Day 25 – To New Orleans, LA

After a full day in San Antonio, we are leaving and heading to New Orleans.  The last time we drove I-10 through Texas, starting at El Paso, it took us 2 days to get into Louisiana.  Hopefully, today we can do it in one day, so we left very early.  On the way, Carmen took pictures of the countryside.  She took pictures of these long-horn steer.  Until now, we had seen some but not close enough to get picture, now we have one.

We have been passing any number of ranches and fields.  This field was recently hayed and the hay rolls are still in the field.

Well we are in Texas and there are a few refineries, so Carmen did take a picture.

In Louisiana, Carmen gets a picture of the bayou.

After we passed Lafayette, Louisiana and still driving on I-10 we drove on this raised section of the highway.

We made it to New Orleans with the sun going down and just before we get off of the highway to go to the campground, we passed the Superdome. 

We are soon settled into the French Quarter RV Resort.  It is right next to the French Quarter, so close we can actually walk tomorrow.  It’s late and it has been a long day and will be a long day tomorrow, so we are heading to bed.

Day 24 – San Antonio, Texas

Now that we are in San Antonio, we are going to the River Walk.  On the way, we stopped at Produce Way, a pedestrian street where there are a number of small shops, bakeries, restaurants, boutiques and a Farmers Market.  Very colorful with banners and signs displayed everywhere. 

While we were walking around, we stopped into the Mariachi Bar.  And yes, there were people playing music inside and out.

After the Farmers Market we headed to the River Walk area and began our walk.  You can see one of the tourist boats waiting for passengers.

Along the walkway, there are shops and many different restaurants like Dick’s Last Resort, Joe’s Crab Shack, Hard Rock Café and other non-franchises.  Many have tables along the river all with umbrellas to keep the sun off the patrons.

On the river in one of the tourist boats, we travel around the river looking at the sights.  Here there are a number of large trees along the river’s bank.

While we were floating in the boat around the river, we passed a number of buildings.  This one has some very unusual architecture details.  Check out a couple of faces along the walls, each one was different.

After getting off of the tourist boat, we headed over to Plaza de Las Islas (or Main Plaza) where we saw San Fernando Cathedral.  The original church as built between 1738 and 1750.  In 1836 the cathedral, still a parish church, played a role in the Alamo when Mexican General Santa Anna flew the “no quarter” flag from the church’s tower.

Inside the church is the burial tomb of Davy Crockett, William Travis, and Jim Bowie.

The front dais of the church is constructed like a cross where the dais is the top, and two wings just off to the sides is the crossing bar.

Back walking along the river walk, we cross over some of the foot bridges and checked out some of the waterfalls.  Here Carmen is in front of one of the water cascades along the river walk area.

Making our way along the river we got onto Crockett St and a couple of blocks later we were at the Alamo.  This is the front of the church as it existed in 1836.  Where I am standing is part of the courtyard that was being defended by the men at the Alamo.

An artist’s rendering of the Alamo after the Mexican army took control of the area.

Leaving the River Walk we drove to Mission San Jose which is one of the three missions on the mission trail, which also  the Alamo, Mission Concepcion, and Mission San Francisco de la Espada.  The mission’s courtyard walls from the parking lot, you can see the bell tower of the mission in the background

We begin our tour by going into this entrance gate into the Mission San Jose courtyard.

Mission San Jose.

Some of the out buildings built into the exterior perimeter walls along with an outside clay oven. 

From the court yard, called the Convento, in the back of the mission you can see the bell tower in the front. 

I find the architecture of the convento, simply fascinating.  Built in 1794, this structure, which would have had a roof on it, would have been the center of life at the mission.  I love the arches in this section of the building.

Couldn’t you imagine the solitude of walking along these arches while reading a book?

The front of the mission, which is still an active church, is very colorful.

Here we are looking towards the front of the mission

While walking around the grounds I came upon this plant.  Don’t know what it is, but it looks unusual.

This is the fresco that was covering the church.  Not much of it is left, but you can see the pattern that was on the wall.

Day 23 – To San Antonio, Texas

After passing Panther Junction, we are back on the Main Park Road heading north on route 385 and this is our view.  We’ll drive up to Fort Stockton where we will pick up I-10 east to San Antonio.

Well back on route 385 and out of the park when we have to stop for a border patrol check.  It didn’t take long, we were asked a few questions and they checked out the motorhome and car, then they let us go.

We have been seeing windmill pumps like this one all over the place.  This one was close enough so that Carmen could take a picture.

While driving through Fort Stockton, we came upon this sculpture of the U.S. Calvary.  We thought that it was pretty neat even though we did not stop to tour the old historic Fort Stockton.

There have been a number of these electric generating windmills on bluffs and mesas all along our journey.

Check out the formation of this hill. 

This is our drive along I-10 heading to San Antonio, Texas. 

Not much to say about today other than we are driving to get to our campground.  We get there late in the afternoon and get set up.

Day 22 – Big Bend NP – Day 3

Today we decided to drive out of the National Park and head west to the Big Bend Ranch Texas State Park.  We are driving the same road we did yesterday, except that we will not turn onto the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive, so I will not bore you with the same pictures.  However, while driving we saw this very large tarantula on the road and I had to stop to take its picture.  It was the about 5 inches wide.

We are heading west on the Panther Junction road and took this picture looking North West.

In a new part of the park, we pass this section where the stone is colored in layers.

Now out of the park, we are on Texas route 118 and then turn west onto route 170.  We reach Study Butte and the old ruins and ghost town of Terlinqua. 

The “Ghost Town” is on the National Register of Historic Places and is still occupied by artists and others.  They also claim to be the birth place of all chili cook offs worldwide.  Here is an old service station, including a gasoline pump.

This once was the town’s hotel, now an empty husk of a building.

There was a restaurant where we had something to eat, outside art objects, an old cemetery, and an artist shop or two.

As we were leaving Terlinqua, we saw a submarine sail sticking out of the ground.  In the middle of the desert!  How great is this place?

On the road, we have great views of the desert.  Here you can clearly see the strata lines between the different rock layers on the hill side.

Around Comanche Mesa, we see another volcanic plug along with some very interesting hills around it.

Looking back along the road we just drove down you can see the landscape we have been seeing.

A little further down the road we came across an old western movie location.  The Contrabando movie set was the site for movies like the 1993 Rio Diablo, 1994 Gambler V, 1995 Streets of Laredo, 1995 My Maria, 1996 Dead Man’s Walk, and 2000 The Journeyman. 

There are a few other buildings in the movie town, but most have deteriorated.  

There are a few dragonflies around the town and one had the foresight to land in front of me.

As we leave the Contrabando movie site we have this view.  Now doesn’t this remind you of some of the western landscapes you might have seen?

On our continued drive we pass a number of ranches, with signs warning about loose livestock.  We also pass this hill of petrified sand dunes.  You can see that there are some hoodoo formations beginning to take shape.

Stopping at the Upper Madera primitive camping area and overlook we have this sight.  You can see the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo in the middle, to the left of the road.

View from an overlook on the road.  You can clearly see the Rio Grande river with Mexico on the left and the USA on the right. 

Taking a short stopover, we turn and head to Closed Canyon and the trail leading to it.  When we parked and started to hike to the canyon, there was a thermometer to let you know what the temperature was.  Today on October 19th it is 95F.  Here is where we are headed, to the dark vertical line in the rocks.

Here we are at the entrance to the canyon.  You can see that it is very narrow and the canyon is pretty high.  This waterway is for rain runoff from the surrounding mountains and makes its way to the Rio Grande.

Entering Closed Canyon, a slot canyon entirely in the US and was not created by the Rio Grande, is only about 20 feet wide and 1000 feet high.  The canyon is only .7 miles long, but if there is any standing water it will be difficult to pass.

Carmen stopped following the canyon when we came upon some standing water.  I was able to do a little climbing and passed the water, almost falling in when I started to slip on the slick rock.  A little further, you can see there is quite a bit of sand and gravel on the canyon floor.  When the water is rushing through the canyon, the gravel is what digs the canyon out.  The water also makes the rock surface on the bottom of the canyon slippery.

Back in the car and on our way to Colorado Canyon, we are treated with this view.

I had to stop to take this picture because I just love the way the lava has eroded into columns.  Great colors and sharp rock formations makes this dramatic.

How about the picture Carmen took while we were driving by this old ruin of a house in front of the hill in the background? 

I cannot get enough of the layering on these mountains with its different coloring in the various strata.

Along the river we found these formations.  There is a rock gouged out to look like a hot dog, a little mushroom, and four balls sitting on platforms.  Is this natural or placed there?

On our way back, we stopped at this rest area which had three teepees for shading of the picnic tables.

While we were driving back to the National Park, Carmen got a picture of the road and the landscape on our way back. 

I just can’t get over the colors that are in these hill.  And you can clearly see the horizontal striations near the top of the hill.

Back in the National Park and what can I say, I find the rock formations and landscape here just fantastic. 

We again pass the same rock formations that we have seen for the past three days.  Here as the sun is directly on the mountain we have a sharp clear view of the dramatic mountain that makes up the Mexican part of the Boquillas Canyon.

Tomorrow we are leaving and driving to San Antonio, Texas, but tonight we are treated with this sunset. 

The trip here to Big Bend National Park was well worth the stop.  We would recommend anyone who has thought to come here to visit the park.