October 27 - Practice run at the border

We really have been spoiled by our Garmin; having to navigate our way to the border crossing at Veterans International Bridge without it was real work.  Let me say, this is a great place to cross into Mexico.  There was not one car in line at 9:45 am, and we cruised directly into the migración/banjercito area and parked 40 feet from the door.  The friendly gentleman at migration actually filled out our tourist cards for us, while we sat and waited.  We had brought photocopies of our documents from home, so we paid $20 pesos for a copy of our tarjeta de touristas, and went 20 feet across a clean, modern area full of seating to the banjercito for our temporary vehicle permits.  We were disappointed to be informed by the cheerful young woman that since our case rodante (RV) was not present, we could not get the TIP for the Brave.  We did get one for the CRV, paid the fees, applied the hologram to the windshield, and we were off.  We scoped out the access route to work the Brave through the area (good parking, a little tight but quite doable to exit)  Again, not one car in line at the US crossing(!), $32 MX for the toll bridge, and we were back in Brownsville.  Filled the CRV to the brim with that sweet, cheap US gas, and again, scoped out how/where to gas the Brave prior to the Border crossing tomorrow.  Although we have to return to the banjercito tomorrow, today's trip was a success, since we achieved three of four documents necessary, and now know exactly what to expect and where to go prior to lumbering in with the Brave (which cannot back up even 6 inches with the CRV in tow).  Nothing left to do today, but relax, enjoy a beverage, and dream of Mexico.

On schedule for tomorrow am: Hook up the CRV, fuel the Brave, get the TIP for the Brave, and we're off for Cuidad Victoria.

Resaca in Winterhaven

October 26th - Down to Brownsville

It's only about three hundred kilometres from Rockport to Brownsville, but things change quite a bit.  Live Oak forest gives way to tropical Texas scrub, and there's first sightings of things like Bear Grass, and "that really tall tree with the weird, pale, shaggy bark".  It was a lovely day for traveling, clear, hot, and a rare thing for Rockport, absolutely no wind.  The water was mirror flat, with Egrets and a Roseate Spoonbill cruising along.

coming into Corpus Christi

USS Lexington

Land of pleasure boats and oil refineries

"slowing" for a work zone

By the time we got to Brownsville in the early afternoon, it was hot and windy, with a few pop-up showers around.  WinterHaven was the park of choice, a gated community with some RV slots, which, with the Passport America discount was only $20/night.  Since we were looking forward to the wifi to make final arrangements for Mexico, there was, of course, none, despite considerable site advertising to the contrary.

 a little fancy for us but for $20

We decided to hit the border tomorrow, and get all the paperwork done for a clean run at the border Friday morning.  When I tried to plan a route to Matamoros via the Garmin, the Garmin had mysteriously misplaced Matamoros, and couldn't locate it.  Oh yeah, GPS is nutted along the border, to prevent undesirables from using location for nefarious purposes.  Quite irritating, since navigating in Brownsville seems beyond the Garmin as well.  Tried google maps online.  Nope.  Apple maps, hurrah, it works!
Travelling with a TV has been an experience, we've been watching free to air (used to be called broadcast) TV along the way.  Most channels in Brownsville are from Mexico.  It occurred to me that based on television, Mexicans must find us very boring, what with our slow, quiet, unemotional speech, lack of animated gestures and angry/sorrowful emotional facial expressions, not to mention our plain choice of attire.  There is also a Texan channel that consists of Walker, Texas Ranger all day, every day.

October 25 - Busy morning, leisurely afternoon

We started off the day buying drawer hardware and replacing it in the Brave.  Then we picked up a few odds and ends we needed and had a window repair outfit come to the campsite to fix a stone chip.  All done by 1:30.  Time for a swim, beverage, snooze and supper at Charlotte Plummer's on the water in nearby Fulton.  The restaurant looks out on the working boats portion of the harbour.  Boats moving around, fishermen cleaning their nets and numerous seabirds.

It was a gorgeous evening.  On our nightly walks Kirk and I have been seeing big toads, 3 inch centipedes and a large frog that jumped about 7 ft in a hop.  Time to move on down the road tomorrow.

October 24th - Adventures in auto-repair

The ladies at the front desk agreed that Wright Brothers were the mechanics of choice to check out the CRV's air conditioning problem.  So, 8:15 am, we ran down there for a chat.

Wright Brothers garage was the usual gulf coast steel  building, with the metal hurricane window shutters propped open with broomsticks, revealing an anti-theft 6 inch grid of metal bars, but no glass, nor screening.  Clearly, heat, humidity, nor bugs were of any consequence hereabouts.

T'was the usual dance.  I gave him my tale of woe; Canada to Mexico, hoping to hit Mexico Friday, air died suddenly, glad it happened while I'm still in the good old US of A, my feeble diagnosis attempts (condenser fan runs when you turn air on), and looked hopeful, while leaning on my cane.  He gave me his tale of woe, busy Monday morning, busy week, and one guy short.  We met in the middle, with him saying if we could leave it, he would look at it today.  I figure best case scenario is a holed condenser, repairable or replaceable.  If the compressor is shot, Google says it tends to contaminate the entire system, meaning you have to replace all components.  Time consuming to source parts, and muy caro (mighty expensive)!!  Still, this week in PV will be 36 C before humidity, so not fixing the air is not a desirable option.  We taxied home to Drifter's courtesy of a lovely young lady of considerable tattoo, and are awaiting our phone call from Wright Bros with trepidation.  Updates to follow.

1:30 - Well, the gods have smiled on us again, probably.  Seems a $10 relay and 1/2 pound of freon were all the CRV needed for the oh-so-cool-and-dry air conditioning to be functional again.  $106.77, all in.  I asked about why it was low, (freon) he shrugged and said it's holding pressure.  We're thrilled to have the air working again, for a mere pittance compared to what it could have been, and repairs completed in a matter of hours; we'll see how permanent the fix is....

October 23rd - Hanging in Rockport

Last winter in La Peñita, Nancy acquired a surf rod at a garage sale in the park.  While she  managed to drag a Jack out of the surf, her little pickerel rod/reel was clearly overmatched.  So today, we went and got a reel/line to match the surf rod, along with appropriate tackle.  A lay-about afternoon included a mandatory pool session.  Nancy did a grocery shop for the Mexico part of the journey.  Unfortunately, on her return trip, she found the air conditioning in the CRV had ceased to function.  While we're again lucky that this occurred while we were still in the US, it remains to be seen what will be involved, and more worrisome, how long it will take to fix, once we find someone to work on it.

for you weather report junkies

October 22nd - Rockport, TX

Made it to Drifter's RV Park in Rockport, TX.  We had very good weather on the drive down.  A descending cold front left us with clear skies, and a following north wind four days running.  I've found when driving a Class A RV, a tailwind means the engine is murmuring along in overdrive, cruises up hills with nary a complaint, and it refrains from the cross-wind lurching to and fro with each passing semi (And is also good for about 10-15% better mileage).  Four days in a row is a blessing - clean living, I guess.

We have also been off-line more than we expected.  We stopped at Oasis RV Park in KS specifically for the great wifi it had last time, only to find it no longer has wifi.  North Texas Jellystone was a reluctant choice, but at least it had wifi - nope; they deliberately throttled it in order to better gouge you for "Premium wifi".  OK, well at least we'd have good wifi at the RV Park in Schulenburg, right/ Nope.  Don't know if it had anything to do with the massive DDoS hack impacting Texas and the US yesterday,  but the wifi would only stay connected for a second or two at a time.  In hindsight, we could/should have Walmarted it most of the way down.

Getting back to Drifter's, with it's immaculate sites, and fast wifi is like coming home.  The pool beckons.

first view of ocean

headed into Fulton-Rockport

At last, Drifters

211 Km.

October 21 - Schulenburg TX

As Cam said "Thank Christ we are off the freeway!"  After that, it was a pleasant drive on a nice highway from Waco to Schulenburg, TX.  Travelling down valleys of mixed woodlands and grasslands, we spotted our first palm trees. Yes planted, but still thriving on their own.  Huge reed grasses, that look like Phragmites on steroids,  tower along the highway reaching the telephone wires in places.  Tall pines grow on slopes.  In Schulenburg, we sampled the local cuisine for supper- fried chicken.  I had forgotten the U.S. portion size and should have ordered for one person.  Chicken sandwiches or curry down the road.   This is a very tidy town of German ancestry with a model aviation museum which happens to be closed until Nov 1 unfortunately.  It is also the home of the legendary Painted churches but since the closest one is a 6 mile round trip from our campsite Kirk and I will pass on the tour this time.

327 Km.