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Published: Tuesday, 10 December 2024 21:16
My apologies to those of you who read this article. I am having more trouble than usual receiving contracts from hotels, bus companies and attractions. Without those contracted prices, I am unable to quote the trip cost.
Even the local transportation companies are late in answering my requests for the rates. Could it be that so many want to travel that everyone is behind in mailing out their contracts? All of us were not able to travel for so long that now we are anxious to be out and about. My suggestion is that you schedule your trip well in advance and be sure that your tickets and seats are confirmed.
My oldest daughter who has retired in San Miguel de Allende will soon arrive in Texas for the Christmas holidays. We will be driving to the Hill Country to spend Christmas with the rest of the family. Driving across Texas is always a treat - the Texas landscape changes so much from one area to another. Just the change in scenery will keep you entertained. And the Christmas decorations along the way always add to the enjoyment.
If you want to see Christmas decorations at their peak, just travel to the Hill Country. They go all out with strings and strings of lights on all the houses and trees. San Antonio is another city that turns on all the lights especially on the River Walk.
If I look back at all the places where I have celebrated Christmas there are some that were extra special. The two that come first to my mind would be the celebration of the Posada at a private home in Rio Hondo and the other would be in Bethlehem at the Church of the Nativity.
If you are ever invited to celebrate a Posada be sure to attend. A Posada is the re-enactment of Mary and Joseph as they searched for a place for the birth of Christ. Almost 27 years ago, I went to my first Posada. My son in law carried my only grandson on his shoulders so that the little one would be able to see all the procession. How special that was.
The other memory of Christmas is also very special. The Church of the Nativity is built over the stable where Christ was born. I had always imagined that the manger was a wooden trough. At that time the cattle troughs were not made of wood but were hollowed out large rocks. As the group traveling with me sang Silent Night, I gazed intently at the hard, cold hollowed stone that was the bed where the Baby Jesus was placed. Quite a difference to the baby cribs we use today.
My prayer for all is that you have a merry and blessed Christmas. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
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Published: Wednesday, 13 November 2024 15:58
Life is full of surprises. Since one of my favorite tours is the Monarch Butterfly Tour, I am well aware that this month is the migration month for these delicate creatures as they seek their Winter Home in the pine forests of Mexico. Their 3,000-mile flight from Canada to Mexico will come right through Texas and the Rio Grande Valley.
My surprise was to see a beautiful Monarch on the floor of my carport. Surely, he must have stopped for a rest or maybe he had been trapped in my radiator grill and finally was able to escape. What a thrill to have a really close up view of a Monarch.
Go With Jo will be offering the Monarch Butterfly tour departing on February 13, 2025. This is a seven-day tour spending two nights on the road to arrive at one of the larger butterfly preserves in Mexico. If you have never been on this tour, you certainly should consider taking advantage of this opportunity.
Most of the Go With Jo tours are by bus giving you a true insight into what life is like in Mexico. You will find that in the Mexican Culture older people are held in high esteem and treated with the greatest respect.
Read more: The Flight of the Monarch
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Published: Thursday, 07 November 2024 18:32
Walls or fences have always fascinated me. Possibly because I have wondered so many times why they were built in the first place. Are they built to keep something in or to keep something or someone out? Why do we build walls or fences? Is it because we can't get along with each other?
My father had a very interesting experience with cemetery walls. I grew up in a farming community where fences were very important to keep cattle in. That importance carried over to the cemetery where each little family plot had a small six inch high and some three-inch-wide concrete border around the family plot. Between each little wall there was about a four-inch vacant spot where weeds grew and multiplied. Can you imagine in a perpetual care cemetery what extra work that meant for the caretaker! Extra work meant extra expense.
My father- who was a very practical man - he believed it would be more logical to join one concrete barrier to the next...which of course is what he did. This did not go over very well with the next-door plot which belonged to his sister's family. He had to send someone in to cut through the concrete wall and remedy the situation to avoid a family feud. After many years the local Cemetery Association board just last year voted that in order to save money on maintenance that the wall from one family plot should be joined to the next family plot. How practical can you get?
Some day - when you have time - look up the most famous walls that exist in the world. Of course, the best known and the longest is the Great Wall of China. My daughter who visited China must have also been infatuated with walls. Even though it was against the law she managed to sleep on the Great Wall of China. I am sure that today the Great Wall of China is patrolled more diligently than when she slept on the wall when she was in her mid to late twenties.
One of the more famous walls is the chewing gum wall in Seattle, Washington. Can you imagine all these globs of chewing gum stuck on a wall. According to the description of the wall there are so many clumps of chewing gum that the wall emits a sugary smell.
Another famous wall was the Berlin Wall which, at one time, separated many families. In my many trips I never saw the Berlin Wall. But I did see one of the fences in Germany with lookout towers with guards watching the fence. It was scary to realize you were being watched.
Another wall that really disturbs me is the wall in Israel. Anytime I have had a bus group who visited Christ's birthplace, our bus has been stopped but all we needed to say was “Americans,” which was pretty obvious anyway as Americans stand out like sore thumbs. Then we were waved on through.
Today, walls are sometimes built as memorials such as the Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. Our local Border Wall does not even make the list even though it does draw many politicians to visit the Valley for our “border problem.”
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Published: Wednesday, 30 October 2024 17:59
I continue to be amazed at how many things there are to see and do in the Rio Grande Valley. It seems that every town has a festival or a special day to celebrate. There is the Butterfly Festival in Mission, the Birding Festival in Harlingen and another in McAllen, the Citrus Festival in Mission, the Festival of Las Palmas in McAllen and not to be missed the Festival of Lights in the small town of Hidalgo. Even Kingsville joins in with the Saturday before Thanksgiving celebrating ranch life with the Ranch Hand Breakfast.
You name it, we've got it!
And then we have the Parades - July 4th, Veterans Day and Christmas Parades as well as the Port Isabel Boat Parade just to name a few. It appears that we are running out of names for the festivals, so we now have a Margarita Festival, and a Jalapeno Festival is sure to be added. Edinburg presented a Halloween-themed Fall Festival. Perhaps I missed one or two that you consider special. If you live in a Mobile Home or RV Park, you no doubt have all sorts of entertainment to fill your days.
In addition to Festivals and Parades most towns set aside special days to offer special events. There are Market Days at least once a month with some towns offering market days only during the growing season where garden fresh fruits and vegetables are sold.
One more venue sure to attract your attention should be the concerts and theater presentations that the larger towns offer. Don't miss Steel Magnolias in Harlingen. Also, be aware of your local school districts. They often offer many theatre and music productions during the school year. Your best reference for things to see and do in the Rio Grande Valley is the Winter Texan Times. They cover the entire Valley from top to bottom.
My favorite of all the venues is the Monarch Butterfly Festival. In February of 2025 Go With Jo will provide a tour to see where this beautiful butterfly spends their Winter. It is just too cold in Canada for these delicate creatures who don't move until the sun warms their wings. What a sight it is to see the pine trees where they spend the night come alive with orange as they wait for the warm sun rays. Once the wings are warmed, they fly down to a water supply for a refreshing drink. If you sit very still you might even have the butterflies land on you. Come join our tour.
Another great experience in nature for you to witness is Turtle Release Day on South Padre Island. It is such fun to see those tiny little turtles not much bigger than a silver dollar as they scurry to the water. Now how do they know which way the water is? Somehow, they do know and off they go.
Your church may even have an altar set up to celebrate The Day of the Dead which occurs at the end of October corresponding to our Halloween, through the beginning of November.
You won't lack for something to do in the Rio Grande Valley. So, enjoy!
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Published: Thursday, 17 October 2024 18:43
A big, big WELCOME HOME! We are so glad that you are back in Texas - especially in the Rio Grande Valley where the skies are blue, and the temperature is mild - except when it is hot, or we have a blue norther. Our heat is mainly in the summertime. This time of the year when the temperature is mild is one of the most enjoyable times to be in the Rio Grande Valley. Another special time is in the Spring when the trees are leafing out and grassy slopes are covered with bluebonnets and other Spring flowers. Thanks for choosing Texas for your winter home and most of all thanks for choosing the Rio Grande Valley.
You have set a beautiful example for me to follow. You give so much - donating warm winter clothes for our more unfortunate families. You give of your time to schools and hospitals to help out. Thanks so much. I decided it was time to volunteer some of my time and so now I am tutoring reading in one of our public schools. Thank you for giving me a little nudge to do more for my community...to make a difference.
My students who are anywhere from six to twelve years old call me "that fun teacher." Most of the students come from homes where only Spanish is spoken. Generally, both mother and father must work to support the many children. When the parents arrive home, they are tired and unfortunately too many of those children do not receive the attention they need. We can all fill in that gap with the attention that we give them. It is such a pleasure to know that as retirees, we can make a difference. Again, I thank you for showing me the way.
Read more: Welcome back to Texas!
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Published: Thursday, 21 March 2024 13:52
What beautiful weather we are having. It’s time to go outdoors and enjoy our beautiful South Texas weather. Maybe it is for a game of golf or just a walk around the block, or better yet, maybe a stroll on the beach. Whatever – enjoy our beautiful Spring.
As I sit at my desk, I often longingly look out the window at my back yard just to admire the lacey, emerald green leaves on the graceful mesquite trees. The view brings back memories of my growing up in central Texas. I knew for sure when the mesquite leafed out that Spring was just around the corner.
Now, unfortunately, for those of us who live here year-round, it means that very soon our Winter Texan friends will be packing up and heading home. We will miss you terribly as you bring such a refreshing, enriching culture to us.
As you drive home, enjoy the scenic beauty of Texas when the wildflowers are beginning to poke their little heads above ground. Just a few weeks ago, I drove to Falfurrias, just a bit more than an hour north. Of course, the fields were ablaze with the earliest bloomers – the miniature yellow daisies that spring up in pastures. Hugging the roadsides were blankets of wild purple verbena.
Read more: Enjoy your drive, but please come back
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Published: Friday, 15 March 2024 19:01
Goodness me – how this season has just flown by. Spring will soon be here, and I know many of you are thinking of going back to your summer homes. The phones have been busy asking about next season, especially for the Houston Quilt Festival. And yes, we already have about one third of the bus full. Departure is scheduled for October 30 with return on November 2, 2024.
Sorry, I cannot give you a definite price right now, as I am still waiting on another bid from a hotel in Houston. All I can do is estimate that it may run somewhere around $550 per person in double occupancy. A triple will be a little less, and a single is always much more as you are paying the entire cost of the room. The tour will be made by charter motor coach and that price and reservation I already have. I just need the hotel contract.
I am delighted that a quilt aficionada has agreed to be your guide. I am not a quilter, but I very much appreciate all the beautiful quilts that my mother and grandmother gave to me. My memories go back to the time when the quilting frame was raised to the ceiling when not in use to be lowered again when the ladies met to quilt and socialize. I am quite sure that the ladies of the small farming community where I grew up were all judged by how small and delicate their stitches were just as the men were judged by how straight the rows were in the fields they plowed.
Read more: Planning for next season
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Published: Friday, 08 March 2024 15:22
Good morning. Or is it good afternoon? I have been looking back at some of the previous On the Road articles that I have written for you. Would you believe that just about a year ago, I told you that I felt guilty for maybe wasting water as I washed dishes. At that time even the Farmers Associations were stressing that farmers should plant more crops that used less water. Sure enough, when we did our early February Farm Tour, you could see that there were more and more crops being planted that used less water.
Just recently, the local sugar cane mill has announced that they must close. There is no longer enough sugar cane being produced to pay for the expense of operating the mill. Growing sugar cane from planting to production reportedly takes more water than any other crop that is grown in the Rio Grande Valley. I am anxious to go on the next Farm Tour and see how the crops are doing.
All of us – from the housewife who washes dishes and does the family laundry, to the teenager who loves to take those long, exhilarating hot showers, and the farmer who doesn’t watch the border breaks when he irrigates – we all need to become more conscious of our over usage and waste of that precious commodity. And our climate changes, which affect us as well as those in Mexico, is not helping.
As I thought about what more I could do to conserve water, I was reminded of a housekeeper from Mexico that once worked for me. She handwashed dishes differently than I did – and I think it probably did save water. Her method was to take a soap filled wet sponge and scrub each cup, saucer, and plate with the sponge before placing those soapy dishes in the sink and proceeding to rinse them with hot running water. That method probably used less water than rinsing each individual item one by one… especially if you leave the water running as you scrub each utensil. I also wonder if any studies have ever been made over which method uses more water – using an electric dishwasher or hand washing the same number of dishes and utensils.
Some of you guys out there that have an analytical mind figure that one out, will you? And let me know. My dishwasher has been broken for months and replacement parts have not been available. Shall I just continue to wash dishes by hand? After all, that is how I grew up. We didn’t have electricity, much less an electric dishwasher.
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Published: Wednesday, 28 February 2024 16:41
What beautiful weather we have been having lately. After those first few days of freezing weather, the last few days have been divine as far as temperature goes. But how ferocious the wind has been. Makes me wonder what this does to the golfers. Do you have to judge the wind velocity and how it will affect your drive? What a challenge!
As I look back over my high school and college days, I wonder why I never learned to play golf. I was active in almost every other sport that was available at the time. Softball was probably the sport I participated in the most, playing on the girl’s intramural softball team at my university. I loved all the sports – swimming, tag football, basketball, ping pong, and bowling. I even learned to play tennis at age 40. At one time, I shot quite a bit of pool.
Read more: Enjoy the weather, sports, and a tour
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Published: Wednesday, 14 February 2024 15:53
You know, we are never too old to learn. And I just learned something wonderful. It’s all about love. What is love?
All of my adult life, I have always volunteered – as an Outreach person for my church while I was in college, as a Girl Scout Leader for over 20 years after I became a mother, and as a volunteer chairman for a money-making endeavor for my local church. When I started Go …. With Jo Tours, I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to share what I had learned while traveling to a foreign country.
When I plan a tour for you, I try to imagine what I would want if I were buying that tour. As I plan a tour, I try to share with you the beauty, history, and culture of our world. For instance, the Monterrey Tour, the Painted Churches, or any of the tours – what can I share with you so that you too can enjoy the experience?
But recently, I decided I could do more. I decided to follow the example that so many of you have set for us. I wanted to contribute more. I wanted to make a difference. So, I offered my services as a one-on-one reading tutor at the Boys and Girls Club in one of the local schools. I am brand new at tutoring, but since my background is in teaching and counseling, I thought surely that I could make a difference.
Read more: Making a difference by sharing your talents
Good day to y’all. Please accept my apologies if I have confused you with two different King Ranch Tours. They are similar, but they are different – let me explain. First of all, let’s talk about what is the same in both of the tours.
I missed seeing you at the Winter Expo. There was some misunderstanding as I generally am there in person. However, this year I decided that I would rather do a personal presentation in the parks or at the club meetings of retirees or those who are ready to travel. So, if you are interested in a personal presentation, just give me a call. A few days have already been reserved, but I am sure we can find an open date for you.
