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Friday, October 30, 2009

On the road to Progreso, TX and the Mexico border

We drove south from San Antonio to Progreso TX. We stopped in Harlingen, TX at the Vistor's Center and picked up a lot of maps and booklets. Great information. We should have done that a while back. Many of the tourist brochures have a brief history of the towns and different regions of the state.I find myself wondering about the history of the towns as we drive through them. The tourism booklets do a great job of giving some basic details. I like the maps too because I tend to lose track of where we are or how we got there because I'm usually not the one studying the map.

We are camped at 1015 RV Park (on State Road 1015) in Weslaco, TX about 2 miles from the International Bridge and border with Mexico.

Once we got hooked up and settled in, we decided to go to Progresso. We found a parking lot at the International Bridge and walked across. It cost $0.25 so we put a quarter in the turn stile and next thing we knew we were there.
This was our first trip to Mexico in probably 25 years. We went to Tijuana, Mexico for shopping when we lived in San Bernardino, CA back in the mid 1980's.

Nuevo Progreso seems like it is here for the Winter Texans and curious people like us. South Texas and the whole region is a large area for people up north who like warmer weather this time of year. In fact, the camphosts here at the RV park are from a small town near Chicago.

Nuevo Progreso seems to be safe and pleasant enough. We walked around for about 90 minutes.
We looked for a rug for the Roadrunner but this doesn't seem to be the place for that.It looks to me like they are trying to get their road repair work finished before the heavy U.S. tourist season starts in the next month or two.

It has lots of shops full of stuff we don't need, but we did see some yard birds that looked interesting... :)
I am fascinated by the whole place. We have been to similar places (Korea, Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong, Germany, Greece, France, Canada) over the years and find it interesting. All different but the same.The peanuts and spices looked good in the grocery store.

The town has a lot of businesses for dental work and generic drugs. The main reason we are here is to check out a dentist that was recommended to us. We will let you know how that goes.This was my last shot heading back to the U.S. side before the Mexican Army guard waved his hand that pictures were not a good idea...I think after our dental appointments we will probably try to visit a nearby birding area and/or state refuge.

That's it for now. Thanks for checking in. Comments are always nice - we appreciate them.

8 comments:

  1. Hope the dental work goes good. We have friends that have used the doctors/dentists there for years.

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  2. Thanks for the interesting tour and pics of Progreso. I'm a little leery of going to Mexico but it looked fairly quiet there.

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  3. Enjoyed the tour you gave from "south of the border". Hope all goes well with the dentist trip.....yuck, I hate any dentist, but they are a necessary part of life.

    Have a great day.

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  4. What an interesting place! Thanks for the tour.
    Looking forward to hearing your "take" on the dentist visit. We feel like we have left the world of full-timers but holidays are holidays and Stephen is feeling better and avoided the hospital. Thats a good thing.
    We look forward to meeting up with you all again very soon. Hugs, Mike and Gerri

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  5. Oh by the way...Randy, I am very sure I am not related to Jerry Jones!!! LOL

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  6. Would really be interested in hearing how the dental appt goes. Referring to a good dentist there would be much appreciated. I'm not good with dentists....but also do not have dental insurance. Soooo.....sooner or later I'll to get to someone.

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  7. Just letting you know I have been checking in on your blog for a few weeks now.
    Thanks I enjoy your blog and wanted to let you know. Keep it up.

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  8. Small world story...What a surprise to learn you met my sister Betty at the dentist office today! My brother-in-law has gone to that dentist for a lot of work and is pleased. We planned to go last Oct but she was off having a baby! Glad you got to go to the RV-Dreams Rally. Lynda and Bob

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