Day 15 Just bird pictures from Texas

MOST OF THESE ARE FROM BIG BEND AREA THE LAST FEW DAYS

(Oh a few flowers I thought you would like.)

An unknown Flowering shrub

The desert marigold

A flock of Black Vultures. They are connected to the Storks  (Really)

Probably a Bronzed Grackled, but is was so bedragled we didn't know.

A Great Tailed Grackle

A female Cassin's Finch and a White Crowned Sparrow.

A Cassin's Finch. There were a lot of these in Big Bend

Mountain Bluebird on the Rio Grande Flood Plain

That Golden Eagle being harrassed by a Chihuahuan Raven.

Horned Grebe in pond at Rio Grande Campground (east)

Everyone's favorite for color. The Vermilion Flycatcher

Pictures from March 12-15 Texas

This is the sunset from another day, but you get the idea.
See below.

T
This is Santa Elena Canyon that separates
The USA (right) from Mexico (Left). The
limestone has been eroded by the Rio
Grande  for millenia. Note walk on the right.

These are some pictures from the last few days. We finally have fast enough Wi-Fi (n Del Rio TX) to download quickly.

This is an extrusion called "Mules Ears" in The Nat. Park

This is a bush like shrub caled Cezina. It was the only one of them that we saw in the
Big Bend National Park

This is a sunrise the same day as the sunset at the end of the pictures The air there allows the colors to appear very vibrant. THi sis from the campground at Terlingia near Big  Bend. (I can't locate the other one- see sub)

This is the Ocotillo. It is not a cactus. The spines help to keep moisture from evaporating and to keep predators away.
When the air is dry  they can shed their leaves often 3-4 times a year. This allows them to conserve moisture and grow new ones when there is moisture . This is the flower in red.

This is the campground at Terlingua where we stayed for 7 days
It was Spring Break so became very crowded on Friday. They were still full on Wed when we left.
It is a large park with 250-300 camp sites. It is close to the Big Bend Nat.Park
We left from here each day to visit the 800,000 acre park.
Great sunrises and sunsets here. 

Cactus Wren . We saw them many times and
especially in the park where we stayed. They are a noisy
bird and like to eat the bugs off the grills and "spoilers"
of vehicles.

The Rio Grande when it runs through the Big Bend Park
has quite a lot of water in it. About 40 miles west it has
less than 1/2 that amount.This area has had 3 inches of
rain in 17 months. They average 6 inches of rain per year.
That is Mexico on the cliff side.

This coyote was so lathargic even when we were only a
few feet from hm in the truck. He was walking slow, looking around
quite casually, as if there were no concerns for it.
Guess there weren't come to think about it.
He was at the edge of a large campground on the Rio Grande.

These are a native animal ...the Javalina. They appear tame, but can be terrifying.
There was a number of them in this pack of about a dozen. They too, were on the campground at Rio
Grande Campground. There was great clover to eat!

Day 10-11 At Terlingua and Big Bend National Park TX

Day 10 Terlingua and into Big Bend National Park, TX

The warm weather is here again. Got up to 83 down here on the desert floor while up in the mountains (5600 feet) it was 55 F tops. So that’s a mile high. Down in the desert floor it is about 2400 feet.

The terrain on the way up to the Mountains is very spare desert and I might add that the Prickly Pear are dying. Now some rain could save them, but it looks quite disastrous. There are ocotillo (not a cactus) Prickly Pear, Mesquite, Yucca (100 types) and creosote as the main types of plants. Interestingly, the creosote  has seeds that have a toxin on them so that when they fall to the ground the other plants are intolerant of that area and keep their distance. The creosote bushes seem to be ”in rows”, and spaced apart evenly because of that. We did notice that the are much taller (4-5’) along the road  than ones further away as the road runoff from rain gives them more water and hence better growth.

Some Plants keys...

The candellila plant during rain, excretes a wax that coats the stem and in the drought protects it from the heat. 

The Ocotillo produces leaves many times  a year and when it is dry drops them  waiting for the next rain to grow more. 

Of course the cacti have spines instead of leaves so do not lose moisture and store it for those long dry spells.  It has shallow, spreading roots that soak up the rain when it does come. The thick, fleshy stems have minimal surface and reduce evaporation immensely.

Did you know that the desert floor can get up to 150 degrees F? Adaptation is the key for survival.

 Four Plant  types here
Christmas Cholla (back)
Englemann Prickly Pear  (center)
Mesquite (R and L)
Candellilia (Front)

The animals here are few but balanced, for nature’s way of keeping all in check, The Mountain Lion (there are about 20 in the Park) are the dominant species and keep the Javalina and the Jack Rabbit in control. Also the birds keep the Kangaroo Rat at tolerable numbers. The Rat survives by getting it’s moisture from seeds.This is the desert away from the Rio Grande floodplain where the animals and plant life changes immensely (We will see some of that tomorrow at Rio Grand Village where there is a camping ground and lodge) and we will examine any bird life we can find there. River life is another story.

Texas Blue Bonnet or Lupine

So after stopping at the Panther Junction Visitor Center for info, we had a “visitor’s survey” from a co-ed from Texas A and M about our travels, and drove up hill to the Chisos Basin and at 5400 feet the highest accessible road in the Park.  There are great vistas here of the mountains, rocks and passes. This is where the elevation changes the habitat and plant types considerably. At the lower elevation is the grass lands , the Century Plant and sotol and some green leafy shrubs (This means more moisture right?) Then the bushes get taller with evergreen sumac, mountain mahagony , Texas madrone and common beebush. (You can look those up!)

At about 4500 feet the taller trees appear in Juniper, small oak, and pinyon pine that now begin to make it look like a forest is closing in as the road winds its way steeply to the end.  This is the last remnants of the ice age as the dryer desert surrounded the mountains and cut it off from the desert. Hence there are some Carmen Mountain white tailed deer here as well. Only,here,and across the river in Mexico on those mountains are they found. (The Chiracahua Mtns. in Arizona

are another example of this type of mpuntain) Some few plant species are at the extreme southern limit of their U.S. ranges in these Chisos Mountains. They are ; Arizona Pine, Arizona Cypress, Quaking Aspen, and Bigtooth Maple. Two species grow only here and they are the Chisos Oak and the Drooping Juniper which looks like it needs watering.


We did arrive at the Chisos Basin (5400 feet) and did some short hikes although the place was a buzz with hikers, families, and day trippers as this was the start of “SPRING BREAK” here in TX. Our campground is 2/3 full as well. We saw few birds ,but are hopeful in traveling to the Rio Grande tomorrow and increasing that total. We are at about 61 species so far. (There is no goal to reach) . After lunch we spotted a Pyrruholoxia (that cardinal like bird) for a few minutes and watched a Say’s Phoebe chasing insects. Then we headed down the mountain for one more stop at an abandoned ranch.The land is so dry the bird expert at the Visitor Center at Chisos stated that even in the early morning she sees only 10-12 species these days. The animals must have water and they will go where that is, or die. (The Chisos Visitor Center gets its water from a spring as well as from rain run off from a pool and so shares it with the animals there.)

The Sam Nail Ranch is on the first few miles of a road to the Rio Grande so we stopped there as a last stop of the day. It is a grown over mesquite and cactus “front yard” of an abandoned ranch house where there is a working well and windmill (Aero) that attracts the birds. Again we were only able to see the Cassin’s Finch and the Northern Mockingbird at this time. We will stop here again in two days when we visit the Rio Grande at Castelon (the west end of the park). It was another sunny 83 degree day with no clouds in sight . End


PIcture download is VERY slow , so will try another approach.

Day 8-9-10 From Seminole Canyon to Terlingua, Texas

Day 8-9-10 From Seminole Canyon to Terlingua, Texas

The wind had died down some and the early driving from The Seminole Canyon site westward toward Big Bend started out smoothly. This road had dozens of cuts in the limestone rock which made for a colorful vista along the way. One was fully 80 feet high.  There is not much else save the Mesquite and other desert plants  sparsely scattered. As we drove west it was even more sparse. The road was good and about 10 miles east of Sanderson in the Sanderson Valley (more of a canyon than a Valley) we began to feel the effect of the strong cold front that was passing through. The temperature was 73 F out of Seminole Canyon, but in 30 minutes the temperature dropped some 30 degrees Fahrenheit. Along with that the wind picked up to about 35-40 miles per hour and on the open desert that is really stiff.  That continued until we reached Alpine, a prosperous community on the southern end of the Glass Range in West Texas. Alpine was a cattle stop and a bit later a tent city when the RR went through. Sul Ross University (never heard of t?) is locate there right on the main street (US 90). Who was Sul Ross?

 At this point Ruth and I were ready to get to some lunch  and not in the cold, rocking trailer where we usually eat. So Ruth suggested a Subway and that was just around the corner where we got gas at $3.79/gal . (I understand in Michigan it has reached $4.00/gal).

The Subway was good. I guess they are consistent like many fast food places throughout the country. This one did have GUACAMOLE , however. I like the honey nut bread and Ruth likes the flatbread. I noticed on the walls of the Subway the map of NYC especially where the subway runs. I have a cousin who lived in Queens , so this day I asked her where she lived there, so the next time we stop at a Subway, I will try to locate her old home in NYC. It was on 222nd Street. (Ruth has tuna on her flatbread and I had the Subway Melt. )

Now we “turned the corner” and headed south toward the border. The wind was still blowing but ...AH-HA, it is now a tailwind which moved us along nicely. One stretch of this road is a 15% incline so I had to finally switch on the Super drive  and down shift (all automatic) . Now we were into many low mountains except for a large valley about  half way to the end of the road. (Terlingua)  We saw no cattle, no houses or domiciles, no mines or remnants of such, just the very sparse plant life that in many places has shown the effects of the drought here in SW Texas. Even many of the Prickly pear cactus had completely dry leaves.  There are “No Burn” warnings everywhere, even on the doors of the businesses along the way. Any burning could be a tragedy.

We arrived at about 4:00 in the afternoon and made arrangements for a 9 day stay although we will decide if that is too much or sufficient. It depends a lot for us if the birds are here , if migration has started, or if birding is as good as they say it is here 

SORRY,BUT  PICTURES ARE SO DOWLOADING SO SLOW I WILL POST THEM SPARATELY ON A ADDITIONAL POST- LATER TODAY. 

The Park is also very dry with lots of sand spots and desert gravel. The only possible green are the trees planted that have drip hoses leading to each one for moisture to save them. There is varied terrain, with the Rio Grande providing one habitat along the river, the desert between the river and the mountains is another, and then the mountains (Chisos) that tower some 8,000 feet over the Big Bend Park. We ill see how it goes.

Today the 9th, was a quiet day for us.The temperature was still in the 40’s so it was do the laundry, put out the bird  feeders  and take  brief tour of the area.

The laundry was at the RV Park  and not busy at all. It was  $1,75 per load and a 45 minute dry for the same. The area is truly an “Old Time” laid back, stone and brick structured, spread out community. There are, actually, three areas of habitat. One where the original town was and is now the ”Ghost Town” that still does have some bars, a grocery and a sports rental place, all very rustic in appearance, The second area is near the RV Park as they have a restaurant, laundry,  a title office, a golf office, the Chamber of Commerce and a motorcycle rental from a van, in the Park. The third area about a mile away is the educational center that has a LIbrary and three schools all clustered off on a paved road about 1/2 mile from the main road. There is also there a pair of small stores, a liquor store and a “deli”, again all very rustic and “log like” in appearance except for the grocery store. I’ll add some pictures of these as we go along this next week.

We looked all of these areas over today and I will include a picture of the soccer field and running track at the school facility.  That is a sight to see. We should all feel  very gratified with what we have where we live, as there is no grass out here at all and water is scarce.

That pretty much ended the outside activities and we came in to watch the Cactus Wren at our feeder already. A supper at the local restaurant in the Park, a cute movie  called “Durango  KIds “ about a time warp into the old west and bank robbers, ended the day. So all in all it was a leisurely day. Tomorrow we will pick up the pace and see if we can find some birds. The weather promises to improve and is due to get to 70 F by noon. We shall see! 

Day 10 Saturday March 10. (notice the days are the same as the date!)

As the temperature looked like they were starting to raise, but not extraordinary, we would head for the Rio Grande and a town of Lajitas which was at one time a fortified entry point along the River. The mercury mines in the area moved goods back nd forth the border here, Both “Black Jack “ Pershing (WW1) and George Patten served time here in the military when it was a border outpost. Today it has developed int a small, rural, nicely attired village with some amenities and a wonderful hotel /restaurant complex.  The Golf Club/Spa has a 7,000 yard Championship course that was in pretty good shape considering what I said last night about no grass. A hotel with excellent cuisine was one we tried for lunch. The largest “Junior” Club sandwich I have ever seen was served to me. Of course I took 1/2 of it home. The patio had a huge water fountain and an immensely adorned garden with birds were abundant so Ruth took advantage of that getting shots of the flowers and birds and the beautiful Spanish style building.

Some would say that because of the commercialization here that Lajitas has lost its “heart”.

There were a number of stops that the State Park people recommended. The State Park is over 300,000 acres and the second largest S.P. in the Lower 48. (Chugach in Alaska is the largest with 495,000 acres) . It adjoins the Big Bend N.P. so there is a million acres set aside for public use here. The visitor center there had a courtyard filled with plants and bird station for feeding. The grounds around it were filled with identified plants , shrubs and flowers. We identified that red blooming cactus while we were there. It is a Scarlet Cup Cactus and blooms early.

The next 40 miles of the road includes the following;  first, The Tepees, in  Madera Canyon - a collection of Indian-themed, 20 foot high shelters beside the road with good views over the Rio Grande; and second, the remains of the Contrabando Movie Set, a Mexican-style village used for several  films such as “Rio Diablo”,  “Streets of Laredo” and five others, but now is  aged and has lost its’ authentic appearance. We stopped at three sites beside the river and did find about 20 species of birds including the Mountain Bluebird, the Pyrrholoxia (cardinal like), Lark Sparrow, many Vesper Sparrows, and a Phainopepla (all black cardinal-like). The Madera Canyon and much of this road is considered Texas’ most scenic road. It certainly is not for the faint hearted as there are many 15-18% grades and sharp turns. When they say “Slow to 30 mph” you had better, or off into the Rio Grande below, you go. The Rio Grande area receives normally 6 inches of ran a year, in the last 17 months they have had only 3 inches. Very dry as even the Prickly Pear cactus are dieing.

It was worth the trip and as our “slow cooker” was doing the chicken and veggies, the aroma f the trailer ht our nostrils and we enjoyed a home cooked meal in the evening. The temps stayed in the 60’s all afternoon, and tomorrow will continue the upward climb in the temps. We will head into Big Bend National Park tomorrow and stop first at the Visitor Center at Panther Crossing in the Park. Should be a great day again.

Day 7 At Seminole Canyon State Park & Hist. Site

Just as easy to post some pictures that would tell the story of the day. The wind died down, the temps still in the 70's and the sky is bright tonight after a sunset and a great moon rise. Great night for star watching .Lots of planets up there now. Well, at least three.

We "did" Lake Amistad as much as we could as the water level is "way" down, limiting the proximty to the shoreline, but we did locate some 20 birds spedcies including the White Throated Swift, SAge Thrasher and the rufous crowned sparrow (NEW for us).

So here are some pictures and a brief description tghat will tell the story of the day. If yu have any question, leave a note and I will answer, right Therese?

A little preface to Seminole Canyon:

Seminole Canyon State Park and Historic Site is a 2,172.5 acres (879.2 ha) site operated by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. It is located on U. S. Highway 90, in Val Verde County, and is adjacent to Amistad National Recreation Area. It is estimated that human habitation of the area began 10,000 years ago, during the Holocene era when mammoth animals would have also inhabited the area. Vegetation is believed to have been a denser and richer variety to support the life of the area. The erosion that happened over the ages can be seen in some of the area rock walls. Indigenous peoples began to leave cave art evidence of their presence some 2,000-8,000 years ago.

             

Cedar waxwings seen at Lake Amistad, TX 

 

 






 A Yucca in early bloom. Many of these are seen here.



                   Lake Amistad from the south side. It is 87 miles long

                        The Border Patrol has roads along most highways and of course the border fence.

                              This is Seminole Canyon site of ancient (2-10,000 years) life  (see pictographs)

                    Here we see two of the many pictographs on the walls of these caves in the canyons.

(Below)  Some of the sites have the "pounding stones" that were used to make colors, grind grain,etc.

                          An, as yet, unidentified cactus in bloom, and the only one we saw that was .

                      And you thought last night's sunset was a good one, eh? This is March 7 2012.

Day 6  San Antonio to Comstock TX

Our site at Seminole State Park Historic Site (Comstock TX)

                                                                                     
                                                         Shrub to be named later.  Really!

                                                         

                                                        It took many tries but this one was decent!   March 6, 2012

We left the hustle bustle and historic city of the Missions, and headed west again out of the rolling hills that surround the city. The sun was shining, and although there were some clouds in the sky it still was  pleasant 72 degrees F almost all day. 

We traversed John Nance Garner’s home (Vice President under FDR) where he did return to his home town, Uvalde, after retirement and lived there where he died at 98 years of age. * What was his nickname ? (See end of article)

The rivers are mainly dry out here so that there is a severe fire alert in most of SW Texas covering San Antonio and parts west.  We camp this night in the middle of that alert. 

The road was long and quite straight.

 BTW... Did you know that when President Eisenhower moved forward with the Freeway system in the 1950‘s that he mandated that there be a one mile straight road every 4 miles. For military emergency airplane use!  Check it out!

Where was I? Oh yes, heading west on US 90 toward Del Rio, crossing the Nueces, Sabinal and the Frio Rivers all of which were all but dry with some ponding in them. We did find a very good bakery in Castroville called  Haby's Alsatian Bakery. I couldn’t resist and Ruth didn’t object. I could have stayed there all day and gotten FATTER. There were 35 feet of baked good in the counters  with lots of coffee and beverages. I commented to the lady what a wonderful assortment of baked good they had. She stated that the customers are often lined up at 6:00 in the AM when they open to get in the door. It was marvelous and so were the cinnamon bun (Ruth) and apple turnover that I had.  Once in a while one has to splurge.

Back on the road the miles went smoothly in spite of a 15 minute  delay for some “cuts” in the road removing limestone rocks by the truckload. Lots of that ubiquitous Mesquite all across the land.   Del Rio, a town of 35,000 has a one million gallon (daily) spring that supplies the city adequately. The Rio Grande at this point is backed up by a Mexican/USA dam that created the Amistad  Recreation Area and Reservoir. We will visit that on Wednesday as it has bird potential written all over it when we drove by today. Those who followed the Alaska trip remember Ruth’s story about the apples at the border. Today we saw an  “Inspection Ahead” sign and we thought it was a fruit inspection again. Ruth had thoughts of losing her apples again. But, wouldn’t you know it was the Border Immigration Inspection team (7 men and women and a dog)  checking the cars as they went through. We were cleared in a few seconds.  NO contraband on us!

We arrived at the Seminole State Park and National Historic Site and secured our site for the two day stay. By now the clouds covered the sky.  Never mind that I had entered the wrong days when I secured the reservations a month before. The ladies straightened it out for me as there were adequate sites available.  (Shhh don’t tell Ruth!) Our site was on a ridge in the middle of the Texas desert surrounded by cacti, and all sorts of flowering shrubs that we hope to name for you soon. The view a few miles away of the Rio Grande Valley and the ZAPILNAME Mountains of Mexico on the southern horizon (Some at 12,000 feet).

We had no more settled in when the winds picked up quite fierce and will blow most of the night I believe. Probably at 25-30 mph , so it won’t blow us over with our 3 1/2 ton rig in spite of some 45-50 mph gusts.Whew! I went out to check the rig (all Ok) and saw that Venus and Jupiter are visible now so the wind may be abating soon.(No clouds) 

Tomorrow we will explore the Amistad Reservoir for birds and some of the Seminole canyon here as allowed .There are many hiking trails here and it is a wonderful spot to do just that for hiking and biking families or individuals.

This is a short one tonight and I am not sure this will get sent out  .Already we are having trouble receiving mail. We shall see. 

*Answer to questions about John N. Garner...”Cactus Jack”.

STROMBOLI'S ON THE ROAD AGAIN

STROMBOLI’S  LOG IS BACK!

Bill Clinton's Birthplace in Hope Arkansas

                                            1933 Studebaker with rear wooden luggage rack
                                                          at the SAS store in San Antonio

The Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock Arkansas

Ruth and Jim are on the road again. Actually they have been for 4 days now and finally stopping “rolling” the trailer in San Antonio Texas, where the daily temperature has been in the 70’s  with sunny skies. Very Nice.  Thanks to the Almighty

weatherman in the sky!

But let’s not get to Texas just yet, but review the first four days so that you can follow along and enjoy the scenery. One thing we can say for sure is that we left Grand Rapids Michigan on March 1st, the day before the heavy weather socked into Michigan with those heavy snows that cut power to some 250,000 folks. Our trip down to I-80 on I-196 was wet with snow flakes as the temperature stayed around 34 F. But, after reaching the Illinois border and keeping an eye out for many trucks then heading south on I-55 the clouds lightened and the sun came out the rest of the day. We stayed the first night at

Whittington, IL while Jim kept watching the weather reports. That line of thunderstorms through the south and mid southeast, was suppose to hit Mississippi and Alabama the next night. We were due to stay one night in Canton MIssissippi. After some prayer and research, we decided to avoid that route, and although it would have gotten us into the warmer weather sooner, it would also be in the middle of those severe weather warnings. (As it turned out that was exactly the area that was hit with tornadoes where many were killed and there was terrible damage. Very early in the season for tornado effects.

(Many truckers were courteous and blinked their lights when I would blink mine to help them “in” again.)

So, we changed the route and headed west at the Arkansas border and aimed for Little Rock,AR on the second day with a fantastic headwind of 30 -45 mph all the way. That certainly made for greater focus on the road and reduced the mileage on the Tundra by 2.5 mpg. 

It was of interest to see the vacant corn and soy bean fields in Illinois and in Arkansas the rice fields that were dormant, and as we neared Little Rock it was evident that spring was coming soon, The redbud trees were in bloom along with flowering crab and service berry. Daffodils had been seen in S.Illinois and into Arkansas. ( DYK? Arkansas got its’ name when two senators argued over “Ar-kansas” and “ Arkan-saw”. A compromise resulted in the present pronunciation, Ar-kan-’saw”. The diamond mine and Hot Springs went by in the wind, and we camped that second night across the Arkansas River from the very large (20,000 s.f.) Clinton Presidential Library . A simple brick building  that has a penthouse on the third floor where Bill Clinton comes to stay some nights. It has glass walls on the first floor and  the old RR bridge is now a “Presidential Bridge” allowing no motorized vehicles as it is for walkers and riders (bikes) to access the 21st century and the Library.

By morning the wind had settled down and the sun was out as we moved west toward Tyler, TX with the sun shining  clear. Two spots along the way were Arkadelphia just past Hot Springs and the many roads leading to that famous spot.  Then it was Hope , Arkansas the birth place of BillClinton. We attempted to get a picture of the sign outside town but it came out blurry so we substituted the home picture from the web.

The first cactus in Northern Texas (Prickly Pear) It is very edible.

The Rehabilitation Project on the San Antonio River 

A 1953 Studebaker stake truck. 4 Cylinder (SAS store)

  

                                                                                The first redbud tree in Arkansas

Now the Ouachita Mountains take their effect on the land with many pines trees and rivers. t was here that we began to see lots of fishermen and their ubiquitous pickup trucks on Saturday getting some fish from the many rivers in SW AR and NE TX. Texarkana was the pace where e first saw the Redbud in Bloom and many  trees in bloom. It was truly spring here as farmers had begun to plow and prepare fields. Oh yes, during the blowing wind of the day before, much soil was seen moving from west to east across the land. I cannot begin to imagine what the “Dust Bowl” of the 30’s was like if it blew for years.

As our original itinerary was to enter Longview TX from the east, this route was further north and we needed to change the route again, so after Tyler,Texas, we directed our sights on Waco where we would turn south again and head directly for San Antonio. Tyler ( 96,000 pop.) was named after President John Tyler who assisted Texas in getting admitted to the Union. Waco (124,000 pop.) was a hub of traffic for the Chisholm Trail and a center for cattle drives.The little town of Athens (12,700 pop.) wanted to be the cultural center of Texas, and after a few years realized they were standing on seven hills. Athens, Greece has 7 hills. !!  It is not the cultural center it wanted to be.

Now after Waco , the roadsides are completely commercial all the way to San Antonio  and the Gulf Coast. Going south on I-35 an electronic sign said “ Accident ahead , expect delays.” Oh My, a travelers dilemma. A few minutes later we did get into a back up that lasted about 45 minutes . Getting off would be an option but we were not that familiar with the roads (I don’t do GPS), so we sat it out and finally made the last few changes on the road to arrive at the campground without a snafu. It was almost 5:00 PM and the 300 miles was a long one that day.

Ruth was tired, it was near 80 degrees , and when she wanted to “go out” to eat, she had her eye on “Texas Roadhouse” and steaks (We had passed it by on the way to the campground). So after unhitching, we did just that. After 1400 miles in those 4 days I was ready to drive without the trailer for a couple of days. We did have sirloin steak and ribs and watched the 14 waitresses do the “Texas two step” between servings. We are indeed  in Texas!

Next to our campground is a section of the new “rehabilitation” of the San Antonio River Improvement Project or SARIP. It includes Aquatic, Recreational and Riparian improvements. and is a $245 million dollar project coordinated by many local agencies. The section out our “backyard” is the 4th phase and an 8 mile section at the south end of the city.

We did some shopping today here, visiting the SAS shoe store and it’s great antique car exhibit, although they sold the Duesenberg!  Ruth bought some shoes and I tried a new pair as well. It is a very welcoming place where the employees converse easily with the customers, offer fresh free peanut butter cookies and coffee , and there is a large candy section as well as an old “shoe making machinery” to watch at times. A very pleasant stop. We were there at 10:00 Am so avoided any rush.

A few stops for shopping necessities (the new TV wouldn’t work and Best Buy said there was a ‘flaw’ in the set, so will do without it and concentrate on important things!) as well as some  hooks, a battery for a drill, and lunch at Sonic.

These are pictures of the San Jose mission one of five on the San Antonio River . This was established two years after the "Alamo" (de Valero) in 1797

In the evening we did visit the San Jose MIssion founded in 1797 and #14 of the 21 California missions, located just a block away from the campsite. (FIve are located on the San Antonio River including “The Alamo” or de Valero.)  Some pictures included. The Ohione Indians were here before that.

Well I did manage to get started on the blog. Hope you check in once in a while, especially you friends over there in India and Eastern Europe. I wonder if you still will follow along?  The blog data will tell me all the hits  and other interesting but sometimes useless information.

See you next time. I don’t think we will have internet until Big Bend three days hence. 

As they say here in Texas ...”Happy Trails to You ...”