Tuesday 27 April 2010

Last night around 8:30 (CT) the winds started blowing fast and hard. It rocked us to sleep.

This morning we noticed the ditch near the trailer was filling with water. Off to investigate....(Frank was nervous about the possibility of another campground flooding---even in a desert)--- we drove up towards the river to the picnic area. Lots of birders were there with their binoculars and cameras chasing birds in the high winds.

The water seemed to be coming from the Rio Grande and flowing towards the camp in deep irrigation ditches. On the way back to camp we saw a coyote. He looked lost and pitiful... pretty much the demeanor of Wiley C. Coyote of cartoon fame. Got some pictures of him though :-))

Frank asked a maintenance man who was raking leaves from the ditch what was happening with the water. He told Frank that the trees liked it.. they were watering the trees. He warned Frank that our satellite dish was going to go under water, but it wouldn't happen until later in the evening. Frank relocated the dish and he had an easier time. He figured out the first time he set up that Dish Network made an error on the elevation setting.

We walked the Boquillas Canyon Trail to the summit, but did not go all the way down to the canyon floor. Along the trail we saw a lizard, millipede and dragonflies. There were handmade crafts for sale laid on rocks on the trail. Just a jar lying by the items for the money. The money is to go for school children in Boquillas Mexico. We heard donkeys braying from across the river in Mexico. A man was seen on the othe side of the river riding a horse. Of course lots of pictures were taken.

We went back to Boquillas Canyon Overlook and took more pictures. There were handmade crafts laid out there for sale too... again with a jar for the money.

Then back to camp. We cooked dinner :-)) After dinner Frank got pictures of a roadrunner with a lizard in its mouth.

We took a long drive to the west end of the park to Castolon stopping for lots and lots and lots of pictures of beautiful scenic views, the mountains and desert changes every time we go around a curve. Along the way we stopped and walked several times at overlooks, and an old home site with a working windmill (a sign saying the water was contaminated---how---with what out in the middle of a desert?).

At Castolon we checked out Cottonwood Campground. The sites would be OK for tents but not much of anything else. They had water faucets all over the place but they had signs on them warning you the water was not potable. There was a building towards the front of the campground with "filtered" potable water but no way for a trailer to get to it.

On the drive back from Castolon we took a side trip to Chisos Basin. The terrain changed again on the way up to the Basin. We saw Pine Trees of some sort and different types of cactus and plants. The road up is very steep and winding. We saw a sign warning people that trailers longer that 20 feet and RVs longer that 24 feet should not proceed because of sharp curves and steep grades. The campground itself reminded us of the one we stayed in for one night a couples of years ago in the Great Sand Dunes National Park, Co. It is really made for tents. The temperature was a good 10 degrees cooler up there.

We went up to the Chisos Mountains Lodge where they also have a restaurant, visitors center and store. The lodge looked like a motel kinda. By then the visitors center was closed for the night but the store was open so we went in and bought a couple of candy bars and a keepsake bell.

Then we headed back stopping at Panther Junction for a top off of diesel and then 20 miles more to the campground. Along the way a jackrabbit ran across the road in front of us.

When we got back------Frank and Zaroga passed out..............