If You're Down in Acuna...

Well, it is time for another update.  Time is still flying by!  ZZ Top fans may recognize the title of this post.:)

Wednesday December 15:  Wednesday started out with the community breakfast in the rec room.  A couple of the guys and their wives do the planing and cooking.  The ham, bacon, sausage, hash browns, and grits are prepared ahead of time, but the eggs and pancakes are prepared to order.  It was a good system, and all you can eat for $4.00 is a good bargain.  The conversation and the friendship are a bonus.

After breakfast Ann went to work, but I stayed around for more coffee and conversation with breakfast club.  I dont think they had as many people for breakfast as they thought they might, but a few from the other RV parks in the area did show up. 

The rest of Wednesday spent just hanging out and enjoying the nice weather.  I did make time in the afternoon to empty the black and gray tanks on the motorhome, a job I do about every 5 or 6 days.


Thursday December 16:  Thursday was just another routine day, and by the time Ann finished with her work, we were ready to get out and do something, so we decided to go out for dinner, which lead to some internet research for eating places in the area.  We settled on a place down the road a couple of miles called Cripple Creek.  It looked good enough for us.

There is an outdoor bar area that probably gets more use when the weather is a little warmer.  I had the baby back ribs off the senior menu, while Ann had the salmon.  Both came with baked potato, and salad.  My ribs were excellent, but Ann's fish was over cooked, but still edible.  All in all it was ok, however, a little over priced in our opinion.

After finishing dinner, and heading home we decided to stop at a place recommended by the campground managers called  Lorina's Cantina.  It was a nice sized bar with a karaoke set up, with a nice sized dance floor.  When we asked if there was going to be karaoke tonight she said yes, and it would start about 8:00PM, so we decided to stay, as Ann loves doing karaoke.  Well, 8:00 came and went, but still no karaoke, so we asked another server, she said the guy should be here any minute, so we waited, and finally a little after 9:00 he showed up and promptly started singing.  Ann finally asked our server how things worked here, and she explained you have to put your name on the white board, and you sing in the order you sign up.  After a couple more songs by the host, Ann got to sing.  The rest of the evening was spent with mostly Ann and the host taking turns singing, with a couple of other girls in between.  One of the other girls sang a song in Spanish, the first time either of us had seen that.

It was a fun evening, and went on a little longer than we usually do during the week, but were both up at usual time on Friday.

Friday December 17:  Friday was another yawner.  The only interesting part of the day was my morning coffee.  It is so much fun to discuss the issues of the day with so many guys that have views that are diametrically opposed to mine.  We disagree vehemently, but at the end of the day we laugh and joke about our differences.  I doubt I change any minds, but they do get the opportunity to see the world from a different perspective, and that all people who have a different perspective of the world are not wacko tree huggers.

Tonight was "hot dog" night in the rec room with the campground providing the hot dogs, and fixings, but Ann decided to take a nap after work, and didnt wake up till 6:00PM, so we just went into Del Rio and had dinner at Church's Chicken.  The chicken was pretty good, but the place was filthy, and I doubt we will go back.  There is no acceptable reason a restaurant should be this messy, even if it was the busy time of the day!

After returning home from dinner, we watched one of the movies I had got for Ann for her birthday, in anticipation of our winter travels, and spending evenings in the motorhome.  I am not a big fan of movies, but one every now and them is tolerable. We watched "Bucket List" with Morgan Freeman, and Jack Nicholson.  It was a nice way to spend a relaxing evening, except we didnt have any theater popcorn.  :(


Saturday December 18:  During a couple of our morning "coffee discussions" the topic of going to Mexico came up, and the guys that have been there, gave us some tips and information on what to expect if you go there.  So on Saturday we decided to go down to Acuna which is just a couple miles south of Del Rio.  The trip down and getting into Mexico was pretty easy, and we just kept heading south and in a couple of blocks we spotted a parking lot and pulled in.  The guy running the lot directed us to a parking spot, recorded info on our car and wrote down the time.  As we were hungry, we looked for a restaurant that is advertised in the campground brochure called Crosby's.  We got directions from one of the locals, and we tipped him 50 cents.  The streets and sidewalks are very narrow, with unannounced dips, so you have to be careful walking, and watching at the same time.  There also, was lots of sidewalk and street construction that wasnt marked off in any way.  OSHA would have a grand time down here!

We found Crosby's and entered through the bar.  It was apparent that though it looked pretty out dated, it had been a real hot spot at one time as the mirror behind the bar was covered with stickers from several colleges, fraternities, and bars. sorry, we didnt get a pic of it.  We were each given a menu, one with prices in pesos, and the other with prices in US dollars.  Ann had the Portuguese chicken, and I had the Mexican plate.  The chicken was tasty, but a little dry, the Mexican plate was pretty much as expected and good.
We both had Coke; mine was regular, and Ann's was diet.  As you can see they were served in bottles, and not cans.  I cant remember the last time I had a bottle of Coke.

The town itself didnt seem to inviting, so we decided just to head back across the border.  Here is a pic of us approaching the US border.

It took us about twenty minutes to get back into the US, the border guards are very meticulous, and dont seem to be bothered by the long lines.  We were asked where we were from, why did we go to Mexico, what we did there, where were we staying, and did we pull the car behind the motorhome.  The drug dog had already sniffed around our car, and there was a guy with a mirror on a handle that looked under cars, but our border guard, double checked our car, and then inspected the trunk before letting us back in the US.  I guess it is just there job, and do it to everyone, as not be be accused of "profiling".

After coming back across, our next stop was the Whitehead Museum in old Del Rio.  We had heard about it from one the guys at morning coffee.  It has a ton of history of the area, way more than anyone can absorb in an afternoon.

We did get several pictures including some scenes of the area as it developed especially as it related to Judge Roy Bean, who is buried on the museum grounds. With each of the scenes there was a prerecorded message that you could play that would explain the scene.

Here are the headstones of Roy Bean and his son.

Another important part of Del Rio's history is that of radio station XREF, which was a 50,000 watt clear channel radio station.  Here is some pics of radio equipment from the 40's and also a pic of Wolfman Jack, who got his start in radio in Del Rio.

There were tons more to see at the museum including some displays of the native indians of the area, old farm implements, and beautiful nativity scene, all of which I forgot to takes pics of.  All in all we spent about two and half hours there.  Very interesting stuff!  If you are interested in seeing more of the museum look here:
Whitehead Museum

Then it was home for some rest, and then back to town for a nice dinner at the local Applebee's.  Then it was back home again to get ready to go back to Lorina's Cantina for more Karaoke.  This time there were lots of singers, and some pretty good ones at that, so Ann only got to sing three songs before it was time to call it a day.

 Everyone seemed to really appreciate Ann's singing talent, which she always enjoys!  Another late night, but we have Sunday to recoup.  :)

 Sunday December 19:  Today started out with another breakfast in the rec center.  As usual it was good food and plenty of it, we even brought home some extra ham to have this week.  Another great weather day here, sunny and about 70.  wooooooo hooooooo

This afternoon I watched some football and Ann got caught up her Facebook games before taking her bike on the new car bike rack she bought the other day, to a safer place to ride her bike than on the busy highway that goes by the campground.  She enjoys biking much more than walking or jogging as it is easier on her heels.

The sun is setting and Ann is talking to her Mom and step-dad Paul as I finish  another blog update.  For dinner we are going to have deer steaks(thanks to Ali), baked potatoes, along with macaroni and cheese, and lima beans.  While cooking the deer steaks, I took a couple of pics of the almost full moon as well.

Also, just got a nice phone call from my daughter, son-in-law, and two of the three grand kids(the other is sick with strep), a great way to wind down the day.  :)


Hope everything is well with those that read the blog.

Paul