Mexico - just a hop and skip away

We left Mustang Island this morning - ready to get out of the rain and wind. We headed south and a bit west to Mission, Texas which is only a couple of miles away from the Mexican border. When we left Mustang Island it was 51 degrees with a very cold hard wind out of the north. Three hours later we are settled in at Oleander RV Park just outside of Mission, Texas and it was 71 degrees at 3:45 PM. Awesome. It felt sooooo good to not be wearing 3 layers of clothes. The park we are in is not a state park but a privately owned RV park where the majority of people here leave their campers/trailers/RV's here all year. Many have been skirted around the bottom and they even have little flower gardens next to their "homes". People here are obviously retired. They ride little golf carts around the park or even tricycles! For some reason I feel like all these other campers are my elders by many years but I don't think that is the case. I just feel inside younger then they look on the outside. Yeah, I know, check out the mirror, Jackie.

Had an interesting experience just shortly before entering our new camp site. We stopped at a gas station just outside of Mission, Texas and I went in to use the facilities. There was a line outside the women's bathroom and the young woman with a child that was ahead of me in the line started to speak Spanish to me. The paucity of Spanish that I do know completely abandoned me and I simply told her "I am sorry, I do not understand" She smiled, put her hand on my shoulder and continued on in Spanish. I think she was trying to tell me there was only one bathroom labeled "Women" but it was for both men and women. I am definitely "not in Kansas anymore, Toto." Even all the groceries and chips, crackers, snacks in the gas station were all in Spanish. Why do we as Americans expect others coming to the USA to speak English, but we make little effort to learn any language of our neighboring countries?

Looking forward to exploring a bit tomorrow and maybe even crossing over into Mexico. The people in this park are so friendly, the hosts as well as the campers. Almost feels like home.....except for the little golf carts!

The pictures I am sending are of our new home. Cacti bordering the camp, my first orange tree right next to our camper. I can reach out the window and pick an orange. The final picture is of the sunset tonight. It was a beauty.