LoriBarb

OK, weird title we know but warranted, a little. We were told by a few people what a great stay Quartzsite is ESPECIALLY when the famous RV show is on!! The town has under 3,000 people living there, but apparently during this one week a year 750 – 1 million people show up. SO WHY WOULDN’T ONE CHECK IT OUT!?

Now what we will say is that this area is famous for boon dockers. If you recall from much earlier posts, boon docking is when you are off the grid, not hooked up to anything and just running off your own generator and own water supply. In this area anyone can park their RV/Camper anywhere they want for up to 2 weeks at no charge. So why wouldn’t you pop on over and try this out? We decided to stay at a RV place WAY too expensive for the place, but of course it was during the “show” and everything was inflated.

So how was the show??? We both agreed that it was a real let down. We have been to better shows in Toronto frankly. What we did find fascinating, was the amount of RVers and all the boon docking for miles around this town. It really is a lifestyle. I wonder if they filmed Nomad here with Francis McDermott? They sure could/should have.

What did we buy? Well some dips, of which we have already made one. Some chocolate, because that is what one buys at a RV show. Some Christmas gifts, which won’t be mentioned of what they are as our families read this, and of course lunch consisting of a gourmet grill cheese sandwich.

OK, getting the heck out of dodge on this stop and we are off to the Fountain of Youth Spa and RV resort. California here we come!!!!

We should have stayed in Bandera! Traveling in the winter no matter where you go apparently can be dicey. I’m sure everyone is aware of the cold fronts affecting the U.S and Canada. You would think being down south would get us away from all that &^%%^$ !

Well…..nope

Here is what we had to drive through to get to Fort Stockton.

We hit not just freezing weather, we had mist that was freezing on our windshield. We also didn’t have the proper windshield wiper fluid for sub zero temps, because frankly, why would we?

Stopping at every gas station and rest stop we limped to Fort Stockton. Each time stopping to wait until the defroster cleared the windshield. What a process and what a pain in the ass. Now one might ask why didn’t you purchase windshield washer fluid……..well the gas stations were all sold out, that’s why.

We finally got into somewhat warmer weather during the day, but not at night as in Fort Stockton we froze our pipes. So now….no water. Off to Las Cruces New Mexico and an overnight stay. Next morning we were lucky to get into a repair shop right across the street from where we were staying. Luckily we only cracked a few connectors so not a massive bill, but expensive none the less. Good news? We are doing all the right things, we just hit some really bad weather.

Now off to Tucson Arizona!

Little sad to leave Llano Grande this morning, but we are keen to get moving towards California. So we are off to Bandera Texas, a small town on the way, but really we were curious about how many cowboys we were going to see there.

Bandera got its name from when it was a staging area for the last cattle drives of the 1800s. We stayed at Bandera Pioneer RV resort which was right in town. The town is right out of a movie, and you could almost imagine horses getting hitched in front of any one of the buildings on Main Street. We were also told the “old timer cowboys” pretend to rob the banks and liquor stores. We didn’t see this, but we suspect it is during the summer tourist season.

Many bloody battles between Apache and Comanche Indians and the Spanish Conquistadors took place in Bandera Pass, which is just north of the town. Legend has it that, for years afterwards, a red “Bandera” (Spanish for banner or flag) was flown at the site to define the boundary between Spanish and Indian hunting grounds.

The cypress trees that outline the course of the Medina River brought the first permanent settlers to Bandera. A mill that sawed cypress shingles was established in 1853. In 1855 sixteen Polish families immigrated to Bandera to work at the mill. The Polish heritage is evident in much of the town’s architecture. Today’s population is 839. Hard to believe when you think of the stores, restaurants, and especially the bars. Here are some pics of the town.

It is such a great place to visit, and the stores are really interesting. There was an excellent leather story, metal art work store and our favourite, the Spirits of Texas. Yes this does mean alcohol…..of which we found an EXCELLENT dessert tequila.

The first thing we would like to talk about is our favourite store where we met Nice Nancy. We walked in and were welcomed by this lady of 81 who had moved across state to work here at the request of her friend. She was in fact so nice, we wanted to take her home. Well not really but we did invite here out for a drink. Nice Nancy is apparently one of two Nancy’s who work at the store and the other one isn’t as nice…….so there you go. They sold a lot of Texas alcohol. Nice Nancy was in charge of the “tasting bar”, which was right in the middle of the store. We tried a few things, but fell in love with a coffee Tequila. It is smooth, and unbelievably good. Of course we bought a bottle! Here are a couple of photos of our experience there.

Our next stop was the O.S.T restaurant. This restaurant is over 100 years old, opening in 1921, and is packed every night with locals and tourists. O.S.T stands for Old Spanish Trail, a famous route started by missionaries and used by Spanish explorers and settlers that ran through Bandera. The building was originally the old Davenport Grocery Store and where the John Wayne room is now, was once the old horse corral. During the 30’s and 40’s the O.S.T was also a dance hall where many popular singers and bands played. Here are a couple of photos.

Our next stop the 11th Street Cowboy Bar!!! What a surprise!!! By that we mean the size of the place!! Keep in mind that the TOTAL population is 839 people. The 11th Street Cowboy Bar is a word-famous destination for all brand of folks, from cowboys to cowgirls, bikers to businesswomen. People come for the good brew, top-tier live Country Western and Country Swing and Dance music, and of course, the good times that only the Biggest Little Bar in Texas can provide. This bar has been featured in LIfe Magazine, The Oprah Show, Texas Highways, Texas Monthly, and the list goes on. In 2008, the bar was the host to Live on CNN during the Texas Presidential Primary and Texas Elections. The bar is an old, wood-framed building with a porch out front prime for shooting the bull. Inside, we were surprised to see bras of all sizes hanging from the ceiling, we weren’t asked to leave ours. Not sure why………

Here are some pics!

What a gem of a place! We would love to come back through here and explore some more. And of course, see some more cowboys.

I have been to many zoo’s in my lifetime, and this is the first one where there were no bars, anywhere. The walls or barriers were all made to look like the animals natural habitat. The monkeys, were on their own Islands having water the only separation from other islands. This trip was a “behind the scenes” look at the zoo, and if you ever get a chance to do this kind of tour, I would highly recommend it.

The zoo is in the middle of Brownsville Texas. It was developed by Gladys Porter and is a zoological and botanical park. It opened on Sept 3, 1971. There are 1600 animals in an area of 31 acres, of which 27 are pubic. There are 47 endangered species in the zoo andf over 250 tropical and neo-tropical species and subspecies. Gladys Porter is the daughter of Earl C Sams, who is a former president of J.C Penney. Porter, a wildlife enthusiast, helped plan and stock the zoo, which was entirely funded by the Earl C Sams foundation. The zoo, after it opened, was given to the city of Brownsville.

The behind the scenes tour included feeding Camels, Turtles, giraffes, bats and we went into the sloth enclosure and was able to pet it. Who doesn’t love a sloth! We were also served a light breakfast and a fantastic lunch!

The most interesting part of this tour was the kitchen area. All the fruits and vegetables are restaurant quality and get delivered 3x a week. All the meat comes from a company in Nebraska, called Nebraska, which prepares zoo quality food and is delivered 1-2 times a year and is kept frozen for the animals. The food is prepared daily and is weighed, measured and is particular to each animal in the zoo. Pre pandemic the food cost for the zoo was around 250k. Post pandemic it is closer to 500k per year.

After the tour and lunch we wandered the front of the zoo. Here are some of my favourite photos of the day.

What a day! Again, if you ever have a chance to do this type of tour, highly recommend it!!!

Well we are a little behind in posting where we are for the holiday season. We landed in Mercedes at the Llano Grande resort on Dec 12th. It is by far the largest and has the most amenities of any other place we’ve been so far. Three pools (all heated) 12 pickleball courts, 4 tennis courts, 4 horseshoe pits, 15 shuffle boards (outdoors), Event Centre with bar/restaurant, Wood working shop, Rock shop, Tai Chi, water aerobics, tons of craft and game events, along with tons of music/dances. Golf course just next door as well with a restaurant. I’m sure there is more but you get the idea.

Here are a couple of pics of the area

Weather is great and we are biking/swimming and getting to know the area, but we have to talk about the Christmas golf cart parade the other night. While many homes and RVs are decorated for Christmas, it is amazing how you can take an old golf cart and turn it into a Santa Claus parade of sorts.

Couple of other interesting facts about this place. We are very close to the Mexican border. In fact we pass a sign on the way to the golf course (no we don’t golf, but do go to the restaurant for their chicken wings) that mentions an international boundary at a water commission that is not just fenced in but has barbed wire around the top. What do they think is going to happen to the water? We have no idea, it is strange. The other interesting item we saw is a U.S/Canada flag. Not two separate flags, but one flag. Don’t know about you, but we had never seen this before either.

I can’t not mention the local food/veggie truck that comes every Tuesday morning. I went for the first time this week just after Barb left for home. Wasn’t sure what to expect, but wow was I surprised! They had everything beyond what you see below. I don’t believe I will have to go to the grocery store at all while Barb is away., we’ll see. The Papaya and pineapple are very fresh, and tasty. In addition to what you see below they had potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions of all sorts, lettuce, oranges, apples, pears etc. Incredible really.

I will occupy my time here with everything available for me to do, and on Boxing Day I will take a behind the scenes tour of the local Zoo. THAT should be interesting, and after that I will tour the zoo from the front. Can’t wait. Will post thoughts and pics after it happens.

Barb & I wish ALL our family and friends a wonderful Christmas holiday filled with love and laughter, and a Happy New Year everyone!!

Let’s start with where we were staying which was the KOA. Great spot, with a free bus that picked us up right at the end of the driveway into the campground. We were also a walk to the beach and the famous statue of Jesus. The KOA had a great heated pool and hot tub, along with fabulous sunsets. We also, as you know, had great neighbours.

Next stop the beach and Clayton’s after the Sea Turtle inc. visit. Clayton’s is a HUGE beach bar/restaurant where we had awesome hot wings and fries and of course a Margarita for me and a Painkiller for Barb. We ate at the bar overlooking the beach and ocean. It was glorious.

Our neighbours, as mentioned earlier, were super friendly and took Barb and I along for dinner one night to the Tequila Sunrise restaurant on the beach. We shared Mahi Mahi tacos and a Ahi Tuna salad which were both good. We then walked over to a sandcastle display, which was awesome.

Feb 14, 2021 was the Valentine’s Day winter storm in Texas that created a ‘cold-stun’ event, and was the largest sea turtle rescue in history. Sea turtles are cold-blooded creatures, and an endangered species that depend on water temperatures to regulate their body temperature. When the water falls below 50F degrees, they become catatonic, they can’t swim and eventually float to the surface. This event had water temperatures in the 20’s.

We spoke to John at Sea Turtle Inc. who was there that day and helped rescue thousands of sea turtles. John and the rest of the volunteers from all over the area headed out into the frigid waters of the Gulf Coast to save the turtles who were at risk of dying.

The volunteers included not just the employees of Sea Turtle Inc. but fishermen, townsfolk, scientists, veterinarians (top Sea Turtle vet saw was what coming and drove from Florida to head up the rescue), SpaceX and Oil spill recovery companies. During the storm 12,155 cold-stunned turtles were recorded on the lower Texas coast. Of those, 5,300 were rescued by Sea Turtle Inc and this army of volunteers.

What ended up happening is that word of mouth spread through the community and hundreds of volunteers brought their boats into the water, walked the beaches, and came to help at the convention centre and at Sea Turtle Inc. There were so many turtles that the City opened the convention centre, which had no power like the rest of the area. Soon its floor space was packed with turtles in blue plastic kiddie pools, turtles in hastily-built wooden corrals, and turtles laid out on black plastic in rows flipper-to-flipper. SpaceX donated a generator to help warm up the facility. They also rented vans to help transport the turtles from shore to the centre.

You can imagine as the turtles warmed up and started moving around and pooping (cause that is what they do when they warm up) it became a bit chaotic and “messy”. Once the turtles were well enough to go back out to sea, fishing boats and oil recovery ships were used to release them back into their natural habitat.

The Sea Turtle Inc sanctuary is a wonderful place that is not only educational but it’s also the hospital for these native turtles. Here are some pics

If you want to watch the video of the rescue and eventual release look it up on uTube.

We are stying in a lovely KOA Holiday on South Padre Island. For those that don’t know, in the U.S there are three types of KOAs, Journey, Holiday, and Resort which is the top end. This little oasis is right on the ocean and in a beautiful spot. In fact Elon is just across the water. SpaceX launch pad is right across from us as is one of the many SpaceX office buildings around the world. We also have two employees staying here at the KOA. How do we know? Well they have their own X vehicles that are part jeep/part golf cart. They also have their own X dock where they park their hovercraft. They use the hovercraft to get to work and back. Shooting across the water to the “office”. What a life. We met an employee yesterday who drove up, parked in the X designated spot and was hopping onto the hover taxi. It was all I could do to keep my mouth closed and not let the drool pour out. Was quite embarrassing really, but when you have someone that good looking, working for SpaceX AND with a dreamy accent……….need we say more. Barb couldn’t get a picture snapped in time, dammit.

We also seem to have a Fat Albert here. If you look it up you will see many articles on the one they had in Florida. The one here is manned by the Feds for monitoring illegal immigrant’s. These 250,000 cubic-foot blimp were the first such aerostat used by the Air Force U.S Customs and Border Protection and the Coast Guard. They are used for counter-drug trafficking operations as well as guns and human trafficking. As we were traveling through Brownsville on our way to South Padre we say many vehicles pulled over by numerous police and the vehicles were being searched underneath, and inside. One patch of road must have had at least 7 vehicles pulled over being searched. I guess Fat Albert works. In fact we’ve been told that these blimps cannot only see what is inside vehicles, but homes, and trailers…….we have started wearing tin foil on our heads…..no shit.

Now with trafficking, so close to the Mexican border it makes sense that there would be a Fat Albert here. It also makes perfect sense that there is also a large contingent of Cartel. In fact they have a whole apartment complex, the biggest on the Island and right on the beach, how nice for them. We have made the conscious decision to stay somewhat clear of their buildings.

All in all we feel pretty safe here. Our neighbour who is very nice, carries a handgun in his belt, so if anything untoward happens we will run in his direction.

We decided to stop at a well known fish place on the way to South Padre Island. Best shrimp ever apparently, so fresh you can’t believe the taste!!! And AGAIN, plenty of parking for a bus!!! Well how could we not stop?

One comment said that this place was in an area that was a little sketch. We didn’t really think sketch as we were driving down a lonely road, more industrial…….

Well the place was a little sketch once you got there. As for parking, let’s just say we had an inch on either side getting through the gate into the parking lot and frankly wouldn’t have been able to park there had it not been completely empty! We know that Texans think everything is “big”, but seriously these people need to get a grip on reality. In our opinion at least, as this is not the first time we call in advance telling someone we are ‘as big as a bus’ and they say ‘oh yah lots of room’.

Well, all that aside, we purchased lots of shrimp and a few pounds of scallop. We grilled some shrimp for dinner the other night, and it was indeed fresh and tasty! So all that parking lot maneuvering was well worth it!

Barb found a great walking tour for us that was also free! The Oso Bay Wetlands is also a learning centre. It is a 162 acre nature preserve and has 2 miles of nature viewing trails. We were toured around by 2 Master Naturalists and another who had taken the course, but didn’t consider herself a master. They were all volunteers and wonderful guides.

During the walk we didn’t see many birds or other animals but we learned a lot about the area, as well as the trees and plants. In fact some were quite fascinating. The first cactus we came across had what looked like mold on it. In fact this was a certain type of bug that lived in this substance. When you carefully “plucked” a bug from this substance and squished it, your fingers would be covered in a red dye. This dye, back in the day, was shipped to Spain to colour the material for Spanish military uniforms. The colour is so vibrant, other than the fact that this would be super labour intensive, its a shame we don’t use it today.

Some interesting stops included a tree, a couple of cactus, a weed, and some moss, which all seems funny considering we were in a nature preserve….and we should be seeing all of these things.

The Huisache tree was frankly unassuming. However, the tree flowers in the spring and the flower gets harvested and sent to Europe for use in the making of the perfume Chanel. Who knew?! The next stop was a tree called the Lime Prickly Ash, which was edible! In fact we have put it into tonight’s salad! There was also a little cactus which unfortunately I didn’t get a picture of (but did get a pic of the harvest) but tasted somewhat salty and it also ended up in our salad! The plant that looked like dandelions to us, was in fact a plant used in medicine, Camphor. The moss on the tree? It apparently is a sign of good air quality. The other cactus was used for sewing in the “old days”. You have to wonder how that came about. Someone just looked at the plant and said yes, that looks like something we could use as a sewing apparatus. After today, a renewed interest in learning how to “forage” is up there on a to do list.

Some general pics of the Preserve

What’s next on the docket? Brunch! We are starving. Off to Andy’s Country Kitchen which opened in 1978. It was packed and a line up of folks outside waiting to be seated. Decor was cool with a couple of trains running around the upper walls of the resteraunt. We both had the same item, the breakfast enchilada. The two cheese enchiladas were covered with two eggs sunny side up, homemade Texas style chilli con carne, hash browns and we chose sliced tomatoes to make it healthy. It also came with complimentary blueberry muffins which were amazing, we ate one each and took one each home for breakfast tomorrow. We didn’t eat again until 7:30, which was only salad with our foraged greens.

Not sure what tomorrow will bring, but we believe it involves our bikes and the beach.