Confessions of an RVer: CIRCLE "L"

One thing about the Rio Grand Valley and winter Texans that I have learned is they love to dance. Well, guess what? So do I! I grew up as a Baptist deacon's daughter and my sisters and I were not allowed to dance, not even ballet. Ask me how much I hated that and thought it was ridiculous. Well, a lot of Baptist have loosened up and there are a lot of us dancing these days. As a matter of fact, ever since I reached adulthood, I have been dancing as often as I can. Mr. W and I even rented VCR tapes back in the day to teach us the correct steps to certain dances. Occasionally we would go out somewhere to practice our dancing but we also would clear the furniture in the living area and dance around the house. Daughter once told me that some of her favorite memories as a child were of us dancing around the house.

Our friends that are here invited us to go to another RV park, Circle L, the first Friday night we were here. They have a band that plays and a dance floor and food. Who could ask for more, right? The owner of Circle L plays the steel guitar. There is a lady that plays the bass guitar and sings and 2 guys who both play guitar and sing and a drummer. That same Friday night they had a guest singer from Canada. He spends his winters down here for the weather and he performs at a lot of other parks and centers. He just happened to have that Friday night open so he treated us to his singing and playing and it really was good. The band's usual music is old country with a few new songs thrown in. Perfect for some 2-stepping with an occasional waltz or polka thrown in there. There is also a group of ladies who line dance to almost every song too. The band plays for about an hour and a half and then they break for food. Each person that comes brings a dish of some sort and each person is asked to donate $3. The park uses those donations to provide popcorn, tea, water, coffee, paper plates, napkins, and utensils. You can bring your own drinks, either adult beverages or not, or you can buy bottled water or soft drinks for 50 cents. After snack time is over (about 30 minutes), the band plays again for about an hour. At the end of the evening, the band plays America the Beautiful and the crowd joins in to sing. The evening starts at 6:30 and you are out by 9:30. Nothing goes on too late around here.

This past Friday, they had a guest steel guitar player who has been playing the steel for 17 years. Man, could he play the steel guitar. His playing added a lot of depth to the band and every band member stepped up their "game" that evening. I've always said that you set a high standard and people will do what they can to reach it and the band proved it.

Most all of the parks in the valley have dances. They are usually open to anyone who wants to come. Mr. W and I could probably spend most of our day every day going to dances. There is even one park in Weslaco that has a "Happy Hour Dance" everyday from 3:00-5:00. You really could get your fill of dancing there. I will say that there are some couples here that I could sit and watch dance all day long because they are so good and just glide across the dance floor. Mr. W and I don't glide. We have fun, but we don't glide. Then there are some couples that are pretty old and they move pretty slow across the dance floor, but I think it is great that they are still out there doing something they obviously enjoy doing. I just hope that when I am their age, I am still out there scooting around. Also, most of the parks offer line dancing lessons as part of their exercise program and you can certainly find plenty of people at each dance that will join you in practicing those skills on the dance floor.

So, I pretty much look forward to our Friday night date at the Circle L for dancing. It has been a lot of fun. Did I mention that I've been breaking in my new cowboy boots too? Nothing like a little boot scooting boogie to get those things broken in! If you love to dance and can't find a place that isn't very crowded, that has people close to your age, and has good food and fun, you can head on down to the Rio Grand Valley where you can find all of that.