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

March 18, 2007 It was time for us to leave “The Valley” so we did all the things we love down here one more time. We played trivia with Bob, Mary, Connie and Evelyn (What wonderful people!) in Harlingen then headed to Brownsville, home of Gladys Porter Zoo. The zoo is only about an eighth of a mile walk, but the enclosures are all close by and you can see several at one time. For example while standing at the giraffe enclosure watching the seven giraffe move about, you look beyond to see the lions sleeping, the wild dogs running and the long horned deer grazing. First enclosure you come to is the gorilla’s. There are eleven of them counting the baby. We have grown to adore them all: Mosha is the dad of all of them and Silverback for the group. Penny, Martha and Mary are the three sisters. Herubie and N-Zinga are brothers. Osha and Pella are the young girls. Bangor and Megan are the two little ones and there is a new baby that has no name of yet. The newest enclosure is the aviary fille...

February 27, 2007 We got up early with the sky just turning bright and walked along the shore. The waves sort of curl in to the sand as it is shallow here. It was a low low tide and we were able to walk way out the sand looking for shells. We found no snail shells, but some very interesting twists from welk shells. The laughing gulls, plovers, wicket and pelicans are the only others up this early. But soon the vehicles start to arrive, mostly fishermen. Each morning two guys come and use a long pole with a suction and pull up clams. We spent the day reading, kiting, puzzeling, and just sitting. The sun peeked out from time to time; the wind blew briskly. Will made a yummy shrimp stirfry. After dinner, at sunset, we walked along the shore. It was dark when we returned to the roadtrek. We watched RobRoy and Stealing Home with a very young Jodi Foster.

February 23, 2007 Boca Chica is south of Browsnville near the confluence of the Rio Grande flowing into the Gulf of Mexico. The parking is along the deadend road or on the beach. We chose the road. The first night we parked back about five or six car lengths. We met Bertrill and Marshall who were parked in the front motor home. They recognized Will's shirt from Puerto Penasco, Mexico. We talked of our trips to Mexico. They offered us to park in front of them. A bulldozer was plowing sand so when he was finshed we moved ahead. Many visitors come with their four wheel drive vehicles and drive down to the confluence or up to the jetty. We walked the beach. We found one unique shell here, a snail with a beautiful brown pattern on the cream colored shell. Shell collectors arrive early and scarf them up quickly, but we managed to find a few over the several days we spent here. We had planned to just spend one night, but the weather was so nice, warm and sunny and only a soft breeze off t...