Motorhome Windshield Wiper Problems

As most of you know by now, Louise and I spent the winter in South Texas (to avoid winter in Oklahoma!).  Things went pretty well with the exception of the windshield wipers on the Holiday Rambler motorhome.

On the way down, the wipers quit working in the "up" position and I had to look around them to see the mirror for the entire trip down.  Fortunately, we didn't have any rain!  After a couple of weeks there, I decided to try to fix them.  I checked the usual things like fuses and connectors with no luck.  I then decided that the motor had quit and I ordered a new one for $220.  This decision was not based on my being able to test the current motor but on the fact that the motor had been replaced once already.  The manufacturing date on the motor was a year later than that of the motorhome!

As you might guess, the motor did not solve the problem.  I called Holiday Rambler to see if I should go through one of their dealers or a Ford dealer, since I was giving up.  The motorhome is based on a Ford F53 chassis.  The gentleman I talked to was very knowledgeable and told me to check the "wiper control module" before I took it anywhere.  That module is located on the firewall behind the brake and accelerator pedals and was very easy to take out.  One whiff and I could tell that the unit was fried!

After a quick trip to O'Reilly's Auto Parts and another outlay of $122, I had a new one.  When I plugged it it, sure enough, the wipers started working again.  The moral to the story?   Don't buy a new wiper motor till you check this part!  It fits all types of Ford products, including trucks, Taurus's, and others.

Louisiana's Lake Martin

Lake Martin is located about 15 miles east of Lafayette and is about 3 miles wide by 10 miles long. This little lake is filled with cypress trees and is teeming with wildlife, including many alligators and wading birds. We first became aware of it in 2004 when we hired a guide, Mr. Norbert LeBlanc, to take us on a tour of the lake. Mr. LeBlanc is quite a character and we had him take us on another tour of the lake in 2006 when Roy and Dianne Lovett were with us. Although we saw Mr. LeBlanc this year, we didn't go on one of his tours. 
Some pictures of the area and the wildlife follow.  First is a 'gator we saw lounging in the bar ditch across the road from the lake.  Next is an owl that Louise saw land in this tree.  I started walking toward it taking pictures and it never did fly!  We also saw numerous turtles sunning themselves on this warm spring morning.  The last shot shows some of the cypress trees in the swamp.  If you get a chance to go that way, this is an opportunity you should not pass up!