Critters

We've seen a lot of wildlife since we have been here. Wild turkeys, white tail deer, raccoons, and even a live armadillo. There are also a lot of ducks hanging out at the reservoir but just mostly coot which are not good eating so we haven't seen any duck hunters. We've seen a lot of turkey vultures but everyone that has been here before says there are a lot fewer of them around. They think the ranchers poisoned a bunch to keep their baby goats and lambs safe.

They have mostly goats on the range around here because its pretty slim pickings and very rocky ground -- not very good for cattle.

We are hoping to get out and fish at least once more before the end of the year. We might be having some bad weather coming. Everytime they predict bad weather here it just ends up being a sprinkling of rain and a lot of wind. I know farther east of us in Texas they have had a little snow and ice but thankfully not here.

We had a great feast of grilled turkey and all kinds of good eats here at the campground on Christmas eve. There is a party planned for New Years Eve but we will see how many actually last until midnight. Last year at the campground in New Mexico the party only lasted until almost 11pm.

Devil's River

We tried going fishing on Thursday but the boat motor wouldn't start so we had to take the boat in and supposedly we just needed a new battery. We finally got the boat on the water Saturday launching out of the boat launch in Rough Canyon. This canyon is in the part of the Amistad Rec area called Devil's River. The Devil's River comes from somewhere in north central Texas and runs into the Rio Grande. The high cliffs along the Devil's River are beautiful. We got close to the shore of one of these cliffs and you could here the water from a spring running into the river. You couldn't see the water at all -- it was just behind the rocks at the bottom of the cliff. I'm not sure if the water -- it kind of sounded like a small waterfall --is visible when the water level in the river is lower. The river water is very clear because it is fed by many of these kind of springs.

We are used to fishing while gulls circle overhead looking for an easy meal. Here the turkey vultures circle overhead and I took a picture of them down by the water. It's been a little cool lately but now its finally warming up more and getting into the 60's and almost 70 by the end of the day.

We will be having our Christmas feast here in the park on Christmas Eve. We have a small fiberoptic xmas tree and have gotten our first batch of Christmas cards so it feels a lot like Christmas --even without snow or cold. Also, they don't sell real Christmas trees down here -- must cost too much to transport them. They are getting ready to sell fireworks though -- I guess everyone likes to blow them off for New Years Eve. Thankfully its not allowed in the park -- its too scary with campers parked so close to each other -- but it will be fun to see them blown off out in the desert.

Seminole Canyon Rock Art

We went to Seminole Canyon State Park and took the tour to see the ancient rock art. My mom and stepdad came down to Del Rio for a few days visit. We did a few days of site seeing around the area. The canyon tour was the most interesting site we have seen so far. It's a mile or so hike down into the canyon and over to the cliff dwelling where all the pictographs were drawn. The cliff dwelling is fairly long but not very deep -- just enough to keep the elements out. The ranger that led the tour was very knowledgable about the history of the area.

They estimate that the art is over 4,000 years old which makes it the oldest rock art in the country. They don't really know what the drawings mean but they are amazing once you understand how hard it was for them to make the paint. This area was a stopping off point where small family groups of ancient peoples stopped and rested for a week or so. The area has some springs and a little woods with a few desert animals and plants that they made use of but it wasn't enough to last very long.

The weather down here has been barely in the 50's but it looks like its been much colder farther north and "snowier"and not much warmer farther south so we are staying in Del Rio for another month and maybe the whole winter.

Judge Roy Bean

We went to the "town" of Langtry which is about 60 miles west of Del Rio. This is where Judge Roy Bean lived -- the only law "west of the Pecos". There is a restored opera house and a saloon that he had built. The opera house was actually where he lived -- not sure why he called it an opera house. We walked through a really nice cactus garden that showed off all of the different trees, bushes and cacti found in this one area. Judge Roy Bean's buildings are free to tour and so is the cactus garden. There is also a visitor center, souvenir shop, a few houses and a small bare bones RV park and thats about it for Langtry. I thought Langtry's Visitor Center was as interesting as the restored buildings and it also had the best visitor information for the whole state of Texas that I have seen so far. Big Bend National Park is about another two hundred miles west of Langtry. There really is nothing much in between Del Rio and Big Bend except these tiny little towns like Langtry.

We had a short cold snap and actually saw a few flurries in the air. You should have heard the locals complaining about the cold. The possibility of snow (even flurries) was news worthy for days. The only thing we thought was newsworthy was the power outages we experienced. The power has gone out twice in the area including our campground and of course it hit when it was the coldest. We can run our furnace on battery power so we managed to stay warm. This also means no water so we have learned to keep water in our tank as back up.

So far we like it here. I found the library -- I have a Texan library card now. We are still trying the local restaurants -- slowly -- we don't go out to eat very often but haven't found anything good yet. Luckily, I really don't have to cook all of the time. There is a couple staying at the campground that make a little money on the side by cooking up breakfast twice a week -- eggs, sausage, biscuits and gravy and either french toast or pancakes, coffee and juice all for a "donation".