February 11, 2006

February 11, 2006

La Feria, Texas, Nuevo Progreso, Mexico, & Weslaco, Texas

YEAR 2 DAY 239

 

Today was sunny, cool, and windy in the morning, warming up nicely by afternoon.

After regular morning chores and preventive maintenance, we left for Mexico to go pick up my repaired glasses. We drove to Progreso, parked, and walked across to Nuevo Progreso. We walked to Flores Optical, and picked up my glasses. Hmmm ... nice repair job. I didn't know glasses could be welded like that. We walked back toward the International Bridge, but before we crossed back into the United States, Joanne wanted to walk around and shop one last time. Joanne enjoys recreational shopping more than I do. I followed along behind her while she shopped for nothing in particular, like a typical gringo tourist in Mexico. We bought a box of Nugs ( pronounced Noogs ) and a box of Coconugs, Mexican chocolate bars we like. Finally I got tired and hungry, and told her I wanted to leave. We walked back across the International Bridge to the large parking lot where we left Dee-Dee.

We drove north on Hwy. FM ( which stands for "farm to market" ) 1015 to Hwy. Business 83, then west on Business 83 to the Farmer's Market between Weslaco and Donna. We bought quite a bit of fresh fruits and vegetables, stocking up a bit before hitting the road tomorrow. We bought more of the great Rio Ruby grapefruits, and a Mexican vegetable called a Jicama ( pronounced Heecama ). I asked the woman working at the vegetable stand to explain Jicama to me. She showed me how to peel it ( like a potato ) and she cut me a sample to taste. It's somewhat like a water chestnut. Joanne is going to use it in a salad with carrots, like a turnip and carrot salad. We really enjoy trying local fare, wherever we are.

We drove from the Farmer's Market to Weslaco, where we stopped for a very late lunch at a Texas based fast food chain called Whataburger. Wow ... what a burger ! HA HA HA ! Joanne was musing that eating at regional fast food restaurants, like Whataburger, should be a part of our travel experiences. I guess she's right. We still haven't eaten at a Bob Evans, or a Jack In The Box, or Mr. Gotti's. Or Blimpie's ! I want to eat at Blimpie's ! After lunch we walked across the parking lot to H-E-B and did some grocery shopping. We're about to head north tomorrow, heading away from Mexico. It was our last chance to buy Mesquite flavoured potato chips, or Jalapeñ o and Queso flavoured potato chips.

We drove back to La Feria. I went to the office, and settled up our bill. The office doesn't open until noon on Sunday, and we want to leave tomorrow morning before that. I washed the truck. It's the third time in 3 weeks that I've washed the truck. The horizontal surfaces, the roof and the hood, are always covered in a thick grimy dust around here, because of the frequent winds blowing up desert dust storms. I took Bo for an obedience training session. I did today's accounting, then started working on this journal entry as we began to watch the Olympics coverage on TV.

We had a late supper, then I spent the evening watching the Olympics, and working online, sending and retrieving e-mail, and updating my blog. It certainly is nice to watch NBC coverage of the Olympics, rather than CBC. Why, you ask ? NO BRIAN WILLIAMS ! ! !  I've disliked that jerk ever since I met him about 15 years ago in Whistler, at a World Cup Downhill.

DSK