Jackie and the Talent show!

Here in Texas I have reconnected with one of my old loves, dancing.  When I was somewhere between four and five I started taking dancing lessons and continued until I was about 17.  I LOVED to dance and cannot imagine how much money my Mom and Dad spent on lessons and costumes.  I actually wanted to be a dancer at one time until I realized that I was not built to be a dancer...long legs are a must and constant practice. So I gave up my dreams of being a dancer and went on to wanting to be an airline stewardess (now called a flight attendant, I am showing my age).
SO, when I found out that I could taking clogging lessons here at Victoria Palms, I was overjoyed.  After just 50 years, I could start again.....:-)
I began taking lessons Jan. 2nd and have been going twice a week.  I cannot tell you what a workout it is....three hours of hard work and two Aleve when I get home...the legs are aching, but it is so much fun I would do it every day if I could.  I just hope that I can continue when I leave here.  The gals and guys in the class are so much fun and it has been so good for me.  I don't know if this clip will play or not on Blogger, if not, you can see the picture and get the idea. (If I can I will send you a link for the clip).  The Talent Show had a huge turnout and the audience really enjoyed the cloggers.  Not only is it good for the body, it is good for the soul to dance.

ONE OF THE MANY REASONS I LOVE CAMPING

Of all of the things that I love about camping, the people are the best part.  We have met some very fun and interesting people here and I learn so much from them.  The couple at the top have a little two pound dog named Tigger...who terrorizes the other dogs on the street.  Their arrival here was hysterical.  They pulled up in a huge, and I mean huge motor coach, and did I say it was huge?  Behind it they were pulling a trailer that was as long as the motorhome, I swear.  Once they lowered the door of the trailer off came two bikes, and really souped up and gorgeous Harley three-wheeler, and then a Jeep SUV.  It was hysterical...they know how to travel in style!  They are from Denver.

The couple in the pink and yellow are from Texas and he is a rancher.  He recently raised 100,000 turkeys a year, free-range and sold them to Campbells soup...how sad.  He also raises cattle and is a real cowboy.  He told us about roping a stray bear the the State Police were having a hard time catching.

Every few days one of the workampers on the block puts out an orange cone in front of their camper.  This means that there is a happy hour and almost everyone on the street shows up with their chairs and a snack.  We have made some really great relationships and have many stories to tell.  Especially the ones that have been camping for a long time.  We will all be going our separate ways at the end of March.  We do a lot together including going to movies, out to eat, or to various things to see around the Rio Grande Valley.  The guys are going on a deep sea fishing trip in a week or so.

I don't know who the cowboy is in the bottom picture....I picked him up today when I went to Mexico.....

Next post is of Jackie performing in the Victoria Palms talent show...stay tuned!

IT'S ABOUT TIME!

 Hello!  after a long hiatus, I thought that I would crank the blog back up.  I had not had much feedback about my postings so I got discouraged that no one was reading them!  I have recently heard from some friends wondering what happened (thinking I was probably kidnapped and taken to Mexico!), so I was happy to know that there actually was an audience so I am back!
I am going to be sharing some more pictures of our adventures.  We are LOVING it here and cannot believe that our time here is half over.  We leave here on April 2 and will head toward the Mid-Atlantic and head down the coast toward South Carolina.  We have had such fun here and have made so many new friends we will hate to leave but miss the old friends that we have back home. 
The first two pictures are of some of the nice motor homes here (neither of these is ours)..I love the one pulled by the diesel truck and towing a small electric car!  There are about 1,000 lots here so there are campers of all shapes and sizes.
About 1/2 of the people here are from Canada and the others mostly from the mid-west with a smattering for other states in the East and West.  We are the only people here that we know of from South Carolina.
I hope you like the picture of Barklee begging for some of my food with his camping shirt on.  He has made SO many doggie friends here and he continues to be the favorite doggie on the block.  Everyone loves Barklee.
The final picture is of one of the true gems that we found here.  I think that I told you earlier about Cowboy Church.  The pastor is a true cowboy and everyone loves him.  He has a ranch about 10 miles from here and raises horses.  He has a church on the ranch that is part of the Western Outreach Cowboy Church organization.  He comes here to Victoria Palms and conducts a service on Sunday mornings.  There are hundreds in attendance each Sunday and many people that do not ordinarily attend church will come come hear him.  He is a lot of fun but still delivers a powerful message each week.  We are so lucky to have him here.  We got to spend Christmas Eve on the ranch with a service around a campfire and sang Christmas carols with a cowboy band that even included a harmonica.  It was warm and breezy and I will cherish that memory for a long time.
Well, at the risk of being too long winded I will sign off and will keep you posted as to our adventures as we go. I have named this year my Year of Learning and I am anxious to tell you all about that!
God Bless,
Jackie

Hi Friends and Family !

As I enjoy my plane ride back home to Texas from visiting family on the East Coast I am thinking of ways to stay connected with everyone using my blog .... I want to make the blog interesting so that people will want to check in from time to time...soooooooo.. I have decided to incorporate some of my photography into my blog postings and to tell a story behind each picture .. One picture per post ..I love to take pictures and this is such a good way to share them.. I would appreciate your comments if you happen to tune in .   Hopefully I will hear from you .
I believe life to be a journey , thus the title of this blog , so I will be sharing pieces of my journey with you.    I hope to begin when I get home tomorrow.  And I hope that you find some substance in my efforts that cause you to want to return !
Have a blessed Christmas !

Incredible frustration!

As I was looking over my recent post, I found that it is possible for hackers or just plain creeps that can take a word from your post, highlight it and make it a link to some pretty sleazy pictures.  I just can't believe that people can find a way to make good and decent things bad.  If you should find anything on my blog that leads you to a link, please ignore it.  If I am sending you a link, I will let you know in the message.  How frustrating......if people would only use their time and talent to do good things instead of thinking of devious ways to invade other people's privacy.
My soapbox entry for the day!!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING ONE AND ALL!

Well, I hope that you all had a great Thanksgiving.  We have so much to be grateful for.  For me, it is family, all the great people I know and freedom.  I think of all of the people in the world whose freedoms and being taken away bit by bit and many of them live day to day, like Israel, diving into bomb shelters.  I am very grateful for the cease fire in Israel and hope that God intervenes and brings peace to that area, which is the only way peace will happen there.  I am also thankful for my family and look forward to speaking to the kids each today as they enjoy their holiday.  And for many dear people that I miss and am so thankful for what each of them brings into my life.  I am grateful for the many new people that we have met along the way of our trip and how glad I am that our paths have crossed.  God is so good, and I believe that EVERY good thing comes from above.  We can never say thank you enough.

Today we got to enjoy a fantastic meal right here in our RV park.  They prepared and wonderful meal for 400 people.  It was about as good a Thanksgiving meal as you could get (other than home cooked) and included ALL of the trimmings.  There is a restaurant here in the park that draws people from all over the Rio Grande Valley and the meals there will knock your socks off.  Right now they serve breakfast and lunch and beginning in December they will serve dinner as well.  Their Fish Fries on Friday nights attract about 700 people.  All you can eat.  And the same goes for chicken dinners on Monday nights.  

We had planned to go see the move "Lincoln" this afternoon, but the turkey had its usual effect and I fell asleep shortly after we got home.  So much for the movie, maybe Saturday we will go.

Below are pictures of our Thanksgiving dinner...........

 This is the lobby of the park

 Library

Tom caught this picture of the after effects of a turkey dinner

WALKIN' INTO MEXICO!

It has been way too long since I did a blog posting.  We have been settling in here, so many days are not as interesting as others, and I don't want to bore people!  But we have done a few fun things that I would like to share with you.
It is hard to believe that we have been here for more than a month.  We will be workkampers here until March 31st, and time is just flying.  We have met so many people here and have many new friends.  Most of the people that winter in Southern Texas are from the Midwest, from Texas up through Minnesota.  There are also a lot of Canadians here and Tom even spotted a license plate today from Newfoundland.  What a drive that is!
We have discovered that EVERYONE that comes down here has their dental work done in Mexico.  It is dirt cheap compared to the US and the work is good, in fact I have heard people say that they have less pain here and the work gets done quicker.  People that have returned to their US dentists upon returning home say that their dentists tell them that the work that they have had done is very good.  A crown for $200..are you kidding me?  I received an estimate at home for $280 for two fillings which I am going to have done next week for $40.00.  Why not?  Tom is going to have some major work done while we are here...we might as well.  And pharmacies are all over the place in Mexico.  You don't need a prescription..just go in and tell them what you want at a fraction of the cost in the states...unbelievable.

The Rio Grande

We went with another couple last week into Nueveo Progresso, Mexico.  We wanted to go with someone that had been there before and she was having some dental work done.  We drove about 10 miles, parked the car and walked across the bridge over the Rio Grande.  And in 3 minutes we were in Mexico!  I was so pleasantly surprised at how comfortable we were in the town, merchants lined the streets on both sides.  Dentists, barbers, pharmacies, leather goods, clothing, jewelry, and more.  Tom even got an eye exam for $20!  There were many restaurants that are reported to be very good.  The town was loaded with Winter Texans and the locals treated us very well and were so friendly.  There is so much bad publicity about how dangerous Mexico border towns are, but this is one of the exceptions and they want to keep it that way.  I am sure that many of them are totally dependent on the Winter Texans to make a living.  We are looking forward to going back next week.
Next posting....a trip to a ranch!!!