If you have never been to Rio Grande Valley in the winter, you have no idea, what the Winter Texans mean to this area.  The Winter Texans are an industry to Texas.  Every winter over 100,000 northerners come down to the valley to escape the winters up north.  A large percentage come from Canada.  They bring in over $7,000,000. to the economy.  Everything revolves around the Winter Texans.   They hold many festivals, here and in the Mexican border towns, to welcome everyone.  Their is a Winter Texan newspaper that is published from late Oct to April 1, mainly for the soul purpose of advertising all RV Parks and activities, including entertainment schedules and bands.  Quite an industry.  Harlingen is one of the cheapest cities to live in the U.S.  That is so true.  If you want to get internet service, all you have to pay through Time Warner is $15 a month.  You can of course add cable TV also and still have a cheap pkg.  They don’t require contracts.  They cater to the Winter Texans.   Now that is unheard of up north.   Everything needs a contract, or deposit.  Its no wonder so many people retire to the RGV.

Now it is the end of the season and its time to say “Good Bye”.   Our good friends and neighbors, Cici and Larry left last Sunday morning early.  They packed up the 5th wheel and headed to Arkansas to visit their son and family…..Their daughter in law was expecting their 4th grand child and they made it in time to witness their New Little Miracle….A NEW LITTLE GRANDAUGHTER…..Congrats to all…..

They packed up and hooked up the night before as they wanted to get an early start in the morning.  So we went to eat at one of our favorites steak houses…..The Longhorn Cattle Company…..Its in San Benito, Texas.  The home of Freddy Fender.   It’s really only about  20 minutes from us. Its really neat inside.

As we were sitting their admiring the décor.  We were showing Larry how the windows were really garage doors that open to let the fresh air in, we noticed this guy who really looked like Colonel Sanders sitting their….lol…Cici and I started to chuckle.  Now its rather hard to tell, but his pure white mustache was so long, we wondered how he was eating his chicken without getting his hair caught in every bite of the chicken….lol….but he just kept eating away, and with every bite his mustache kept bobbing up and down….lol…It was a fun time, but sad cause this was our last evening together….

Larry is such a card.  Such an entertainer at times.   He always makes you laugh.  We have done so many things with them.  But Larry always had to drive ….lol…We only have a little Ford Ranger….We went to McAllen to the Festival of Lights Parade at Christmas…..We’ve, been to Padre Island many times.   Cici and I have done lots of things together, here in the Park as well as shopping.  We are so missing you guys already.

Roberta, our permanent resident neighbor, came over to say goodbye to Cici , Larry, and Jill, their dog.   She is an animal lover.  Our wonderful neighbor, who is eager to babysit pets….She loves all nature.  We now have 3 empty pads next to us.  In the next 2 weeks, many, many more will be leaving.  By mid April most of them will be gone home.  Their are about 100 people who do stay here year around.  We are considered one of the smaller parks.  At our peak, we could have close to 600 residents living here….It is amazing actually how many parks are here in the Valley….They are everywhere….I will have to do a blog on that subject.  Its a whole different world down here in the bottom corner of Texas…..

Weather is starting to get warmer….70s and low 80s are now normal, but still so much rain.   Our streets don’t have the drainage we have back home, so the water pools on the streets in the park.  This is the season that  all the plants and bushes are flowering .  The orange and grapefruit trees will be producing fruit again.  Everything smells so wonderful.

But when the fruit is ready to pick…..WE WILL BE GONE TOO…….