The Ray Adventures: November 2018

At last, we arrived in Rockport on the 30th, we traveled 12,000 miles since we left here in April. It's been very wet here, Rockport got 35 inches of rain in 2 weeks. All the ponds overflowed onto the roads and flooded certain sites, ours included, it looked like we had our private pond.

We really hightailed it from Arizona, stopping in Lourdsburg, NM and Van Horn, Tx.for a night before arriving in Terlingua at the edge of Big Bend National Park, located in a remote part of southern Texas. Big Bend NP roads end at the Rio Grande River, 245 miles of winding river.

In spite of the drippy weather (the remains of the hurricane that hit Puerta Vallarta made it's way into South Texas) we drove down the primitive Old Maverick Trail, in a few spots we had to engage the 4X4 to get through the mud to get to Santa Elena Canyon and the Rio Grande then along the Ross Maxwell Scenic drive. Along the drive you have a fantastic view of the Chihuahuan desert at the overlooks - if it's not covered by clouds. We didn't see any wildlife except for a bunny. In the spring it's a great place for birders and wildflowers. Half of Santa Elena Canyon is in Mexico one of Big Bends most scenic spots. All the recent rains have raised the river level , enough so we weren't able to cross Terlingua Creek to an overlook before dropping down to the river. Well actually we couldn't because we had Luci with us and no dogs are allowed on National Park trails. We talked with our neighbor in the RV park, they paddled the river that day, it's usually too shallow to go through the canyon, wish we could have taken the time to paddle our kayak the river.
One of the National Park employees told us about the drive from Terlingua through Big Bend State Park, wow what beautiful scenery plus the skies cleared. We continued the drive through the park to Presidio, a border town to have lunch. Terlingua was once a flourishing mining town, now it's a ghost town and tourist area on the edge of the National Park. We walked through the cemetery, founded in 1902 and still in use, it looks like most of the graves are above ground - not sure why. The weather was much nicer, better color for pictures and you could see the peaks.
We left Luci home our last day for our trip to the Rio Grande Village and Boquillas Canyon. We drove down to the Hot Springs - the road was 4 X 4 in some areas, then we didn't get to the Springs thanks to my snake phobia, I refused to walk through the tall grass. After a picnic in the Village we took a hike in Boquillas Canyon down to the river. I put on my "Big Girl Panties" to walk through the grass down to the river, the entrance seems hidden because of the sharp curve. Across the river we saw about 10 Federales coming down the steep rocks - we don't know what they were looking for but not us, they gave us a friendly wave.
Off to Del Rio, Tx, the home of Laughlin AFB. We did some bike riding around the base, I love my new electric assist bike, I can ride up hills and into the wind just like the big boys.
It's great to be back in Rockport, it's amazing the recovery made in the last 6 months. A few of the large hotels are still rebuilding. The boat storage buildings are completely rebuilt and open, last spring they were still removing boats, all 4 stories of them. One of our neighbors had their boat on the 4th level, right on the corner by the highway and would you believe they got it out almost unscathed.

That's it for a while, nothing interesting to talk about this winter.
Enjoy the pic's.

TTFN

Gary and Pam