March 2023 in Brownsville TX and on to Toledo Bend LA

5 April 2023

I'm writing to post later. We are enjoying a remote tree shaded, full hook up campsite at San Miguel campground (Sabine River Authority) on Toledo Bend Reservoir in Zwolle LA. It’s peaceful and beautiful, and we have spotty Internet and phone service, but mostly none.

We had our boat with us at San Miguel

I am posting about our time in Brownsville during March on16 April 2023. Our month in Brownsville TX at the 4 Seasons Resort was great! We met many nice people and will certainly see them again at some point in our travels. We learned how to play Pickle Ball and really got the bug! We’ll likely trade in our tennis rackets for pickle ball rackets. There were so many activities at 4 Seasons, we had to skip a couple of entertainment offerings to rest a little. We did attend the Luau featuring Tahitian and Hawaiian hula dancers and delicious teriyaki chicken with many potluck luau sides for the meal.

Curiosity finally got the best of us and we checked out the “horse races”. This was 6 wooden horses being moved forward by a guy based on the roll of dice by another guy. Wagers are accepted for each race and betters can win between $5 and $10 if they bet often and win😊 We enjoyed socializing with the people at our table, but can’t say we’d go to the horse races again, now that we know the skinny. For St. Patrick’s day, they had a similar event but with turtles, and for these races, couples sat at each end of the track and tried to get their wooden turtle across the track by working a string attached to the turtle that extended across the track. This was a little more entertaining, but again not something we’d attend again unless we were exceptionally bored. Anita attended the ladies’ luncheon shortly after we arrived while Steve went fishing with Dave, and that was nice. Steve played in the pool tournament one morning and did well. He played pool with the group of guys and enjoyed that. We both competed in the corn hole tournament that lasted most of the day. Anita’s team came in second in the losers bracket and Steve lost out early in the winners bracket. It was a fun day over

all😊

There were four games going on throughout the day

While in Brownsville, we took care of admin things like seeing the dentist and getting our taxes done. Both were painless. We tried fishing at a few different spots on piers and jetties. Steve twisted his knee one day on the South Padre Island jetty, and Anita had already decided that jetties aren’t for her, with being slippery and typically rocky and jagged. Anita likes piers but those aren’t where the sheep head fish are. Steve worked hard for them on the jetty, but he did catch a few nice keeper sheep heads. Overall, the fishing in the Brownsville area was somewhat slow. Anita enjoyed reading on the beach and making calls to friends. One of those days, a plane flying an ad flew over and that really felt like a summer day at the beach!

Anita used this statue to find her way back after a walk into town (South Padre Island)

This is at the bases of the statue

Most days in March were very windy with sustaining winds 20-25mph. It was too windy to take the bicycles out. We went out bird watching a couple of times and got lucky to see some birds during lulls in the wind, but it was too windy for birds too most of withe days we tried to see some.

On March 16th, we went out to dinner at a little German pub at Port Isabel. Jim Krieger and Bill and Sandy Bennett invited us. Jim, AKA Jim #2 was our neighbor at 4 Seasons and got the “#2” because our neighbor on the other side was also Jim, AKA Jim #1😊 Bill and Sandy were our pickle ball instructor/coaches. They’re from Ohio and winter in Brownsville. Jim #2 is from Minnesota, but a full time RVer who winters in Brownsville.

Most of March was very busy for us at 4 Seasons, so we were a little surprised that we had arrived at the end of their season. The farewell party was on March 24th and folks were talking about all the fun they had all through the winter months with outings and events. Steve and I had signed up for a tour of Brownsville that ended in Matamoros Mexico on March 10th, but a few days before that is when 4 Americans were kidnapped and two of them were killed in Matamoros. Needless, to say we cancelled our tour. Residents of Breeze Lake and 4 Seasons talked about going to Progresso for prescription drugs and dental work, as well as shopping for certain items like Vanilla extract. We’d also heard of some who had also gone to Matamoros. After the kidnapping and murders of Americans, it was reported that it was rival gangs or cartels who mistook the Americans for smugglers. Residents of Brownsville said they’d go to Progresso and Matamoros again, saying that they felt perfectly safe. We have no interest in getting prescriptions filled, seeing a dentist or shopping, so we’re doubtful we’ll go anytime soon. We did see tethered surveillance balloons along the US/Mexico border. That was interesting. One was grounded at South Padre Island while we were there, so we got a closer look. It was deployed while we were there, and it appeared to be about 500 feet in the air.

We drove out to Port Mansfield one day before we left Brownsville. We had heard about the deer roaming around town and in people's front yards.

The deer didn't seem bothered by us driving by

Just before we left Brownsville, Greta Boldt from Michigan, another RVer at 4 Seasons told us we could see flocks of parrots at a local Brownsville Park (Joe & Tony Oliviera Park). She said that right at dusk the parrots can be heard first and then seen flying into the trees at this park. There is a building with a broken roof in which they all roost for the night. We were at Joe and Tony Oliveira Park around 5pm and had a long wait for dusk, but just as we were about to give up and drive off, we heard and saw the red-crowned parrots! It was a good lesson in patience😊 They are pictured below.

Our picture of the parrots at Joe & Tony Oliviera Park in Brownsville TX

Our picture of the parrots at Joe & Tony Oliviera Park in Brownsville TX

Our picture of the parrots at Joe & Tony Oliviera Park in Brownsville TX

Internet picture of parrots at Joe & Tony Oliviera Park

We left Brownsville on Monday March 27th and drove half way to Bossier City LA, where we had an appointment at an RV Service Center. We stayed at VegOut! Farm, a harvest host for our first time using Harvest Hosts. It was not a great experience with this host not returning calls and not being open for business on the day we arrived. We got to stay there, but were not able to patronize the general store because it was closed. The gates were locked when we got there, but the host answered and gave us the code. That code didn’t work, so she directed us to her personal locked gate next door and that one worked, however it closed on us and left a dent and paint on our truck. It was Anita’s fault due to having Steve stop to let her in the truck. We’ve chalked that experience up to a life lesson in life not being perfect.

The second night we spent at a Harvest Host was great! ODK Farm in Frierson LA was 35 miles from our appointment location in Bossier City the next morning at 8am. Chip and Deborah Killian are retired educators and they were beyond hospitable. Deborah made lemon squares for all the guests (they had 3 campers there the night we were there), and Chip got a fire going in their nice fire pit. He just told us the fire was going if we wanted to go. Steve and Anita walked over to the fire after dinner and later other guests, Heather and Scott joined us and Chip. Heather is an RN and Scott a commercial pilot, and they were on their way home to Covington, LA outside of New Orleans. They’d been to Hot Springs AR. ODK Farm raises white tail and axis deer and it was nice seeing those walking around.

The appointment at Bayou Outdoor Super Center went well. Our awning was not extending, and they replaced the motor. It works now. We had other odds and ends we needed addressed while our rig is still under warranty and they fixed everything! One negative from the experience that they found we have damage on our roof, probably from a tree limb. That is now an issue we are having to resolve with a patch sometime soon. We’ll be looking for Grand Design service centers in our travels to NM and AZ to get that fixed. While our home was in the shop, we walked a little around downtown Bossier City.

Downtown Bossier City