January 2010

Text Box: Smith Family Newsletter
January 2010

Text Box: Yea!!!! We now have some time to really relax a bit and enjoy quiet time. We left the Alamo Rose RV Park and set up our “house” at Monte Cristo Golf and Country Club in Edinburg, TX, along with Abe & Donna Stine. Abe works at this park and reserved a site for us. We spent a month here, leaving on Feb 2nd. We had a few nice days during which we went to South Padre Island. Here we stopped at the Sea Turtle Rescue Program. See picture to the right of one of their permanent residents. They release them if they can, but if too injured, they keep them. In addition, their volunteer staff give a nice presentation on their history and work. Because the weather had been so cold for a while, they had to do more rescues than usual. They had special tanks where they gradually warmed the turtles. Some didn’t survive, as they are very sensitive to cold. The drive along the strip is scenic and fun. I happened to catch a bird in flight with a fish in tow. Needless to say we stopped at a favorite fish restaurant for lunch, Dirty AL’S.

Since Abe & Donna were quite familiar with Edinburg and the surrounding area, we ate at a few of their favorite places. One hamburger place in particular was located on a side residential street. You just had to know it was there or know someone who did. It had no name just a standard sign in the window that said, OPEN. You also had to know that it was open from about 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM, or whenever they ran out of meat for the burgers. People start lining up at 10:30 AM and they come in droves. The burgers were very good. Rumor had it that it was run by a nearby lawyer who cooked on his lunch hour. Interesting!

Another outing was over the border to Mexico. Tourism has dropped off because of violence in and around the border, so we were careful. We travelled with Abe & Donna. Our goal was to get our teeth cleaned, and we accomplished that without a problem. There are several good dentists down there and many winter Texans have extensive dental work done at a very reasonable rate. Although we didn’t stay for lunch, we did stop for a frozen Margarita or two. Yum!

Well, like I said we did not do much, just relaxed. The week before we left, I managed to pick up a cold, which really annoyed me, but that is just the way it goes. We continued to reorganize the coach and sort through stuff.
In my last picture, you can see my new table set up with my buddy right by my side. He has one eye open checking on what I am doing.

Upon leaving Edinburg, we moved toward our 400 Spring Rally in Baton Rouge, LA. We plan on making a few stops on the way, beginning with Aransas Pass, TX then Beaumont, TX and Duson, LA before arriving at our destination. See you in February! Keep warm!