San Antonio area (2-26-11)

    Today is our daughter's 21st birthday. Unfortunately we couldn't be with her, but a bunch of her friends came down from Michigan to Indiana for the weekend, to help her celebrate.  And of course, her fiance is there, so I am sure she is having a great time. I just wish I could be there.   This picture was taken last year in Las Vegas.  We flew her in for spring break and while at Margaritaville she had the brilliant idea of having this balloon hat made to try and get into a club.  When she got "carded", she was very disgruntled at wasting $5 on a hat.  I thought it was quite funny, since it's not like she hadn't already had a Margarita that day.  She said it was more about being able to enjoy the atmosphere of the club.
     I remember when  my son turned 21.  He was living with us at the time, so the 4 of us went out to dinner to celebrate and let him order his first "legal" drink.  The thing about my kids is that they are like Mutt and Jeff.  She is just over 5', and looks young, and he is 6'1" and has looked 21 since he was 16.  So on his birthday we were going to take him to his favorite restaurant, but he said he wanted to go to a steak house instead.  We thought that was strange, but thought he was just being nice, haha.  On the way home he admitted that the restaurant/bar that he likes so much has been serving him alcohol for months, so he didn't want to go there and make a big deal about it being his 21st birthday.  Argh, kids.
     So, anyway, San Antonio.  We're staying in a different park this time (Traveler's World RV Resort).  This one is in the city, and the bus stops right outside the park, so we don't have to drive into the city if we don't want.  We haven't been in yet, but I'm sure we will.  Yesterday we walked to one of the 4 missions in the area- Mission San Jose.  These missions were built in the 1700s by the Spanish Franciscan missionaries, who were sent to this area to convert the locals to Catholicism, and teach them skills that would financially benefit the Spanish monarchy.
So, why would the locals "fall in" with this plan?  Before the Spaniards arrived, they were hunter/gatherers, with no permanent home, living off the land, and they were quite happy that way.  However, just  around that time, the local population began suffering attacks from the Apache, who had made their way here from the north, and, contact with Europeans coming up from the south had exposed the locals to several diseases that began killing them off.  The Franciscans offered them shelter, safety, and cures for the diseases.  All they had to do is give up their way of life, their religion, and even their names (they were given Spanish names).  Everything worked out well, except they couldn't eradicate the diseases and eventually they contributed to the downfall of the missions.
  Two of our 3 packages have already arrived, so we are just waiting for the parts to fix the landing gear.
   

Del Rio, TX (2-22-11)

    I guess we're going to have to come back to Del Rio, TX some other time in the future.  We're here now, but I'm kind of burnt out from going  nonstop, so we're not doing what we planned to do while we're here. Paul wasn't too happy when we got here because the landing gear on the trailer broke.  That means that when he lowered the front legs that hold up trailer, only one of them would bear weight.  Luckily he had a jack that he could use in place of the leg, but then he spent hours diagnosing the problem and ordering new parts.  All that, and it was his birthday, poor guy.  We did go out to dinner, but the food was just mediocre, so we pretty much chalked the day up to bad Karma or something. We changed our plans for where we are going to stay in San Antonio because it's difficult to get things shipped to us if we stay at a state park, so we are staying at an RV resort instead.  Aw, what a sacrifice.  We'll also have our mail sent, and a few other things we've wanted to order.
So today, instead of exploring,  we washed the  truck and the trailer, and in general just took care of some paperwork.


rock art at Seminole Canyon

    On the way to Del Rio, we did stop to explore however.  We pulled in to Seminole Canyon State Park at about 2:30 in the afternoon on Sunday,  figuring we'd relax for the afternoon and then do a hike in the morning.  When we went to the ranger station, they asked us if we were here for the tour.  We said we weren't, but we thought we'd take it the following day.  Well, they only do it twice a week, as it turns out, and the tour was leaving immediately, so Paul paid for us while I ran back and threw the cat in the trailer so he wouldn't fry in the sun.  I didn't even take time to get my camera, so the picture I have is from my cell phone. 


Rio Grande River



      The tour was really good, which means something, coming from me, because I do feel like I've seen enough ancient rock art.  The ranger did a great job imparting information, and discussing different theories about rock art.  She talked the fact that some people think it was their form of graffiti, or that it was done out of boredom etc.  but she dispelled that idea with some basic information.  The people who did this art 3500 years ago, were "hunter/gatherers" and there wasn't much food to be had in the desert, so they were protein deficient. The "glue" that keeps the art on the stone is made from animal fat, and the "paint thinner" was water, both scarce commodities but essential for their survival.  So really, there is no way they would waste those resources on something that wasn't important to them.  I came away with a new understanding and appreciation for the ancient cultures that inhabited the desert.



      Once the tour was over, we booked our campsite, but in the hour and a half that we were gone, all of the sites with electricity and water were taken, so we went the night with no hookup.  Not  a big deal, but we had to put water in our tank before we settled into our spot.





fossils on the trail



     The following day we went for a 6 mile hike down to the Rio Grande and back.  I was hoping we'd get close to the water, but it was running through a deep canyon.  On the return trip to the campground, we passed through an area that was like an ancient beach, because  the ground was littered with fossilized sea shells of some kind.

    So, tomorrow we leave Del Rio for San Antonio, having done no exploring whatsoever. Oh well!

Big Bend National Park, TX (2-19-11)

February 19, 2011
      I wrote this blog on February 19th, but I don’t know when I will be able to post it, and the pictures that go with it. The RV park we are in has horrible Wi-Fi- essentially non-existent, and AT&T just sent me an email and a text to tell me that I am not on their network and have not been on their network for quite some time, so I need to stop using the internet on my phone until I am. Ugh.

       One day, three adventures. That’s the best way to describe yesterday. We drove across the park to start our first adventure- a hike to Ernst Tinaja. A tinaja is a basin that contains water, I guess, since that’s what we found once we hiked into the canyon. Its not something you’d want to fall into accidently either. It’s really deep, with steep walls of stone, so it would be just about impossible to get out by yourself. The rock formations were really cool in that area and were fun to climb.



 



Ernst Tinaja

       The drive to get there was a little bit hairy. Old Ore Rd. is an old dirt road that is not well maintained. In fact, it’s the worst road our truck has ever been on. Some of the ruts were 3 feet deep and there were boulders sticking up out of the road. Add to that the fact that the scrubby, thorny plant life encroaches on the road, and driving was a very slow process. After walking too many miles the day before though, we were trying to get as close to our destination as possible. Several times Paul got out of the truck and walked the road to see if he thought it would be passable. Eventually, the answer came back “no”, and we had to park the truck and walk the rest of the way. It wasn’t too bad though, we only ended up walking a couple of miles.

       Once we hiked back to the truck, was only a 3 mile ride to get to the hot springs. Unfortunately, by this time, it was about 89 degrees outside, but we decided that since we were that close, we had to go. This hot spring is located right next to the Rio Grande River, and we’ve been there before. I actually ended up splashing cold river water on me more than sitting in the hot spring, but we got to chat with some interesting people.







 After leaving there, we drove down Croton Spring Road. Most people who drive down that road are looking for the spring, but we were looking for something else. Paul had heard that there is a petro glyph on the underside of a boulder and he was on a mission to find it. Me, I was just tagging along, wishing that my GPS battery hadn’t died, so I could at least play with it as we walked another 2 miles.

       We did find the “Red Buffalo”, but I honestly thought the rock formations in that area were more fascinating. There were some that looked like prehistoric bowling balls. Another busy day in Big Bend.
     Although yesterday was supposed to be our “easy” day, it is a 60 mile drive just to get to the other side of the park, so while we were there, we wanted to make sure we did every thing we wanted to do on that side, so we wouldn’t have to go back.


        Today was the long day. We were on the road by 7:30 am, and on the trail by 8:45. Our goal was to hike the Southern rim of the Chisos Mountains. It’s a 12.5 mile hike, with 2000 ft of elevation gain, and it tops out at 7400 ft above sea level. This is the longest hike I have ever done, so I went through the packs and made sure that we really wanted to bring everything that was in them, because with the temperatures predicted to be in the high 80s, we needed to bring extra water (which is way too heavy). Even though the temperatures were still in the 50s when we started out, I left my sweatshirt behind, because I didn’t want to have to carry it after the first 30 minutes. It was a bit chilly at first, but after climbing for a while, suddenly it warmed up.

        We met, passed, and were passed by, several groups of people all day on the trail. We would pass them, and then when we took a break, they would pass us, etc. Sometimes we took a break at the same time and chatted with them for a few minutes. We followed closely behind a mountain lion for a little while, so I had my camera out, just in case we caught sight of him or her. We didn’t, but we saw the fresh prints on the trail and other evidence as well (apparently wild cats cough up fur balls and grass just like domestic cats).


cat tracks along the trail



       Once we made it to the rim, we relaxed and had lunch. There was a haze today that negatively impacted the visibility, but the views were still incredibly impressive. After about 7 hours, we arrived back in the parking lot, where we treated ourselves to an ice cream before heading home.





 

view from the South Rim trail



   We had a great visit to Big Bend, just like we did last time we were here. This time around we actually went out "on the town" in Terlingua. There’s a bar called La Kiva (the cave) that is partially underground, and has an area that IS a cave where you can sit and have a drink (we sat outside instead though). We went there for happy hour before heading to the Starlight Theatre for dinner. It’s called the Starlight Theatre because years ago, when the building was in ruins, and without a roof, they still began to have performances there, under the star light. Nowadays there is a roof, but the original walls are still there. Very interesting place. Dinner was good, although expensive.