Americana RV Park

Oct 2008-Mar 2009

If you should notice a tendency to babble or other incoherencies, please understand that I have been sitting in one campground for five months and will be here for at least another month.  "Here" is Mission, Texas.  Mission is about as far south as you can go in Texas; 40 miles west of the Gulf and three miles north of the Rio Grande River.  On a clear day we can see the gun smoke drifting out of Mexico.  This whole area from Padre Island on the Gulf to just west of Mission is called the Rio Grande Valley.  Of course, we old-timers just call it "The Valley".   It is a popular spot for Winter Texans supporting more than 400 campgrounds.

Our campsite is well shaded and satellite friendly. 

There is a nice pool and hot tub.  You do need to remember to keep your pool parties small.

Here are views down two of the four streets in the park.  I just realized as I was writing this paragraph that there are a number of empty sites in these pictures.  Those sites are now filled but I am too lazy to go take new pictures.  The building to the far left of the first picture is the Clubhouse where all kinds of entertainment and good food are served.  I might miss out on some of the entertainment but none of the food.

In addition to campsites the park offers three apartments for rent. 

We have horse shoe pits complete with bleachers.  I even saw someone actually playing here once; although, I must admit, the bleachers were not filled with spectators.

This is the patio behind the Clubhouse.  Some of the park events take place here rather than inside the Clubhouse.  For instance, we recently had a fish boil put on by someone from Wisconsin.  There was a large turnout for the event, but mostly other people from Wisconsin.

You can see a thatched roof over a large table on the patio.  The hurricane that came ashore last year damaged that roof.  It took a long time to find someone who knew how to repair it.  Strangely, there are no "thatched roof repairers" in the Yellow Pages.

One of the permanent residents of Americana is an excellent craftsman.   My personal favorite of the items he has displayed is the sign at right-center.  If you can't read it, it says "Sometimes I sits and thinks.  Sometimes I just sits." If you can read it, it still says the same thing.

There are activities going on in the Clubhouse every night of the week.  The one shown here is the most popular; Pokeno.  It is sort of a combination of poker and bingo and is played three nights a week.  It is played for money but a really big winner will leave the game maybe three dollars ahead. Other nights they play poker, Texas Hold'em, bingo, and other games.  On Saturday night we have a Musical Jam Session.

Other entertainment shows up from time to time.  This is a mariachi band from one of the local high schools.  They were out drumming up customers for a concert they are performing and stopped by to give us a sample.  They were quite good.

There are many stories about things being BIG in Texas.  Here is one more.  This is a picture of a lemon from a tree in the park.  Marilee made a lemon pie from some of the juice.  She froze the rest because our oven quit working.  I may get another pie if I fix the oven.

In the winter, Snow Birds and RVers gather in parks like this all over the southern part of the US.  All come to renew old friendships and create new ones and, most of all, to stay out of that terrible cold weather up north.