Hola Mexico y Nuevo Mexico…

Heading west from El Paso our journey took us to the historic Pancho Villa State Park. This is a place we have visited before close to the Pink Store which we wanted to visit again.

Pancho Villa State Park is located in the border town of Columbus, and this state park is a historical gem. They have a nice on-site museum, where exhibits tell the story of the infamous 1916 raid by Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa. The park's natural setting, dotted with artifacts and memorials, offers a cool glimpse into a bygone era.The RV sites are spacious and nicely landscaped. It was also entertaining to see an occasional roadrunner scurry around as well as hundreds of Sandhill Cranes nearby.

The Pink Store is a renowned establishment located in Palomas, Chihuahua, Mexico, just across the border from Columbus, New Mexico, in the United States. This distinctive store has become a popular destination for tourists, drawing visitors from both sides of the border.

We visited years ago and were looking forward to shopping there once again. We noticed right away that things had changed. It wasn’t as clearly marked in how to get across the border but were finally able to figure it out.

One of the most distinctive features of The Pink Store is its vibrant exterior. The entire building is painted in shades of pink, making it easily recognizable and a unique landmark in the region thus becoming an integral part of its identity.

Like last time the Pink Store offered a wide range of items for sale, including Mexican handicrafts, pottery, textiles, clothing, jewelry, and home décor. However, we noticed that the wares were significantly more upscale with less “trinkets” (and had none of baskets Sharon wanted).

Prices were definitely higher at the Pink Store. We can certainly see why people still visit as the store actively collaborates with local artisans and vendors offering up some unique Mexican art pieces and pottery.

Not seeing anything that we wanted to purchase (or could afford if we did want it) we visited the bar/restaurant, Known for serving traditional Mexican cuisine we weren’t planning on eating as we were unimpressed the last time we ate there. However, we did enjoy some chips and salsas along with a couple of Mexican beers.

When leaving Las Palomas we found even less signage describing how to return to the USA. However, unlike past trips across the border we found the border agents on both sides very friendly and helpful.

After a few days hiking and birding in and around Pancho Villa State Park we moved further west to Benson AZ to escape a cold front. We didn’t do much in Benson other than short hikes in the area but we did make a trip down to Tombstone for a walk around and to reconnect with RV friends Dan and Merlene over a cold craft beer at Tombstone Brewing Company.

One of the things we love about our lifestyle is visiting with all the great people we have met all over the USA. Reconnecting with them is like seeing old friends once again.

Winter 2022–2023, It’s a Wrap!

Our winter stay became a month longer than originally planned. Towerpoint invited us to come in early a discounted rate and because we stayed two weeks longer in April for me to take care of a medical issue we actually stayed four months in Mesa AZ.

We surprisingly only did a little bit of hiking mostly due to the chilly weather most of the winter this year. It seemed all the extremes limited our long hiking excursions whether it was cold, rainy or super-hot.

We did, however, enjoy the amenities of the RV park. We were able to fall into a routine of working out at the onsite fitness room five days a week and as a result we are certainly in better shape now than we first arrived. Now we just have to maintain this level of fitness sans the convenient fitness center.

We also played a little bit of disc golf, a sport we both really enjoy playing. We played some pickleball at our resort as well. We prefer just playing singles when we play pickleball as it gives us a better workout than doubles do.

We met a lot of new people who we now call friends and were lucky enough that late in the season some of our previously made friends showed up here. It was so fun to enjoy their company as well.

There were some holiday festivities we participated in. Mardi Gras and St. Patty’s day were two of our favorite celebrations at Towerpoint.

There were plenty of happy hours at one of the many Cal-Am parks while listening to some live music. We also snuck off to visit a few Breweries and enjoyed happy hours at old town Gilbert AZ.

We were glad to see that they have cornhole boards at several of the resorts in Arizona as we missed playing this game. When we wintered in Florida this was a very popular activity.

We also visited several locations for some winter and migratory birding. Our very favorite sport was birding at the Gilbert Riparian Preserve. Sharon really enjoyed trying to capture the flitting little birds with her camera and did a great job on several of them, including this Verdin (a very tiny bird) above.

It wasn’t all fun as both Sharon, and I caught Covid (omicron) while wintering in Arizona. We both still have a few lingering effects from this encounter. We also had to endure some medical issues after we visited our Dermatologist at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale AZ. Sharon had to do a lip peel for her lower lip as it had some precancerous concerns. I was unfortunate enough to need a couple of Mohs surgeries on two Basel Cell Carcinomas; both were successfully removed.

Despite these setbacks we really have enjoyed our stay here and look forward to returning soon. We went ahead and made reservations for next year but may or may not come here as it is way too far in the future to make any solid plans.

If we do come back, we really do look forward to seeing our new friends again!

New and Old Friends in AZ…

While we have been enjoying ourselves during our winter stay in Arizona, we have also been making lots of new friends as well. One of the big draws to staying at Cal-Am parks in the greater Phoenix area is while staying at one of them you are allowed to use the facilities and participate in activities at any of the other Cal-Am parks.

Sharon and I love that there is live music nearly every day of the week. Each of the Cal-Am parks schedules bands to play usually outside on their beautiful patios by the pools. Times will vary at each of the park and while there is a lot of overlap in the bands that play there are enough unique bands to offer some new sounds.

The best part is we have been here long enough to figure out who the good bands are, so we frequently attend the music at another park. As a result, we have made a different set of friends at each park. Some have even asked us to let them know via messenger which band we plan to listen to and we would often have large gatherings of friends from various Cal-Am parks.

 

Sharon met most of our new friends first as she loves to dance and me, well, not so much. After dancing several dances with Sharon, they would often ask us to join their table… instant friends! With the season nearing the end, many of our new friends have headed back their homes as most are snowbirds.

However, an unexpected surprise happened when friends we met on the road in Louisiana told us they would be in our park for a few weeks. We first met Tommy and Becky, fellow Texans, at Betty’s RV Park in Louisiana and have kept in touch over the years. It has been a blast showing them around and enjoying the bands with them!

Yet, another surprise was when RV friends we met in North Carolina while visiting our daughter also informed us they would be staying in our park while we are here. Jean and Gene are now also joining us for happy hour at the music events,

So while many of our new friends have left the void has been filled with people we friended in other states. We have certainly lived a blessed life to be able to meet so many people over the years whom we can reconnect with at various times of the year. With a few weeks before we leave Mesa AZ, we have plenty of time for more fun with our friends…

Running From the Cold, Tombstone and Benson AZ…

Time to move on westward and our next stop is at Dwayne's Mountain View RV Park in Bowie, AZ.A long 160 plus mile drive into Arizona as the chilly weather keeps us moving. Since we werea bit higher in elevation we didn’t plan to stay but one night.

The next morning we got up to seeing snow on the mountain tops near the park verifying why we shouldn’t stay longer here. We packed up and moved a bit further west to San Pedro Resort Community in the town of Benson, AZ. Lower in elevation we will stay here a few days which will give us time to visit some nearby friends.

There isn’t a lot going on in Benson but the park we are staying at on the outskirts of town at least has some trails leading from the park taking us out into the desert, so we were able to do a little birdwatching. Not a lot to see but a nice little hike near the park is never a bad option. Besides if this town was good enough for Pancho Villa it is good enough for us!

We have friends we met at Betty’s RV Park in Louisiana that are staying just south of us so we decided that we would meet up at a brewery in Tombstone AZ. Since we were going there anyhow we decided to go early and reacquaint ourselves with Tombstone.

Tombstone is quite the touristy town, but it does have some historical interest. Even though the towns people have chosen to monetize the town it still has a western flair to it and is worth a visit if you have never been to it. We walked around the town and took in the local sights as well as taking a few photos of the rustic town.

Finally, it was happy hour and we met Dan and Merlene for a few cold ones at the Tombstone Brewery. It was such fun reconnecting with old friends we haven’t seen in some time. After several hours of fun conversation, we parted ways and headed back to Benson. We have made so many good friends at Betty’s RV Park and always look forward to reconnecting.

One last day in Benson, so we decided to simply walk around town since the weather was dicey. We had hoped to make a trip down to a neat little town we like south of her called Bisbee. However, since it was a good way away and with the weather we simply stayed put.

Staying in Benson our last day allowed us to explore the murals of Benson. While Benson is a small town it does have some interesting murals that were commissioned by the town. The artist who did them was quit talented and we enjoyed taking in the stories he tried to portray in his art.

Some fun things we did during our stay in College Station Texas…

We are wrapping up our stay in the Bryan-College Station Metroplex. We thought we would share a few other things (besides disc golf) we have done while staying here.

One place we always like to visit is the Bonfire Memorial. Many of you may not be aware that Texas A&M University held a massive bonfire event so very looked forward to right before the annual Texas A&M vs University of Texas rivalry football game. That all came to an end, tragically on Nov. 18, 1999 at 2:42 a.m.

This marked the time the bonfire collapsed while being built. The tragedy was that students were actively “on the stack” putting on the finishing touches on the bonfire. The collapse resulted in the untimely death of 12 students, one former student and injured 27 others.The accident led Texas A&M to declare a hiatus on the official Bonfire and the bonfire memorial was built to honor those who were lost in the accident. Each of the 12 artfully arranged cubicles has a sculpture of the student as well as memorial wording from family and friends.  It is a very somber place indeed.

We also made a visit over to the new park newly built adjacent to the Texas A&M football stadium. This park is going to be quite the gathering place for tailgating prior to football games. It includes a nice sized pond and lots of nooks for students to relax, study and contemplate their futures.

Another nice area for a hike is Lick Creek Park with miles of trails. We love hiking this park in the spring when it is loaded with wildflowers and birds migrating through the area. In late fall we saw a few flowers and fewer birds but it is always a pleasant place for a hike.

Another nice place for hiking is to nearby Bryan Lake. There is a $5.00 entry fee but it offers some nice hiking and mountain biking trails. We hoped to see some migrating waterfowl on the lake but alas we found nary a one. Still we enjoyed a pleasant day on the lake.

We also took a road trip over to Waco to visit dear friends.. A road trip was needed to break up the routine of our more localized activities. We had a great visit with our friends Patty and Chuck. While returning home we spotted a barn painted by an obvious former student of Texas A&M University.

Another visit around happy hour was a favorite, the Messina Hof Winery. One of the very best wineries in Texas (in our very humbled opinions). offers various glasses of wine at their happy hour for $5/glass. Of course we had to buy a bottle of the one we both loved.

And lastly no trip to our former town would be complete without socializing with fantastic friends whom we dearly love.. Upon leaving we always promise to return some day to renew these cherished friendships.

Lafayette LA treats, Disc Golf and a Betty Visit!

Waking up in Vidor Texas to witness the sunrise over the large pond at the RV park while enjoying my cup of coffee was a great way to start this travel day.After breakfast we packed up and tested everything before leaving. Our towed vehicle lights are still not working properly so I had to re-wire the 7-way plug and clean it up. I got them working but I am going to need to replace that 7-way plug with a new end.

We hit the road and a few hours later pulled into Duson, Louisiana at Frog City RV Park. This was yet another good Passport America park honoring 50% off their regular price. We have stayed here before and after setting up I had to walk over to the truck stop nearby and buy some Pepperjack Boudin Balls. Man were they good. We love being back in Louisiana because the food is awesome.

Our first day we drove over to play some disc golf.at ‘Pa” Davis Park. We had never played at this park even though we have spent a lot of time in the Lafayette, LA area. The course was really nice and best of all it had a lot of shade making for a great disc golf day in the heat with temperatures in the upper 90’s.

After disc golf we stopped at our favorite wine store in Lafayette called Marcello's. The owner has a few restaurants in Louisiana and sells all of his “leftover” wines here resulting in some great bargains. This is the only wine store we stop at where we always have to use a grocery basket to load all of our finds. This trip was no exception…

We also stopped at Rouse’s Grocery store which is a Louisiana specialty stop and tends to have all of the Cajun delectables. I love their homemade sausages and Cajun prepared meats. This trip we found some fantastic looking bacon wrapped chicken thighs stuffed with cream cheese and jalapenos all spiced with a Cajun seasoning. We bought these and cooked them in the air fryer for dinner. They were so good we bought more before we left the state.

Normally we stop at Betty’s RV Park when coming through this part of Louisiana but since we had to stay in College Station TX for two months we weren’t able to stay our normal month with her as she is officially closed until September. However, since we were close to the park we called Betty to arrange to meet her at happy hour. What fun we had!! It was so great to see and chat with Betty again even though we weren’t staying at her park.She is as lively as ever and seemed really excited about her summer vacation plans.

Before leaving this area we had to stop in at the Old Thyme Grocery and get, in our opinion, the best shrimp po’ boy in the USA. This po’ boy was no disappointment as we enjoyed each and every bite while washing it down with Envie craft beer made by Parish Brewing in Louisiana.

We love this area but it’s time to go once again…

Some nice hikes near us in College Station TX

Life in College Station has been slow since our time spent has mostly been spent waiting around for my eye doctor’s appointments. It was also time for my annual physical so we are making appointments around that as well. During our down time we have revisited our hometown through the eyes of a tourist.

There are lots of nice places for a pleasant stroll around here. Some of our favorite walking trails will be featured in this blog. The largest and most obvious walking area in College Station is the Texas A&M University campus. With over 5,500 acres of land on the central campus there are numerous different walking routes one can take.

Hiking around the campus allows us to enjoy not only our own personal memories, but the history, architecture and the traditions unique to Texas A&M University. On one trek we stopped by to visit the Corps of Cadet Museum on campus. A&M was originally a military campus with no women allowed but now boasts a little over 70,000 students with less than 3,000 of them enrolled in the Corps.

Also on campus is the George Bush Library which has a beautiful (but rather short) hike behind of the library. Visitors can enjoy the small lake and rose garden gazebo which has become a popular place for portrait photography. Beyond the lake and garden is a small bridge with a path to where George Bush Sr, Barbara and little Robin Bush are buried.

Another nice spot on campus is at the Research Park where there are nice trails around a lake. The park Is also home to a challenging 18 hole disc golf course so we can spend a long afternoon on the trails and playing the course.. The disc course is long and has several holes playing over water. At these holes we typically “cheat” by avoiding the water hazards, yet we still have fun.

We have had fun hiking, disc golfing, enjoying happy hours and the occasional get together with friends. The last photo was taken at a recent crawfish boil. We had a blast seeing old friends, consuming great food and playing cornhole. If all goes according to plan we will leave the second week of June to head eastward to visit family in North Carolina.

NOTE: We are now in College Station, TX until June 10th