"Today is a Good Day to Drive!" .....Van-Go

January 31, 2009 We enjoyed all the kites this year. Will had his out for a bit too! Kathy won a butterfly kite! IQuad was again out to entertain everyone with their Revolution kites.

January 28, 2009 It was too cold today, under 60 degrees, so the gorillas were inside. The teenage boys are in a separate cage, but the rest of the family were in rare form playing.

January 27, 2009 Jerry Stones, Facilities Director, told stories tonight about the primates.

January 27, 2009 Bangori came up to the window and played with Will for about half and hour today. He was concerned that there was blood on Will's arm and tried to lick it off through the glass and then tried to wipe it off. The baby potbellied pigs are getting bigger!

January 27, 2009 Will had a dentist appointment in Progresso, Mexico to get the crown on his tooth; all went well. Then we headed down the street to Ay Jilisco, our favorite restaurant.

January 26, 2009 Kathy bought her 1987 MR2 new in Pennsylvania. It has 205,000 miles. The brake light was coming on and it was loosing break fluid so we brought it to Buster Armstrong, all American Mechanic, at Momentum Automotive in Harlingen, Texas. Buster had done work on it over the years and he honestly told us that the car was in stage-4 Rust. He suggested we find a car to use for parts. Robin bought her 1986 MR2 new in Colorado. It has 84,000 miles. The passenger side fender and door were crushed in a fluke accident. She was not driving it so after months of sitting in the barn she pulled it out and put a for sale sign on it. That is just the time Kathy called Robin. We picked the '86 up last week in Willow City, Texas. After a few days listening to live music in Luckenbach, we drove the '86 down to Buster. He sent us over to Salazar, next door. We made a deal: parts will be traded out to make the 1986 Van-go's new sports car. It will be in the garage for a month und...

January 25, 2009 Harley's on Sundays in the winter is filled inside and out. The crowd is diverse...bikers, locals and lots of snowbirds down south to get away from the snow up north. Buckets of beer brought out by the sweetest server, BBQ grilled up over a misquite wood fire, and the best live music in the Valley by John Harley and the Bayview Bushriders.

January 23, 2009 First came new boots for Will then came a new belt for Kathy. Heading back to the Roadtrek we stopped for a few snacks at Russling Robs in Fredricksburg. We were then ready for Luckenbach. Mike Hadley was the host joined by Bo Porter. The McKay Brothers played in the Dance Hall and Levi joined them on stage!

January 22,2009 Another great evening at Luckenbach. Bo Porter was the host. The room was filled to standing room only. Rick treated everyone by joining the circle; he played his harmonica and guitar too. One song he did like Elmer Fudd; it was great!

January 22, 2009 Bob and Dolly met us at Luckenbach and we were both surprized to see their MN neighbors. We sat under the great live oaks and got all caught up chit chatting about the snow up north, travel and families.

January 22, 2009 We gave the Roadtrek a well needed bath while sitting at Lady Bird Park in Fredricksburg.

January 22, 2009 We met up with Walt at Luckenbach. We love his "true story" adventures. John was at the bar and we got to talking and seems he will be headed to South Padre Island in a few weeks where is Chris and Barb, own Coral Reef. So we plan to meet up again down south. Always fun meeting new people. There was some good pickin' with Levi, and Bill Lewis, Jimmy Lee and Cowboy Doug and of course great "true stories."

January 21, 2009 Remember we had some brake trouble with the MR2 when we tried to take it to Pittsburgh for Christmas? Well, we got back to the Valley and dropped it off at Momentum to have it fixed. Buster, the owner, called to let us know it would be over $3000 to have it fixed; it was dieing of rust. He suggest we try to find another MR2 to use for parts. Kathy really didn't want to give us the sports car, but $3000 is a lot to spend for a car only worth half that. Will suggested she call Robin and Wayne up at Knot-in-the-Loop; they have an '86 MR2 almost identical to ours. When we were up their way last year Robin told us it was sitting in the barn because there was a little fender bender. Robin was in the MR2 and Wayne in the pick-up and they backed into each other! opps. So, Kathy called and Wayne answered. Kathy asked about the car and Wayne said, "I just pulled it out front and put a for sale sign on it!" Kathy told him to pull it back into the barn we would b...

January 21, 2009 Lady Bird Johnson Park in Fredericksburg having some breakfast, feeding the geese and relaxing.

January 19, 2009 We have been wanting to visit the Ebanos Preserve for many seasons down here so we drove out; but they are closed for the season with hurrican damage. We drove to Harlingen to catch some of Senior Appreciation Day at Valley Race Track, but the vendors were all packed up. We did catch the last race where Kathy picked #4 to win; he did and we could have won $12 if we had actually put money down. Then, we headed to San Benito Heavin Resaca where we found a little puppy we adopted. She is a real sweetie! We like the resaca because there is we can relax, walk, and now we have a little friend to keep us company. The view across the water is really nice; the fort-like building houses the Headstart of the Valley.

January 19, 2009 We stopped in Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge and looked for birds. We saw many including this Sora Rail; it is extremely secretive. This must be just the right habitat as there is usually one just off the boardwalk at Alligator Pond. And yes, there is a big old alligator here sunning. We hope to see lots of babies in the pond come late February. We took the path from the parking lot remembering when we put in all those posts and cleared the path! We had volunteered at the NWR for several winter seasons and this was one of our last projects. In the visitor cener we saw Caroline. We had been fellow volunteers. It was fun catching up and meeting one of the new volunteers, Fay. There are now tram rides offered at Laguna for $4 they drive you around the 15-mile loop giving information about the refuge. Check the picture on the wall of the momma and baby ocelot spotted with the help of a trip camera; it shows there are new ones in the refuge where only 30-40 of th...