New camp ground

Yesterday, we moved across the valley from Arroyo City to Mission, TX. Mission is celebrating it's 100th anniversary - not as old as Wichita. The camp ground here is called Chimney Park and they have a web site if you're interested. This land has been in someone's hands since the middle 1700's. The Chimney was built in 1907 to run a pump for irrigation, pulling water out of the Rio Grande. It is 106 ft. tall and has a 6' diameter. After the droughts of 1952-53, it was abandoned. In the 1960's it was opened as a fishing camp. Now there are around 300 sites with full hook ups. Some are permanent residents. The chimney is now recognized by the Texas Historical Commission and became a Rio Grande Valley historical landmark in 1985.

The other fun thing about the particular park, there seem to be a lot of aliens that like to come across here somewhere. We are right on the Rio Grande; however, the Border Patrol is in full strength here. Down by the boat ramp last night, there were about 3 SUV's attached to empty boat trailers. Plus a helicopter flys over regularly. Our camper is backed up to a levy that runs parallel with the river. There is about a 4' or 5' chain link fence around us that has three strands of barbed wire running along the top. There is a road at the top of the levy and the border patrol goes up and down there regularly. Our new neighbor says they rounded up about 20 illegals last week. They run right down our fence and head out into the surrounding land and suburbs.

This morning I was up for an 8:30 aerobic class and at 7:00 pm I went to a Spanish lesson. We had a cold morning - got down to 47 F last night. Got back up to about 75 today and Larry decided to go swimming. Not me, I just laid out in the sun. Tomorrow is a covered dish dinner. There is a big festival here this weekend - The Borderfest. Apparently it's really a big event down here. We're going to try to get there on Friday. They're celebrating China - not sure what border we share but that's the country of choice this year. Alan Jackson is performing and the Jonas Brothers are on another night. There's a huge International Square Dance down in Mexico (across the bridge from the Borderfest) tomorrow morning but I don't think we'll make that. Arts & Crafts and, of course, a big food court. We're also planning a trip into Mexico at Progresso. We have a month so I'm guessing we'll try to spread out all the fun stuff.