We didn't realize how much we missed playing in the dirt until we were able to start new flower beds and vegetable gardens at our new home.  North Carolina's climate is a far cry from Central New York State.   By the beginning of May, we were able to plant  flowers and vegetable seeds and set out some of our seedlings in the garden and in pots on our patio-to-be behind the house. It's hard not to go crazy buying plants knowing that almost anything will grow.  I got a nice little crape myrtle for the corner of the patio and we planted my pretty blue hyrangia in the front flower bed.  A bright pink  bouganvilla in a hanging basket is the latest addition to the collection along the front porch and single pink roses brighten up the back of the house.  I love all the shades of pink !

Bill built a bluebird box one weekend and the next day we had a pair of bluebirds building a nest!  The best part is that we can see them from our dining area, and we spent much of the day watching the male and female gather nesting materials and flying in and out of the box.  I love watching the male turn upside down and look into the box at the female.  We haven't checked the box itself, but suspect that the female is already sitting on eggs. 

Although the weather has been up and down in the few weeks that we've been home, it's definitely spring here. One of the things we've missed by not having a home base for the past 5 years is having a garden.  I particularly enjoy raising flowers and Bill loves his vegetable garden.  We arrived home at the perfect time to begin our landscaping projects. 

Bill tilled up flower beds along all sides of our patio-to-be and the front and side of the house along the porch.  We moved roses out of the shade into sunnier locations, planted azaleas, and planted sycamore, river birch, cypress  and mimosa trees in the yard for shade.  In some ways it's nice that the back yard had nothing planted in it because it gives us a chance to design our own landscaping.  We're fortunate that Jeff has lots of little trees and bushes that we can bring over, and one of our very kind neighbors has given us some camellia cuttings to start and promised me canna lilies and a rose of sharon.   So many great plants grow here that wouldn't have survived in the North.  I can't wait to grow crape myrtle, gardenia, camellia and other warm climate flowers.

We had a really good visit with Ricky, Susan, Victoria and Rebecca in Ohio, and were amazed at how much the kids have grown since our last visit. I'll try to post pictures soon! As always, it took some creativity to find a place to park the RV during our visit, but we were lucky to find that the Ross County Fairgrounds had the camping area open for business.  We were the only ones there, so it was quite a nice spot.  No bright lights, no noise and plenty of room for Becky to ride here trike when she came to visit.

When we finally headed for home, we decided to make the 600+ mile trip in one day.  We got an early start and got home just before dark after a grueling 11 hour drive.  Luckily, the weather was fine and we didn't run into rain or snow as we crossed the mountains in West Virginia.  It was good to be back and great not to have to do a lot of unpacking.  We just brought in our pillows and toothbrushes and relaxed.

Although we haven't seen that much rain all winter,  4 rainy days in a row made it seem as though it's been raining forever.  Since our generator is still on the fritz, we decided to forego the National Park's dry camping in favor of a nice little private campground with full hookups called Singing Hills.  After all the rain, there were wet spots, but we managed to get a site on high ground with a nice view of the pond.  We were shocked to see many downed trees in the campground, a result of the terrible ice storm they had a few weeks ago. It must be heartbreaking for the owners to have to cut up and remove all those big trees that gave the campground such a nice personality. 

One happy note, though.  The new campground owners have installed a new wifi system that works perfectly.  After dealing with poor or no wifi service all winter, it's a pleasure to have fast and reliable service.

Tuesday the weather finally cleared up and we saw blue skies again.  We drove over to the National Park and walked one of their many trails. 

The NP Service is revamping their visitor center -- it's going to be huge!.  Because we toured the caves last time we were here, we decided to stay above ground this time and enjoy the nice spring weather, but there were mobs of people waiting to go down under.  It must be spring break!

Friday.  On March 13th we arrived at Natchez, Mississippi and got onto the Natchez Trace Parkway.  In pouring rain, we splished and splashed north for over 400 miles.  Despite the rain, the parkway was a delightful road.  Although only 2 narrow lanes, there was virtually no traffic and, since commercial traffic was not allowed, no trucks.  There are 3 campgrounds along the Trace belonging to the National Park Service.  Although they have no facilities, the sites are large, wooded and scenic.  Best of all, the campgrounds are free! 

At the southern end of the Trace, the dogwoods and other flowering trees were in bloom and grass was a bright spring green.  Even in the rain, the split rail fences and the bright trees made the scenery beautiful.  There are frequent stops along the way pointing out historic events along the way and many picnic areas.  Don't expect to find food, drink or gas, though.  Commercial services are non-existant and we had to get off and travel a couple of miles into Tupelo just for gas.  Although we expected to see wildlife along the way, we weren't overwhelmed with it.  There were several flocks of turkeys and some birds in the campgrounds.  Surprisingly, no deer.

On our first night dry camping, we were looking forward to nice hot homemade soup which we would thaw in the microwave along with a quiet evening of TV and some heat from our electric heater to take the chill off as the temp was still around 45 degrees.  To our dismay, the generator decided to quit during the height of a cold rain, and, try as he would, Bill could not get it started.  Luckily, we improvised with dinner and heated food on the stove, which is propane.  We also made some biscuits in the oven which heated up the living area enough to be comfortable.  Music and a Scrabble evening provided entertainment.

Having previously checked out the pretty Magnolia Ridge, Corps of Engineers campground about an hour from Livingston, we decided to make the short trip and more to a more spaces and quiet area.  It was funny that the day we went to look at it there were absolutely no campers.  We were excitedly anticipating having the campground to ourselves, but it was not to be.  When we arrived on Sunday, almost every site was taken.

Luckily for us, every site had a water view and all sites were spacious and nicely laid out.  We chose one with a pretty view of the bayou and settled in.  Each site also had a cement picnic table with a shelter for shade, even though there were plenty of trees around.  The weather was nice, and we brought out chairs for ourselves and for Gemini to enjoy an afternoon of reading.

Surprisingly, there were few birds in evidence during the three days we stayed at the campground.  We expected to see many water and woodland birds, but our sightings were limited to a few egrets, some vultures and a few blue jays.  Dogwoods are starting to bloom and wild azaleas are dotting the woods.  It must be fantastic here in a couple of weeks when everything is in full bloom.

One day we took a lunch and drove over to The Big Thicket National Preserve where we had an interesting hike through the woods and toured the visitor center.  After some cool nights, we enjoyed the hot sunny day.

Thursday at Rainbow's End, the Escapees park.  It's hard to believe that we've been here a week already!  The park has a few activites and we did go to social hour and played Bingo, but generally didn't manage to rouse ourselves to attend activities.  I guess we were lucky to get our laundry and some housekeeping done while we sit here.

One of the main reasons we haven't accomplished much is that we have wireless internet at our site (Tengonet, which is erratic and expensive) and I've spent a lot of time playing on the computer.  It's such a novelty to have access at any time. 

A couple of good things, though.  We ran into our RVing friend, Maggie as we walked around the park one day.  We haven't seen her for a couple of years and had no idea that she was here, so that was a nice surprise.  She still travels with her 2 dogs and 6 cats -- another animal lover!

On Sunday we took a drive over to the Corps of Engineers park about an hour away.  It has a great lakefront campground that was virtually empty when we were there, and we're thinking of camping there for a few days before we go on to Louisana.

Weather has been erratic, with temps in the 20's one night and in the 80's the next day.  Spring flowers are bloomin around town and in the park.  It is looking like spring here.

After leaving the Valley, we felt that we needed to go somewhere less expensive for a while, so we headed to Padre Island National Seashore where our Golden Age pass would give us a 50% discount at the developed campground or we could camp on the beach for free.  We were lucky to get there just when some of the Gulf front sites were empty and got a great view of the Gulf from our rig. The Gulf was rather rough, but beautiful.  There were stiff winds, but at the Malaquite Campground, we were protected a little by the sand dunes.  The only downside was that the sites were close together and, having no electric and no regulations on use of generators, we heard generators going a lot.

As we explored the island, we checked out the beach camping, but decided that the sand was a little soft and there was so much washed up trash on the beach that it was a little scary driving on it.  But we did find a primitive campground that we didn't realize was there called Bird Island Basin.  It's a windsurfer's heaven on the sound side of the island.  For a $5 parking fee good for a year we could park and camp right along the water for as long as we wished.  The water was very clean and very shallow with a short strip of beach in front of our campsite.  Once again we lucked out and got a great site at the end of the camping area with no close neighbors.  We enjoyed sunsets from our site and, even in the wind, it was warm enough to sit outside and enjoy the beautiful views.  Of course, the wind surfers loved the high winds and were out in force.   Between the pelicans, other shore birds and the windsurfers, we had plenty of entertainment.

One day we joined a bird watching trip at the Visitor's Center.   That day we saw sandhill cranes, a pair of coyotes, long billed curlews, terns, and lots of other coastal birds.  Inspired by our tour, the next day we went to Port Aransas to the World Birding Center.  That was a great place as it's free and there's a long boardwalk out into the marshes.  At intervals along the boardwalk volunteers had spotting scopes and pointed out different birds and were able to tell us names of those we didn't know.  It was quite fun.

After 5 days of fighting the increasinly strong winds, though, we were ready to move on.  Unfortunately, we left on a Friday and decided to drive all the way to Livingston.  We hit Houston at noon time and fought 8 lanes of merging traffic for an hour as we drove around it.  Bill held up well, though.

We're finding the Rio Grande Valley to be different than any other place we've been.  Winter Texans are, in general, treated like special guests in the community, and we were made to feel welcome whether we were in Texas or across the border in Mexico.  We stayed in several different campgrounds from Harlingen to Weslaco to Los Fresnos looking for just the right place to spend a month.  The funny thing was that by the time we decided, we had already been in the Valley for almost 3 weeks and then didn't want to committ to another month.

Our campground in Weslaco, 1015 RV Resort, was only about 6 miles from the bridge into New Progresso, Mexico.  Although we heard lots of scary things about border towns on the news, New Progresso was not one of the problem areas, and everyone we spoke to felt that it was the safest place to visit. 

Bill and I walked across the bridge into New Progresso twice to go shopping and have lunch.  It's really like a party there.  The vendors are all smiles and very polite.  Though they do try to sell their wares, they don't overly push and will accept an outright "no" without argument (almost).  Cheerful Mexican or Country Western music is playing everywhere and spilling out into the streets.  We were surprised at the dozens of pharmacies and dental offices in the few blocks that we walked, but they all seemed busy.  You could understand it when prices are half or a third of US prices.  For medications, costs are less than that and no prescriptions are needed.

The first time we went over, we had lunch at the Red Snapper which had been recommended to us by our campground managers.  We had a great meal of broiled shrimp while being entertained by live music.  Happy hour is all day, so when I ordered a margarita, I got two delivered.  Both were excellent! 

A few things that day struck us as sad.  The first was that, as we walked over the bridge, we could see the Wall as it was being constructed on the US side of the Rio Grande.  I understand some of the reasoning, but it just seems so unfriendly towards a friendly people.  South Texas in many ways seems like an extension of Mexico and people travel back and forth freely for the most part.

Another thing that was disconcerting were the beggars under the bridge calling to us to throw money and reaching up their hands or hats.  We couldn't see them, just hear the voices and see the reaching hands and hats.  We had been told many times not to give to beggars, but how can you resist when you have a pocket full of change that really doesn't mean anything to you.  So yeah, we threw it down to them.  On the way back we could see some of them and they looked like teenagers out on a lark.  Oh well.

One of the best things about being in the Valley was the fruit.  We had fresh grapefruit every day and it was Sooo good!  Then there was the pineapple, mangos, avacados, tomatoes...  Boy, are we going to miss that!

Los Fresnos, TX:   On the spur of the moment, we decided to ride down to Boca Chica this morning.  Having learned our lesson on heading off without adequate supplies, we packed a cooler with drinks and sandwiches, and a good thing, too, as there is NOTHING out there.  Boca Chica is a stretch of land about 25 miles east of Brownsville that borders on the Gulf of Mexico and the Rio Grande.  There's a small community consisting of about 15 little houses and a corner grocery store/gas station just a few miles before you get to the beach.   We had heard that people drive out on the beach with their RVs and camp, and sure enough, there were several parked up on the sand.  The sand here was as hard as blacktop with tons of shells strewn along the water. We had a pleasant lunch watching the waves, then walked in the water's edge looking for shells.  Not that I don't have like buckets of shells!  But I did find 2 or 3 that I had never seen before, so it was fun.

We drove about 3 miles to the end of the beach where the Rio Grande empties into the Gulf and could see Mexico across a fairly small stretch of water.  There were people on the other side fishing and just hanging out.  Possibly thinking about crossing over, who knows?  One of the fishermen from Mexico rowed a little boat over, played around with netting fish for a while and then rowed back.  Although it would be easy to cross from Mexico to the US at this point, I can't imagine how anyone would get to civalization from there.  It's a 25 mile trek across mud flats and desert-like country to Brownsville and major highways.  We did get checked by Border Patrol on the way back, but they just asked our citizenship and waved us through.  I guess two old people in a jeep didn't pose any threats.

Wind blowing at 40 to 50 mph is all we've been hearing for the past 7 days.  We've hung around Harlingen waiting for the wind to die down enough so that we could drive over the bridge onto South Pardre Island, but it just hasn't happened so far.  This morning we moved from Fig Tree RV Resort in Harlingen.  Though the layout of the park was o.k., it was too close to I83 and the traffic noise was just unpleasant.  To add to the annoyance,  there were several yappy dogs which barked at every canine passerby.  It was surprising that the residents put up with it -- we have seldom had a problem with barking dogs in a nice park before. 
Anyway, we moved to Palmdale RV Resort in Los Fresnos this morning.  What a very nice park it is!  Sites are large and grassy, there are many trees and flowering shrubs around, and of course, it has a full component of amenities from library to pool and spa.  Since we got here early, we had time to have a quick lunch and drive over to the Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge this afternoon.  It has a very nice visitor center with small museum display as well as short walkways, butterfly gardens and photo blinds near the parking area.  We were very happy to see some green jays and capture them on camera.This was a test drive for my new Nikkon digital camera with 18X zoom, and I was very pleased with the results.

We also did the 16 mile scenic loop drive along the Laguna Madre bay.  I think that many of the birds were seeking shelter because of the wind, but we did see some green herons, tricolored herons, coots, Plain Chachalaca, coots, various waterfowl and a few birds that we still have to identify.  Because the refuge also hosts a number of ocelots, Bill was hoping for a sighting, but I'm sure that they are nocturnal as well as very shy of people. 

Back at camp, we are testing the wifi, and it's working great, unlike most places we've been!  I like this place!

After years of hearing RVers talk about wintering in the "The Valley", we finally made it here.  I have to say that the Valley is not exactly what I expected.  This part of Texas has a tropical climate much like Florida.  Unlike Florida, we find that Texans are unfailingly friendly, and Texas welcomes the Winter Texan community with open arms. Although there is traffic as it's the height of the winter season, it is still not as heavy as we've found on the east coast in places like Myrtle Beach or anywhere in Florida.  Farms are still interspersed between the towns, and many of the towns like Mercedes and Weslaco have the feel of  old west main streets.

Bill and I were surprised at the wide range of prices for campgrounds.  Resort type parks offer many activities every day while the less expensive parks are more laid back.  Either way, there is still plenty to do and many park activities are open to the public whether or not you are a resident.

Flea markets happen almost every day in the towns along the Rio Grande.  Big ones, small ones, yard sales, garage sales, park sales -- if you like to browse for bargains, this is the place!  Although we've just been here a few days, we already have a list of things we'd like to do ranging from Branson-style shows at less than $20 per person to bird watching at different wildlife preserves.  This area is a huge attraction for migrating birds, and we're looking forward to seeing many of them as we explore the Brownsville area and South Padre Island.

There are also museums that sound interesting, and historical points of interest that we'll have to explore.  Of course, we will walk across the border into Mexico one day to do some shopping. 

After 6 months of living in a "sticks and bricks", Bill and I gave in to our itchy feet and loaded up the RV for an extended trip to the Southwest.  We did enjoy the holidays in our newly remodeled home, but still missed our house on wheels!

It was a rather rough start, though.  The day before we left, the brakes on the front of the RV locked up and Bill had to take the wheel apart to fix them.  Then, on the day we finally got on the road, we had a rear tire blowout about 15 miles from home.  What a discouragement!  One really nice thing happened, though.  A construction worker on his way home saw us struggling with the tire, and stopped to lend a hand and loan a couple of tools which made the job easier.  Thank you Good Samaritans of the world.  We sometimes forget they're still out there.

Once we seriously got underway, the trip went well.  We spent a few days at Seminole Lake where we met a nice couple who taught us to play Pegs and Jokers, a game we've heard about for years but never played.  It was loads of fun.

Then we moved on to Summerdale, Alabama to Rainbow Plantations, the Escapees Park.  It turned out to be the best time we've ever had there.  I don't know what changed, but the social hours were so well attended and the activities overflowing.  We went on the casino trip to Biloxi where we won enough on the penny machines to pay for lunch and had a great time.  It was very tempting to stay longer as the park is gearing up for Mardi Gris festivities, but we really had our minds set on getting to Brownsville this year, so we reluctantly checked out after a fun two week stay.

Here we are now camped right on the beach near Port Lavaca, Texas.  We were delighted to find this county park where we could dry camp free while enjoying the scenery on Lavaca Bay just off the Gulf of Mexico.

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