Sure enough, there is a Wal-Mart here in Mission, just a stone's throw from Camping World and Home Depot. So guess where we are staying tonight (map).

We left SPI, as the locals call it, sometime around noonish and had a pleasant, if uninteresting, drive through Brownsville. Actually, we sort of skirted around Brownsville, so for you bus nuts and Neoplan folks out there, no, we did not see the now-idled Neoplan USA plant which was formerly the Eagle plant.

More interesting was the drive up Military Highway, US281, which runs just north of the river. Definitely a very border-town feel. Interestingly, we saw no ICE/Border Patrol along this route. In contrast, we passed many ICE vehicles driving down 77 into Harlingen, and, while on SPI, we were buzzed by a LearJet flying less than 100' off the deck that we believed to be an ICE aircraft.

We arrived in Mission in plenty of time to do our shopping at Camping World, which, it turns out, was absolutely packed with "winter Texans" shopping the January sale. From there we went to Home Depot where I picked up some threaded rod, couplers, and eye bolts that I hope will work to replace the rear leveler for a while. I had planned to do the swap-out right in the HD parking lot, but the light was fading and neither of us had the energy to start the project that late in the day. Instead we scoped out the Wal-Mart and headed off to the Olive Garden in neighboring McAllen for dinner.

If the weather cooperates in the morning, I will try to get the leveler changed out here at Wal-Mart, just in case we need to go for more (or different) parts. Mission is the last good place for parts until we hit Laredo.