Our first week in Donna Texas

Sunday, March 22nd we booked into Bit-O-Heaven RV Park in Donna TX.  We plan to be here about 2 weeks.

This is the first time in 5 years that we have stayed in this area on our travels to and from Mexico.  This area would be our fallback winter location if we can't travel to Mexico for any reason.

The weather is a bit cooler and less humid than in Mexico this month.  Daytime highs here are currently 82F (28C) with overnight low of 59F (15C) with beautiful afternoon breezes. At this time of year, the air is fragrant with the scent of orange blossoms.  So pleasant! But maybe too ticklish to Bev's nose.

The first two days here we spent on motorhome maintenance.  We hired someone to wash and wax the motorhome (it was filthy after traveling through rain for 2 1/2 days!).

After a shopping trip to Home Depot and 2 RV parts places, Vic replaced
1) the thermostat for our AC/furnace,
2) the support pistons for our under-bed storage cabinet and
3) the lock for our outdoor entertainment centre.

It was also time to stock up on food and supplies at the local HEB Supermarket (cheaper than Walmart) and COSTCO.  Laundry costs $1.50 per wash load and $1.00 per dryer load.

The Don-Wes Flea Market is open on Wednesdays and Saturdays.  We have several booths that we like to shop at in this market which is geared to "winter Texans".

We visited the market on Wednesday morning to shop in the Happy Kamper RV Shop (there's no Camping World in this area).  Then we stopped at one of the fruit vendors within the market.  We picked up large Rio Grande Red grapefruit.  It didn't matter if you bought them by the bag or individually, there were 50 cents a piece!  They are just as sweet as the ones we enjoy during our winter in Mexico.

a bag of 8 large grapefruit for $4

There is a great spice booth where Bev purchased 6 large jars of Ralph's Spices (example 10 ounces of Mesquite rub) for $3.00 each. Caraway seeds and tarragon are not easy to find but we were able to stock up on them at this place.

A new booth we discovered was the Mennonite cheese and sausage vendor.  We purchased frozen Hawaiian Style Bratwurst produced in Wisconsin. They were very tasty with very little fat and low in sodium.

We also checked out Top Hat Awnings and Shades.  We had our awning roller replaced by them for our original RV we had back in 2009/2010 plus we had purchased a custom side curtain at that time.  This time we got a quote for a large side curtain to cover the entire driver side of our motorhome. This would stop the sun beating onto the side of the motorhome while we are in Mexico. While the sun hits the side, it heats up to over 140F and over 160F. It is tough to keep the interior cool when it is so hot on the other side of a thin wall.

Later the same day we walked over to the Val Verde Flea Market located one block east of our RV park. Like the Don-Wes Flea Market, this one is open only Wednesdays and Saturdays. One of the vendors there had dressed up his rabbit and chihuahua in costumes.

Friday morning we drove west to the Anzalduas Park in McAllen for Vic to fly some of his remote control model airplanes.  It is a beautiful park which is free to use on week days but costs $4 per car on weekends. Beside the flying field there is a boat launch plus lots of picnic tables with barbeques and a picnic pavilion.  The flying field is on flood land and the winds were light so a good opportunity for flying small model airplanes.  There was another couple from Wisconsin at the flying field with us.

Vic flying one of  3 planes he brought to the field

the lone picnic table for the flying field

 This area of Texas is known for little sandburs (or grassburs) that are so sharp they can cut bicycle tires!  They are a nuisance to remove from clothing or carpeting.  This year there are very few around as there has been too much rain over the winter.

showing the size of the burr compared to Bev's shoe

Along the road to the park, we were able to photograph some yucca in bloom.  5 years ago when we were in the area, vendors sold the white blooms at the market.  We haven't seen any blooms for sale as yet this year.

We also scouted out the route to the new Anzalduas International Bridge which would allow us a quicker way into and out of  Mexico as it goes straight to/from McAllen without having to go through Reynosa. We would like to try it on our way south in the fall.

Bit-O-Heaven has 2 heated swimming pools - one indoors and one outdoors.  Friday afternoon we relaxed at the outdoor pool.  A bit hot for us:  in the sun the water registered 92F on the pool thermometer and in the shade it was 87F.  We enjoyed socializing with other RVers from Quebec City, Ottawa, and Indianapolis.   Apparently the park home models sell quickly in this park.  The other day a park model across from the outdoor pool sold for $43,000 within 24 hours of being listed.  The lot rental is $210 per month.

Saturday we drove east about an hour to Rio Hondo to a Fun Fly event at the SMASH Model Airpark.

Our wheels were washed driving through this deep puddle to get to the flying field!

Arroyo Colorado, the river running beside the field

  It was a windy day so only large model aircraft were participating in the event.

close up view of the insignia on the plane above

While watching the model airplanes flying, we noticed a flock of large white birds with black bars on their wings soaring in the thermals above us.  We found out later they were Whooping Cranes!

While visiting this flying event, we learned of a RV campground in San Benito TX that has a remote control flying field within the park and about 20 RC enthusiasts.  It might be a place to consider stopping at in the fall!