Winter in South Texas

Louise and I are finishing up our winter in South Texas and it has been a wonderful time here.  We continue our weight loss program - I've lost 102 pounds to date and she is at about 75 pounds down.  The closer we get to our goals, the harder it is to lose weight.

This is about our 10th (or 11th) winter in the Valley and every year gets better as we make more friends and meet up with old ones.  Our neighbors are wonderful!  Cecil and Brenda just left to go back to Kansas and we will surely miss them.  Ray and Jane are our next door neighbors and they will leave on Monday.  They are entertainers and spend their summers doing a show on the Celebration Belle, a riverboat which sails out of Moline, Illinois.  In fact, we plan to time our summer trip this year to go on one of their day cruises and see their show.

Bill and Rita live in Wichita, Kansas and they will be leaving in a couple of weeks as will Jim and Judy from Wisconsin.  Judy is Louise's shopping partner and I think they've made shopping into a contact sport!  We did miss Norm and Charlene this year; they live in Vermont and are building a new home so they had to skip the winter trip.  Larry and his wife, Joann, are from Missouri and we've sure enjoyed our time with them too.

I've played more golf this year than I ever have.  South Texas is about the only place I play - when I get back home, I'll hang up the clubs and not touch them again until next winter.  I must tell you that my game never improves - it seems to get worse as the winter goes along.  In spite of that, I look forward to playing golf in the winter.

Staying in an RV Park is just like living in a small town.  Everyone knows everyone else and knows what they are doing!  We stay at La Feria RV Park in La Feria, Texas and I wouldn't consider staying anywhere else.  We had a park "happy hour" yesterday and had a large turnout.

When we leave the valley this year, we are going to go to Houston for a few days to see Aunt Pat, an old school mate, Frances, and some other friends.  After that, we are going to Frederickburg, Texas (in the heart of the Texas Hill Country).  We'll spend a few days there with Don and Lynn from Sanger, Texas, then we will head home.

The Rio Grande Valley

Louise and I have just wrapped up our 10th winter in the Rio Grande Valley (simply called "The Valley" by most of the people here).

The Valley starts at Rio Grande City in the West and runs to Brownsville in the East.  Total population of the area is about 1.3 million people.  The population swells by about 710,000 people in the winter as "Winter Texans" descend on the area to avoid winter in their home state.

If you drive through a shopping center parking lot, you will see more out of state and out of country license plates than Texas plates.  Ontario and Quebec plates are very common, along with those from the Mexican state of Tamaulipas.  Winter Texans from Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota are everywhere during the winter.

The Rio Grande Valley is roughly divided into three areas with the upper Valley starting at Rio Grande City and including Mission, McAllen, Edinburg, and Pharr.  The mid Valley runs from Alamo in the west to Harlingen in the east and includes Weslaco, Mercedes and La Feria.  The lower Valley is dominated by Brownsville and includes Port Isabel and South Padre Island.

The Hispanic influence is everywhere and the Spanish language is as common as English.  The Valley is separated from sister cities in Mexico by the Rio Grande River.  Reynosa is just across the river from McAllen, Nuevo Progreso is a sister city to Weslaco, and Matamoros lies just across the river from Brownsville.

Winter Texans have traditionally crossed the border in droves to shop in Mexican towns.  Their spending has focused primarily on pharmaceuticals, liquor, dental services, and of course, souvenirs.  Because of the drug wars which have become common in Mexico, many Winter Texans today are hesitant to cross the border.  Louise and I used to regularly cross the border but quit doing that about five years ago.

Interestingly, the number of Winter Texans is declining rapidly.  Five years ago, it was estimated that about 800,000 people came to the Valley for the winter.  That number today, as stated earlier, is around 710,000.  It seems that many of our generation and the one following are not attracted to the RV lifestyle and to spending their winters in warmer climes.

Louise and I do really enjoy our winters here.  It seems that every year, about October, we begin to really look forward to going south.  The park where we stay, VIP La Feria, is in La Feria, about seven miles west of Harlingen.  We've been there long enough that we have a lot of friends in the park and spend a lot of time visiting back and forth in each others' sites.  We see these friends on a daily basis, unlike at home so we really are closer to them than to our friends at home.

I think we will continue to come to the Valley as long as we can.  We sure don't miss the Oklahoma winters!

The Carnival is Coming to Town

Every year, just as surely as the swallows return to Capistrano, the carnival comes to the vacant field next to our RV park in La Feria.  This morning there was no sign of them; this afternoon the lot is filled with trucks and rides which need to be set up.

This carnival winters a few miles south of La Feria and their first outing of the year is right here in town.  I suppose its kind of a "shakedown" trip for them where they can see what works and what needs to be fixed.  Another thing we have observed about this carnival is that it is almost always accompanied by rain.  This year promises to be no exception since the forecast calls for rain off and on for the rest of the week.

From our standpoint, there are not too many problems with them being there.  We have lost our "dog walk" for the week but there is plenty of room in the park.  They generate quite a bit of noise but it always seems to wind down about the time we go to bed.  One concern we do have is the possibility of theft or vandalism with all the kids being over there.  There is a gate between the park and the lot where the carnival is but park management keeps the gate locked for the week.  So far, we've never had any problems.

We have never talked to any of the people who work there but it would be interesting to find out how far and where they travel to.  I wonder if kids still wander off and join the carnival or circus.  Probably not!