Spring returned today. After yesterday's winter weather, this morning dawned cool, bright, and sunny with afternoon temps reaching the upper 50's. We skipped our morning walk as we had to leave bright early for a tour of the new Port of Entry Building in Del Rio. Our group arrived a little early, so we stopped first at MacDonald's for coffee before heading off on the tour.

Since Del Rio is a border town, it is considered a port of entry into the United States. There is a bridge over the Rio Grande River that vehicles and pedestrians use to travel back and forth between the US and Mexico. Each car has to stop and people entering the country have to show passports or visas to the custom officers. Some cars are told to pull over into an inspection area where officers thoroughly search the vehicle and any bags, etc. they find. They also have dogs that sniff all around the vehicles searching for drugs or people hidden somewhere inside. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable about the laws and all areas covered by the US Customs Agency. She told us that the Del Rio Port of Entry handles over 1.3 million vehicles a year. It was amazing the see the work that is done at this one border city. A few weeks ago three million dollars with of heroin on its way to California was intercepted here in Del Rio.

Following the tour, we all headed off to the Sirloin Stockade for lunch. There we found some other folks from Fort Clark enjoying a nice meal. After eating, the group broke up as many had some errands to do in Del Rio. John and I headed off to Home Depot and then to HEB for our weekly grocery run. This afternoon we stopped in to visit some of our church friends who had been under the weather. We were glad to see they were both on the mend and feeling better. John then made a quick trip over to Metcalf's to see what jobs Jan needed to have done around her house. We ended the eveing watching some Olympics and American Idol.