Hangin out,

waiting for warm weather in Canada.

We've spent the last week in Oklahoma City waiting for a warm window so we can head North and home for the summer.  It's been interesting with weather below freezing, winds that make Winnipeg, or Texas's Rio Grande Valley, look calm.  Unbelievable.

After leaving Pharr we went to New Braunfells for a couple of days in our favorite RV resort there.  Then we moved on to stay a few days at the Winstar Casino near Thackerville Oklahoma.  www.windstarworldcasino.com  This was our first kick at Casino Camping and it was enjoyable to say the least.  We went to the casino a couple of times and gambled heavy, :-) , until our $15 was gone and then we went home.  Did you know they still have penny slots?  We had some to die for ribs in Toby Keiths`s, "I love This Bar" in the casino.  The RV park was awesome, beautiful full concrete sites, great services.  It was a really good first time "Casino Camping" experience.  We'll be back there for sure.

From there it was on to Oklahoma City to hang out for a week with our friends Jim and Lois, staying at our favourite RV Park.

Our 10 days in Oklahoma has been eventful to say the least.  We spent one night sitting up watching for tornadoes while we were at Winstar.  Then we moved to Oklahoma City (Norman) where we have dealt with freezing temperatures and howling winds that reminded us of Winnipeg and The Rio Grande Valley.  Weather aside, we have had some great fun. 

Last weekend Jim and Lois took us to Jim's home town of Guthrie Oklahoma http://guthrieok.com/ .  Did you know that Guthrie was the original capital of Oklahoma.  There's some neat history here.  Jim took us by his family hoime and high school.  It was fun.  We did "Sunday In The Park,"  a magical day with of fabulous Blue Grass music.  We watched a couple of world class performers that got our feet to stompin.  There was a group called "Kyle Dillingham and Horseshoe Band."  This guy plays a fiddle like you have never seen.  They had just come back from a tour that ended in Russia and boy was he fun to watch.  Check him out at https://www.facebook.com/HorseshoeRoad or do a you tube search.  We've never seen anything like it and I'll surprised if you don't agree.

They were followed by another world class, Blue Grass, band called The Bryon Berline Band.  If you like Blue Grass you`ll love these guys and if not you"ll still enjoy them.  They`re really good at what they do and play all over the world.  http://thebyronberlineband.com/

BUT now the time has come.  We have three days left until we must be out of the US or else.............  Tomorrow AM we`re on the road heading back to The Peg (Winnipeg) our home town.  1150 miles, three days, nothing to it.  Simply dodge some weather, dodge some floods, deal with some freezing weather, and we`ll be home.  It`s all good, we`re anxious to see the kids and grand kids, and yours truly is ready to get back to work.  Winter was fun, we had a great time but I hear my truck calling, she needs me back behind the wheel.

Talk to ya"ll later and thanks for stopping by.

Neal and Bernie

South Texas Museum

Anyone that reads this blog knows we (I) love South Texas.  The area stirs something in my soul and in different times I know it would have been my home.  Times are what they are and we’re blessed to be able to call it home for a few months each winter.

A couple of weeks ago we went to The South Texas Museum and learned a lot more about the history of the area.  The museum takes S. Texas from ancient times to the nuclear age and explores it’s, sometimes very violent, history. 

 

 

Their architect designed the foyer to offer a Big Texas feeling as you enter.  The foyer is three stories, high.  It's all wide open with a big old chandelier hanging from the middle.  Made me think I should have had my boots and spurs on.  You have to go upstairs via a magnificent double staircase.  Definitely a Texas kind of entry.

This is the sign that greets you as you enter.

 Then you are welcomes by this little, ancient, fish.  I didn't measure it but it has to be 25' maybe more.  It is a replica of an actual fossil found in the area.

 

As centuries passed the water receded and the animals moved in.  They were all really big and one of them was the ancient Mammoth.  This little fellow is copied from another fossil and he to is an actual size replica.  Fortunately for other wildlife he ate plants.  When a good lookin Mammoth came around it must have been quite a battle those tusks are HUGE.

 

 

 

The Europeans arrived and slowly the native tribes who had been here for more than ten thousand years disappeared over the course of about 300.

 

There is a great display of Spanish ship models.  By today's standards they are so small but in those times these HUGE boats criss crossed the Atlantic all the time.  

 

Two of the reasons the Europeans were so successful in the Americas were their horses and their weapons.  I never really thought about how they got their horses here, in fact I never actually realized that horses aren't native to North America.   They only got here in 1519 with early explorers.  Our wild horse populations are actually horses that have escaped or been released over the last 500 years.

 

This is how they brought them over on those HUGE sailing ships. 

 

In calm seas they allowed the horses to stand but in rough water they suspended them in slings, as depicted here.  Hoses don't have very good sea legs so to keep them from falling and being hurt they hung them up and let them swing.  My bet is there were a lot of  very sea sick horses.  It sounds like they likely ate a lot of horse meat on those boats because many of them did not survive the journey.

 

 

 

These two pistols from the early 1800's got my attention.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This little guy startled me pretty good.  As you wander through you can hear a growling BIG cat but he's nowhere to be seen until you finally look up and there he is about 4 feet overhead in a rather shadowy space looking right at you.  A couple of quick heartbeats later I grab a picture.  :-)  The picture is with a flash, in the museum he is very dimly lit.

 

 


Please be kind enough not to ask about this.  Let's just agree that I lost the bet.  So _______ (you know who you are) the picture is posted.  The bet did not involve picture size.

This is an actual cart from back in the 1800's.

 

The suspension systems weren't very sophisticated at that time

 

The museum then takes you through the steam boat era on the Rio Grande River.  The displays were too big for me to get any pictures worth posting.  I don't think a steam boat could navigate the Rio Grande today but for about 30 years they did prior to the arrival of railroads in the valley.

 

 

There is a great deal of space dedicated to the Texas, Mexico, wars.  The battles fought and lives lost on both sides is mind boggling in today's world.  Back then it was just the way things were.  They talk about the civil war and slavery.  The Alamo.  Santa Anna and his, often successful, raids to the North.  There is a lot of blood stained land in S. Texas and nobody can ever say she didn't earn and pay for her place in this world.

 

The display covering the Texas Rangers was enlightening.  Originally they were a pretty rough bunch of guys and their system of JUSTICE was rather "quick and dirty."  They do however get well deserved credit for keeping things honest for a long period of time.  Based solely on their pictures in the museum you wouldn't want to cross them.

 

This is an actual Pearl Handle Texas Ranger pistol used by a "Special Texas Ranger" during prohibition.  I don't know what "Special" meant.

 

Being Canadian I have always thought of Canadian Rum Runners during Prohibition.  We found out at the museum that the Mexicans were running their tequila North as fast as we were running our whiskey South.  The authorities had as much trouble on the S. border as they did on the N.   On the Mexican border the Texas Rangers carried the majority of the work load.

 

 Confiscated Tequila.

 

 

 

 

 

We spent about 3 hours in here and walked the whole thing.  We would certainly would have to go back, to even begin, to absorb the information contained here.  Well worth the trip.  If you happen to find yourself in Edinburg Texas plan to spend some time there, it's worth it.  http://www.mosthistory.org/

 

On the way out they have a couple of Saw Horse Saddles.  Of course we had to try them out.

 

Ken got stuck side saddle.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by.

Neal and Bernie

 

 

 

All Cleaned Up

Hanging out in Texas waiting on warm weather in Manitoba.

We had planned to head North tomorrow or the next day, BUT Manitoba is still posting freezing temperatures.  What's the rush?  We've decided to wait a few more days and hopefully things will warm up a bit up there. 

Now it's supposed to be over 100F here tomorrow.  Hmmm -  go to Manitoba - run the furnace non stop or stay in Texas - run the air conditioners non stop?  We'll take the air.  See ya later Manitoba.

 Fresh oil, fresh diesel, cleaned and polished.  I can hardly hold her down, she wants a workout.

 

All washed and waxed, shiny and clean, no where to go.

It's actually kind of nice to hang out here for another week.  Most of the people have gone back North so the pace is so much slower.  We're actually getting to do a few things we have never done before.  Yesterday we went here for brunch with friends.   http://www.ontheriver.net/index.html   Great visit, great food.

Bernie's getting out for a bit of shopping which she didn't really get to do all winter.  I'm putting seat skirts and carpets in the truck.  Life's good.

To our family and friends in the North, we feel your pain (sort of), and hope it all goes away real soon.

Stay well everyone, thanks for stopping by.

Neal and Bernie

Back in The Rio Grande Valley

We got back to the Rio Grande Valley yesterday and boy is it hot. 

Having spent a month in the Vancouver BC area we weren't ready for the 33C (90+F) weather we hit yesterday when we arrived in the valley.  I'll take it.  It beats the cold and snow they're still fighting with at home.

March was fun.  We had great times with our kids and grandchildren getting to enjoy dance competitions, hockey games, movies, dinners and more.  The cookies made just for Grandpa were a special treat, thank you.  We got to spend time with many of our friends enjoying dinners, visits, coffee at Tim's and more.  For our US friends Tim's is a Canadian coffee shop chain that most Canadians are addicted to. 

I got to have an evening with my motorcycle friends planning our ride for late June of this year when we will ride out of BC to the Napa Valley.  Having spent countless hours riding all over N. America with these guys it's always a special time when we get together.  We now have a number of our sons riding with us so the Dirty Dogs (our motorcycle group) seems likely to carry on with a second generation.

I did find out that I had missed mentioning a friend's name in the "Can Tab Social" post.  I was so afraid I would do that and despite trying really hard not to, I forgot to mention Elwood J. who had sent me a pound or more of tabs last fall before we left Winnipeg.  So - Elwood, please accept my apology, and Thank You for your help.  He also presented me with a close to a half pound when we were there, getting the 2013 effort underway.

The trip back to Texas was long.  The flight from Vancouver to Houston seemed to go on forever, then United Airlines decided they should leave my bag in Houston while we flew off to Austin.  To their credit they were as helpful as they could be and did get it in to Austin by 8:30 AM.  After a short 5.5 HRS drive to  Pharr we were back in our RV.  Home sweet home, :-)  glad to be here.

The RV seems to have survived very well.  Thanks to Ken and Doreen for babysitting it while we were away.  You can tell it was hot here because one of Bernie's candles candles, a taper, was partially bent over.  It had obviously softened up from being warm and was laying over quite a bit.  Kind of funny until you think how hot it must have been in the RV. 

We have some maintenance things to do before we head back North in 10 days or so.  The weather is just beginning to break up there so we aren't in any particular rush to get back to the cold and snow.  Not to mention the flood that's likely going to cover a huge swath of the Red River Valley again this year. If you're interested there is a short video at this link that tells the story.  For those who are reading this from anywhere warm, you might find it especially interesting.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2013/03/31/mb-flood-preps.html

For now, I have to run to the store to get some white stuff for morning coffee.  Have a super day and thanks for stopping by.

Neal and Bernie