Trip Retrospective

On this trip, we frequently chose to drive fewer miles per day than usual. That was good in that no single day was a hard driving day. But it was bad in that we drove more days than we spent staying put, contributing to a perception that we were always driving. Out of a 25 day trip, we spent 15 days driving, at least in part, and only 10 days staying put, in which we slept in the same location where we woke up.

Our rig performed very well. We got along on a long trip in close quarters. The cat was happy.

What did we learn? That we tend to drive too much. We would be happier if we stayed put in nice places, like Brazos Bend State Park.

Statistics: The originally planned trip distance, from Mapquest, was around 2840 miles. Adding a stop in Sun City West Arizona, the overall distance, taken from Mapquest, was 3730 miles. The actual mileage driven, including driving around towns, etc., was 4500 miles.

This will be our last Blog for a while, until we are on the road again.

Richard and Marianne

Spring into Colorado

We woke up to an overcast cool day on the Colorado River. We had a leisurely breakfast and then headed out towards I-70.

Our first stop was at the Colorado welcome center in Fruita. Our primary need was to dump and flush out our waste tanks on the camper. After finishing that chore, and looking at the Western Slope Vietnam Memorial, Marianne headed for Engstrom's chocolate shop, where she bought some chocolate for us and as gifts.

We stopped in Edwards for lunch, and then went over Vail pass and the Eisenhower Tunnel. The drive up to the tunnel was snowy, as shown in the photograph above.

We arrived home to discover that Spring had arrived in full force in Colorado. The flowering trees were impressive, especially since we don't see them every year.

It is time to be home. Lots of chores to do. We will probably head out to Holly Colorado to help with the tornado relief there.

Richard and Marianne.

Sedona to Moab via Monument Valley

Richard got up very early on Friday and went for a walk. He walked by another New Age center, which was capped with a “steeple” of glass, kind of goes with the vortexes and crystals. We got on the road a little after 8 AM.

The drive through the mountains on Highway 89 to Flagstaff was not easy, but no harder than the driving that we had already done to get to Sedona.

When we drove by the train station in Flagstaff, Richard recalled getting off at that station with Diane in the middle of the night to be picked up by their grandparents. Richard was around 12, and Diane about 10. This was a great adventure of a couple of days on our own on the Santa Fe Super Chief train from Chicago. They went to the Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, and other places around the west, before being put back on the train in Albuquerque.

In Flagstaff we bought gasoline and propane, and headed north towards the Navajo Reservation. The scenery simultaneously becomes more stark, austere, and spectacular as you drive north. The reservation looks a little better than we remember from previous trips, but there are still a lot of trash, abandoned trailers, and junk pickups. We stopped briefly in Tuba City for lunch in the camper, and then drove on to Kayenta, where we turned north towards Utah and Monument Valley. Monument Valley is still amazing. We stopped briefly in Gouldings resort, where we stayed overnight many years ago. The campground looked good, maybe we will stay there sometime. We regretted not having time to spend in Monument Valley.

From Monument Valley, we drove across the San Juan River at Mexican Hat, and proceeded on to Bluff. Richard has been in that area a couple of times in the last few years to paddle the San Juan, so it all felt very familiar. We pressed on to Blanding, and bought gas and a ice cream sandwich in Monticello. We were held up for a few minutes at a couple of road construction sites, but made it to Moab around 4:30 PM. Moab was hopping, Friday night, with a Jeeping event. We started to get nervous about our plan to stay at a forest service campground on the Colorado River. The first half dozen Forest Service campgrounds were full, so we kept driving. We finally found a campsite at Dewey Bridge, and were happy to have it, happy to stop driving. We found a small surprise when we opened the door to the camper.




Saturday should be an easy day, less than 8 hours to drive home. We have been on the road for a while, around three and a half weeks. It is time to be home.

Richard and Marianne

Sunset at the Sedona Airport Vortex

We woke up early, and Richard was at the quick oil change place at 7:30, when the doors opened. He got in and out quickly, and drove back to the camper to hitch up. Marianne was getting the camper, and herself, ready to hit the road.

We had a small religious service, John, Eileen, Richard and Marianne. We prayed, had communion, and said goodbye. It was a good way to say our goodbye.

We headed out of Sun City West on Highway 60, and stopped for brunch at the highly recommended Country Kitchen in Wickenburg. Marianne had the chicken fried steak, which she enjoyed very much. Not healthy, but tasty. Richard had pancakes and a salad. An unusual breakfast.

Highway 89 between Wickenburg and Sedona was extremely scenic, but hard mountain driving, with lots of switchbacks. Jerome looked very interesting, an old mining town built on the side of a mountain, but we decided not to stop. We did stop in Cottonwood at a good quilt shop.

We set a new record, by paying $50 for our campsite in Sedona. There is only one campground convenient to Sedona, and there were only a few campsites left. In fact, the only campsite that would fit our rig was an "executive" spot, backed up to Oak Creek, hence the $50. It is a very nice site, and an excellent campground, but $50 is a lot of money.

There were a few art galleries in town, but the town was mostly souvenir shops. The fancy art galleries were in "Tlaquepaque". Rather, faux Tlaquepaque. We were recently in the real Tlaquepaque, outside of Guadalajara Mexico. The faux Tlaquepaque was very upscale and pleasant, as is the real Tlaquepaque. Both look like a Mexican colonial town. However, the faux Tlaquepaque did not have a plaza with mariachis on the bandstand.

As we were wandering through the shops in Sedona, we looked briefly at a book about the Sedona Vortexes. One of these vortexes is the overlook at the Sedona airport, on a mesa overlooking the town of Sedona. We were told by our campground employee that the sunset at the the airport was not to be missed. So how could we miss the opportunity to experience the vortex and see a beautiful sunset at the same time?

What is a vortex? According to the Sedona Center for the New Age, "These vortexes are swirling centers of subtle energy coming out from the surface of the earth. This energy is not exactly electricity or magnetism, although it does leave a slight measurable residual magnetism in the places where it is strongest. There are four main energy vortexes in Sedona."

So we drove up to the airport, where we found a growing crowd at the overlook. There was a host collecting donations to keep the overlook open and orderly. The view was very pleasant, but chilly.

So we are in our camper, full of energy, blogging away and drinking wine. Tomorrow we plan to drive to the Moab area.

Richard and Marianne

Taliesin West and family

Eileen started the morning with church. John went to his water aerobics class. Marianne cleaned the camper.

Richard was debating what to do, and was not too enthused about the available museums and their special exhibitions. However, in researching museums he was reminded of Taliesin West, which was Frank Lloyd Wright's studio near Scottsdale Arizona. Richard hopped in the truck, drove to Taliesin, and took a 90 minute tour. Chris was our tour guide, and gave an excellent tour. He explained the history of Taliesin, showed us some of the buildings inside and out, and told some anecdotes about Frank Lloyd Wright. By all accounts, Wright was not an easy man to work with.


After the Taliesin tour, Richard headed to the Franciscan Renewal Center, often referred to as the Casa. The Casa is a religious retreat center, run by Eileen's son Charlie. Charlie was very glad to see Richard, and gave him a detailed tour. The Casa is a very nice retreat center, with ample grounds, meeting rooms, bedrooms, and of course a couple of chapels. A nice visit, especially since Richard had never seen the Casa.

Marianne and Eileen went out for a hairdo and junking. Eileen got a new perm, and bought some clothes from the thrift store. Marianne showed admirable restraint, buying nothing, but enjoying looking. Having spent a large part of the last year getting rid of a basement full of stuff, Richard and Marianne are in no hurry to acquire more “stuff”.

The ladies cooked us an excellent fish dinner. Richard picked some tanegelos from the tree in the backyard to enjoy later.

Thursday we will try to be on the road before 9 AM. We plan to leave the Phoenix area on US 60, Grand Avenue, and drive to the Sedona area via the back way, from the southwest. We have never seen the Sedona area, and are looking forward to it.

Richard plans to have the truck at the oil change place when they open at 7:30 AM Thursday. We have already driven more than 3000 miles on this trip, and we figure we have almost 1000 miles further to drive before we get home, so the truck is definitely due for an oil change.

It's been fun, but it is time to turn our wheels towards home.

Richard and Marianne

A Quiet Day in Sun City West

Tuesday was mostly a day around the house.

Richard and Eileen went to mass first thing in the morning.

Eileen and Marianne went for a walk later in the morning.

We all went shopping midday.

We played bridge in the afternoon. Richard was rusty, but picked it up again quickly, and Eileen and Richard went out to an early lead. However, John and Marianne won in the end.

Richard downloaded various software packages to their computer, including Mozilla and Gimp. He spent a lot of the day producing cheat sheets for Eileen. The cheat sheets included how to download photos from their new digital camera, and how to crop and scale the photos. Overnight, Richard downloaded Open Office, which will allow Eileen and John to read attachments sent in Microsoft Word or other Microsoft formats.

The ladies cooked an excellent dinner of gulf shrimp that we had bought in Port Aransas, on the Gulf.

Richard and Marianne

Cruising into Sun City West

Monday was an easy driving day. We left Wilcox AZ around 9:30, and the winds that plagued us Sunday were gone. The drive on Interstate 10 was quiet, and the traffic was moderate. Driving through Phoenix was much easier than I expected. It was so easy that I left the truck in cruise control, set a couple of miles per hour below the traffic speed. We arrived at Sun City West around 2 PM.


Marianne's sister Eileen and her husband John were happy to see us. They took us to a retirement dinner for Joan, who used to teach with Marianne. Joan was retiring after 68 years as a church organist in various places. Joan did not recognize Marianne at first, but was happy to see us.

We plan to stay here for a couple of days, and then turn our wheels home, perhaps stopping in Sedona.

Richard and Marianne

Winding our Windy Way to Wilcox

Sunday morning, we did not get up at the crack of dawn. It was cold overnight, 47F outside, 51F inside the camper. We did not leave El Paso until around 10 AM, after a leisurely start that included replacing the trailer connector in the truck bed. We hope that is the end for the turn signal trouble. Marianne called Gracie on her birthday.

We called Chiricahua National Monument about campsites, and they indicated that they had been full every night, and that we should arrive between 10 AM and 1 PM. With a late start, we could not do that, so we wrote off Chiricahua, and looked for alternatives, which did not look that attractive.

We stopped for lunch in a restaurant in Lordsburg NM. Before lunch, we had a tailwind, and a fairly quiet and pleasant drive. After lunch, we had a headwind/crosswind, so no fun. We made it to Wilcox, AZ, halfway between El Paso and Phoenix. We are staying at the Grande Vista RV park, where we have stayed before.


The photo is of a large blue agave outside our door in the campground. The shoot coming out the top has not flowered yet, although it is already about 12 feet high.

Tomorrow we head for Sun City West (Phoenix), and the forecast is for moderate winds.

Richard and Marianne

To the West Texas Town of El Paso.....

Saturday, we got up early and hit the road by 8:15. The day was chilly; we started at 47F and windy. We heard that there had been tornadoes near Fort Worth. Our goal was Van Horn or El Paso Texas.

The Texas Hill country is beautiful. It is rolling country, with low trees, junipers and mesquite. The whole area is very lightly populated. The county that Van Horn is in has less than one person per square mile.


We arrived in Van Horn before 3 PM Central Time, and stopped at an interesting junk store. The woman running the store wore a dirty railroad hat and a denim shirt. She loved it there, and was a fourth grade teacher who ran the junk store on weekends. There were sculptures made of junk in the yard. When Richard asked about who made the sculptures, she said that her husband loved junk. We bought a couple of old albums in mint condition. The store was right next to Chuy's Mexican restaurant, where John Madden stops to eat. We decided it was too early to stop, especially since we would gain an hour between Van Horn and El Paso, so we drove to El Paso.

As we got further west, it got more arid. We saw a few trailers out in the middle of the high desert, where people are living. Closer to El Paso, in the Rio Grande valley, we could see irrigated pastures and green fields.

We are staying at the Mission RV park, on the outskirts of El Paso. It was time to get out of the truck. We went to Saturday evening mass at a new church.

The guy in the next spot at the campground leads RV trips into Mexico for Tracks to adventure. He and his wife are full time RVers; they do not have a house, just a beautiful Class A motor home. Ray and Richard talked Mexico.

Marianne took the gulf shrimp from Aransas Pass out of the freezer, and we had a great shrimp dinner.

We are 475 miles from Sun City West. We will tour our way to there, and arrive Monday afternoon. Sunday is Gracie's birthday, tax day.

Richard and Marianne

Texas Hill Country

On Friday, we bid farewell to Brazos Bend State Park, and headed for Interstate 10. We are planning to take four days to drive from Brazos Bend (south of Houston) to Sun City West (west of Phoenix).

The Texas hill country is quite beautiful, especially with the wildflowers in bloom on the roadside.


We stopped in San Antonio for gas, and then continued west. Our destination was South Llanos River State Park, near Junction Texas. The park looked nice, but there was no room at the inn on a Friday night. We consulted our guidebook, which showed a KOA and a small RV park. We called and selected the small RV park, which turned out to be an excellent choice. The Pecan Valley RV park is on the North Lllano River, in a rural area. The birding was quite good; we saw an Eastern Bluebird, which was a new bird for us. We also saw Cardinals, Vermillion Flycatchers, and a Tufted Titmouse. The campground host feeds the deer at the park at 6 PM, and we saw a herd of 30 white tail deer come running for the corn he puts out. The Cardinals liked the corn also. We walked down to the river, which was bigger than we expected, and a pretty blue-green color. There was only one other RV in the park, so the place was very quiet and peaceful, although there was some highway noise from the interstate.

Saturday we will be continue west on Interstate 10 towards El Paso, probably stopping before El Paso.

Richard and Marianne

Alligators in Brazos Bend

We were going to leave Thursday, but changed our mind. We decided that we had been driving hard, it was time for a rest, and that it was very nice here in the park.

We took a hike around Elm lake in the morning. The signs warn of alligators, but we were not prepared to see as many alligators as we did. Some were on the bank, sunning themselves. Some were in the water, cruising around. Some were just lying in the water. It was amazing and spooky to walk within 20 feet of an alligator.

In the afternoon, we walked around 40 Acre Lake, and saw more alligators, including one who we saw walk from one pond to another. We climbed the observation tower, from which we could watch the alligators cruise the lake.


We also got in some good birdwatching. We identified a blue winged teal, a black-bellied whistling duck, and a little blue heron, beautiful birds, and new to us. We saw great blue herons, a great egret, male and female cardinals, and lots of coots, moorhens, and cattle egrets.

Walking through the dense forest, with Spanish Moss, it feels like the forest primeval, especially around dusk, when it is much darker inside the forest than in the clearings.


A beautiful and quiet park, at least during the week. This weekend there is a big Earth Day event, so the park will probably be full, but we will leave here Friday AM, starting our drive to Phoenix.

Richard and Marianne

Houston Museums

Houston Museums

We drove the 50 miles into Houston and headed for the Contemporary Art Museum. The special exhibit was a retrospective of the work of Sam Gilliam, a black artist whose career extends from the 1960s to today. His works were quite impressive, including many works with painted fabric.

Our next step was the Art Car Museum. This museum is an outgrowth of the annual Art Car event in Houston. We enjoyed talking to some of the artists. The car that looks like it has fish scales has a skin made up of metal strips over a wire armature. This is a street legal car, and he has driven it more than 6000 miles, including a trip to California.

After lunch, we headed for the Minel museum, a collection of largely contemporary art by the Minel family. There was a special exhibit made up of old cardboard boxes, which we thought was silly. The Minel was OK, but not our favorite.

Our drive home was slowed by a burned out car on the freeway, and we were happy to be back in the quiet at the park. A picture of our camper in our campsite is included.

Our plans have changed, and we are going to the Phoenix area to see Marianne's sister and husband before they go to Lourdes. We plan to take a leisurely four days to get to Phoenix.

Richard and Marianne

Beach to Brazos Bend

We left the beach at Port Aransas on Tuesday without ever seeing the sun. The photo of Marianne was taken on our morning walk, the first day that it was warm enough to walk comfortably. Of course, since we were leaving, the forecast was for improving weather.

We decided to take the coastal road towards Houston rather than the main highway. It was a bit slow, but very scenic.

We arrived at Brazos Bend State Park in the late afternoon. It is really out in the country, four miles from the nearest farm road. It is very quiet out here, until the sun goes down and we are serenaded by frogs. The park and campground are almost empty. It is very green, with Spanish moss on the trees. We are here because it was rated as one of the top 100 parks in the country, and we can see why.



I went into Houston to see my nephew Ryan, who I had not seen in several years. I found out on the drive in how far we are out in the country, about 50 miles one way. Ryan is twenty-five years old, and grown up. We had a nice conversation over a good dinner. His career focus is telling jokes in comedy clubs, and he is waiting tables to help pay the bills.

Family and Texas State Aquarium

On Monday, we hung around the camper for a while, and then headed towards Corpus Christi and the Aquarium. We ended up getting somewhat lost in Corpus Christi, and then decided that we would head directly for Ingleside to meet Richard's sister Diane and her son Patrick for lunch. Patrick's car died, but we picked him up, and headed for a Thai restaurant. Diane was able to join us. We had a nice chat with Patrick, and took some photos of Richard, Diane, and Patrick.

We went to the Texas State Aquarium, where we enjoyed a dolphin performance.


We headed back to the camper, as the weather deteriorated. The morning weather was warmer, cloudy and windy, but much better than Sunday. By the time we got back to the camper, it was blowing and raining. More bad weather.

Tomorrow we head to Houston, to have dinner with Diane's son Ryan.

Richard

Cold and Windy Easter

When we woke up this morning, the weather was cold, in the low 40s, windy, with occasional rain. As the day went on, the rain stopped, but it remained cold and windy.

It seemed like a good morning to do laundry, so that is what Richard did. Marianne stayed home and cooked. It felt strange not to go to church on Easter morning. In the afternoon, Richard went for a walk down the beach. The beach was full of seaweed and sandpipers. The picture is of the waves breaking on the beach.

Late in the afternoon, Richard's sister Diane came by with homemade guacamole. She then took us to the Sunday evening mass at her church, where she sings in the choir. A good sermon, urging us to be true to ourself, that we are all created in God's image, and that we can do what we need to do.

On the way back to the camper, we stopped by the the birding center in Port Aransas, and walked out on the boardwalk. We saw several new birds to add to our life list, a Summer Tanager, striking red, as well as a Prothonotary warbler and a Moorhen. We also saw several Roseate Spoonbills, always a spectacular pink. The last time we saw Roseates, we were in Florida.

The weatherman promises a nice day tomorrow, and we plan to stay here Monday and enjoy the beach. Tuesday we plan to move to the Houston area.

Richard and Marianne

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