Summer Travel 2025

This our first trip of the year (and maybe the only!) and turns out to be 2 months of traveling!

We started our journey on July 7th and took 2 days to get to Chanute, KS where we go for service on our RV.  Had a front jack problem again and had to have a new one put on.  Also had the tank dump levers replaced as they were originals and were starting be hard to open.  Had the suspension checked out as well and all was good.

We got to Lake Benton on Saturday, the 11th and got set up for 2 weeks.

My cousin, Judy Lee had passed away back in January and wanted her ashes buried by her mother in the Pipestone cemetery.  Her mother, Louis Klinsing, had passed away in 2011 and wanted her ashes buried in Pipestone on her mother and father's grave.  So that is where we buried Judy's ashes.  Needed to contact the city to arrange the burial - digging the hole beforehand and then filling it in afterwards.

Gary and I arranged to have a ceremony at the grave site on Saturday, the 19th.  We invited the Serie family and cousin Paul Smith.  Everyone was there - 11 people in all.  It was a very nice service put on by Judy and me and Wayne.  

Afterwards we went to the Pizza Ranch for lunch.  We were in a back room by ourselves so it was perfect for a get together.  We were still there at 5:00, and the manger said that if we had lunch there and were now going to have dinner, it was half price!

Next on the agenda was for Judy and me to arrange an Appeldorn reunion (of sorts).  My cousin, Karen Ware, from Michigan was going to be in town for a class reunion so we decided that we should have a reunion because most of the relatives had not seen her for years.  So we arranged to meet at the American Legion in Lake Benton on Saturday, the 26th.  There were 13 that were there.  We had seen Karen several times over the years since we visited her (and her husband, Bob, who had passed away last year) in our travels.

Interestingly, Karen's brother, Denny from CA also came.  And I had 2 cousins and their husbands whom I hadn't seen in probably 50-60 years!!  So it was much needed reunion.

We left Lake Benton on 7/28 and drove to Waterloo, NE (suburb of Omaha) to see my sister, Judeen, and her family.  Had breakfast the next day with Judeen and her daughter, Alison.  Alison's husband, Eric, was working and couldn't be there unfortunately.  In the afternoon Judeen came out to the campground and we visited.  On Wednesday Katie and Aliza and Judeen came out with lunch for us.  We played a new game that Aliza likes called BANK. We left on Friday, 8/1 and drove to to a small town in MO for a night and then on Saturday we got to Branson where we spent 3 nights there.  On Tuesday we left and drove to West Memphis, AR. for 3 nights.  Right on the Mississippi.  Watched the tugboats push barges up and down the river.  Did not realize that over 175 million tons of freight are barged on the river.  Petroleum and petroleum products, iron and steel, grain, rubber, paper, wood, coal, chemicals, and gravel are all shipped on these barges.

We left the 'river' on Friday and drove to Chapel Hill, TN to a campground about 20 miles from Belinda.  Her daughter, Bailey, was going off the college (U. of Tennessee-Chattenooga) and we wanted to be a part of it.  Belinda rented a minivan and we got everything loaded on Sunday and left for Chattenooga.  Spent the night in a hotel there.  Belinda and Bailey went early on Monday and unloaded.  Then they came for us and we went back to her dorm and helped setup.  She is is a room with 3 others.  They share a common area - kitchen and living room.  Each girl has her own bedroom and then shares a bathroom with one other girl.

We came back to Belinda's Monday night and then spent the rest of the week with her.

We left on Monday, the 18th, and are started making our way home.  We had the last 2 weeks of August open (no DR appts, etc!!) so we yook our time, spending a week along the Mississippi again and a week at a campground inTexarcana, TX before getting home on the 2nd of September.

Hope to upload pictures eventually!!

 

South Texas (RGV) Trip Again - 2024 (#2)

 One of our other outings was to the IWO JIMA Memorial in Harlingen, TX which is about 20 miles north of us.

The Memorial is on a USMC Military Academy.  It was erected through private donations and also honors Cpl. Harlon Block.  He was a flag raiser depicted at the base of the statue, and a native nearby Weslaco, TX.  He was originally buried in the 5th Marine Division Cemetary on Iwo Jima on March 5, 1945 (four days after being killed).  HIs remains were later transferred to this location at the request of the family whose desire was to have him near the statue.

They also have a small museum there with alot of pictures and stories.  It was a very nice tour.

A few days after that, we headed back home and are now at our Plano location until the next move, probably in July when we head north to Alaska (actually Minnesota) for a few weeks.

South Texas (RGV) Trip Again - 2024

 Well, we made it down South again!   It's March 14th (Emma's birthday but we can't celebrate it just yet because she is on Spring Break and is in Cancun!).  We left Plano on February 16th and got here the next day.  They had had 2 days of rain so of course our site was muddy!  Took quite awhile to get backed in and leveled but we made it.

We are in the Palmdale RV Park in Los Fresnos, TX which is about 15 miles from Brownsville and the border.  Our site faces north so we get shade from the trailer almost all day!

We have stayed in this park before, back in 2022.  We were here in January and enjoyed the weather all month.  Then we left but came back due to the severe cold and icy weather further north.  It was cold here as well but okay.

Anyway, we have been enjoying the time here - have been to South Padre Island a couple of times.  Met with John and Catherine (Julie's friend from college) at the Lobo Del Mar Cafe.  Good food and a great time to catch up with the two of them.

The park here has Monday potluck dinners and we have been attending every week.  Every week is different but always a good variety of food.  Most people here have been here since last fall or since the first of the year.

We met with John and Catherine again at one of their (and our) favorite restaurants in downtown Brownsville called the Oyster Bar.  They have excellent shrimp and we always get that.  Had a nice time again visiting with them.

Yesterday, Wednesday the 13th, we toured the Palo Alto Battlefield in Brownsville. This battle between the US and Mexico took place in the Spring of 1846.  (Ten years earlier, 1836, was the battle at the Alamo).  Before the war, Mexico territory extended well into Texas, New Mexico, California, etc.  US victories on the Rio Grande allowed the fighting to continue all the way to Mexico City.  After negotiations, Mexico accepted the Rio Grande as the Texas boundary and ceded the land between Texas and the Pacific to the US for $15 million.

This map shows the Mexican territory before this battle.  As you can see, most of Texas, and all of NM, AZ and CA were theirs.

This was the prairie where the battles took place.

Did see this guy and wondered how he survived with no water around.  The ranger said that they can bite into cactus and get water.

You really can't see them, but there are Mexican flags here where their line was.

It was a warm day but interesting to learn about.

Trip to the RGV (Rio Grande Valley) Part 2!

 It is now Friday, 4/7, and we are back home in Plano.

We did get new carpeting as planned and it looks great!

We did not get new sinks or countertops.  The person we were dealing with could not find the sinks we wanted so nothing has changed there.

We continued to enjoy the Friday fish fries that the Park put on.  Always had extra fish left over so we brought it home and ate it the next day.  We will miss those get togethers!

We did find a coffee shop called the Weslaco Daily Grind.  

Liked this sign out back.

And saw this in the bathroom - I wonder how many people actually tried it!!

We had lunch one day at a local eatery.

The menu had "Liver and Onions" so I had to send a picture of this to Judy's sister, Pam, because we both like them.  But I did not have them. 

 I had a local favorite and Judy had an enormous salad.

People have been leaving the RV Park for home regularly now.  You can see just how many trailers are around us now.

There is one trailer across the street from us;  otherwise the next nearest RV is about 10 sites from us.

This was on Instagram while we were here and thought it was appropriate!

We were able to meet up with Catherine and John for lunch at the Oyster Bar Restaurant in downtown Brownsville.  It's a favorite of ours and theirs - 11 huge shrimp and french fries, and cole slaw. 

While we were still here, Judy made a cross out of clothes pins!  Neat.

Finally, nice sunsets here.

Trip to the RGV (Rio Grande Valley)

Well, we are now in South Texas after a long hiatus in Plano (since August, 2022).   We came south to get away from the 'winter' weather in Plano, but shouldn't complain too much - here is a picture of Judy's sister, Pam, up in Minnesota - 3+ feet of snow!!!

We had an issue with one of the RV wheels on the way down here.  Just before we got to our halfway point (Luling, TX), we noticed that one wheel was HOT.  The next day we tried to find someone who could look at it, but were unsuccessful.  We did find a heavy equipment repair shop that greased the wheel for us assuming that the bearing was the issue.   So we continued down the road toward Weslaco and got about 30 miles away when the wheel overheated again.  (At the time the temp was 100!! and the sun was pointing on that side of the RV).  So we stopped and waited about 20 minutes and the tire pressure went down so we continued on and made it to our RV Park.  

We did have some nice scenery on the way down.

This church is in Karnes, TX.

As we got closer to South Texas---

Palm trees! 

Anyway, we are now at the Leisure World RV Park in Weslaco for the month of March.

There is a bird sanctuary near our site so we have birds flying around alot (but none have come over our site to do a job on our truck!).

We quickly found out that the wind blows here almost all the time (and usually somewhere between 10 and 25 MPH!)

We came here specifically to have the carpet replaced in our RV.  It is 15 years old so it's time.  We had Lee from All About Floors store in Weslaco come out with many samples and we found one we liked.  Installation is scheduled for Monday, 3/27.

We are also considering replacing the kitchen countertops as they are cracked in places.  Hopefully, we can get that done here as well.  

On Fridays they have all you can eat fish fry dinners.  The first time we went they were also selling bread pudding that the cooks had made from leftover bakery goodies.  We bought this one for $5 including the sauce to go with it.

It was delicious.

In the meantime, we found a place to have our wheel looked at (Camco Wheel and Tire in Pharr).  Turns out the brake was bad on that wheel so had new brakes installed on all wheels and also have new bearings greased. 

The waiting room had has these crosses on the wall.  Very interesting.

While we waited, we found this restaurant to have a late breakfast.  I had the special of eggs, bacon, and 2 pancakes;  Judy had her favorite:  biscuits and gravy.

Food was so good we may have to got back there again!

We found a church to attend on Sunday.  Rather interesting situation here.  At one time they were the Faith Lutheran Church and some of the congregation wanted to be a part of the Free Lutheran Churches while others wanted to be part of the ELCA group.  So they split and now the Faith group meets at 9 and the ELCA group (Love of Christ) meets at 11:00, both in the same building.

We have been going at 11:00 and have enjoyed the services.  Everyone is extremely friendly.

Each Wednesday afternoon at the RV Park they have entertainment. To celebrate the St. Patrick day holiday the Activity Director did his dancing on the floor in his outfit (?).

They served a meal of mashed potatoes, corn, peas, and ground beef.  Can't remember what they called it but it was very good.

We took a drive one day to check out the area and found that the crops are already in and growing.

Flowers too...

Saw this sign for Mexico...

And then saw the border fence...

We've had some beautiful sunsets while here...

And we've had temps that have ranged from the low 40's to the high 90's.  But we've been enjoying our stay here and glad we've finally made it down here.

More later on...