New Friends Made and Another Rally

At Bentsen Palms RV Resort, Mission, Texas...

We arrived here in Mission a few days ago after spending a couple of weeks at the Thousand Trails park in Conroe and a quick trip to the DFW area for our annual physical exams. We have slowly acquired new healthcare providers in the Conroe area, except for our family doctor in Dallas, whom we have been seeing for decades. He is very accommodating to our constant travel status and even calls us from time to time to see how we're doing when he knows we're sick. We don't think we would ever find anyone to match his caregiving, so we just bite the bullet and make the trek to the DFW area when it's time to see him.

While we were in Conroe this time, we had the good fortune to meet some new friends like Dick and Judy, Ed and Debi and Dave and Judy, who are also friends with Dave and Janice. (Yes, I know the names don't mean much to you, but their names mean a lot to them and to us, and they are neat people who deserve to be recognized for being so very nice to us.)

While we were in the DFW area seeing our doctor, we also reconnected with wonderful old friends Peggy and Terri and Harvey and Mary Lou, with whom we got caught up over dinner, along with some other new friends, Don and Ruby.

One of the unexpected benefits of fulltiming is the astounding expansion of our circle of friends. We have met so many fine folks whose acquaintance we would not otherwise have made, and we always enjoy crossing their paths when we can. Thanks to all of you for your friendship; we are looking forward to seeing you again.

With our physicals out of the way, we set a course for Mission, Texas, the site of our next rally. The trip from the DFW area was uneventful, but we didn't care much for the 90-degree-plus temperatures in the Valley. It looks like the parks here have not begun to get really busy yet with winter Texans, and the too-warm temperatures have a lot to do with that, I'm sure. They will start to arrive en masse for sure after the Christmas holidays. Our park, Bentsen Palms, is very nice but sparsely populated:

Here's the view outside our window:

This must be the year for tire problems. Upon our arrival here at Bentsen Palms, we noticed a prominent belly on Phannie's right front tire. I quickly checked the pressure and found that it had fallen to 40 psi! This was quite a surprise, as I had not noticed any steering problems on the way to the park. Thankfully, this problem must have begun very near our destination, I'm thinking. I quickly gave a call to CoachNet, who began the process of getting me a mobile tire service truck. In about an hour, A technician arrived and removed the tire, checking for damage and/or leaks. As it turned out, I hadn't run over anything; the problem was a leaky valve stem core, which the tech quy quickly replaced:

It is very rare indeed for Phannie to have tire issues, so I really can't complain about this. I'm just glad we were safely nestled into our space and not exposed out on the road somewhere.

Our being here in the Valley is also an opportunity to get a really good wash and wax job for Phannie at a better price than just about anywhere else:

When we are participating in these rallies, we tend to do a lot of, well, eating. We always go out somewhere that the hosts recommend, and Carol, the wagon master, picked a great place called Griffin Grill there in McAllen. We had breakfast there, including this masterpiece of eggs Benedict, enjoyed by our friends Art and Shirley:

We had a large group going with us, so we had to get a photo, for posterity:

We also made a trip across the border to Progreso, Mexico for lunch an shopping. Everyone seemed to have a good time:

We will be returning to Conroe in a few days to spend the holidays with the kids, then out to Quartzsite in January.

Thank you, Lord, for this wonderful life; please forgive me if I don't appreciate it enough each day.

I had rather see the world and own little than to own the world and see little of it.  

--Alexander Sattler