Texas and New Mexico

Mar. 4

Sunny and nice today.  We stayed around the campground most of the day but in the late afternoon we went into town to do some grocery shopping.

Mar. 5

It is windy and cooler today but the sun is shinning.  Around 2 in the afternoon we went into San Antonio to visit my cousin, Dick and his wife Janet, who moved here about 2 years ago.  He is my age and we were together at family things as a child.  They moved here to be near their children and grand kids.  We had a nice visit with them.  For dinner we drove to Texas Pride which is clear on the other side of San Antonio.  There was a line clear out the door but the wait was worth it.  They have delicious BBQ and we even bought a pound of brisket to take home. 

Mar. 6

Cloudy in the morning but it burned off and had a nice sunny day.  Jean, who we met at ice cream the other day stopped by on her bike.  We sat outside in the sunshine and visited with her.   In the evening we went over to George and Jean's to see them before they leave in the morning.  We saw pictures of their travels in California, Arizona and Nevada.  They are doing the reverse of our trip so we exchanged information on places to see.  We had a piece of apple pie that came from a well known restaurant a little north of here and said our good-bys.  We might run into them again someday. 

Mar. 7

This is our last day in this campground.  It is a nice sunny day again.  We have had such good weather here in Texas.  We stayed around the campground today and I did my laundry.  In the afternoon we went for a bike ride.  Drove into the cowboy town of Bandera for BBQ dinner.

Mar. 8

It is overcast but warm today as we leave Medina Lake.  We spend the night in the town of Brackettville.  It is a very small town and the campground in on an old cavalry fort.  The fort closed in 1946 and is now privately owned.  There is an entire community here on 1600 acres and gated with houses, condos, motel, campground and golf course.  Some of the old fort buildings are being used and there are all kinds of activities going  on.  After lunch we went into the larger town of Del Rio which has a very large Mexican population.  The Border Patrol was vary evident there and all along the highway.  We went to a potluck dinner at the campground and met some nice people.

Mar. 9

Today we go to Big Bend National Park.  It is another sunny day and we drive almost 300 miles to the campground.  Along the way we stopped at the small town of Langtry where Judge Roy Bean was the "law west of the Pecos".  He became the first Justice of the Peace on Aug. 2, 1882.  The original buildings still stand, the combination saloon/billiard hall and courtroom that Judge Bean call the "Jersey Lilly" after the famous English actress Lillie Langtry.  He never met his idle but wrote her many letters hopping she would come to Langtry to perform.  Our park is 48 miles from the entrance and right on the Rio Grande River.  We can't see the river from the campground but it is a short hike.  When we get settled we drive to the river.  Not much water and not very wide.  We drive to Boquillas Canyon Overlook and the Rio Grande is just below the parking lot.  There are two Mexicans on horseback selling their copper figures and painted walking sticks.  I bought a copper and bead roadrunner for $6.  The Mexicans were not concerned they were across the boarder illegally.  They had walkie-talkies and I'm sure lookouts.  Across the river on the hillside we could see the village of Boquillas where they had come from.  They live on the money they make from selling their crafts.  Next we drove to the Hot Springs and walked a mile to the spring.  It was full of people.  A school group of 8th graders were in the water.  They say the water stays at a constant 102 degrees.  A wall was built to catch the spring water and it was like a giant hot tub with the Rio Grande River was right beside it. 

Saloon/billiard hall and courtroom of Judge Roy Bean



Inside saloon/billiard hall and courtroom of Judge Roy Bean

Mexicans selling their crafts

Rio Grande River

Mar. 10

Sunny and warm today with alight breeze.  We left the motor home around nine and drove to Chisos Basin.  This is in the Chisos Mountains.  The drive there was pretty with dessert and then climb to higher elevation and trees.  There is a lodge and campground there.  Next we drove to Castalon area which is right along the Rio Grande.  We took an unpaved road which was very rough for 12 miles and drove out of the park to the town of Terlingua.  Five miles further is the Terlingua Ghost Town.  We stop for lunch and then drive through the town.  There are adobe ruins everywhere.  Some have been fixed up and people are living in them.  We stop at the old cemetery from the 1900's.  There are not many headstones and chimney like rock formations built over the graves.  The cemetery is still being used for burials.  On the way back to the campground  we see Javelins which are from the rat family only larger.  That night we went to the program on rattle snakes in the park. 

Javelin along the highway

On the way to Chisos Mountains

Cemetery in Terlingera Ghost Town

Mar. 11

Sunny and nice today as we leave for Carlsbad New Mexico.  Saw a roadrunner fly across the road in front of us and land on the shoulder of the road and ran into the brush.  I love seeing roadrunners but they are so fast you can't get a picture of them.  They are the official bird of New Mexico.  As we drive to Carlsbad we past enormous pecan orchards.  They grow lots of nuts in New Mexico, pecans, almond and pistachios.   We also past irrigated circles but I don't know what they are growing.  On the highway into New Mexico there are dips in the road for flood water to cross the highway.  They have foot gages beside the  highway to show how high the water is.  There is no rain today so we don't have to worry.  We stop at Guadalupe Mountain National Park in Texas just before we cross the border into New Mexico.  We saw a movie about the park and there are no roads to drive in the park, only hiking trails.  On top of the mountain there is a dense forest of pine, fur and Aspen.  The forest in especially lush in the Bowl, a two-mile wide depression atop the Guadalupe Mountains.   Also in the highland wilderness are deer, elk, wild turkey, mountain lions, black bear, golden eagles and falcons.  As we go by Guadalupe Mountains we change into Mountain Time Zone.

Mar. 12

It is sunny and nice again today as we head to Carlsbad National Park and Caverns.  We have tickets for the Kings Palace tour, which I bought over the Internet two week ago.  As we enter the park boundaries the desert landscape changes and it is a beautiful desert as the road climbs to the caverns.  Lots of cars are already in the parking lot so I am glad I bought my tickets over the Internet.  We pick-up our tickets and have time to go to the bookstore and gift shop.  This is the fourth cave we have been in on this trip.  Carlsbad Caverns is definitely the best cavern we have seen.  As soon as you enter the caverns, the entire trail there are all kinds of formation to see.  It is so spectacular that it is hard to describe.  Ev everywhere we looked there were stalactites, stalagmites, draperies, soda straws, flowstones, columns, popcorn and pools of water that was so clear you could see the bottom.  The decorations of Carlsbad Cavern with an incredible variety of formations began over 500,000 years ago.  It happened slowly, drop by drop. when water dripped or seeped down into the limestone bedrock and into the cave.  The tour lasted 1 1/2 hours and then we explored some of the Big Room route which is self guided.  We spent over 2 hours down in the cavern.  There is a large bat population in the cave but they migrate to Mexico for the winter and don't return until early spring.  The tours don't take people to where the bats live.  If you ever want to see a spectacular cavern, visit Carlsbad.

Pictures inside the cavern

Mar. 13

Today we move north to Alamogordo New Mexico.  It is sunny and warm today  and the campground is nice.  The owner is very helpful and tells us of places to visit.  After we got parked we drive to White Sands National Monument.  We can see the white sands and the mountains behind from our campground.  The Tularosa Basin lies in a mountain-ringed valley and in the hart of this basin is one of the world's great natural wonders, the white sands of New Mexico.  Dunes of gypsum sand have engulfed 275 square miles of desert and it is the largest gypsum dune field in the world.  The gypsum that forms the white sand was deposited at the bottom of a shallow sea covering this area 250 million years ago.  The area has miles of dunes and a road goes in and around the dunes.  The wind blows the sand so the roads are plowed daily.  People slide down the dunes on saucers, snow boards, and sleds.  There was a lot of people on the dunes the day we were there.  Some places plants grow out of the sand.  Further into the dunes there were no plants growing, only giant sand dunes.  It was fun to walk on the dunes. 

Pictures of White Sands

Mar. 14

After breakfast we drive up into the nearby mountains to the town of Cloudcroft.  it is a small mountain town with lots of interesting shops.  The town dates back to 1898 when the railroad decided it needed to put a railroad line into the Sacramento Mountains in order to bring timber out for railroad ties.  They also built a pavilion for tourists to get away and enjoy the mountains.  We spent a couple of hours there and ate lunch before going back down the mountain.  On the way back to the motor home we stopped at a couple of nut stores and bought some Cinnamon coated pistachios.
Mar. 15

We leave early today to go to the town of Capitan to visit the Smokey Bear Historical Park.  We have been collecting Smokey Bear pins since we bought our first motor home in 1997 so we had to go visit this place.  Smokey Bear was rescued from a devastating fire in the Capitan Mountains in 1950.  He was just a cub and his mother was killed in the fire.  He became the living symbol of fire prevention campaign and lived at the National Zoo in Washington D.C.  Upon his death in 1976 his remains were returned for burial in the town of Capitan, close to the mountains he was found in.  We drive to Fort Stanton but it was closed up.  There are lots of original building there and they are going to start restoring the fort.  It is only open on weekends.  Next we drive to Valley of Fires Recreation Area.  This is Bureau of Land Management area with a campground and very interesting landscape.  It is a 125 square mile lava flow which is 160 feet thick near the center that occurred about 1,500 to 2,000 years ago. 

Statue of Smokey

Smokey's grave

Lava flow at Valley of Fire

Tomorrow we go further north to Albuquerque for 4 or 5 days.  We are slowly going north towards home but don't plan on being in Colfax until the first week in April.  We are hoping the weather will be warmer by then.  Definitely Happy Travels, Barb





Texas, San Antonio

Feb. 24

It is sunny and nice today in Texas.  We stayed around the campground today and in the afternoon went over and had ice cream in the rec hall.  We sat with the people camped next to us from British Columbia and met another couple from Missouri.  That is why we love traveling and staying in campgrounds.  We have met so many wonderful and friendly people along the way.  After dinner we went over to the music jam session in the rec hall.  People from this campground and other campgrounds nearby come and play music and sing.  We enjoyed the music.

Feb. 25

We are having another sunny and warm day.  After breakfast we drive into San Antonio and follow the Mission Trail along the San Antonio River.  This chain of missions were established along the river in the 1700's by Spain to extend its dominion northward from New Spain (present day Mexico).  Collectively they form the largest concentration of Catholic missions in North America.  These missions were first established in East Texas along the Rio Grande as way stations between these and other Franciscan missions in New Spain.  The friars transferred a failed mission to the San Antonio River in 1718 that is called the Alamo.  The other four missions were transferred  along the San Antonio River which helped form the foundation for the city of San Antonio.  American Indians living in the San Antonio missions came from several hunting and gathering bands know collectively as Coahuiltecans.  In exchange for labor and conversion to Catholicism, Indians received food and refuge in the missions.  These mission churches remain active centers of worship.  We also stopped by the Acequia System which was a 15 mile network of 5 dams and several aqueducts along the San Antonio River that irrigated about 3,500 acres of land.  We visited four of the missions today, Concepcion, San Jose, San Juan amd Espada and will visit the Alamo another day.  We had a great lunch at a Mexican restaurant along the mission trail.

Concepcion

Fireplace outside on the grounds of Mission San Jose

Dick walking by San Jose

San Juan

Espada

Alter in Espada

Acequia System

Feb. 26

There is a drizzle of rain falling this morning.  After breakfast we drive about 20 miles to the town of Bandera which is known as the cowboy capital of the world.  At noon there is a Marti Grau parade and many people are dressed to celebrate Marti Gras.   Got lots of beads that were thrown from the floats.  It was a fun parade were many different types of vehicles were decorated.  Had a great BBQ lunch at a local restaurant.  We walked up to 11th street where the gumbo cook-off was being held.  They were busy cooking all morning and now gumbo samples were being sold.  We were too full from lunch so didn't have room for gumbo.  Went to the 11th Street Cowboy Bar and listened to the live band.  There is an outdoor stage and area for sitting and dancing.  The place was full and we finally found a place to sit and have a beer and listing to the music.  There was a contest for the best Marti Grau costume.  It was a fun day.  When we got back to the campground they were having a BBQ dinner so we had brisket sandwiches and potato salad for dinner.  We stayed and listened to the jam session music for awhile.

Marti Gras parade in Bandera

Costume contest

Outdoor stage at Cowbow Bar

Feb. 27

Today it is sunny and hot.  There is no wind and we notice the humidity.  After lunch we go into San Antonio to a new flea market.  This market is very large and is built with concrete floor and separate garage like rooms for the vendors.  There are rides for the kids and food vendors also.  On each end a large covered area is for vendors to set up with tables.  We didn't buy anything but it was a good way to spend a Sunday afternoon. 

Feb. 28

Today it is my birthday so we go into San Antonio to the famous river walk.  The weather is sunny and not as warm as yesterday.  We first go to the Alamo and the grounds are beautiful with the giant live oak trees with the limbs almost touching the ground, red bud trees and flowers.  We spend some time just walking around the ground before going into the Shrine.  This year is the 175th anniversary of the Battle of the Alamo in 1836.  On Feb. 23, 1836, Santa Anna's army nearly caught the Texians and Tejanos by surprise.  The defenders held out for 13 days against Santa Anna's army.  William Travis, the commander of the Alamo, on the eighth day of the siege, asked for help from other communities in Texas.  A band of 32 volunteers arrived bringing the number of defenders to two hundred.  These men saw the Alamo as the key to the defense of Texas and were ready to give their lives rather than surrender their  position to General Santa Anna.  Among the Alamo's garrison were Jim Bowie and David Crockett.  The final assault came before daybreak on the morning of March 6, 1836, as columns of Mexican soldiers emerged  and headed for the Alamo's walls.  Cannon and small arms fire from inside the Alamo beat back several attacks.  The Mexicans finally scaled the walls and rushed into the compound.  They turned captured cannon on the Long Barrack and church, blasting open the barricaded doors.  By sunrise the battle had ended and Santa Anna surveyed his victory.  People worldwide continue to remember the Alamo as a heroic struggle against overwhelming odds where men made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom.  The Alamo remains hallowed ground and the Shrine of Texas Liberty. 
Next we walked down some steps to the river walk and enjoyed the many shops and great feel of the area.  Had lunch at one the the restaurants out on a patio along the river.  What a great place to spend my birthday!  We took a half hour boat ride around the river were our driver pointed out the buildings and facts about the river walk area.  Before leaving the river walk we stopped at a restaurant and had margaritas on the patio.  For my birthday dinner I chose Olive Garden where we had a very good dinner. 

Alamo

River Walk

Mar. 1

Sunny and nice again today.  We stayed around the campground and I did laundry in the afternoon. 

Mar. 2

We are enjoying another sunny day and after lunch go into San Antonio to the Mexican Market.  This is on the other side of downtown from the river walk.  It's two large buildings where booths are located and sell stuff from Mexico and South America.  I bought a small clay decorated sun and a bunch of corn husk flowers.  It was fun going through the shops.  It is too dangerous to go across the boarder into Mexico with the drug wars going on so this is a good alternative.  We stopped at Costco on the way back to the motor home.  For dinner tonight we drive to Bandera  to the 11th Street Cowboy Bar and they have a steak BBQ.  There are large BBQ's set up and you bring and cook you own steaks and they sell sides for $5.  We have a good time talking to people from all over the country and listening to the live music.  It was a great ending to a fun day. 

Steak night at the Cowboy Bar

Mar. 3

Cloudy in the morning but the sun came through before noon.  We are staying around the campground today so I can catch-up on my blog.  In the afternoon there is ice cream in the rec hall.  We met a couple from Everett WA at the rec hall today and are going to dinner with them tonight.  Definitely Happy Travels, Barb

Texas

Feb. 11 through Feb. 18

We are in South Texas and the area is flat and we see lots of Mesquite trees, Live Oak trees and cattle.  I especially like seeing the Texas Longhorn cattle.   Jean has bird feeders in her yard that attract birds I have never seen before such as green jays and cardinals.  The land is vast and not populated.  There are small towns around the area and if you want a large town, San Antonio is only 70 miles away.  Pump Jacks are scattered in the area also.  New oil wells are being drilled as there is an oil boom going on here.  The campgrounds are full and more are being built.  They are mostly for the oil field workers.  Some companies are putting in campgrounds for their workers.  We did some exploring of the towns nearby and found some good restaurants.  We made one trip into San Antonio.  The weather has been warm but there is a wind blowing which makes it feel not so hot.

Pump jack

New well being drilled

Green jay

Cardinal

Feb. 19

After breakfast today we go to Aransas National Wildlife Refuge which is located on the Gulf of Mexico.  We spent about and hour and a half driving the refuge.  A tower at the end of the road gave us a great view of the gulf.  We saw a couple of alligators and birds but didn't see any cranes.  Aransas NWR has the largest flock of wintering whooping cranes in North America with over 250 birds.  By mid-April, they depart in pairs or small family groups for a hazardous journey 2,400 miles north to nesting grounds at Wood Buffalo National Park in Northwest Territories, Canada.  There was lots of wet lands in the reserve.  We drove into the town of Rockport and found a good seafood restaurant.  We had a good day seeing the Texas countryside. 

Smallest Alligator we have seen

Jones Lake where we saw the little gator

This is the closest I could come to a Crane

Feb. 20

We stayed around the campground today and Dick watched the Daytona 500 race on TV. 

Feb. 21

It's a sunny day today so we go down to Corpus Cristi.  As we enter the town we see oil refineries everywhere.  Each company has a refinery and they are enormous.  The tall chimneys can be seen in the skyline from quite a distance.  We cross the causeway to the town of Port Aransas.  This is located on an outer bank island of Padre Island.  At the end of the island is Padre Island National Seashore.  We have fish and chips for lunch before going to the seashore.  At the visitors center there is access to the beach along the gulf.  We take a walk on the sand but didn't find any sea shells.  Lots of people were enjoying the sunny day on the beach.  People can drive down the sea shore on the sand but four wheel drive is recommended after the first 5 miles.  There were motor homes and campers camping on the beach.  Several years ago we drove the entire 60 miles down Padre Island seashore with our friends, Bill and Jean.  We rented a four wheel drive car for the trip and it was quite a trip.  On the way back the tide was up and we had to drive partway at the edge and in the water.  Five of the world's seven sea turtle species have been documented nesting on Padre Island Nat. Seashore.  They work to protect the threatened or endangered sea turtles and from April through mid July, volunteers and staff search the beaches of Padre Island daily to detect and protect nesting sea turtles, eggs, and hatchlings. 

Refinery pretty at night with the lights

Oil refinery in Corpus Christi

On the beach on Padre Island

Feb. 22

It's raining in the morning when we get up but stops by 9.  Late in the morning we go into the town of Beeville to do laundry and have lunch.  There is a great market that smokes beef, chicken and sausage and also has a place to buy cooked food to eat there or take out.  Their prices are very reasonable and at lunch time the place is busy.  This is the second time we have lunch here.  We also buy some meat to take home. 

Sun setting over Texas

Feb. 23

We have decided to move closer to San Antonio so today we leave the campground in Calliham and move to a campground west of San Antonio.  This is located in the hill country and on Medina Lake.  The road to the campground was very Windy.  This campground is full of deer.  I think there are more deer than people.  They are not afraid and just stand there and look at you and come right up to the camping rigs.  We plan on staying here for at least a week and maybe two.  Definitely Happy Travels, Barb

Deer in campground

Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas

Feb. 2

Today we moved to Ocean Springs Mississippi and are camping at Davis Bayou on Gulf Island Nat. Seashore.  This campground is not on the water like the last one.  The seashore is on islands about 10 miles out in the Gulf.  There are boats that will take you there but not this time of the year.  You can go by private boat though.  We won't be visiting the islands.  When we were pulling into our campsite a news reporter and camera man approached us and asked it they can interview us about tourism in Mississippi.  I was on the news that night on WLOX out of Biloxi.  In the afternoon we visited the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge and saw a short movie on the cranes.  The Mississippi sandhill cranes are a separate subspecies of sandhill crane and they do not migrate.  They were among the first species listed as "endangered" when the Endangered Species Act was enacted in 1973.  By the 60's the population of cranes was 30-35.  The refuge has restored habitat to its previous open savanna state to protect and restore an endangered species that began in 1975 with the creation of the refuge.  The cranes are long-lived birds that mate for life but rarely lay more than two eggs per year which makes population increases a slow process.  It was a cold and windy day so we did not see any cranes. 

Me on TV

Feb. 3

After breakfast we went towards Mobil to see another wildlife refuge.  This one didn't have a visitors center but had a large building where they did research.  We stopped and talked to a man there.  We ate lunch at a restaurant Dick had seen on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives called The Shack.  It was a very unique place and the BBQ was good. 

Feb. 4

Rain most of the day.  We stayed around the campground until late in the afternoon and went for a ride to Gulfport and back through Biloxi along the beach right along the gulf.  There are miles of no buildings along this part of the gulf because they were wiped out by Hurricane Katrina.  A few large hotels and casinos have rebuilt but the rebuilding is slow.  For dinner that night we saw on GPS there was a Olive Garden in Biloxi so we drove to find it.  There was a vacant lot where it once stood.  We ended up at the Beau Rivage Resort and Casino for their seafood buffet. 

Feb. 5

It's cloudy and cold today as we leave to go to New Orleans Louisiana.  Our campground is Pontchartrain Landing and is on the inner harbor navigation canal on Lake Pontchartrain.  This area was under 19 feet of water after Katrina.  The devastation from Katrina is evident everywhere we look.  Many houses are boarded up and abandoned and they can't tare them down because they can't find the owner.  These people were given anywhere from one hundred thousand to two hundred thousand dollars to rebuild but they took the money and left the area.  The population of New Orleans was one million  before Katrina and it is now three hundred and forty thousand.  Dick wanted to try crawfish so we found a grocery store that sold them already cooked.  The black woman who worked in the deli showed him how to clean and eat them.  The tails are pretty small so it would be hard to make a meal of them. 

Feb. 6

It's sunny and nice today as we get ready to go into the French Quarter.  Our campground has a bus to take us there and it only cost $5 each.  Our bus driver is a New Orleans police officer who works Bourbon St. in the Quarter.  He told us not to go out of the French Quarter were it is safe and only a few blocks away it is not.  Our first stop in at the famous Cafe Du Monde to have Beignets, French donuts, and coffee.  The line was halfway down the block but it didn't take long to get inside.  Beignets are piled high with powdered sugar and coffee, hot chocolate or juice are all they serve.  We walked along the streets and stopped in many of the shops.  Mardi Gras items were for sale everywhere.  The French Quarter lies along the Mississippi River so we walked to see it.  We had a good lunch of red fish with crawfish cream sauce.  There are people playing music, being statues, tap dancing, singing and anything to get people to put money in their bucket.  We took a buggy ride around the streets that was pulled by a mule.

Buggy rides

Man as a statue

Building with ornate balconies

Mississippi River by the French Quarter

French Quarter

Narrow streets

Dick and I have now been in every state except Hawaii.  On this trip we have been to 35 states so far, more to come on the way home.

Feb. 7

It was cloudy when we left this morning but blue sky poked through as we drove through Louisiana.  Early in the afternoon we get to our destination, Beaumont Texas.  The campground in nice and we get settled for the night.  Did some grocery shopping and went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant. 

Feb. 8

There is not a cloud in the sky as we leave the campground.  Today we head further into Texas.  The drive through Houston was not too bad.  There was lots of traffic but more going the other way.  We got great views of downtown Houston as we drove through on the freeway.  We arrived in Calliham Texas around three and got settled in our friends, Bill and Jean, campground.  We have known Bill and Jean since 2000 when they campground hosted at Laird Park in Idaho.  We have frown here to visit them several times and gone crappie fishing so we know the area.  Last year they put in a 18 site campground by their house.  There is an oil boom in south Texas and the campground is filled mostly with oil field workers.  We go out to dinner with them and have a nice visit.  We plan on staying here for a month so my blog will not have much traveling in it.  We are about 70 miles south on San Antonio on Choke Canyon Lake.  I can see the lake from my motor home window.  Choke Canyon is an enormous reservoir and has great fishing. 

Downtown Houston

Skyline of downtown Houston

Feb. 9

Dick and I took a little ride in the Jeep around the lake and he got a haircut in a nearby town.  The weather is very cold and a cold wind is blowing.  We didn't get the rain that was expected today but dark clouds hung around all day.  Cooked ribs for dinner and added side dishes and shared the ribs with Bill and Jean. 

Feb. 10

It was so cold in the night our water hose froze.  Got down in the 20's in the night and a cold wind was still blowing this morning.  We all drove to the town of Victoria and ate at a seafood restaurant and did a little grocery shopping.  It is going to be cold again tonight but will start warming up over the weekend.  Definitely Happy Travels, Barb