Friday was one of the coldest days we've had since leaving Amarillo. We had
to turn on our propane heater to keep the trailer warm. It has been a long time
since that had happened. The good news is it did not go below freezing. Since
the weather did not lend itself to doing much, rainy, cold and windy, we decided
it was a perfect day to do housework and watch the final few draws of the
Scotties.
Saturday we went to Palo Alto Battlefield in Brownsville. This was one of the main battles in the dispute between Mexico and USA about where the border should be. The Americans wanted it at the Rio Grande, but Mexico thought it should be at the Neuces River, which flows through Corpus Christi. After watching
the 15 minute video giving us a overview of the events, we walked through the
battlefield, which showed the position of both the Mexican battle line and the American battle line. Thanks
to the Americans winning this skirmish, basically because their cannon was newer and had a better range than the Mexican's, south Texas, California, Arizona, New Mexico, and most of Colarado are part of the USA instead of Mexico. Where
would snowbirds spend their winters if Mexico had won the war?
We were amused by the warning signs in the sites parking area.
On our way back
to the trailer park we stopped at Ornela's Bakery in Rio Hondo, just on a whim. It turned out to be one of our better ideas, as the baking was delicious. We chatted with a couple from Ontario who where very glad to hear any news we had about the Scotties, as they
stay in the same motel every year and of course it only has American TV
channels.
Sunday was a bit warmer and sunny. We went for a short walk around the RV park and then spent the rest of the day watching the Scotties bronze medal game
and the final, as well as the Alberta and B.C. men's championships. It was with great
pleasure that we saw Kevin Martin lose to Kevin Koe. But then John Morris won
the B.C finals, so I guess we can't have everything.
Monday was moving day. It was a hot sunny day, a shame to waste such
nice weather moving. We moved to Edinburg, to Valley Gateway RV park. The park, which
is owned by a retired rodeo clown has large sites and friendly
neighbours. By the time we arrived at the park the temp was in the high 70's F.
After we got set up we took a trip into McAllen. John bought me a new camera as
a birthday gift. Trying to get close-ups of birds at the nature centers convinced us that we could use a camera with better features than our little one. Then we went to La Jaiba Shrimp House for dinner. It wasn't fancy as we expected, but the food and service were great. We got back to the RV park in time to watch
the Russia/Canada men's curling.
Tuesday the wind had shifted to the north, so it was a cool rainy day, so a good day to do a museum. We started by driving to
the Rio Grande to view the only hand-drawn ferry still operating across the Rio Grande between Mexico and Texas at Los Ebanos. As we
headed toward the ferry landing a fellow wearing a balaclava (because it was cold?) opened a door in a
metal shed and told us it would cost us to walk to the rivers edge where we could see the ferry. We figured giving money to someone wearing a balaclava didn't seem like a good idea, so
we said 'thank you but we won't not bother' and left. He was not happy with us. We headed back to Edinburg and stopped at the Chamber of Commerce visitor center in the old Southern Pacific RR depot pick up some information.
Then we went to the Museum of South Texas History, which is the main reason we stayed near Edinburg. It has a very well
done displays, covering the history of the Rio Grande Valley area from prehistoric times
through to 20th century.
Wednesday morning we (that is Joan) woke up in time to watch the Canada/Great Britain
women's curling at 3:00 A.M. After the game was done and breakfast over
with we headed to El Sal Del Rey about 5 miles west. It is a salt lake that has historically been a
source of money in this area. Before Texas became a state, salt was used a
currency, so this lake was an important piece of real-estate. We walked the
mile into the lake and then decided to walk around it. The total distance was 7
miles, most of it along the lake shore. We saw many birds, numerous deer and
three coyotes. There was evidence of old salt works with tailing ponds. I had my
new camera with me, but forgot to charge the battery in the camera, and left the spare in the truck in the parking lot, so wasn't able to take
many pictures with it, but we did have the old camera with us. I charged the batteries when we got back to the trailer, so hopefully
this won't happen again.
Thursday morning again was an early day. We woke up at 4:00 A.M. to watch
Olympic Canada men's curling. After a lunch we did the walk through the nature
trails at the RV park. There were enormous flocks of red-winged blackbirds. It was warm and sunny, so a perfect day for walking.
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