Big Bend to NM to AZ

Tuesday,  January 19

Greg spots some color in the sky at sunrise and we wanted to go to Santa Elena Canyon early, so we are up and about about 7:00.   Greg spots these javelina in the picnic area of the campground, so I take a few pictures.  They are used to campers so seem unbothered.

 The sky is getting more beautiful by the minute, so we stop for a few photos on the way out.   A large mule deer dashes across the road in front of us.

The canyon is about 10 miles away and as we get nearer, the wall through which the canyon runs is illuminated.  I spot some old adobe atop a nearby hill which might make a great photo with the pink lighted rocks in the background,  so Greg pulls over and I scramble up the steep, rocky hillside.  This early light is special and I don't want to miss it.

  About ¾ of the way up the hill, the sun goes behind clouds and the beautiful lighting is gone.  I take a few shots of the ruins anyway.

 
 And we continue over to the canyon parking.   The sun comes back out, but it is no longer that precious first light.  What a difference the lighting makes, even in these two photos where the first is in bright sunlight and the second in muted sunlight, just a few minutes apart.

 We walk the trail to the canyon but decide not to hike it, since there is hardly any light in the canyon yet and the temps are chilly down here – plus we’ve done it twice before.  Instead we go back to the Trek and make coffee and pancakes for breakfast.

Then we head back to the campsite for a bit.  Trying to catch a shot of the vermillion flycatcher and one lands near us.  Not a great shot, but a beautiful bird!

  
 We chat a bit with the folks from Denver again, and a young man with PA license plates who is photographing birds across the country.  Turns out he is leaving his car when he reaches CA and moving to Hawaii!  We then pack up and head out.

  We have to retrace our route to exit the park and then head north on 118 towards Terlingua.  It is a small town we have been through before and I wanted to find a T-shirt there like the one I bought a few years ago – it is wonderful material, perfect fit, etc.  but alas, they didn’t have any like it.  

 

 We roamed around the cemetery a bit and then headed north to Alpine through about 80 miles of nothingness. A border patrol checkpoint and an  occasional homestead and lots and lots of rocks and cacti.  One amusing sign for a realist whose home was called “Casa Not-so-Grande”. This ranch entrance was a little more standard.

We got gas in Alpine, which is home to Sol Ross University – and a terrific Subway which provided a luncheon treat.  Then on to Marfa where one of Texas’ finest pulled us over for not having a front license plate.  After 9 years!  He just gave us a warning. The Trek didn’t come with brackets or anything in the front, so we never added it.  Guess we’ll have to now.  We continued on and stopped to take a shot of this “Tethered Aerostat Radar System” – part of the border security system.  

Finally back to a little civilization in VanHorn and interstate 10.   Huge pecan groves in this area!  We drove west, northwest  till we neared El Paso and stopped there for the night at a pleasant Walmart.

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Today is a day of driving.  We made out way through El Paso early morning traffic.  It is a large city, mostly surrounded by mountains, and I-10 goes past just about every store known to man!  Downtown has a few skyscrapers, but most everything else is single story and sprawling.

We hit the New Mexico border around 8:30, after driving 1120 miles in Texas! Decided to go for Tucson, so we continued on 10 across New Mexico.  Lots of cattle,  dairy cows and pecan groves, though it is still very dry with sparse vegetation. Many signs warning of possible dust storms, but the wind isn't so bad today.

Reached the Arizona border about 11:10,  Some of the mountains to the north and south of I-10 had a dusting of snow atop them.

We stopped to stretch our legs in Wilcox, Arizona, home of Rex Allen, the last of the singing cowboys. 

We were going to the museum, but it was run by volunteers and today’s volunteers were AWOL.  Instead we had lunch in a nice little park across the street, where this statue was.  

Our first stop in Tucson was at an LA Fitness, where we worked out and enjoyed their showers. Nice newer facility. We decided to spend the night at the Casa Del Sol Casino, about 20 miles across town.  Called first to be sure it was ok, and when we got here there were about 50 or so rv’s already here! Good thing they have a huge parking area!

Nice cactus landscaping.

We went inside for a bit and Beth played the slots for a while and ended up $11 to the good :  Whoo hoo!  We ate dinner in the Trek and then went back into the Casino so I could lose that $11.00 J