With the end of the “Winter Texan” season coming to a close, we made one last trip to the McAllen Elks Lodge for an afternoon of dancing to what remained of our 30 piece polka band from Minnesota.   Also remaining was my Bride’s tag-team duo of dance buddies, Bob and Marv…

This thing is made from a couple of sticks, a few bottle-caps and an old boot full of fish chowder. 


We were delighted to discover that they do not consider it a real party unless some food is involved and they sure don’t scrimp…

My Bride, never one to be held down and force fed, found herself in Maple Leaf nirvana…

And my Irish Angel, albeit a wee bit tarnished by Norwegianism, made off with more booty than Long John Silver could carry in bags and britches…

I have to admit that what these folks lacked in pageantry they more than made up for in enthusiasm.  And they didn’t even have to dress for the occasion!


A couple of other wee folk we happened upon recently were Dwight and Caroll. They left their home in Colorado 2 years back and, casting caution to the wind, embarked on a journey to nowhere in a brand new aircraft carrier sized motorhome…

       Belated St. Pat's                                                          March 31, 2012

I had a superbly grilled filet mignon, served over a bed of grilled asparagus, topped with crab meat, smothered in Béarnaise sauce and paired with a delectable merlot.  My Bride had a piece of old dead chicken swilled down with a cup of water.   At the completion of an exceptional meal, we were treated to a dessert of Bananas Foster prepared tableside by Chef Joe, though I fail to see how my dining companion had earned this fantastic dessert after a meal that is only one toy short of a McDonalds Happy Meal…

It seems that they started reading our website some time ago and, in spite of our plethora of misadventures, decided that the full time RV lifestyle sounded like something they could actually do properly.  Like us, they too are now hopeless hapless wanderers living a day at a time with very little thought about where they may be tomorrow.  They invited us to join them for a run across the border to Nuevo Progresso, Mexico, and we jumped at the opportunity of accompanying some folks who had been making the trip a couple of times a week over the last few months and were still returning safely with the same number of ears and noses they had started with...

While wintering in New Orleans and attending several Saint Pat’s parades after putting in an appearance at 8 or 10 of the rowdier Irish pubs in New Orlean’s infamous Irish Channel, we attended several parades in which the floats were similar to this…

D-Dub and CC (Dwight and Caroll) pulled out of town a few days ago and are pretty much travelling the same route we are considering for the summer months so I have little doubt but that we will cross paths somewhere in the not too distant future.


Victoria Palms seems to be the destination of choice for a lot of our north-of-the-border neighbors and we have found ourselves surrounded by this gregarious bunch throughout our stay.  The two traits they all seem to share are their party attitudes and their remarkable musical abilities.  We were invited to the going away party that the group from Nova Scotia put together a few days back and had one helluva good time…

Here in the Rio Grande Valley, however, she recovered absolutely no booty and the one and only parade consisted of a group of our fellow olde farts here at Victoria Palms in their gussied up golf carts making a quick pass down the main drag…

These guys actually travel with their very own karaoke setup complete with just about every song written by every artist dating back to the Stone Age!  They even bring along some instruments that, though functional, appear somewhat unusual…

I have adjusted pretty well to having the two of these guys hustle me and have decided to just grin and bear it as they take turns escorting my Bride around the floor…

Fortunately we had the cute little critter at the next table keeping an eye on Chef Joe to ensure that everything went smoothly.

And so, compadres, until next time, happy trails!  Hugs!  CC and Zook

They had a Winter Texan Night on Sunday that included $10 admission and $1.50 hot dogs and beer.  Even without the hockey they had me at cheap eats and drinks!   It turns out that the team is actually pretty good and is heading for the playoffs next week.  They clobbered the Laredo Bucks on Sunday night by a score of 7 to 2.  We really love AA hockey even more so than NHL because the players all seem to play with so much more intensity to earn a shot at being selected by an NHL team.  It’s great to see athletes who have not yet been corrupted by humongous salaries and egos.

We also managed one final very nice restaurant dinner at the Santa Fe Steakhouse in McAllen…

Sometimes you simply have to take what life throws you and just not give a damn!


The Rio Grande Valley is also home to the Killer Bees.  Okay, there are actual killer bees down here as well as the Killer Bees AA hockey team which is affiliated with the NHL Florida Panthers …

Happy belated Saint Patrick’s Day folks!!!  With Saint Patrick’s Day being one of our 2 favorite holidays ( the other being Groundhog’s Day), we set about scouring the Rio Grande Valley a week before the big day in hopes of finding a selection of Irish pubs from which we would choose that lucky one to grace with our presence on that day of days.   As the day approached, we narrowed our search to finding at least one such establishment to choose from as well as a parade or two to augment our celebration of Ireland’s Patron Saint.  We discovered there was NOT EVEN ONE Irish pub in the entire Rio Grande Valley!!!!  This has to be the result of some kind of discrimination against leprechauns and other vertically challenged minorities and as soon as we can categorize it, we will be contacting the proper support group with our complaint!  For my part, I have already begun making Leprechaun Awareness necklaces loaded with shamrock green beads.

While on the topic, we are now making our Monkey’s Fist Necklaces in a variety of colors to draw attention to a number of causes. (Pink: Breast Cancer Survivor/Breast Cancer Awareness; Red-White-Blue: 9/11 Remembrance/Troop Support; Red: Heart Disease Awareness; Purple: Alzheimer’s Awareness/Animal Abuse Awareness; Yellow: Cancer/Amber Alert; Green: Environmental Awareness; Blue: Ovarian Cancer Awareness)  We have also been making a lot of necklaces recently in the colors of various high school’s and college sports team’s colors.  We are currently selling them for $6/each which includes shipping and you can check them out at “Zook’s Nook”.   Custom colors can also be assembled on request.