Can you see the owl?

We arrived in Mission, TX on a lovely, sunny day and were delighted to find that Benson Grove RV Resort is nearly a perfect place to stay for a few days. The sites are mostly paved, and ours is shady. Behind our rig are an orange and grapefruit tree. Nothing like having breakfast appetizers on the house! For the real stuff, Jerry rode his bike to the clubhouse and had a $2 order of SOS (sausage and gravy over biscuits) on our first morning. This is a huge park with many semi-permanent trailers and double-wides occupied by Winter Texans. The streets are numerous, wide, and paved. Most of the residents come here each year from Canada, US, and other countries to enjoy birding, warm breezes , and fresh fruits and vegetables of the Rio Grande Valley. There is a fitness center, but we preferred biking. We also arrived in time for an evening of Bridge. Gloria won back her $.50 investment.

A few miles from the park is the Bentson Rio Grande Valley State Park, one of the best state parks in Texas for birding. One of the highlights was a screech owl (click the top photo) that shows his head every morning and naps inside the tree the rest of the day. We also took a free tram ride through the park and observed many other varieties of birds to include the famous green jay and the altamira oriole. Bobcats and javelina are supposedly plentiful, but we did not see them. However, it was easy to spot the red hat ladies, who were there in full force.