Where In The World Is Sum1?

Mosying Around McAllen

Date: Week of June 4^th


Locale:  McAllen, Texas


         This week finds me in McAllen Texas for a class with the Customs & Border Patrol once more.  It's the same class I delivered in Tucson, different students of course.  McAllen sits on the Rio Grande, meaning that Mexico is a hop-skip&a jump away all the time.  Small town, and of course the popular places to dine are Mexican Restaurants.  Needless to say, the food was excellent, with HUGE serving sizes!


         This class is far from the challenge my last class was.  This course was the first class I taught at Motorola, way back in April of 2001.  I've taught it so much, I could deliver it blindfolded, with my hands tied behind my back!  Okay, not quite like that, but you get the picture.


         It was difficult to find decent flights from Central Illinois to McAllen, plus Motorola wanted me to complete forms as if I was going to a violent foreign country.  I even asked myself if I needed a passport!    So instead of flying in to McAllen, I looked at other cities to fly to.  Much as I wanted to, I couldn't get decent flight times to Corpus Christi, so I flew to the closest large city I could, San Antonio. But that meant a four hour drive to and from the airport.  Hopefully I can sleep on the plane tomorrow, since it leaves at 6am, which means I should be there by 4:30 at the latest.... 



Historic/Interesting Places Visited:

         Padre Island National Seashore          https://www.nps.gov/pais/index.htm  I wanted to spend a lot more time here, A LOT more.  But I couldn't, since I stopped on my way to McAllen.  I would love to have relaxed on the beach, just listening to the waves.  Ah, another day, another trip perhaps,  Padre Island National Seashore is the longest stretch of undeveloped barrier island in the world!  It's beautiful, but you need to spend some time to really appreciate it.  I also came here for a specific reason though too.  I purchased a National Parks Passport years ago, 2010 I think, and started collecting stamps at Visitor's Centers (good ol' ink stamps).  But some sections were full, and I couldn't place any more stamps.  While at the Flight 93 Memorial two weeks ago, I saw a beautiful collectors edition passport, much larger, with many more pages for stamps.  So I decided to start all over, and get this one stamped.  Padre Island National Seashore got me going, with four more!


         Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park           https://www.nps.gov/paal/index.htm  This is one of the newer National Parks, and is significant for it's part in the Mexican-American War.  It was fought twenty years before our Civil War, and many of the senior officers in the Civil War (on both sides) fought in this battle.  And of course, I was there to get more stamps.  I really dislike stopping just to get my passport stamped, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.  As I approached the park though, a spring storm appeared almost out of nowhere.  It rained so hard, we couldn't drive more than about 30 mph.  Luckily, as I turned off the Interstate to head to the park itself, I left the rain behind.  I found the rain again later today as I drove to San Antonio.



In Closing
         I will spend next week in Lansing Michigan again, before heading to Saint John, New Brunswick the following week.  I have to confess that I'm not really looking forward to that class, mainly because of who will be in it.  They are all instructors themselves; it's supposed to be a train-the-trainer class, something we don't normally do.  However, there are four students.  One has a BSc in Engineering, with 20 years teaching experience (I have 22 though).  Another has an Electronics Diploma, with 15 years teaching experience.  A third has an MSc in Engineering, and has taught for 2 years, and the fourth has a PhD in Engineering, with a number of years in Electronic Communications in the Private Sector, and 20 years teaching experience.  I have a HS diploma... and a wealth of experience that most don't have.  Oh well, it will be fine, I just dislike classes like this is all.  Til my next entry,y'all stay warm or cool, love those close to you, and write!