We’re just connecting the dots
WINTER TEXAN
Volume 10 • Issue 19 February 26, 2025
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Cruise with Kristi 2025: Above and Beyond
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McAllen Winter Texan Expo. Check. Brownsville Winter Texan Expo. Check. Entertainer’s Showcase. Check. Bayside Fiesta. Check. Cruise with Kristi 2025. Check. That’s a lot of checks, but there’s still a lot more to do before you start heading home! If you visit welcomehomergv.com regularly, you know that. Our event calendar is so full of fun things to do that I often wonder how you decide. Do you do the ol’ eeny, meeny, miny, moe every day? Seriously, how do you choose? If you haven’t checked out the Tours & Travel link on our site, there are still a few day tours left for this season that aren’t sold out yet. There are two Texas Gold Shrimp Boat Tours, one March 4 and the other March 5. The Gelman Stained Glass VIP Tour is March 6, and Tour the King Ranch is March 12. All of these are hugely popular, so if you haven’t been yet—or you went and want to go back—now’s your chance. I still have more fun things to check off for the season, too, so here’s to hoping I see you soon! We’re just connecting the dots…
by Eryn Reddell Wingert Photos courtesy of Welcome Home RGV Staff and Cathy Brydges
Milt Ellis, 86, lifted 15 tons of weight during the Cruise with Kristi 2025. Ellis lifts weights an hour each morning. He kept to his routine while aboard Royal Caribbean’s Jewel of the Seas earlier this month and tabulated how much he lifted. Ellis and his wife, Helen, were part of a group from Eldorado Acres RV Park of Palmview, Texas, that took part in the cruise, hosted by Welcome Home RGV. The 9th Annual Cruise with Kristi included transportation from the Rio Grande Valley to the Houston Marriott in Sugar Land, Texas, the day before boarding the ship at the Port of Galveston. “They took care of everything,” says Ellis. “Getting on and off the bus, everything worked perfect.” The nine-night cruise included stops in Costa Maya, Cozumel, and Yucanta, Mexico; George Town, Grand Cayman; and Falmouth, Jamaica. Documenting the moments for the Eldorado Acres crew was Cathy Brydges. “We went out as a group at every port, and I got pictures at all of them.” While Brydges engaged with stingrays in Grand Cayman and Ellis lifted weights in the ship’s fitness center, the Tours and Travel by Welcome Home Team stayed busy in the background, much like they did leading up to the trip. Cruise with Kristi 2025 sold out last April. The staff has fielded calls and questions, held informational
meetings, and tended to each detail. Each year, Welcome Home owner Kristi Collier is as surprised as she was the first. Collier is known to share that when the idea was initially posed, she thought (and said), “Who would want to cruise with me?!” To her surprise and delight, hundreds of people have cruised with Kristi and her team over the past nine years. For this trip, 242 people--five busloads of Winter and Converted Texans, among others--took advantage of the package deal. “I wouldn’t be going if it weren’t for her and her crew,” shared Joyce Kerns of Winter Green Estates in CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
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