10.22.09 - Butterflies, sugar cane, & oranges

On Sunday we drove the 5 hours south to the Rio Grande Valley. We are about an hour inland from the Gulf of Mexico just south of Mission, Texas. We got a two week reservation at the Americana RV Resort - not being experienced in this area at this time of year. We thought the campgrounds would already be filling with snowbirds but that is not the case. We could have gotten a reservation at Bentsen Palm Village for these extra two weeks but we knew they were filled for the winter and we assumed most folks were coming south about this time of year. Not so. The campgrounds are all empty here but for a few early birds like us. So we will stay the two weeks here at Americana and then move two miles down the road to Bentsen Palm Village - http://bentsenpalmvillage.com - where we will spend 4 months. We've already done some scouting of the area.

Above are some butterflies at the entrance to the National Birding Center - http://www.worldbirdingcenter.org - It is right next to the Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort.

The photo above and below are of sugar cane fields. They periodically flood the fields with water from the Rio Grande.



Above and below are orange trees growing here in our campground. This area is full of citrus growing: oranges, grapefruit, lemons, and limes. Just like in Arizona, they let the trees grow to the ground (so they look more like 10 foot tall bushes than trees) so the tree helps to conserve the irrigation water that they flood under them periodically.

We have taken a ride each day in a different direction to get to know our local. The only direction we haven't gone is south (in to Mexico)! We will go to Progresso one of these days that the weather is cool!

Check back soon for our updates on learning spanish! adiós para ahora