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!

Geocaching

I mentioned geocaching in a post yesterday and realized that I hadn't discussed it in detail.

About seven years ago, Dan and Dorinda, our son and daughter-in-law, introduced us to this new hobby and we have done it, off and on, ever since. Basically, it involves using a GPS to locate hidden caches, or stored items. A website, geocaching.com, lists more than 1.5 million caches throughout the World. You can go to their website and find the coordinates of caches near your home or wherever you might be traveling.

Put the coordinates into your GPS and then follow it to the cache! The caches usually have a log for you to sign as well as trinkets to be traded. You can also use special apps on smart phones in lieu of a GPS. It is a great way to get outside and see things you might not have otherwise seen! It's also a good way to spend some great time with your children or grandchildren. Kids really seem to enjoy this hobby!

While Louise and I haven't been really serious about it, we do have about 80 finds in twelve different states. Some people have totals of over 1000 finds.

If you have some spare time, get out and give it a try!

Wandering Around South Texas

Today, Louise and I decided to go for a drive. It rained "cats and dogs" last night and today it is cloudy and gloomy! All in all, it's a good day for a drive.

We headed north on US 77 toward Raymondville and then turned east, headed for Port Mansfield. I had been there but Louise never had. Just a couple of miles out of Port Mansfield, Louise said, "Look out the left side of the Jeep!". I looked and saw the strangest herd of animals I had ever seen. They resembled deer or antelope but were bigger and had faces like cows. I know what you are thinking but this was at 10 a.m. and I was completely sober.

As luck would have it, I had neglected to bring the camera and couldn't get close enough to them to take a picture with the phone. They were very skittish!

When we got into Port Mansfield, I stopped at the first convenience store we came to and I asked the clerk what we had seen. He said that they were Nilgai, a relative to antelopes. Since I dont have a picture, you will have to "Google" it to see what they look like.

A little research revealed that they were brought to the US from India in the mid-20th century to be hunted. As often happens, some of them escaped and they are now established in South Texas with a population of about 30-40,000 animals. They have always thrived in India because they look a bit like cows in the face and Hindus, of course, think cows are sacred.

A short time later, we were doing some geocaching in Port Mansfield and found a new (to us) species of deer. These animals were almost tame but I don't know what they are. I figure one new species a day is enough!

South Texas Fishing

Radio is still taking a beating here. Because of my limited capability, I find myself dodging the radio.

We have been doing some fishing, however, mostly in the Laguna Madre, Spanish for Mother Lagoon. A friend from Mannford, Jim, and his wife, Sue, are down here from Mannford and Jim brought his boat. According to Jim, who reads incessantly, the Laguna Madre is one of the most prolific fisheries in the United States. Jim, Luther Potts, and I have taken three fishing trips.

On our first trip out, we anchored on the edge of a channel and caught a bunch of whitings, or southern kingfish. These are somewhat reminiscent of sand bass in that they are very prolific, there is no limit on them, and they are very good to eat. We were fishing with frozen squid and shrimp and the whiting would only hit the squid, not the shrimp. I did find out that whiting have very sharp little teeth deep down in their throats - don't stick your fingers down there.

On our second trip out, the wind was blowing too hard to go out into the Laguna Madre so we went to Arroyo City and put the boat in there. It was about a seven mile run to the mouth of the arroyo so we made it. When we got out there, the waves were much too high to stay so we came back in and fished the arroyo. We caught nothing but "hard head" catfish, which I've been assured are absolutely no good to eat! Finally we gave up and, on the way back up the arroyo to the dock, I caught a glimpse of something in the water as we went by. In fact, we almost ran over it with the boat! I yelled at Jim to turn around because I thought we had almost hit a swimming deer. When we turned around and went back, we found a mangy, scraggly coyote desperately trying to get across the arroyo! That was our big excitement for the day.

The third time out, we decided to try the jettys out at Boca Chita. Again, the wind was howling but we were able to get into a sheltered spot. Our bad luck continued as each of us caught one small whiting and I caught a ray. Discretion being the wise choice, I cut the line to avoid the ray's barbed tail!

Jim and Sue have to return to Oklahoma this week so I think our fishing trips are over. We sure had a lot of fun, though, and I WILL bring a fishing rod next year!

Radio Withdrawal

We have been in South Texas for about two weeks now and I'm really having radio withdrawal problems! Perhaps I should say that I'm having OMISS withdrawal problems, since that is really what I miss.

I have the Buddipole up on the motorhome but it really is only good for 20 meters and up. 40, 80, and 160 are very difficult to work on it and these are the bands which have the evening OMISS nets. The 20 meter net, which I can work pretty good with the Buddipole, is at 1830z, 12:30 p.m. here but it seems like we are always doing something during the day.

I'm already looking forward to seeing Dan and Dorinda in March - we are gonna meet them in Mobile for a long weekend. Then hopefully, we can meet Rachel and Mike and the grandkids on the way home somewhere. Grandma could get her grandkids fix that way!