Mission, TX

Tuesday, December 1 – 31st, 2020

Today we left Del Rio and arrived in Mission, Texas in the Rio Grande Valley at Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort. We have not been to the Rio Grande Valley before. This is South Texas… not far from the Mexican border and known for mild temps in the winter.

In route we were stopped by Border Patrol… not the first time this has happened in these parts. The Border Patrol guard asked the usual question if we were American citizens, we said yes. Then he asked “is there anyone in the camper?” I was rather shocked to be asked that but I guess I shouldn’t have been. I said no. This was the first time we were stopped by Border Patrol while towing our tiny home.  He looked to be about 20 and very sweet. He sent us on our way with “have a nice day.” 

While traveling today a sign on the side of the road said “Hitchhikers may be escaping inmates.” Oh-kay… guess we won’t be stopping on this stretch of road for a lunch break.

A few miles before we arrived at the campground there was an older gentleman, who appeared Mexican, holding a tall walking stick and was shepherding about 40 goats over railroad tracks and within feet of the road. What a sight!!!  I was afraid the goats were going to enter the street and into our lane, but thankfully they never did. It was the funniest thing. I smiled going by and he smiled seeing our big camper. I would have taken a picture but it all happened so fast, and I was so shocked by the sight! The things we see amaze us!

We arrived at the campground safe and sound. Note to self… try not to arrive at a “resort” campground on the 1st of the month. We were checking in with 15 others that day. Thankfully we were earlier than some since the resort has a check-in process second to none. It took a good 40 minutes in the office for a temperature check and to sign all the papers before we were sent down to Guest Services for more orientation. Finally we were headed to our site with an escort who was one of the work campers drafted for the job because by now they were completely backed up at the front office. He left us to back ourselves in so he could head back up front. Not our quickest backing in job, But, we got her in. Gary was being a bit fussy about placement since we’re here for 2 months. 

We are enthralled by this campground. The vegetation is absolutely beautiful… palm trees mixed in with an Orchid Tree and a Silk Floss Tree, the bark of which I’ve never seen before with thick thorns on the trunk of the tree bigger than my finger! Various cactus, trumpet bush, bougainvillea, esperanza and others. Just beautiful!  Behind the campground and viewed from our back window are cattle grazing. Sooo picturesque. We see the calves pestering mom for a drink, and the calves romping with each other. These are Brahman cattle with a big hump on the back. Typically they are slow moving except when it’s feeding time or when I’m trying to take a picture, then they scamper away…. young and old alike. 

There’s also a fruit tree orchard at this campground with grapefruits, lemons and oranges that you can pick from. Once again, this is behind our camper… first is the orchard then behind that are the cattle. Each area sectioned off by a fence. I picked grapefruit, oranges and lemons from the trees during December. By January, there weren’t many left. The grapefruits were amazing. This area in Texas is known for their grapefruit. This campground also has a Fruit & Veggie guy with a truck who comes every Tuesday afternoon around 4. He honks his horn when he’s arriving and we all gather with face masks and buy fresh pineapple, bananas, watermelon, carrots (bigger than I’ve ever seen), zucchini, squash, onions, tomatoes, green beans, and some fruits I didn’t recognize. Every week there were different offerings. He was a welcome sight! 

The campground is mostly inhabited by Winter Texans. There’s about 250 sites. In a normal winter season there would be many Canadians staying here along with many midwesterners, but this is not a normal year. This is a covid year. So the absent Canadians have allowed more first timers to visit… like us. 

This campground is gated so you enter a gate to get in and then it’s fenced all the way around. Thankfully you can see beyond the fence or gate so you don’t feel like it’s a fortress. But beyond the campground’s fence, within view, is “The Wall.” Yes, THAT wall. When we first arrived and saw a section of the immigration wall, Gary said that must be a prototype because we’re not THAT close to the Mexican border. We’re a few miles in. But, alas, after talking to other campers and seeing for ourselves the work on the wall progress over the coming days and weeks, this indeed is the actual wall! We were shocked at seeing it up close. We had seen it on TV but never thought we’d actually see it in person. It’s not unattractive, as weird as that sounds…. particularly when the sun is setting and you can see the sun shining through the steel slats. But, it’s what it stands for that doesn’t resonate with us. We later learned that this was typical construction… having the wall built several miles in from the Mexican border. 

On a lighter note, we noticed several new birds in this campground that we hadn’t seen before. Namely, Great Kiskadees with lovely yellow bellies and Golden Fronted Woodpeckers. While walking around the campground, we’d see Grackles in the trees making a racket. On occasion, creepily so… like Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. 

One big reason why we chose this campground over the myriad others in this region is because it’s adjacent to Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park. The state park was started back in the mid 1940’s by the parents of Senator Lloyd Bentsen. They donated 586 acres. It now encompasses 764 acres and is also a World Birding Center site. You may remember Senator Bentsen was the Vice Presidential running mate for Senator Dukakis during their 1988 failed Presidential campaign. 

These first few weeks in Mission we explored the state park frequently! One aspect that shocked us was that to walk to the State Park you walked by where the Wall was under construction and guarded by Border Patrol. After talking to one of the volunteers at the state park, we learned that The Wall was not going to block the entrance to the state park. Oh-kay, but then it appears as though the state park is on the “Mexican” side of the wall. We cannot figure this whole Wall thing out. It’s being built in weird sections all over town, and you can’t figure out how this is supposed to eventually come together. I assume someone has an understanding of how this is supposed to work because it’s a mystery to us. 

No vehicles are allowed in the State Park so some days we walked from the campground and hiked some of the trails that don’t allow bikes on them. And other days we would ride our bikes in. It was great bike riding on paved roads and no cars to worry about. We saw the same flock of turkeys scampering away from us repeatedly. We saw mesquite trees picturesquely arching over the walking trails. There is a hawk observation tower… we never did see much in the way of hawks but did see lots of ducks in the ponds. And we always stopped at the feeders positioned when you first entered the park to see the birds… Green Jays were a common site (absolutely beautiful) as were Orioles, Chachalacas (chicken-like birds who make a lot of racket), Robins, and others. Since this state park is a World Birding Center, there were always expert birders around willing to answer our questions. And they always carried cameras with lenses about the size of my arm, and they had binoculars. We carried binoculars, too. 

Along with the State Park that’s adjacent to our campground, there are also six other World Birding Centers in this area. One was the Edinburg Scenic Wetlands in Edinburg, TX where we counted 60 Anhingas and Cormorants hanging out across a manmade divider by a waterfall. Too far away for a good photo opp unfortunately. The wetlands had nice walking trails. We saw night herons hiding out from us, but Gary managed to capture a few photos of them. The wetlands were also adjacent to a city park where we saw the elusive white pelicans hanging out with lots of pretty ducks.

The same week we visited the Edinburg Wetlands, we visited the National Butterfly Center which is just a few miles from our campground. The volunteer working at the front desk oriented us to the Butterfly Center with maps. It was past peak for the butterflies, but we did see a few beautiful ones and some fabulous birds that we don’t see up North. We even got to celebrate the resident tortoise’s 18th birthday with his “cake” which was watermelon. He’s wearing a rug in the photo because his shell was damaged in a fire. They are waiting for the shell to fall off then he will be outfitted with a manmade 3-d shell. Amazing what we humans can accomplish when we set our minds to goodness…

The National Butterfly Center is a natural environment for the butterflies so you are outside on various walking trails. They also have bird feeding stations set up to attract birds. And there is acreage that the Center owns by the Rio Grande that you have to drive to. After we’d walked several of the trails and checked out the birds, we decided to drive down to the river since the volunteer had mentioned he and his wife had seen a hawk down there recently. The road is narrow and you have to cross over the levee where The Wall is under construction. If plans continue, the wall will cut thru the Butterfly Center. As you can imagine, they are not happy about this. We signed a petition in the office to stop The Wall from passing into this protected area. 

To get to the Rio Grande first we had to drive past an unfriendly looking Border Patrol agent carrying a large weapon, and secondly we had to crest the levee where you can’t see what’s on the other side. A definite Thelma & Louise moment. I’m looking at the Border Patrol guy thinking “You would tell us if the road ends and we’re going to launch ourselves into oblivion right? You’re not letting us be your afternoon entertainment?” I was about to lower the window and flash my Butterfly wristband at him and let him know that we’re “butterfly people” not bad people. Gary said “don’t you dare” which caused me to go into gales of laughter. We managed to scale the levee and descended to the other side unscathed. Gary’s trying to have me direct him to get to the river, but I’m laughing too hard. He makes a wrong turn, and we end up on this narrow road which is only supposed to be accessed by Border Patrol. We eventually get on the correct road and dead end at the river, which is remote and isolated. Not another car in sight. We get out and take some photos down by the very quiet picturesque river… not seeing a hawk or any bird life for that matter. Then my eye strays to the side and I see an empty life jacket snagged on a branch. Oh-kay maybe we’ve seen all we need to see here. While I feel badly for the migrants who are mostly trying to better there lives, I don’t necessarily need to meet one on an empty stretch of road in the middle of nowhere. We managed to find our way back to the main road and passed the unfriendly looking Border Patrol agent once again. Time to head back to the safety of our tiny home and an adult beverage. That’s enough adventure for one afternoon! 

We had an interesting sight early one morning… a young man, we’re assuming a migrant, with a wet outer jacket (he must have just crossed the river recently) walking across the cattle field behind our tiny home. Not something we’re accustomed to seeing… he just meandered on and we let him. 

On a similar topic, we grew accustomed to hearing Border Patrol helicopters circling on a regular basis. They seemed to have patterns they ran regularly. We knew there was “activity” going on if they were circling more frequently and lower in the sky. (To this day, when I hear helicopters in the sky, I think Border Patrol.)

Another day we enjoyed an 8-Mile Bike Ride on the Mission Bike Trail. We were able to access the trail directly from the campground, and most of the trail is along a levee. There was hardly anyone else on it. Very nice! Although we did come across a woman biking from the opposite direction who said “watch out for the 4 or 5 stray dogs.” I’m happy to report that we did not see said stray dogs!

On the evening of Wednesday, Dec. 16th we had purchased tickets to see Christmas lights at Quinta Mazatlan in McAllen. It’s a Spanish-revival estate with sprawling tropical gardens as well as a World Birding Center. We were there that night to enjoy the outdoor Christmas lights. The entrance to the estate was flanked by bougainvilleas in full bloom on either side of the long driveway. Absolutely gorgeous… even in the dark. The Christmas lights were beautiful. We made a promise to ourselves to come back and see this place in daylight after the holidays are over. 

This was also the time of year when we were able to see the moon and Jupiter and Saturn beginning to align in the night sky for the “great conjunction” as the astronomers were calling it on December 21st — also referred to as the “Christmas Star” — marking the planets closest encounter in nearly 400 years. Personally we preferred it better prior to the 21st when you could distinctly see all three in close proximity. What a sight! 

On Dec. 17th we woke up to a little excitement with a helicopter circling and sirens and flashing lights in the distance from Border Patrol and Mission Police. Not sure what that was all about but can only assume they caught migrants crossing the border. It’s a fairly regular occurrence around here. 

Today we decided to visit the Old Hildago Pumphouse, which is also another World Birding Center. There were supposed to be bike trails there as well but we decided to drive over and walk around first thinking we could bring the bikes back at a later date. The museum was supposed to have on display steam-driven irrigation pumps that showcase how Hildago County was transformed into a year-round farming phenomenon. There was nary a soul around and that includes the birds. Creepily so. Once again “The Wall” could be seen steps from this area. There was a Border Patrol agent who was patrolling but no actual work being done on the wall. And the bike path went right by the wall. Really? Uh… think we’ll pass on that bike ride. Thankfully we didn’t bother bringing the bikes. 

We walked around for 15 minutes and left! This outing was a bust! They can’t all be rainbows and unicorns. 

In case you wonder how we occupy our days when we’re not sightseeing, Gary’s often doing some type of planning or research for future trips, he frequently tends to our family’s grocery shopping, and he can often be found doing some type of maintenance or tinkering on our tiny home. I’m often in the midst of writing a blog, organizing photos, staying in touch with family and friends via phone, emailing, texting, facebook etc., doing yoga occasionally, or picking up on one of my sporadic hobbies such as coloring, needlepoint, or zentangling. I always have a book I’m reading. While here in South Texas, I read American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins about the migrant experience traversing Mexico into the U.S. Excellent and it seemed a fitting read based on where we were. We try and go for walks daily if we don’t have any other more elaborate exercise in mind. And if the weather is good we sit outside and take advantage of the sunshine. And I like to try new recipes on occasion. One recent keeper was an artichoke mushroom chicken casserole. 

Television viewing is relegated to a couple of hours at night. Other than the nightly news, which we don’t watch every night because it’s too depressing, we usually watch something on Netflix, Amazon Prime, or CBS All Access. Our favorites are some of the British mysteries… Grantchester (6 seasons), another British favorite (not a mystery) was “The Crown”.  We got an education on the British monarchy. I know, I know… it’s not supposed to be a real documentary… but much of it was based on factual events. A more unusual offering that we really liked was “Abstract: the Art of Design” which had about 10 episodes talking about a different aspect of design in each episode. Fascinating. 

A few days before Christmas we visited Estero Llano Grande State Park in Weslaco, TX. “Estero Llano Grande” means low-lying grassy plain and was first referenced on early Spanish maps in the 1700s. This is the site of another World Birding Center on 230 acres of wetlands. We loved it! Several ponds with fabulous ducks and nice trails. We even saw 20 night herons in the trees by Alligator Lake, although we didn’t see any alligators… 

Soooo two days before Christmas, December 23rd. We had a little excitement in the campground. It was fairly early in the morning and Gary and I were on the phone with Andy & Linda. Gary noticed three young migrant men first crossing the cattle field, then climbing the fence into the fruit tree orchard, THEN climbing the fence and entering the campground. I’m on the phone with Linda saying OhMyGodOhMyGodOhMyGodOhMyGod about 20,000 times. She finally cuts across all that and in a loud clear voice says “Teresa, is your door locked?” 

Right… door… yes, it’s locked. Then we see them go under a motorhome and hide there. I’m a northern lady. Not used to this!! Plus…. the motorhome they chose to hide under? Is the ONLY one in the campground with a New Hampshire plate! We had just chatted with the couple several days before! 

Gary said “we need to call the office.” So, we hang up from Andy & Linda and Gary calls the office, and explains the situation. Next thing we know there is a helicopter circling overhead and about half a dozen Border Patrol and Mission police cars in the area. No sirens, no guns… the three young men were apprehended easily. We didn’t actually witness that part, but we heard about it. Then we heard from camping neighbors that this used to happen more frequently before they put the gate in at the back. One year apparently there were three migrants on horseback going through the campground. That would be a different site. Gary felt badly reporting them, but having them hide under an RV isn’t good either… 

That was the only time that happened. Thankfully. 

Christmas was a very nice day. We talked with Linda & Andy and Bob (missed Deb unfortunately) and enjoyed a 2 hour Skype visit with Ellen & Wayne over a glass of wine. Plus we texted with various friends. We tried a “roast” chicken in the crockpot, which came out great. I made cornbread stuffing (my mom’s recipe), and I cooked Honeynut Squash that I’d picked up from our local veggie guy who comes to the campground. It looks like Butternut Squash only it’s smaller. In truth, not a lot of flavor. Don’t know that I would do that again. 

Also, during this holiday season we’ve been on a role of watching some of our favorite holiday movies in the evenings…. Trading Places, While You Were Sleeping, White Christmas, Christmas Vacation and Bad Santa made the cut. A few of them are unusual choices I will admit! 

We also enjoyed the holiday decorations in our campground. 

During the final week of 2020 we did a few outings to the state park adjacent to the campground… biking 8 miles one day and walking 3 miles another. We had a quiet New Year’s Eve and were thankful for a fun year of seeing beautiful sites while traveling… despite much of the year being a pandemic year.  That final week, too, we learned of some health issues cropping up with my amazing 101 year young Mom living in an Assisted Living facility in New Hampshire. More on that in the next post…