Splash's friend Griffin playing with the frizzbee




Come on let's share......



Come on give it to me......



Okay, we'll take it back together.

Margaret gets to sort out 2005 paperwork for tax time.

Lots of people and lots of colours at the Weslaco Market




This market came complete with a freak show.....and no we did not go in.

He was sure he was the boss of this stall.

We left at 8:30 and as it was only a 3 hour drive to Mercedes we were there shortly after noon.
We are parked right across the road from our friend Bob and Carol. It was really good to see them again. We were pretty much all set up by 5:00 and we were invited over to our new neighbours for cocktails. We went out for dinner after that with Ed and Frances.

We drove to the border, found a place to park and then took the shuttle to the bridge. We walked across the bridge and into Nuevo Laredo. We were not impressed, we were harassed from the minute we hit the street, it was dirty and we did not feel comfortable there. We bought nothing and walked back across the bridge to the truck.

We had a long run to do today so we left the park by 8:00 AM. We made one stop for lunch and then proceeded to Laredo. We planned to stay 2 nights so we booked into the State park just outside of town.

This is our last day here and these two roads were the last of the ones we had not driven on, so off we went It was again a lot more of the same scenery and not much really exciting. 2 hours of being juggled, jostled and bounced around and we were able to add these roads to our list of done.
Just as we pulled onto the main highway, who should we see but the dodge with his trailer.....all intact. The man is Colin’s hero. They must have camped the night along the road and made it out this morning. Don’t just love happy endings.!





Flying Low







Male Northern Cardinal



Female Northern Cardinal

We were on a mission, we set out to do the Old Ore Road. Suggested as being a road for 4 wheel drive vehicles with high clearance, the Dodge was ready to go hiking. There really was not a whole lot of noteworthy sites to see, just a lot of the same dirt, stones, cactus and brushy shrubs. It seemed to go on for ever with lots of very narrow, rocky, bumpy and washed out section as well as some severe hair pin turns.





I did my makeup just for you



I can make myself look really BIG!



Till we read the dates we thought this was the last guy who traveled this road.



These were actually campground markers......I thought they were grave stones??



Dodge Hiking on the Old Ore Road



A really great road!



Pretty Cacti



Checking out some ruins along the way.

Close to the end we met up with a Long Box Dodge Dually with a camper on the back and towing a U-Haul Trailer coming the other way...... did he not see the signs??? We had just passed one of the only spots for miles where it would be possible to turn around so we suggested to him that the road was not good where he was going and he should take advantage of the opportunity. His response, in a rather heavy Southern Drawl was, “If I can’t get through I’ll turn around.” I spent most of the night worrying whether they had made it out or if they would have to be air lifted out minus the truck and trailer.





And he thinks he can go where????



With all that????



Desert Scenery

We set out and retraced our steps to Panther Junction, then carried on to Santa Elena Junction where we turned off onto the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive. Our first stop was The Sam Nail Ranch site, the remains of a homestead and still operating windmill and well. There were the remains of a small outbuilding and the surprise gem here was at the well. It still pumps water out onto the ground and is a haven for birds of many types. The longer we stood there the more different species appeared.





Male Vermillion Flycatcher



Male Vermillion Flycatcher



Road Runner.......Beep Beep!



Common Raven



You called? Javelina



The rest of the family



Beautifl Rock Formations



Green Tailed Towhee



Young White Crowned Sparrow



Juvenile Scissor-Tailed Fly Catcher



Adult Gambelii White Crowned Sparrow



Female Norther Cardinal



Verdin

There are also remains of an adobe brick house and some pecan trees that had been planted by the owners.





The well that attracked all the birds


We continued on to Homer Wilson Ranch which sat way down in the valley but is quite visible from the road.





Spiney outcropping of rock



Valcanic Formations



Homer Wilson Ranch



The ranch from a distance

When we reached Castolon we stopped for a bathroom break and had ice cream.

The high point of the trip was at the Santa Elena Canyon access, where Colin hiked into the cut through the huge rock wall. The pictures speak for themselves.......Breathtaking!!





Cacti with the Mule Ears peaks in the Background



Layered Volcanic Ash







Stone Ruins



The path to the view



The Rio Grande cutting through the massive rock wall.



WOW!

We then took the old Maverick Trail to complete the loop and stopped to look at Luna’s Jacal. This is a long low structure with a reed roof covered in mud. This was home to a family who drew water from a nearby creek and lived off the land.





Luna's Jacal


When we got back it was time for dinner and time to sit and find all the birds we had taken pictures of in the bird book and identify them.










Sunset on the mountians







Nature Trail in Big Bend Park



Kind of Spooky......



This could be Hallowee

We packed our water and snacks and headed out to explore the park. I made the mistake of letting Splash walk to the truck without her leash. She spotted a road runner and turned Wiley Coyote on me. She started chasing it.....like she would catch it, they can run 20 miles an hour. Silly dog!





Our Road Runner Friend






The first stop was Boquillas Canyon where the Rio Grand River runs. It was a 1.4 Mile hike up the cliff side and down the other to the river bed. This was my first hike type walk since I was sick so I just took my time......and I made it. We were warned in the Park News Paper not to buy things from Mexicans who sneak into the park illegally to sell their wares. At the bottom along the river were some trinkets and pretty stones laid out and a donation jug. Across the river the owner of these items. He was doing business across the river to he could make a fast get away...I’m sure. Very enterprising.





My first Hiking Activity Post Pnuemonia



Mexican wares for sale on the US side of the River



The Salesman on the Mexican side of the River

We continued on to the Hot Springs over an extremely narrow, twisty road. It appeared that this spot was a much bigger enterprise at one time. There were abandoned Hotel rooms, a store and some other buildings in the area. The Hot Springs are right at the edge of the river.





Tunnel entering the park



The Rio Grand







Big Bend Park Hot Springs







These looked like they may have been Hotel rooms at one time



The old store site at the Hot Springs



More Ruins





Next stop was a tour through the Chisos Mountains. Totally different landscape with pine trees and all. We checked out the campground there although trailers over 24 feet are not recommended to go there. We checked out the Lodge up there and decided we would poke around for 45 minutes and then go have our diner there. It was very good and reasonable too. When we left it was just sunset and we got some great pictures.





















The view from the Dining Room at the Lodge



















Beautiful Sun Set views

We got up and headed out to the grocery store to stock up on groceries as we are heading into Big Bend Park a very remote desert park in Texas. Ed and Frances left ahead of us as they were in a hurry to get there. We had a few things to do yet so we lagged behind.





Boy am I glad it's been a dry season!



Kangaroo Rat Welcoming Committee



I think he needs some Crest White Strips??

When we arrived we discovered that there were no spaces available in the full hookup campground so we had to park in the dry camping area.

Our new neighbours are pigs....no really they are PIGS. Colin got out of the truck to check out which of two sites we would park in. Walking behind the sites were about 12 Javelina eating their lunch. Colin did not see them at first and when he did, he attempted to approach one, it went for him and snorted, he jumped about 3 feet back. It was quite funny to watch.









Javalina



This is my campsite

We could have put our names on a waiting list for the full hook-up but it’s so nice here we decided to stay put. We do have the generator and are park next to the fresh water spigot. We can empty our grey water in water carriers and take it to the dump station. No Problems! The dry camping park is surrounded by Cotton Wood trees and is really nice with big spacious sites with strips of park land behind.

Our trip today was to take us to Fort Stockton on the other side of El Paso. We had to stop to cash our cheques .......find lunch .....and fuel. Besides that it was a longer drive than we first thought. We pulled into the Wal-Mart parking lot at about 9:30. Sleep at last!

The park we are staying in right now is a free bee ....3 nights and 4 days ......but you have to listen to their 1 ½ hour presentation to try and sell you a membership in their parks system. If you don’t buy, the flyer said that you would receive $50.00 for participating. We all had our suspicions. The presentation was really low key......longer but low key. At the end of it when they realized that we were not going to buy they wrote us out 2 cheques for $50.00 each. We almost (almost ) felt guilty taking the money.

The rest of the day was spent hanging around the trailer and getting ready so we can leave in the morning

We drove out to the town of Tombstone today. Lots of Stage Coaches and cowboys on the dirt streets. It was kind of neat but very commercialized. There were gun fights.... for a fee, stage coach rides....for a fee, entrance to shows in some of the buildings......for a fee.......get the picture? We walked through the town and then had lunch at a tavern called Big Nose Kate’s. We were surprised that the food was as good as it was for the price that we paid.



Main Sreet Tombstone



The Stage coach rolling through town

We had lots of time left in the day so we drove on to the town of Bisbee. a very interesting, out of character looking place, compared to other towns in this area. It is built on the sides of canyon walls and reminds me very much of cities in Europe. Very narrow twisty roads with lots of buildings clinging to the hillsides. A very neat little spot.



Bisbee Arizona



Interesting Paint Job



Interesting Wall Decorations



The Main drag in Bisbee


On the way out of town we spotted a working copper mine.....a huge hole in the ground. Going home we drove through Sierra Vista, a relatively new housing development.



Working Copper Mine on the edge of Bisbee


We had a rather severe temperature drop around midday and when we went down to the hot tub it was downright brisk.

Today was Ed's birthday so we went out for breakfast to celebrate, at the Truck Stop within walking distance from the park we were in.
By 10:30 we were on our way to the Western Horizons Park in St. David Arizona. On the way I called a girl that I knew about 30 years ago.....uh oh I just dated myself. She was so excited to hear from me. By the time we pulled into our spot in the park she had called again to invite us for dinner in her trailer, at the site of the house she is building. She gave us instruction on how to get there and we had no problems finding it. Her brother was there helping her with the construction so I got to see him too....the last time I saw him he was only 18.....Wow he grew up! Way Up!!! We had a tour of the house and then had dinner in the trailer. We reminisced for a while and had a good visit.

Colin spent some time on the computer and turned up 2 locations, so off we went. The first one was not open till 12:00 noon so we drove over to the other one. This one didn’t start till 3:00.......back to the first one. We had to wait in line to get in and then found out there was a $7.00 entry fee!! Sorry not today! At this point we decided to go have some lunch and do some shopping. When we drove back to the 3:00 market things were starting to look a little more lively. This market was open till 11:00. It was a regular market with all the normal stuff....junk and basically just about anything you would ever want to buy.

Day two we drove out to the Colossal Cave Mountain Park. There was a huge underground cave with narrow tunnels, Stalactites and Stalagmites. It was a half mile walk up and down into the cave and back out.




Sooo many Cacti



Inside the Cave



Waterfall formation in the cave










We drove out into the park and had lunch at one of the picnic spot. On the way out we spotted a Road Runner. The real kind.....not the cartoon.





Lunch time



Beep Beep.........Beep Beep


As a way to get people to take in the whole park they had a kind of scavenger hunt.....and you get a prize when you mark all the check points on the sheet. .......Sucker Me! Off I went punching all my little squares to get my prize.....With the last one punched off I went to the gift shop to claim my bootie ! A little rock crystal and a commemorative coin.....WOW Lucky me! But we did see the entire park












The Cowboy Statue



Barrel Cacti

We still had some day light left so we headed over to the Saguaro National Park. It was not a long drive but we saw thousands and thousands of Cacti, mostly Saguaros but there were also Barrel Cacti, Prickly Pear and many other varieties.

By the time we got back it was almost dark and time for dinner.

Day one in Tucson we headed over to the Pima Air and Space Museum. They have 6 large hangars with displays of planes and WWI and WWII memorabilia and a huge yard with several hundred planes of various types and vintages on displays. We were even able to go through the Air Force 1 plane used by Presidents Johnson and Kennedy. Very Cool!











Its jumbo..... no its a Guppy




We took a tour from here to the AMARK Facility, which stands for Aircraft Maintenance and Regeneration Centre located at the David-Monthan Air Force Base. This place Stores planes that may be called back into service at some point in time, they refurbish planes to put back into service, recycle air plane parts and demolish planes no longer useful.
They take planes in from every branch of the Military in the USA. There were huge fields as far as the eye could see filled with planes and stored parts.

Wednesday morning by 10:30 we were ready to leave for Tucson. The trip went smoothly and we attempted to pull into a Park just outside of the City of Tucson by around 3:30. First off they wanted only a money order or cheque for payment and NO DOGS over 20 lbs. See Ya! The second place was much smaller, had no hot tub but was good with the dogs and was very close to some of the things we wanted to see, so we booked in for 4 nights.

On Saturday we drove back to Quartzite to check out the markets that are now in full swing. If you want to buy rocks of any size, shape, colour and value, this is the place to go. They have Geodes, both amethyst and cinnamon, huge and small. They have just about anything else you would ever want to buy and even some things you would not want to buy. It was a full day of scrounging around and by the time we were out of there we were all grubby and dusty as the yards where the stalls are set up are not paved. We stopped in Yuma for dinner before we headed back to the trailer.




A desert rat!




Really old bones



Splash inspects some newer ones




Margaret does her inspection

On our way out today we found the Swinging Bridge to Nowhere. The Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco was built in the same style. It was built in 1929 and spanned the Gila River, but since then the River has changed course and the bridge now spans mostly sand and a much smaller river. Interesting that all of the articles I read mentioned the bridge only spanned desert. Guess they never actually walked out!!!!



Safe enough to walk over though the timber is rotting



No longer in use



The bridge really does go over a river!

The Proving Grounds are a Military Installation where they test new types of ammunition and Military Equipment for all branches of the Military. They have some interesting stuff on display at the entrance and along the road way going in, tanks, Helicopters and Missiles.








Do NOT talk back







Splash gets ready for launch




On our way back home we stopped at the Imperial Date farm and naturally had to try the famous Date Shake a milkshake with chopped up dates in it......sounds strange but it is actually very good. We also bought a bag of dates to munch on.




A date farm. Do you know where they grow in this picture?

On the Wednesday we rented a carpet cleaner and gave the carpets in the trailer a much needed going over. Frances and I split the rental so it was less than $20.00 each by the time we were done.

On January 4 th we took a drive to the Picacho State Recreation area. I knew Colin wouldn't disappoint me and I was right ......he found some most interesting roads, which I think were about ½ a lane wide with huge gullies down the middle. There were sections that resembled going through a car wash only instead of Soft Cloth. there were nasty scratching bushes.

We saw some neat birds and some interesting volcanic rock formations. While clinging to the edge of a cliff we got a very good view of Bear Canyon. The area was extensively mined for gold beginning in 1860s'60's. There is still evidence of some mining going on but this was well protected by razor wire fencing. We made it home by about 7:00 PM.





Volcanic formation







Noah's Ark???















Gamble's Quail at the park entrance































Bear Canyon --- little did we know the wash at the bottom was to become our road bed

New Years day Ed and Frances invited us over for dinner.....It was very good!





Another plane passing over the park