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Southeast (Gulf Coast), Texas, United States

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

End of Trip -- Mission Bluebonnet Allegro Rally


After spending the night on a Kingville Walmart parking lot, we got back on the road to the Benson Palm Village RV Resort in Mission, Texas for the Bluebonnet Allegro November rally.  This venue was chosen because a member family, the Juneau’s had sold their home in the hill country of Texas to an RV neighborhood in Mission.  These neighborhoods have RV spaces with an RV pad and a small ‘casita’ to a full-sized home with a covered RV Garage.  The Juneau’s  have the latter!
 
We arrived at the RV park at about noon, and got set up in our site.   The RV park was next door to the Juneau’s neighborhood, and we had access to the park’s meeting hall.  The park is built to be a long-term sight for snowbirds (AKA Winter Texans) as well as overnight sites.  It is well-landscaped and maintained nicely. Here are some photos of our sight……



This is a picture of the rally room from our site…….. a short walk.

And a picture of a ‘Pot Luck’ dinner in the hall.  We also play games and visited in the room.  The vacated seat with the large amount of money in front of it belonged to me……… I had really good results on the first two nights of play, but lost a little on the third night!!
The rally officially started on Wednesday,but we chose to spend the whole week in Mission having to drive 4 hours to get there.  The first planned activity was a border crossing to shop and eat lunch in Progresso, MX. 
The following shows a portion of our 5 car convoy on the 30 mile trip to the border crossing, as well as some pictures during the visit.

The bridge to Progresso.........

The gang crossing............

The gang posing for a picture...............

Shopping for our granddaughter..............

Unnecessary Shopping
The gang returning home!!


Another planned event was a 1-hour river boat cruise on the Rio Grande river in the area.  We boarded at the Riverside Bar and Cafe, and most of us had lunch there after the cruise.  The weather was not great, but the boat was fully enclosed, so that was good.  Here’s a few pictures of the cruise.  In the pictures, the shores are natural, stark and not built up (as you might expect with the concerns about illegal border crossings, but built up with nice parks and resorts along the Mexico shore………. almost as if a nice place to wait for night to cross!!



 I could not arrange the pictures in the order that I wanted, but the nice areas are in Mexico, and the undeveloped areas with 'gun' towers are in the USA!!  The Mexico side is considered 'resort' areas, and I guess the USA side is sending the "NOT WELCOME" message!!










On Saturday, Patsy and I joined other guest to tour the World Birding Center Headquarters and Bentsen State Park, located across the street from the RV Resort!!  ‘Birding’ or bird watching as it is called, is a popular pastime in this area.  Our tour guide told us that this park was a credit to the state of Texas to sponsor and set up a sanctuary for nature to preserve several species of birds as well as other wildlife.  In fact, a big part of the park lands is a recovered cotton field!

State Park Entrance
Here are some pictures including those of the Chachalaca bird that thrives in this state park.  The ranger who conducted the tour was very nice and competent.

 




One thing that I learned, I am not a birder......... it just isn't for me!!

On Saturday night, we enjoyed a “bring-your-own-Steak-to-throw-on-the-grill” dinner with the rally host furnishing the remainder of the meal.  This was held at the community hall in the Juneau’s neighborhood.  It was a nice venue and a very nice meal.  Our Co-Hosts, Diane and Sandy are shown working in the kitchen during the meal





The following is a picture of club members paying the rally fee for this rally…….. a total of $20/couple.  The was a great price for a very well planned rally by our hosts, Carol and Jim Juneau and co-hosts, Diane and Chip Jennings & Sandy and Mike Mills.


On Sunday, like many couples enjoyed a pastry breakfast in the clubhouse, and got a chance to say goodbye to everyone, and start the 200 mile drive back home in Victoria.  We had been on this road trip since October 10………. a total of 33 days!!

Our next planned trip will be the Houston 'Lone Star Allegros' Christmas rally in Conroe Texas during the first weekend of December.  We will be a part of the host team......... another thing that I don't do well!!  Check back to see how it goes!!