Coincidences
January 15, 2008
We have been in Mission for six weeks and have intended to go see the gathering of the green parrots, or technically the green parakeets, ever since we got here. We finally got there and found them on this roof. I thought that the color contrast was very special. I am not sure whether to say that they cooperated or not. I took two pictures and suddenly the whole flock took to flight, circled a couple times and disappeared. We did not see another bird, except hundreds of grackles. Maybe next time?
GREEN PARROTS ON A RED TILE ROOF
We have been having a lot of fun in Bentsen Grove. It has pretty much been a simple continuation of the life style that we had gotten into when we were here last year. Rather than needing to establish a new routine with a new campground the schedule of our activities has not really changed a whole lot since last year. Erma started line dancing about the middle of January last year. About three weeks before we left for the summer I went to one of her classes to take some pictures. For whatever the reason I thought that it might be fun to dance with her a little bit. Since I live with this woman all the time I guess that it makes sense to share more of the activities with her. In addition to starting to learn the dances late in the year, I did take quite a few pictures, which was my purpose. On the computer I printed off “class” pictures for most of the people. Some of my pictures were used by people in a different dance group for a special gathering they had. The instructor asked me one day if I could make a compilation of twenty some songs on a single disc. I had never done that but I knew that my computer should be able to do exactly that, so I said, “Yes.” It was a learning process, but I did make three different CD compilations and designed custom covers for each one. When I did the first CD I simply figured I would do a favor for the instructor. Then he got in front of the class and told them I could make anyone a copy and he even set a price. The price was right for me, and I had no objection to doing it, even if I did not know what he was biting off for me. I made and sold twenty some CDs. This year I have compiled another CD and have designed a new cover for the 2008 CD. I have learned a lot about the tricks of making a good looking CD between last year and this and have gotten ideas this year that are helping to make a better product. It has been a lot of fun.
In addition to the line dancing we are taking some conversational Spanish, we are working with a group that makes quilts for the less fortunate here in the area. All we have done so far is to tie the finished quilts. But again we have been having fun. There is a lot of other things that we are doing also, so much that at times we are hoping for an afternoon that we can simply relax and rest.
It is very amazing to me how some coincidences come about. For quite a few years I have seen an eye catching name on e-mails that I have received. This other person, Betty, was getting many of the same forwarded items that I was getting. Soon after I started writing Peace On The Road I was told that my writings were being forwarded to Betty and she was enjoying them also. Now this could have gone on for years and nothing would have been note worthy of the facts. However when I decided that I would winter in the Rio Grande Valley Texas small unrelated strings started wrapping themselves to become something I noticed. In the Rio Grande Valley there are so many RV Resorts that I could not even attempt to guess the number. It seems that every time we drive along a new road there is another RV Resort of some sort. It may be a big one or a small one. There are a few being built and a few being replaced by other commercial ventures. While I spend most of my time around Mission I assume that the other cities in the area are very much the same way. There is a reason that some people claim that the entire northern United States moves to Texas during the winter. We are in Bentsen Grove RV Resort and just on the other side of the east fence is Mission West RV Resort. Mission West has a reputation of serving the very best hamburgers every Monday evening and having a good Country and Western jam session right afterwards. In 2007 we had gone over for the hamburgers and CW jam a couple times and had also been there for a gospel jam. Just in case you do not know what I mean by a jam, it is a music session when musicians that just like to get together and play a certain type of music. There are many CW jams, several gospel jams, polka jams, big band jams and jams where other types of music is played. There are times when there might be fifty musicians and several hundred listeners. Some of the musicians likely were professional some time in their lives and some are barely able to carry a tune in a bucket with the lid on the top, but every one gets a chance to be on center stage during the jam. Even when they are not good the crowd enjoys them. With that bit of background I will go back to the first coincidence. I was told that Betty and Wayne were also somewhere in Mission but the name of the park was not known. So with a couple e-mails and a phone call I found out that they were in Mission West, the park across the fence to the east. We had actually driven within a few foot of their motor home and car. In fact I had parked once within thirty foot of their home when we went to the first jam we attended at Mission West. It is possible that I had stood in line with Wayne or we may have sat at the same table with Betty and Wayne and never knew it. We did meet them last year and this year we have shared burgers and jam with them some. Of all the places we could have been we chose to be next to each other. It has been a fun and pleasant coincidence.
Back in 2005 when we first passed through Mission we stayed three nights in Mission Gardens resort, about four miles from our current location. From there we went to Rockport, Texas and stayed at Bayview RV Resort. Rockport has a lot of RV Resorts also. While heading to our winter quarters we met a fellow that was parked in the next site at a park in Willis, Texas. It turned out that he was going to be close to us in the same resort at Rockport, and then again be at Mission Gardens when we got into Mission. How we chose to make the acquaintance of a fellow that was going to be staying in the same camps that we would I have no idea. There were other people around us that were going other places I am sure and we never had time to get to know them. I think something similar probably happens every once in a while and we do not even notice that it happened. While this event was coincidental it is not nearly as strange as this next story.
Just north of Mission is the town of Edinburgh. As we are driving along the highway we see a lot of flashing lights and emergency vehicles beside the road. They were there dealing with an accident that had happened not too long before we drove along the road. A pickup pulling a Montana fifth wheel trailer had gone into the ditch, rolled onto its side and it looked like it did a lot of damage to both the truck and the trailer. As we drove by we looked to see if it was anyone we knew, and did not think that we knew them. Several weeks later we were talking to some people from our dance class when they said they were involved in an accident coming to Mission and totaled their fifth wheel and did a lot of damage to their pickup truck. Of course our first thought was that they might be the ones we had seen along the road. When we asked it they had their accident near Edinburgh on December first, they said no. They had wrecked their vehicle towing a Cardinal fifth wheel near Salina, Kansas just a few day before. A few days later we were with our friends, Kathy and David at a burger place. It was just one of a few dozen that are around the area. They had ordered their food and were setting in a booth talking to the couple in the next booth by the time that we got to the booth. Kathy was wearing a tee shirt with “Bentsen Grove Bicycle Club” on it, and the lady had said they were in Green Gate Grove RV Resort. Kathy and David have a Montana fifth wheel and receive a news letter that is concerned with people that own Montana brand fifth wheels. David asked if they perhaps owned a Montana fifth wheel. His news letter had mentioned that a lot of Montana owners were in the park. At about that moment we got to the booth and heard that they did own a Montana fifth wheel and had wrecked it and their truck up by Edinburgh. Erma asked them if the accident had happened on December first, and they said, “Yes.” That were the accident that we saw coming into Mission. They also totaled their Montana fifth wheel and did about the same dollar amount of damage to their pickup as the Cardinal owners. Now to add the final irony to the story, they were coming to the Green Gate Grove RV Resort that is just over the fence to our south. To me it is amazing that we should find out anything about them five weeks after the incident. Then to think that if Kathy had not been wearing that specific shirt, at that specific burger place or we had gone there about ten minutes later the meeting would never have happened. It turned out to be an amazing coincidence to both Erma and myself.
LA LOMITA MISSION CHAPEL
Just a little south of Mission is a small mission church that dates back to about 1865. The land was originally part of Spanish land grants. It was called La Lomita Ranch, which would be translated as ranch on a hill. When a devout Roman Catholic from France purchased the land a chapel was built on his ranch and it became an important stop for the “Padres On Horseback” between their Mission headquarters in Brownsville, Texas and the Mission in Roma, Texas. When he died he willed his ranch to two Oblate Fathers, “for the propagation of the faith among the barbarians.” The original chapel was principally destroyed by Rio Grande flood waters and rebuilt in 1899. In 1907 most of the ranch property was sold to two developers. They gave the town site in the middle of their purchase the name of Mission to honor the historical ties to the Oblate mission work. So it is this little chapel that is only twelve by fifteen feet that has the main link to the town where I am staying. I would make a guess that the majority of the people that live in Mission do not know of the connection of the name of the town to the little mission that is only a few miles away. Often to know what is in the local area or perhaps some odd bit of history it is good to ask a non-resident. The resident is too busy working.
KEY LIMES HIDING IN THE LEAVES ON A TREE IN BENTSEN GROVE
The longer I am here in this park the more different kinds of citrus fruit trees I discover. Last year I knew about the oranges, grapefruit, lemons and tangerines. This year I have also discovered kumquats and key limes. The only thing that I have not seen is regular size limes, and I do not have a doubt that somewhere here there is at least one of those trees somewhere. Some years ago this whole area was a functioning orchard. The people that established this park had the intelligence to leave many of the trees growing for the benefit the residents. There may be bags or boxes of fruit setting by the street any time with a sign that says “FREE.” Also there is frequently bags of fruit just setting in the main clubhouse. There is no reason for anyone that lives here to be short of fruit.
Till Later This Is Doug Of
Peace On The Road
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