This & That in Texas

Restored officer's quarters at mid-1800's Fort Davis

Things are picking up seeing animals. Coming down from I-10 to Fort Davis, Gertrude sent us on a wild ride—beautiful scenery but narrow, winding, steep road. Gertrude is the voice on the CoPilot GPS App we use on our Nexus 7 tablet. It was a good opportunity to test climbing ability and descending procedures with the motorhome on excessively steep portions of highway. Highlight was seeing four javelinas mosey across the road right in front of us. Leaving Fort Davis TX we saw a beautiful buck with a huge rack of horns and his harem in an open yard right at the edge of town.

The desert regions are known for the roadrunner. Up until our trip to Big Bend TX we had not seen a single one (except for the Roadrunner group at the Quartzite Alliance Church). Then suddenly they were everywhere. Even one at the campground that seemed to be a campground pet.

Pearl at Hot Springs, Big Bend Nat'l Park

At Big Bend National Park there were lots of birds, especially a little one with bright red head and reddish orange breast. We were told the park is known for birds migrating north and south. We were also told how to protect food and pets from javelinas which frequent the park but we didn't see any.

This morning camped at the San Pedro campground in the Amistad National Recreation Area we saw a herd of deer and Pearl saw a red cardinal. Still looking for our first scorpion, tarantula, and rattlesnake. Still not the kind of animal populations we are used to seeing elsewhere. When the scenery is getting boring while traveling I'll suggest to Pearl that she count antelope—with tongue in cheek of course as there are no antelope or any other critters visible. In Wyoming we would often not be able to keep up as they would be appearing by the dozens everywhere we looked.

Remote community in Mexico across from campsite in Big Bend

We've been roughly following the Rio Grande and the Mexican border since Yuma AZ. It was a special treat to spend a week in and near the Big Bend National Park. Unfortunately we didn't have passports so weren't able to wade the river, ride the burros up to the Mexican community adjacent to the campground and visit with the people—much different environment than many of the border towns. Both the Mexican community and Rio Grande Village Campground are many tens of miles from anywhere!

Rio Grande just a few hundred ft from campsite at Big Bend

We have become accustomed to Border Patrols everywhere. I believe Pearl said we have now gone through 6 checkpoints. Usually we just stop and they wave us on. At the most recent one we had to wait while the officer and his dog sniffed the baggage compartments on the motorhome. Actually I think it was only the dog and not the officer who did the sniffing. Apparently the sniffing was all for naught because they waved us on after a couple of minutes.

At the edge of the Park we spend three days at Stillwell Ranch. We picked it because of its reputation for a wide variety of jasper and agate. After three or four collecting trips when we kept emphasizing to ourselves, “Only the very best! We have no room for more!” we ended up with a hundred pounds. After further sorting I paid my $0.50 per pound for 48 pounds of choice agates, jasper and petrified wood.

Still working on keeping campsite fees down: $19 (hookups) at Stillwell Ranch, $7 at Big Bend National Park, $2 at Amistad National Recreation Area, and $0 tonight near San Antonio TX on our way to Houston TX on Friday.