#9 Go Fly a Kite!

The town of South Padre Island (yes, that’s the correct name) covers about a 6 mile length of the island itself, with the typical beachfront hotels along the shore, souvenir and beach wear shops, lots of condos, and narrow passageways labeled “Beach Access # --“, most with about 6 parking spaces, along the way. But down towards the end of the road is something different - a large sandy open space on the bay side, reserved for – you guessed it - Flying kites! With the near constant wind and large open space, it is a perfect place for flying. And Fly they did – at the 10^th annual South Padre Island Kite Flying Festival……

This two-day event attracts enthusiasts from all over the country and features team flying, individual flying exhibitions, and competitions. Ten or more really large kites, shown below, were continuously flying along the street – presumably to attract visitors. It must have worked, because there were probably upwards of 1000 spectators.

One man from Maine flew a kite with three 120 foot tails, and he could spin the kite so fast that the tails spiraled along their full length. The kite itself was pretty big and the fellow had to lean back at a 30-degree angle to balance the pull of the kite while flying.

Another man used a large kite to pull him along on his low-slung three-wheeled cart at speeds that approached 20mph. Controlling the cart and the kite took a lot of skill.

Team flying typically entailed three to six man (and woman!) teams with each person controlling one kite. To perform the maneuvers requires a kite with four strings attached – presumably the four string kites can do more tricks. With and the ups and downs, dips and spins, it’s really hard to understand how they didn’t get all those strings horribly tangled. The teams would take the kites off from the sandy beach in unison and fly them to pre-recorded music sometimes in formation and sometimes not, for several minutes before landing them again in unison, with outer edges touching down like slowly descending rocket ships attesting to their amazing skills.

Although the day was mostly sunny and around 50F, the high winds made it pretty chilly on the beach. We would have liked to watch longer, but the wind chill nixed that idea. Nevertheless, it was a thrill to see these expert kite flyers in action.

#8 Nuevo Progreso

Today we drove about 25 miles to a town called Progreso, just north of the Mexican border. You can park right near the border for $2 and then for $.25 you can walk across the Rio Grande to a another town called Nuevo Progreso, Mexico.

As soon as you get there, you are assaulted with the smells, colors, sounds, and people who are selling everything from dental work to medicine to all kinds of food.

Both sides of the street have numerous stores and businesses, and on the street-side of the sidewalk there are stands with various vendors. Most of the time there is only a space of a few feet to walk, and the vendors kept pushing things at you and asking if you want to buy. If you didn't buy, however, they were polite about it with no problem.

Quite a few of the items were very reasonable, especially, it seemed, some of the clothing and pottery. Well tooled belts and boots were less of a bargain, but still quite nice. Many folks were buying liquor, which was pretty inexpensive. We heard one fellow say that he bought two bottles of tequila (not sure how big the bottles were) for $4. Some folks on the street were hawking dental work, eye glasses with exams, and medicines. There were perhaps 6 dentists and 10 or more pharmacies. We priced one name brand medicine, but if I remember the prices correctly, the price was not that much better than back home.

Lunch was at Arturo's where we had tacos with beans and rice. The place was packed with Winter Texans. Food quality and prices were similar to what you might expect in the states, and service was a cut above. We did not have the water, but many people did, so I expect no problems.

Coming back across the border required a passport, and entailed a short line, but otherwise no problems. We came back across the border with some bargains and tired feet. It was an interesting visit to our southern neighbors in Nuevo Progreso.

#7 Brownsville’s Gladys Porter Zoo

We set out to go to a flea market in the border town of Brownsville, about 20 miles from our home away from home. Dutifully following the GPS route, we arrived in Brownsville and ……. no flea market. Just an ordinary neighborhood without even a garage sale. We asked around and found we had passed the flea market a few miles back.

Anne suggested we have a look at the Gladys Porter Zoo that she had read about, so we did. The GPS did much better getting us there, and we were soon driving through a suburban neighborhood when we came upon a modest parking lot and entrance to the zoo. It was misleading, because once inside we were treated to a huge variety of animals in some of the most natural zoo habitats we have ever seen.

Although confined to individual habitats, the animals are separated from the public by moats or by other natural barriers. Lush plantings with many trees and waterways provide authentic settings for the zoo animals.

The variety and number of animals housed in a relatively small zoo was amazing. Our favorite animals were a community of perhaps 12 Great Apes - Lowland Gorillas. Watching the boss man wander around his tribe, beat his chest and hoot was scary, even from the safety of our vantage point. The whole community listened to him, and some of the young adults made some obviously submissive gestures.

Though small, perhaps the size of the Lincoln Park Zoo, it was easy to get lost on one of the many paths through the various exhibits. We finally figured out that the designers wanted visitors to wander through the zoo, and not have a fixed walking route. It gives the feeling of many distinct areas within the zoo’s confines.

Numerous indigenous birds, exotic for us Midwesterners, were simply flying free and “visiting” the grounds, which were designed around a resaca - an old river bed. Many small monkeys, alligators, snakes, Mongolian horses, lions and tigers and bears (oh, my!) all made for a unique zoo experience. The pictures tell the story better than we can ……..

This zoo was named after the daughter of the benefactor, Earl C Sams, one of the founding partners of the J C Penney Co. It was built in the early 70’s, and for us seems to us to be something of an architectural and zoological wonder. Anne later found that it is considered one of the 10 best zoos in the US, and it is at the very top of the list of our favorite zoos.

Another unexpected gem………

#6 The RV Life

Living in the RV has its good points and its bad points, especially when you have 3 “kids” (actually 2 cats and a dog – but more about them later).

On the “good” side is:

- doesn’t take long to clean the house

- easy to move from one neighborhood to another

- everything is within 10 steps of everything else

- stuff that is lost is easy to find, sometimes

On the “not so good” (ie. bad) side is:

- everyone is always under everyone else’s feet

- it’s easy to knock things over (like the coffee grounds on the carpet yesterday morning)

- dogs always want to play

- you can’t get too far away from the others inside

Everyone in the RV Park is very friendly, which is really nice, but when you are outside, walking or riding, you have to say hello a hundred times! You find that in the park, it is a real melting pot with the people next door from Iowa and Montana, and the ones behind you are from Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Colorado – all Winter Texans now. Everyone is fleeing the cold weather, and most of them will stay in this park for 3 months, usually Jan. – Mar. Many have been to this park many for years in a row.

The main building has some offices and a big hall where dances and other meetings are held. They have many functions ranging from Sunday services to bands, magicians, karaoke, shuffelboard, swimmimg pool, etc. A lot of acts come to the Rio Grande Valley this time of year from Branson and elsewhere to perform for the Winter Texans. There are also clubs for computers, model cars, kite flying (its windy here), and others. We have gone to one concert and listened to some karaoke so far, but haven’t done much more here at the resort (I keep wanting to call it a campground!!).

What else????

Overall, it is a pretty quiet, relaxed environment. It is only boring if you let it be so. Right now it is Saturday morning, 8am, and a sunny 49 degrees with a high expected of 67. Think I will go for a bike ride this morning. Then off to get some bargains at the Brownsville flea market.

Ahhhhh……the life of a Winter Texan……..

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Ps. Here are some numbers, for those who like them:

- monthly rental at this resort: $480 (doesn’t include electricity)

- distance from chi town: 1550 per R odo

- RV mileage, towing the car (diesel fuel): 8.1 mpg

- Unleaded fuel price here: $2.59/gal

- Camping fees on the way down:

o Low: $13

o High: $38.50

- Best Bargain: 4 Texas red grapefruits for $1

- Biggest ripoff: $38.50 for KOA in St Louis

- Harlingen population in 2000: 57,000

#5 Texas Barbeque, LBJ, and a Bunch of Junk

We knew that Austin has many sights to see and tastes to savor, but still were not prepared for how big a treat this three day experience would be! Camping at McKinney State Park just outside of town, our first foray was south to Lockhart where Kreutz’ Barbeque makes its home. Kreutz’ is a rustic place that sells, by the pound, wood cooked and smoked meats served up on brown butcher paper with plastic knives and no forks. You can buy some sides and drinks separately, if you want. Interestingly, the meat is cooked and served with no barbeque sauce. The brisket, ribs and sausage were excellent, but a little too smoky for Anne and we both might have liked them with a little sauce.

Next day it was off to Johnson City and the nearby home of LBJ. This 680 acre National Historic Park that comprises the ranch was just opened to the public last June, though it was willed to the government when LBJ died in 1973. Lady Bird lived there until her death in 2007. After a driving tour of the ranch, for a mere $1 you can do a house tour. We took the latter with only about 5 other people, and really enjoyed seeing the Texas White House. While the house was pretty large, it was also fairly simple and definitely not updated to modern standards. For us, it emphasized President Johnson’s simple beginnings that likely were so important to shaping who he was. We enjoyed seeing his amphibious car and three side-by-side televisions.

Ever seen Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives on the Food channel? We went with Jared to one of the featured restaurants in Chicago that they visited, and enjoyed some good Mexican food. We decided to visit two more places the show documented in Austin. Both the Magnolia Café and the Green Mesquite had outstanding barbeque, and we enjoyed them thoroughly. Mmmmm…

Why can’t you get barbeque like this in Chi town??

Lastly, but certainly not least-ly, we decided to visit a pile of junk. We had heard about the Cathedral of Junkthat one Vince Hannemann had built in his backyard.

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/7816

Vince was round back of his small house when we arrived, and he welcomed us to his view his creation. What an incredible structure! It is a three story high structure and was absolutely amazing. As you walked up inside its three stories, and could find almost any piece of junk from bottle caps to bicycle sprockets, old railings, and lawn sprinklers. You could spend many days looking over and walking up the tower and never see all of the 60 tons of junk.

As we get ready to leave, all we can say about Austin is that it is a really special place. And we didn’t even tell you about our visit to the Wild Seed store and Whole Foods first, and by far huge-est, store. WOW!

#4 A Giant Flea Market and a Crack in the World

We left Texarkana, Tx. heading west on the interstate, and decided to leave the beaten path on our route south towards Athens, Texas. Although some of the state highways are a little slower than the interstate, they really do move along well and you are usually rewarded with some great views of the countryside. Texas Highway 19 was no exception and proved to be a scenic 60 mile drive complete with longhorn cattle, a number of really big Texas mansions, and a generally hilly countryside, reminding us of a larger scale southern Wisconsin. Taking this route, we missed Dallas entirely. Darn!

Although the highway was not at all hilly, it had a rough surface, and while tooling along Anne heard a loud POP! It was probably one of the stones from the pavement. She hollered “Oh, Darn” (not exactly, but you get the idea) and I knew it wasn’t good. Yes, a stone had hit the windshield low on the passenger’s side and made a nice starburst about one inch in diameter. We had this happen once before, and thanks to listening to the RV Navigator’s podcast, I knew these could be repaired pretty easily with a kit you could get at Wal Mart (elsewhere, too I suspect). The kit consists of a resin and plunger assembly used to force the resin into the crack. A little heat on the inside of the windshield wicks the resin in further. Exposing it to the sun’s ultraviolet rays hardens the resin, and ALAKAZAM!!!! You have a crack-free windshield again. It worked well, due in no small part to the highly skilled application techs. Check out the intense concentration of the Crack Repair Tech below:

Aout 20 miles from Athens, we passed through Canton, Texas, a town that boasts the world’s biggest flea market. We were surprised that the First Monday Flea Market was being held this weekend, because we are never fortunate enough to actually be in a place when a special event is taking place. We decided to stay an extra day to give the pets and us a rest and to go to see what bargains we could find, but don’t really need.

We stayed in a nice campground outside of town, and the next morning set out early for the market which turned out to be bigger than we could have imagined. It stretched for many blocks in all directions with campgrounds at the fringes; it had stalls both indoors and outdoors. One vendor told us that the market, which has been running continuously since 1851, has 200 acres of parking! For those of you who know the Kane County Flea Market, this one was perhaps 10 times as big. Since we were early in the day and it’s the off season, not all vendors were open, but gradually more opened, and we managed to find a few things to buy.

We were glad we stopped in Athens, though we never did see the Acropolis.