Our travels with Charlie ended yesterday, Christmas morning, with his peaceful passing in our motorhome. Betty & I lay beside him on the floor as our old puppy took his last breaths. He was a big part of our lives for the past 16 years, and especially in the 6 years we have been full-time journeying across North America with him.
Whether he was taking the wheel,Or checking out the view from the passenger seat (at Banff National Park),Or ensuring the tow truck got to our destination on Cape Cod, Charlie was always up for the challenge.
Here are just a few of the many happy remembrances of our time together.
Charlie checks out Isabella, who is checking the puppy out. Isabella will be 16 next month.James and Charlie enjoyed the same piece of paper. BTW, James is now almost 13.While Betty & Valerie practiced “legs-up-the-wall” yoga, Charle tried to steal the show.He was always up for yoga, even this past week. (Especially good at “downward dog”. lol)Wherever we went, Charlie was always prepared with a barked greeting for his fellow dogs. Here he meets a larger version of himself on Cape Breton’s Cabot Trail.Charlie always had a smile on his face when he visited a beach.And he was especially happy when he could spend time with Lisa.I think Charlie can be found in any family gathering during his lifetime, including this one from at least 7 years ago. He is also front and centre on the opening page of this web site.But his happiest time was just cuddling with his mom, wherever our travels have taken us.
I’m sure Charlie will rest in peace in doggy heaven, knowing he was well loved during his time on this earth.
This is the last picture of Charlie, taken the day before yesterday on the South Padre Island beach. He had a great day playing in the waves and chillin’ with Betty & me.Is it time to go?
Betty captured this picture of sunrise at our campsite on South Padre Island. I’ll take her word that it was this great! (Never seen one myself. lol)
Everyone has their own experiences and expectations about the holiday season. If we were to believe those Hallmark movies, we would be snuggled up by a roaring fire, sipping hot chocolate after a sleigh ride through the lightly falling snow. Along the way we would have stopped for a skate on the pond, with the more experienced skater catching the other in their arms, before a fall. Christmas carols would waft through the air, and love would abound. How romantic!
Betty soaks up the December sun by the Gulf of Mexico, while a kite surfer passes by.
December posts from prior years have noted our family’s traditions, so I won’t repeat them now. Except to say we dearly miss sitting down with our grown children and grandchildren tomorrow to celebrate a most special birth, and the joy we experience as a result.
Christmas decorations are all around, including at this nearby Dairy Queen.Wreaths adorn many of the palm trees.As well as poinsettiasA stocking hangs from a pole near the overhead sign reminding that only reindeer can fly here.Just before crossing the causeway to South Padre Island, a sign provides a reminder.
All the quilted wall hangings pictured in previous December posts decorate our motorhome and remind us of the season. And we hope to attend a Christmas candle-light service this evening at our little Chapel By The Sea. Otherwise, it’s 24c here (75f), the sun is shining and we are headed to the beach for the afternoon. Not what we are used to, but we’ll make it work. Lol.
Betty’s sitting on the wide beach, next to the Gulf of Mexico, waiting for me to join her.
Whatever your traditions and current circumstances, may you experience peace and joy in this holiday season and the year ahead!
Just took this pic today through the front windshield of our motorhome, before joining Betty on the beach.
“Well I’m out of Alabama, down to Louisiana Halfway bound to New Orleans Yeah, I’m leaning on my Chevy Rolling through the levee’s trying to get to where I wanna be When I’m looking back at Texas That’s where I reckon I can finally put myself at ease Check my life there at the border Everything over my shoulder Just Mexico, Tequila and me Yeah, Mexico, Tequila and me That’s all, just Mexico, Tequila and me.” Alan Jackson
A sign welcoming Betty & me to Mexico. We left the tequila behind…
As noted in our Feb. 17, 2018 post, South Padre Island is on the southern border of Texas, across the Rio Grand River from Mexico. Having visited in 2018, Betty & I decided to make the short trip again to the border crossing at Progreso, Texas. We parked our Smart car in a lot on the U.S. side – for $4./day – and walked across the bridge to Nuevo Progreso, Mexico.
This picture of the Rio Grand River is taken from the bridge to Mexico. The river is surprisingly small, so the walk across the bridge isn’t that long either. The controversial border wall is just visible at the top right.
While we had our passports with us, we didn’t need to go through a Customs check point on the way in, simply paying a couple of dollars to enter.
Av. B. Juarez is the street leading from the bridge.
As was our previous experience, the street in front of us was lined with pharmacies, dental offices/stores, and merchants selling miscellaneous items, both in small shops and on the sidewalk. We understood that the first couple of blocks were more expensive, with prices dropping the further we ventured.
I was reluctant to take many pictures of sidewalk vendors, so this was a less populated stretch.
A few blocks in, we were invited to enter a “spa” for pedicures, and enjoyed one-hour pedicures for $15. Only one of the staff spoke broken English, but she and the other Spanish-speaking staff were most pleasant as they beautified our previously sandaled feet.
Another view of the colourful Mexican street.
The only other stop we made was at a pharmacy that provided low-cost meds both for me and Charlie. They even threw in a package of cold medicine. While Alan Jackson sang about adding tequila to the mix, we passed on that opportunity, since our motorhome cupboard is already well stocked with the necessary margarita ingredients. Lol.
While trucks were lined up to enter Mexico, Betty & I encountered few others walking back to the U.S.A.
Crossing back over the bridge was uneventful. After paying 30 cents each to enter, we showed the U.S. Customs officer our Canadian passports, told them of our brief visit, and they waved us through. There were no pedestrians in front of us or behind. (Unlike the news report this week, indicating the access point is now crowded with refugees trying to enter.)
Also last week, we drove to a Verizon store in Brownsville to make a payment on our pay-as-you-go Jetpack. It was a beautiful sunny day, so on the way back we decided to detour to Boca Chica, Texas. On a previous visit to check out the beach access there, we had seen a small unincorporated community, and a fence with a SpaceX sign on it. But not much else.
The Boca Chica Beach, at the end of the highway, is accessible by Smart Car.
Betty & I decided to check out recent SpaceX developments, and found Star Base, and the rocket launch pad easily visible from the road. One of the fences near the highway proclaims “Gateway To Mars”, so we assume that is where Elon Musk hopes to go next.
Star Base is on the right of this picture, with South Padre Island visible on the left.On a different overcast day, here’s the view from the South Padre Island side, with a tour boat passing.Again from the SPI side, a sailboat passes in front of the launchpad. Apparently,, campers had a great view of a recent launch last month.A closer view of where the space craft are constructed, with one visible through the opening.In the small adjacent community are now dozens of Airstream trailers. Note that all have those square Starlink satellite dishes. Hmm.One of the rockets, clearly visible from the road. No rocket’s red glare today, though…Apparently, this is where one would leave on a trip to Mars. But will they come back??
Whether you are eager to go to Mexico or Mars, we hope that you can enjoy what life brings on the journey along the way.
For those who fly, a touchdown is when the plane successfully reaches the ground at your destination. For football fans, a touchdown is achieved when a player succeeds in battling their way to the endzone with the ball. In both cases there is a feeling of accomplishment, satisfaction, if not euphoria. This week, Betty & I have achieved touchdown at South Padre Island, with the accompanying feelings of satisfaction and euphoria. Yeah, we made it!!
The palm trees on both sides of the highway leading to South Padre Island serve as runway marker lights, as we prepare for our landing.With our final descent over the Queen Isabella Causeway, the island is in sight.Touchdown at our destination! Yeah!!
We left Winnipeg with a certain amount of apprehension over personal health, and the ability of our old motorhome to make the trip. Would we successfully reach the ground at our destination, or would we drop the ball along the way, to mix metaphors. Lol.
Most of our journey was relatively smooth. Even the back roads we drove near the Mississippi River were in better condition than most main Manitoba roads. Our last post saw us at beautiful Magnolia Beach, where we had intended to stay for a week.
This was one of the majestic sunsets seen from our spot on Magnolia Beach.
Betty and I had a pleasant evening outside in the warm, still air. Then at 10:00 pm the wind began and blew steadily all night long. In the morning most other RVers packed up and left the beach. We contemplated staying, but the forecast was for the wind and rain to continue until 10:00 pm that night.
As we pulled onto the highway, the wind caught our rolled-up awning, even though it was locked down in place on the side of our motorhome. Fortunately traffic was light, and Betty & I were able to get out our ladder and climb up and duct tape it back up. Apparently the lock had broken from the wind catching it just right (or just wrong – depending on how you look at it…)
The nearest town was just a short distance away, but as we approached we heard our retracting steps go out. Oh, oh! The day before we had removed the screen door cover to clean it, and the magnetic sensor had not been repositioned just right. Oops… While Betty held the door closed, I pulled into a nearby Walmart where we were able to quite easily fix the problem. Yeah!
So that’s more or less the extent of our issues to that point. We ended up staying for the next few days at Goliad Texas State Park, roughly half way between Magnolia Beach and Mustang Island.
Our shaded site at Goliad State Park was nice, but the picnic table was a distance from our parking spot, and the grass was full of small burrs which poked us and Charlie, if we walked on it.Our campsite at Mustang Island State Park (#31), off the coast of Corpus Christi, was relatively close to the beach. We could hear the waves from our site, but couldn’t see them because of the dune.The camping area is more or less a parking lot, with 50 amp service, water, and picnic tables on both sides. There are no sewer connections, but a dump station is on the way out.Colourful flowers border the path to the beach, although signs warn of snakes, if one leaves the path.Cresting the dune, the Gulf of Mexico finally comes into view.While relatively warm, it was mainly overcast during our visit, with almost no-one on the beach.
December 1, 2023 finally arrived, and we were more than ready to bring in our slide-outs, raise our automatic levellers, and hit the road to South Padre Island.
And then the living room slide wouldn’t retract. Now what? We had paid thousands of dollars to have new gears installed on a re-aligned slide mechanism this past summer, after fighting with the slide for almost two years. Fortunately, our kind, young neighbour at Mustang Island came to our rescue, manually cranking it in.
Sierra Mobile RV Repair, in Port Isabelle, has helped us on previous visits, and they have agreed to get the slide working again. We have ordered replacement gears (about $400. USD. for both) and hope to have them installed when they arrive.
Well, in the overall scheme of things, it could be much worse. Our site at Isla Blanca Park (C413) is close to the beach, and we have already met some great neighbours.
This is the view from our campsite. The beach is just beyond the boardwalk and blue umbrella.We have had some nice beach days, including this one with our neighbour Pam from Kentucky.Speaking of neighbours, we had a wonderful visit with Gord and Pat from our summer home at Town & Country. While having lunch on the waterfront, we were fortunate to see dolphins swimming close by. After we leave South Padre Island, we hope to spend some time with Pat and Gord at their campsite in Mission, Texas.
Another highlight for me, so far, has been getting our motorhome washed and waxed by Carlos’ crew.
Carlos came to our site and did a thorough job, from the roof to the wheels, and the underside of all our compartment doors.For $135. they wash all windows, and detail all parts of our coach.Carlos offered to wash and wax our Smart Car as well, but I had already taken it through a local carwash.So Betty & I are now singing in the sunshine, our home on wheels is spotless, and everyone passing comments on the fabulous sign painted by Annie!
After a long time planning and hoping for a successful touchdown, Betty & I are more than happy to report that we have succeeded in reaching our destination and are experiencing both satisfaction and euphoria. Here’s hoping that you are also able to achieve touchdown at your preferred destination!
