Cloudy Chilly Corpus Christi

We woke up Saturday in San Antonio to cold and rain. We cleaned up the camper a bit with the new vacuum cleaner that we bought, and left the campground at the 11 AM checkout time.

It rained most of the way to Corpus Christi. The wind blew as well. We kept our speed down due to conditions.

We refueled and bought groceries in Corpus Christi.

Our campground is north of Corpus Christi, on Mustang Island. We took the long bridge across Corpus Christi bay, and then took the ferry to Mustang Island. As we were getting on the ferry, the attendants directed me to take up both lanes, and park in the middle. I asked them about it, and they gave two reasons. First, by having fewer cars on the side that the RV was on, it tended to balance out the weight better on the ferry. Second, by parking the RV in the middle of two lanes, no one would be tempted to try to pull up next to us, when there really isn't space to park a car next to a rig that is 8 feet wide. They hate to do the paperwork for accidents. ;-)


Our campground/resort is nice, but the weather was so cold and windy that we did not leave the camper once it was set up. Maybe we can walk to the beach Sunday afternoon, after it stops raining. The weather is forecast to gradually improve. The weatherman says that it is almost 30 degrees cooler than normal for this time of year. Our outdoor thermometer is reading in the low 40s. The weather was so bad that I took no pictures on the drive down to Corpus Christi.

Richard's sister Diane drove over to see us, and brought a flower and some shrimp. Richard and Diane made short work of the shrimp, which became the appetizer for the spaghetti dinner that Marianne cooked. I don't see my sister very often, just every few years. Marianne commented how good she looked.

Diane will come back on Sunday, as will her son Patrick. We plan to go to an Easter evening mass at her church, where she sings in the choir.

Richard and Marianne

San Antonio – Art Museums and the Alamo

Our first stop was the McNay Art Museum, a contemporary art museum that takes us from the impressionists to today. As we drove up, we saw several brides using the beautiful grounds as a backdrop for their wedding photography. Beautiful girls, beautiful dresses. The grounds were indeed beautiful and tranquil. The photo is of Marianne sitting on one of the granite chairs, a work of art by Scott Burton

The museum is in an old mansion, which is a work of art in itself. There was an outstanding special exhibit there on Andy Warhol and Jamie Wyeth. These two artists had an ongoing friendship, which included portraits of each other, and even taxidermied pets that they both collected. This was perhaps the best exhibit comparing two artists that we have ever seen.

From the McNay, we went to a nearby quilt shop. Marianne shopped for fabrics, while Richard visited the auto parts store and Walmart.

Next we went to the San Antonio Museum of Art, which covers everything from ancient China to modern art. Marianne spent the entire time looking at quilts that were part of a special exhibit of antique quilts from the Shelburne museum in Vermont. The exhibit included Amish quilts, and many quilts with incredible craftsmanship. The guide was very chatty and interested in the exhibit, and followed Marianne around through the hall. Marianne felt that this was the best exhibit of antique quilts that she had ever seen.

Richard decided that he needed to have the cultural experience of visiting the Alamo. It was crowded, but at least we can say that we were there. It makes me think that I should read more about the history of Texas independence.

After the Alamo, we walked down to the Riverwalk and people watched for a while.

A good day. Tomorrow we head for the beach.

Richard and Marianne

Pecos High Bridge to San Antonio

We found out at Seminole State Park that we had missed seeing the famous Pecos High Bridge. We had driven over it the day before while we were in a hurry to make the tour on time, and had not noticed that it was anything special. So Thursday morning we drove back a few miles to the bridge overlook, and also to the boat ramp that led down to the river, which is now part of Lake Amistad. We were also able to see the confluence of the Pecos and the Rio Grande rivers.

The Bridge is 273 feet above the river, and replaced an older bridge that was closer to the river, but washed out by a flood. It dates from 1957.

The Pecos River is indeed the legendary river of the phrase “West of the Pecos”.

We drove through Del Rio Texas, and then through a lot of empty ranch land before we reached irrigated agriculture around Uvalde. The wildflowers and bluebonnets (or lupins) were beautiful, because of the recent rains. One sign on a farmer's fence read “Thank you God for the rain.”

We had a small difficulty when our campground guide seemed to imply that there were two KOA campgrounds in San Antonio, and I told Marianne that she must have missed the writeup for the “other” KOA campground. When we stopped to look at the book and map, I was able to figure out that there was only one KOA campground, although the name on the writeup and the advertisement were different. So I had to apologize to Marianne. Luckily we did not go very far out of our way, and we were soon entering the nicest KOA that we have ever seen. Very professionally run, well organized, free WIFI, nice grounds, etc.

We arrived at the campground around 5 PM, and somehow frittered the evening away with phone calls, email, and a visit to Walmart.

Richard and Marianne

Seminole State Park - Rock Art

We bid adieu to Cottonwood Campground in Big Bend at 8 AM, and saw yet more beautiful scenery, with cloud cover and the desert in bloom. At Marathon we turned east, on US90, which follows the old Union Pacific transcontinental route, the second rail line coast to coast.

At Sanderson we mailed a package, bought propane, and ate lunch in the No Name Cafe. We learned that Sanderson was not doing too well, due to the railroad closing a maintenance operation. The border patrol will be bringing in a few employees. The town looked kind of broken down, with lots of closed businesses.

We stopped briefly at Langtry Texas, where the Judge Bean museum is located with a Texas travel center. We were really there to check email using the free WIFI.


We made it to Seminole State Park, known for rock art, in time to make the 3 PM tour. Jack was a good tour guide, explaining, as best he could, the probable significance of the rock art, and the time period the art was believed to have been done. We went down steep stairways into the canyon, and then up to the overhangs where the rock art was located. Much of the art is believed to be 3000 years old, and in the Pecos River style. We also learned about the diet of the ancient indians, who ate little meat, and worked very hard to get nutrition from desert plants.

After the tour, we headed up to the park campground, where we had a great view of the sunset from the top of the hill.

A Quiet Day in Big Bend

Tuesday was a day without much of an agenda. We decided that today we would not drive much. Richard got up early and drove 8 miles to the trailhead for the Santa Elena Canyon hike. This is a 1.7 mile round trip hike into the bottom of Santa Elena Canyon. It is a relatively easy hike, with a little up and down to get around a rock band. It gives you the opportunity to get inside the canyon, and see one of the narrower points. Pretty impressive, a very deep and narrow canyon. Someday Richard will paddle that canyon in his canoe. It is nice to hike early in the morning. Richard did not see another human being on the hike. He did see a beaver in the river, however.

The rest of the day was devoted to reading in the shade. Richard read Michael Connelly's book, The Closers. Marianne read George Pelecanos's book, Hard Revolution. As usual, Richard read quickly, starting and finishing the book the same day. Marianne reads more slowly, and will continue reading her book during the trip. The cat rested outside with us.

It seemed a little cooler today, although the thermometer reads about the same, around 90F.

Richard did get a picture of the camp turkey, which we see every day. We also identified a Northern Cardinal.

Wednesday we start driving towards Corpus Christi, and we will try for an early start. Our goal for Wednesday is Seminole State Park, near Del Rio Texas. We hope to get a tour of the famous rock art there.

We hope to be able to update our Blog on Wednesday, perhaps at a Texas Travel Information Center.

Richard and Marianne

Big Bend

Richard got up at dawn and went for a hike. Nothing was stirring, very nice.

After Breakfast, we went up to the visitor center and store at Castolon, an historic border village. During the Mexican revolution, the US army built a permanent camp, which they abandoned in 1921. The army buildings are most of what we see today.

We drove up to Santa Elena Canyon. The Rio Grande comes out of a very deep and narrow canyon into the broad valley that Cottonwood campground and Castolon are in. Santa Elena Canyon looks kind of improbable, that it should be a side canyon in a continuous cliff wall, but it is the Rio Grande.

After lunch, we drove the truck up to Chisos Basin, around 5000 ft elevation, so cooler. The road is very twisty and steep, too much for our 5th wheel. The lodge there has WIFI access, so we were able to check email and update our blog.

When we got back to the campground, it was hot both in and outside of the camper, high 80s. We just sat outside on lawn chairs, waiting for the sun to drop behind the cliffs. Of course, it got pleasant after the sun went down. The moon rise was particularly nice, like a sunrise on a smaller scale.

Cottonwood campground is one of the quietest places that we have been. All you hear are birds, including the resident wild turkey. The loudest sound we heard was when the turkey flew up into a tree to roost. There are no generators allowed, and everyone seems to speak softly. Nice, but we wish it was not so hot.

Richard and Marianne

Entering Big Bend National Park

We got up Sunday morning and went to church in Alpine for Palm Sunday. The 8 am mass was in Spanish, and included the reading of Christ's passion. The Spanish was pleasant to hear, and easy to understand.

Interestingly, in Alpine we read that up until 1954, there were three high schools, one for colored, one for Mexicans, and one for whites. After Brown vs. Board of Education, they shut down the colored school, and the coloreds and the Mexicans went to the Centennial H.S. It was not until 1969 that all the races went to the same high school.

After doing some cleanup of the truck and 5th wheel, we headed south towards Big Bend. There was not much traffic, mostly motorcycles attending a antique motorcycle rally. At a gas station in Study Butte, we chatted with a couple riding a 1954 Harley; we had seen them in the campground earlier. The drive south was beautiful, with the desert wildflowers and Ocotillo in bloom. The scenery is spectacular.

After a stop in the visitor center, we arrived in Cottonwood Campground, on the Rio Grande river, early enough to get a semi-shady spot. The potable water supply there is limited, so Richard tediously put water in the 5th wheel, while Marianne held our campsite. It was hot, upper 80s, so we mostly sat in the shade and had a cool one, and worried a bit about our cat, who seemed very hot. As the sun went down, we did some birding, and both saw a Vermillion Flycatcher, strikingly red, and a Golden-Fronted Woodpecker, a new bird for both of us.

With the heat, we had a cold dinner.

We are glad to be settled down in a place to stay for a few days. Tomorrow we hope to start early to take advantage of the cool morning weather.

Richard and Marianne