Visitors at our site last night.

Pictures of the Caverns of Sonora

View from our site at Fort Stockton

Fort Davis store, a view a look out into the State Park, mountains across the desert and Javelinas in park.

Our trip along the Rio Grande to Precidio. Beautiful!!

Our park in Lajitas and golf course

Feb. 24 - Fort Davis is known for the McDonald Observatory situated on top of 8000 ft Mt. Locke. We had an excellent tour that included a trip up to 2 of their telescopes one being the 5th largest in the world. After our tour we drove to Marfa where "Giant" was filmed starrring James Dean then to Alpine where we had dinner at a nice restaurant decorated in a western theme. Then back to Marfa to wait for the sun to set to view the Marfa lights.

Feb. 25 - Left Davis Mountain State Park to travel to Fort Stockton for 2 nights. After we set up we went on a walking tour on Historical Fort Stockton.

Feb. 26 - We were going to gold today but didn't care for the appearance of the golf course. Pecos is only 50 miles from Fort Stockton so off to Pecos to see the West of the Pecos Museum in a 1896 hotel with Saloon attached. Next to the hotel is replica of the courst/Saloon of Judge Roy Bean. Other than the museum the Pecos main street is pretty much deserted with only 3 stores open on the main street. We stopped for lunch at a Mexican restaurant. Rick asked what type of beer they had, the waitress said they can't serve alchohol because they are too close to the school but he could go to the store and buy some and bring it into the restaurant. Too funny!

Feb. 27
Our next stop is the Caverns of Sonora. We can stay in a small camping area at the caverns. Our tour of the caverns was absolutely wonderful. We travelled 150 feet below the surface into a beautiful wonderland like nothing we have seen before. www.cavernsofsonora.com
After the tour we enjoyed the company of a couple from Washington State and a couple from Oshawa who were camping along side of us. As we were visiting peacocks and guinea hens wondered around the camp grounds along with at least 10 deer.

Feb. 28
Today we are at a park outside of San Antonio so we can be at an RV dealer for repairs tomorrow morning. When we were leaving a gas station a couple of weeks ago on our way to Seminole Canyon the back end of the trailer hit the pavement and mangled the leveling gear at the back of the trailer. Big oopsie. From there we are parking at Blazing Star RV Resort for the month of March with Bob and Nancy.

Monday we drove highway 170 from Lajitas to Precidio. National Geographic rated it the most scenic drive in Texas and it certainly is, meandering along the Rio Grande between the most amazing mountain ranges. This side of the Rio Grande is Texas, the other side Mexico. We stopped at an old movie set where they filmed Streets of Laredo and other movies. Along the way back we stopped to hike down to the Rio Grande and another hike into a canyon between two very high mountains.
Tuesday was laundry day, RV washing and preparing dinner for John and Sheila's arrival. Had a nice dinner and great visit with them.
We left at 9:00 this morning for a 2 1/2 hour drive to Davis Mountain State Park. Heading out from the desert at Lajitas and in a couple of hours of climbing hills and mountains, ended up in a totally different climate and terrain with mountains of volcanic rock formations every where you look. We visited the Fort Davis National Historic Site this afternoon, a frontier military post, manned by most black soldiers, from the 1800's built to protect travellers on the road between El Paso and San Antonio.
After we got back to our site late this afternoon we looked out to see several Javelina's (wild pigs) running around the camp sites.

On Friday afternoon we biked about 6 miles into Seminole State Park where the Pacos River meets the Rio Grande. What a surprise to find such a beautiful site back in the desert.

We left Simonole Canyon State Park at 8:30 and drove in fog for an hour and a half. The sun came out just in time for our drive through Big Bend National Park. We travelled for a couple of hours through the park on our way to Lajitas. The Big Bend Country of Texas is as mountainous as the Gulf Coast is flat. Nothing but desert and mountains...so ruggedly beautiful. Maverick RV Park is part of a resort that includes an equestrian centre, golf course, room laid out like western town, bar and restaurant. http://www.lajitasgolfresort.com/ . Last night we enjoyed a beautiful warm evening listening to a band that was playing at the amphetheatre. This morning we teed off at 10:00 on the most awsom golf course we have ever played. There was no one behind us so we were able to take our time taking pictures as we golfed. Fabulous day...93 and sunny. The picture of the long horn bull is at the golf course pro shop. After golf we travelled down the road to Terlingua an old western ghost town and had a nice cold beer at the Eldorado Hotel.

We spent the morning yesterday enjoying the sunshine on a bike trail through the desert to the Seminole Canyon. The desert has an eerie silence that is so foreign to us...no traffic noise, not even a tree to rustle in the wind. After lunch we biked down to the main office to take a 2 hour guided tour down into the canyon to Fate Bell Shelter to view Pecos River pictographs 4000 years old.

Last week was a bit of a write off. Tuesday everning Rick ended up in the Weslaco Hospital Emerg with high fever and strep throat. They wanted to admit him but decided to send him on his way after several tests and a few shots. I went for a haircut on Wednesday...left and the temp was 67, by the time I got to hair salon temp was 47. Freezing! By the time I got home I had the chills, sinus and congestion. Just as well the weather sucked...we didn't waste nice days sick on the couch and in bed. Big day out on Saturday feeling somewhat better, we went to Progreso again with John and Shiela so Rick buy some new cowboy boots, and are they snazzy. We had a nice lunch at the Red Snapper before heading back, when I remembered that we forgot our passports. Long walk across the bridge to the US border. Not only did I not have a passport, I changed purses and didn't have any ID. I was held in detention (Sheila was kind to enough to join me in detention) , it was called Locked Down in Homeland Security,while Rick (he had his Costco card photo ID and his drivers licence) and John drove back to Llano Grande to get our passports. Homeland Security was very kind to us and as soon as the passports arrived we were wisked through security. Sheila and John are still laughing. Went back to Mexico on Tuesday( passports in hand) so B could get boots also. unbelievable prices.
We left Llano Grande at 8:00 this morning and followed the Tropical Trail for part of our trip to the Seminole Canyon State Park. The drive ( 7 hours) is very boring as there is absolutely nothing to see but scrub land and desert. We did see a roadrunner( just 1). We are sitting on a hill in the desert overlooking the Seminole Canyon. There are only about 20 sites in the RV area of the State Park and only about 10 are occupied. Very quiet here in the desert. We watched an amazing sunset over the distant hills. We have water and hydro. No sewers or cable, but we were very surprised to find we have wifi so now that I am feeling better, I am back at the blog. We are going on a canyon tour tomorrow so hoping to have some nice pictures to post tomorrow,
Planning to do some hiking and biking tours over the next 2 days. Some where in this park there are pictographs on the canyon walls we would like to see.

We also had to go through 2 security checks by homeland security which are set up on these desolate roads. They are checking for drugs and aliens and every vehicle is stopped and checked. It is very common to see Homeland Security alongside the roads and off in the desert as we travel.

I was biking to the gym Monday morning and I heard birds squawking overhead. I stopped my bike and watched as at least 50 beautiful green parakeets squawked and flew from the tree to the telephone lines over my head. What an amazing sight.

Wednesday night I went to a ladies night out with a group of girls from the park. It was an appetizer cooking demonstration put on by 2 ladies (The Cooking Ladies http://www.blogger.com/www.thecookingladies.com) who write cookbooks (Recipes from the Road) and are restaurant consultants from Ontario. They owned a restaurant in St. Jacobs, worked as cooking consultants for Home Hardware, write culinary travelogues and feature articles for the Waterloo Chronicle. They bought a 40' coach and have travelled for the past 20 years...you can imagine the stories they shared about 2 females travelling the US and Canada in a coach.

The past 2 days we have been housebound as temperatures have been below freezing. They cancelled schools yesterday and today due to cold temperatures. Highways were closed late yesterday afternoon due to freezing rain and since they don't have salt and sand stocked for snow and ice they dumped gravel on the roads to help prevent accidents. The temps are supposed to rise by noon into the 40's, 60's tomorrow and 70's on Sunday. Crazy weather we have in the Lone Star State. It can only get better...I hope!

We took a drive last week to check out a golf course. A short drive up the road we came across a RV park and thought we would check it out. They didn't have controlled entry...they didn't need it. I think we will stay where we are.

Our stay at Llano Grande has so far been quite enjoyable. We golfed on Tuesday last week at Tierra Santa with a nice couple from Wisconsin. It was a gorgeous day and we really enjoyed the course. On Thursday we took a drive to Harlingen about 30 miles east and toured the Harlingen Arts & Heritage Museum. Along with a group of "Red Hat" ladies (Rick loved that) we had a guided tour through historic Harlingen buildings built during the Civil War. Saturday we went to one of the many flee markets in the area and discovered later that we were at the Mexican flee market, which would explain why we were 2 of the a very few gringos at the market. Sunday was a beautiful pool day with 85 degree tempuratures. Before the pool went went for long bike ride on the levy surrounding the park overlooking the state park and the golf course going in the other direction. On Monday we went to Progreso, Mexico with John and Sheila along with their friends, Bill and Nancy. We drove the 10 miles to the border and parked, paid our 25 cents and walked across the bridge into Mexico. There is lots of shopping along several blocks of their very busy main street. We had a wonderful lunch at the Red Snapper. Tourism is down in this area from previous years due to the drug issues going on. The border is heaviy protected on both sides by the miltary. Yesterday we drove to South Padre Island to attend a Snow Bird Festival. We were able to pick up some good information on some of the states we will eventually travel. South Padre is like most of the barrier islands, lots of hotels, beach stores and restaurants. Today is a bit of a shock to the system. We have gone from 85 to 35 in 2 days. Funny to hear on the news that they are postponing the start of the school day due to the cold tempertures.