What a Change!

We're not in Arizona anymore, Toto. That is what we felt like today. For more than a year we have been in Arizona and Colorado and New Mexico, all locations with low humidity. Now we have come to the Lower Rio Grande Valley--hereafter to be referred to as "the Valley"--and today it has been warm and humid. We expected both and came because of the heat. But it will take a while to adjust to the humidity. It helps my skin and eyes, while also making me uncomfortable. When I got up this morning, at 6 am, it was 66 degrees and 91% humidity. The high was in the low 80s this afternoon, with quite a bit of wind. Give us a few days to get used to both the humidity and the wind.

Tomorrow, we begin our training as tram drivers at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge. The tram is actually operated by the Valley Nature Center in nearby Weslaco. We will have training almost every day through the end of the month, including learning about vegetation, birds, butterflies, and how to operate the tram. We know we have a lot to learn, even though they sent us, in advance, a 17-page tram talk script. We have been studying it and thinking of how to make it our own and this training will help.

Since the tram has been in operation since November 1 and we don't start driving it until February 1, the current crew is still living in the RV sites reserved for us. So they put us up in the Bit-O-Heaven RV Park in Donna, also nearby. This is a very friendly place with over 700 sites for RVs and park models. It gives us a connection to other Winter Texans.

We arrived on Friday, so we have spent three days getting familiar with the area. We visited the refuge, which we had not seen before, went on a tram tour, and visited the Valley Nature Center. Now it is time to get to work.