A new spot for us..Lake Corpus Christi State Park

A day or two before we left Falcon Lake, Den began having trouble with his ice maker…again.  This is cause for me to drag my 2 ice cube trays from under the bed and get them into action IMMEDIATELY!  After leaving the filled trays in the freezer for 12  hours, I only had half frozen ice cubes….Me thinks my freezer needed defrosting…Dr. Defroster to the rescue..(Hey,if his darn ice maker is shot, we just gotta have ice for my cocktails!)

 

THIS is the only reason I bring a blow dryer…my hair never sees it, but the freezer sure does…Dr. Defroster is great, he finished with the freezer and even got my metal blades over the drip pan “blow dryed”..I am well trained in blow drying, as an old ancient hairdresser, but I don’t do freezers. (Sure hope he doesn’t charge extra for drying these blades!)

We arrived here at Lake Corpus Christi State Park about 1PM on Wednesday.  Our drive was uneventful, unless you count the fact that the Border Patrol asked if they could go in the fiver and take a look. THAT has never happened before!..and hey, I didn’t say anything but “yes, sir”..I PROMISE! Den unlocked the door and he stepped in, looked around (you can’t see much with all slides in), climbed out and sent us down the road…Why, oh why then, did my  upper lip bead up with sweat and I got palpitations..??

We have a lovely spot here, but they aren’t real big. They are all pull through, but a lot have trees on each side so it could be prohibitive for opening slides…Our weather has been lovely, and I had my coffee outside this morning,

I had some company sharing my view….A friendly little group, or so I thought…

…One “friendly” little critter got greedy..He managed to bite the cord holding the feeder in two and dropped the feeder to the ground…Squirrels ARE my nemesis!

You will notice only 1 chair..MacGyver was inside doing some financial stuff on the computer…So, I took my own photo….one of my foot to prove I was actually there.  It’s very hard doing “selfies” when you do not have long arms… I took my coffee and walked across the road where I discovered a very nice fishing pier with nobody on it…

What a gorgeous day it was, and you know I just had to walk out on that pier and have my coffee…

 

More pictures of my feet..no, REALLY???? and that is as far as my arm will stretch…I also HATE to face any camera at this close proximity…and yes, I was LITERALLY “sittin’ on the dock o’ the bay”..on my butt. I didn’t bring my chair.

This park does have a beautiful old pavilion here, and Den and I rode our bikes to it this afternoon…Here are some photos..

A little history lesson..”It is here that architect Olin Boese, a National Park Service–funded architect working for the State Parks Board, designed one of the architectural gems of the state park system. Sited above a rocky peninsula and made of cast caliche block laid in random ashlar pattern, the open-air building includes a large terrace, pavilion, and stage. The building’s graceful arches and lookout tower provide a grand view of the lake and a cast-stone staircase leads from the refectory’s grounds down to trails along the lake.” This was built in 1933-34..and no, I have never heard of the word “refectory” either…but…I looked it up…Per Wikipedia..”A refectory (also frater, frater house, fratery) is a dining room, especially in monasteries, boarding schools, and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminaries. It is derived from the Latin reficere "to remake or restore", via Late Latin refectorium, which means "a place one goes to be restored". All I know is, the way my body is giving out, I need to find my own refectory !!

 

What a great view you have from the top…(yep, that’s me in the middle pic..I made MacGyver take it, I’m tired of taking my own pictures)..Hmmmm..should I do something mean to him?

No, he isn’t in jail…those are the open windows behind the stage in the first of the 3 photos above him..However…he does look good in there…

OK, enough already…This blog is much longer than anticipated…Suffice to say, we are in camping Heaven right now…and life is just great!!! More adventures to come, I’m sure..BRING ‘EM ON!

Now this is Progres-O!

  We have had a couple foggy days here on the Rio Grande…Very moist walking in the morning, but on the other hand you can get a great facial in a 2 mile walk…

 

If you look waaaay down that road, you will see some taillights…That would be the brave Border Patrol, who has a definite presence here in the Park.  This fog is just what the “sneakers” like. It makes it much easier to cross the border under this dense fog.. I have a  great respect for all that the Border Patrol agents do along the US/Mexican border. Such dangerous jobs they all have. You never know if you will encounter just some “people” seeking a better life, or some “mules” carrying drugs and…guns…

This fog also makes it great if you are amazed by the Arachnids.(.A.K.A. spiders).  Though I do NOT have a great love for the eight legged dudes, I DO have a fascination for their web-weaving abilities…When we took our walk, I know that MacGyver was getting a little peeved at having to stop every few feet because I found a better web to photograph…

That second photo I took with my zoom lens.  That guy HAD to have more than 4 legs, but he was waaaay up in a tree and I wasn’t going to climb up to find out…He looks pretty evil just from the ground!

You see all kinds of different RVs’/campers/motor homes in this camping experience… I love the vintage Rv’s just like I love vintage “muscle cars”…We found this one on our walk . I don’t know how he snuck by us, but this motor home is a BIG one..

This is called a Vogue Prima Vista (or, Prima Vista Vogue??)…Those tires are almost up to my waist…OK, I know I’m vertically challenged, but Dennis even said these are some big-ass tires!! It is a diesel, too, and is in very great shape. I wanted to get a “full frontal” of it, but the owners were watching me like I was nuts…wonder why>//?

On Sunday, we had no early fog, so MacGyver and I drove down into the “valley” and walked across the border at Nuevo Progreso…The last time we were there was in 2009.  Since then, they have made Rt 83 into a 4 lane highway just after Sullivan City. (Sullivan City is where they have the ferry that is hand pulled across the Rio Grande). Not too much has changed in Nuevo Progreso…but the little children with their hands through the fence at the Mexican side of the bridge really got to me this time.  How things change from the US  side of that International Bridge to the Mexican side…

We ducked in and out of many shops. I wanted to get some Mexican Vanilla for my YaYa’s and Aunt Jeanette…Also, I was hoping to score buy some cheap Rum.  In 2009, when you purchased alcohol and brought it back to the US, Texas charged $1.75 tax per bottle…This year it costs you a whopping $3.75 Texas tax per bottle…! Also, as you know, I do NOT need Bacardi Rum..and that was almost all they had..So..I decided on a nice cheap reasonably priced bottle of Tequila and also a bottle of Kahlua!!….

Cooking right in the street ..and this made me hungry..The pic on the right shows the pizza ovens they were using in one pizza restaurant..The words “pizza” and “Mexico” don’t really go together…but..I guess I HAVE heard of Mexican Pizza..

Now we were hungry, and there are a TON of places to eat in Nuevo Progreso!! I had researched and found three places that got high marks for food..Arturo’s, Angel’s and Garcia’s. Since we had been to Garcia’s the last time we were here, we opted for Angels…I guess I didn’t read far enough on the reviews that said you had to go up 4 floors to get to Angel’s..

The decor was a little on the Greek side, what with the arches and ivy hanging from the ceiling..

Here, MacGyver looks slightly confused..He needs a Corona! On the right was our lunch..We had chips and salsa (complimentary), an order of Nachos (fabuloso!), 2 Margaritas (that would be me, and they were wonderful!), and 2 Coronas…all for under $10 USD…Yep, Angels was a big hit with us…Oh, and ..after we climbed the four flights of stairs to get up there, we discovered that there was an elevator…DUH! After a couple of those Margaritas, an elevator was the wise choice for ME…I also noticed something else. They must load those drinks with some kind of “shopping potion”..I had no problem instantly purchasing a few things after those drinks. hehehehe.

So that was our trip into Mexico…Trying to save diesel fuel we stopped at WalMart in Rio Grande City and got our week’s groceries…NOT a good idea…I was glad we thought to pick up some Church’s Chicken carry-outs also..By the time we got back to the Hiker, it was 4:30PM….and there was NO water at the park. We did have water on board, so it was no big deal to us, but some folks here were probably NOT happy. I put on my summer “evening ensemble” and we kept the Happy Hour going from our safe haven of the HitchHiker….

Fresh out of the shower…LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL!!

xxx

Well, so this has been called a Polar Vortex…It began here in Falcon Lake TX on Sunday, Jan. 5th at exactly 9:30AM.  I know that because MacGyver and I were doing our 2 mile walk that morning. I was wearing jeans and a T-shirt….After checking the Weather Channel, I figured our cold snap wouldn’t be here until late afternoon. EL WRONGO!!!

 

About half way through our walk, we noticed this looooooong cloud coming down across Falcon Lake . The fact that it was coming from the NORTH was key …Crap..Here comes that darn cold front, and we aren’t even near the Hiker yet! Man, oh man, when that thing got on top of us the wind began to blow and I was holding onto Toto Dennis for dear life…Instantly the temperatures dropped from 65 down to “damn cold for  here” (that’s my new number). We both did a speed walk, got back to the Hiker and turned on the fireplace!!

It’s a good thing we did our cooking out the night before. When I realized we would be thrown into a cold snap soon, I figured I would let MacGyver be the Grillmaster one last time on Saturday night..We did some beef kabobs on the little Weber…a masterpiece. But grilling outside is not much fun in the cold…and if you think MOI will grill under those conditions you are wrong!

I did manage to get off a couple photos on the trail before someone locked us in the freezer…(OK, I realized 90% of the nation was colder than here!)

 

Normally, I don’t peek out the door if the temperature is below 35 degrees here in the early AM.  And we have one of those clock/thermometers that projects our time and temp on our bedroom ceiling..This way I know which it’s gonna be..shorts, or jeans…or sweats! We always have our day/night shades down at  night, so Monday morning when I saw a little orange light coming in around the shades I just  had to go look out the living room window…Could it be??? the sun???coming up??

YES!!! ..Alas, it didn’t last long. Ol’ Sol just took a peep and realized it was to cold to shine..He left within minutes..boohoo.

MacGyver has been working on our itinerary ..even though I ‘M the one who use to be a Travel  Agent.. However, he has done a dandy job…Here is our plan after we leave Falcon Lake on Jan. 15th..

Jan. 15 for 1 week, Lake Corpus Christi  : then 1 week at Mustang Island  ; then 2 weeks at Goose Island State Park  ; then 1 week at Goliad State Park (a fav of ours); then 2 weeks at Canyon Lake, but not Potter’s creek. We are staying at Crane’s Mill at Startzville.. then1 week at Lake Belton corp park, South of Ft. Worth (the guy who was best man at our wedding lives around there, and we haven’t seen him in forever!): Then 1 week at Jefferson and our last week will be at Texarkana…getting us home about the end of March. As you RV’ers all know, plans can slop around and turn into jello in a hurry. That happened to us quite a few times, but we have faith that all these plans will actually come to fruition…(fingers, toes, eyes, legs crossed!) 

One of the bestest things about this park is the birds…HEY JUDY!! COME ON DOWN!! IT’S A BIRDLADY’S PARADISE!!

I would have preferred that Woodpecker on a nice Mesquite bush instead of a darn ol’ telephone pole…and can you even SEE the Dove amongst those rocks??

On the right is a Cardinal…(notice when I don’t KNOW what the bird is, I zip right by…)

Yep, I know this guy well, he eats snakes, and I love to have the Roadrunner in our campsite..However he did turn his back on me.

 

Here we have a male Pyrrhuloxia…not to be confused with the Cardinal…

A pair of Pyrrhuloxia….Of course, the male is prettier…Gonna get me my badge in birding for this photo!

….And that is about it for the Caves here in South Texas.  Oh, I managed to throw my back out making our bed yesterday AM.. Anyone living in a camper for a while knows just how much FUN making the bed can be..NOT! I am hoping it will heal with Ibuprofen and Rum and Coke…Today, it’s not so good, but I will be better tomorrow..I HAVE TO BE! We are driving into “the valley” and walking across the border into Mexico at Progresso.. I sooo want to do this, as we haven’t attempted to cross for a few years. Gotta get some Mexican Vanilla for my YaYa’s, and a big bottle of Kahlua for MOI…(for medicinal purposes , of course)….If nothing else, crossing the border will make an interesting blog…SO…hasta más tarde, amigos! (I cannot get in trouble in Mexico…they have NO sense of humor at that border!)