Amistad Reservoir Day One

We got started about 10:00 today and headed out to the desert. The weatherman called for strong winds today and this evening, however so far it hasn’t been bad at all. Again the morning started out chilly but warmed up quickly. We are staying at a national recreational area that has four separate camping areas around a large (mostly dry) reservoir. The camp ground we are in only has five camp sites and there is only one other site taken besides ours. There is no electric or water and of course we have no cell service.

We took a short walk into the desert and found a herd of goats. These are the goats with large horns; I didn’t have the right lens with me so I’ll try tomorrow and see if I can get some pictures. I don’t know if these are free range goats or what as there are no fences and we haven’t seen anything that looks like private property.   We also saw what we think was a vermilion flycatcher. A very beautiful bright red and black bird, again no picture but will try tomorrow.  

It’s a beautiful warm evening with what looks to be a full moon.  

Amistad Reservoir Day Two 

If we had not planned on spending the day here already we would have by now. There is no way I am going to drive the RV in this wind. It is blowing constantly at 50 miles per hour.  It has been this way all day and even though it’s 60 degrees it’s too windy to do much of anything outside. We did manage a short walk in the afternoon and spoke to a ranger that was out checking the remote camping areas. The camp we are in is a least a half mile from water, he told us that water was right up to the campgrounds in 2010. He said because more than half the reservoir is in Mexico the Mexicans have been draining the reservoir for their irrigation. This area desperately needs rain.

Amistad Reservoir Day Three  

 Today we woke up to 36 degrees it was a tossup as far as who was going to get up and turn on the furnace, Richard lost again. The day ended up slightly overcast but warmed up quickly to about 65degrees. We are the only people in this park for the last two days, it’s very quite. 

This afternoon we went for a long walk in the area that used to be part of the lake and I found some interesting rocks, Joe will have to dust off his geology books because these are pretty cool.  Richard got some very nice pictures of the goats that graze in the area and a beautiful little Vermillion Flycatcher. We haven’t seen an Armadillo yet but I did find the shell of one, they are a lot larger than I thought. 

This evening Richard grilled some steaks on the BBQ and we are having a relaxing time listening to a Texas radio station called Outlaw Radio, we are starting too really like Texas Country music. This is our last night, at Amistad National Recreational Park, we really enjoyed the area, especially paying only $2.00 a night to camp, tomorrow we are headed to Seminole State Park for a couple of days.

 Say what?

Vermillion Flycatcher

Today we woke up early to a free pancake, biscuit and gravy breakfast sponsored by the management of the campgrounds where are staying. What a great way to start the day. The morning started out cool in the 40’s but by 10:00 it was a sunny 70 degrees we are beginning to feel a little guilty for this nice weather while the rest of the country is suffering the cold and snow.   

We found that there are some very interesting parks in this area and we decided to check them out today. Our first stop was Seminole Canyon State Park where we went on a guided hike to the Canyon pictographs. This Park contains rock art that dates back to more than 4000 years and is considered to be some of North America’s oldest. It was very interesting. 

Next was Lake Amistad which is part of the Pecos River and one of America’s top bass fishing  lakes. We decided that we like this area so much that we will be spending the week here. There is a lot of hiking and nice weather, unfortunately the areas we will be visiting for the next few weeks are quite remote most without electricity, cell or wifi, so we will not be able to blog as often as we like but we will try every opportunity that we can so keep checking.

 

Some more pictures from Holiday Trav L Park:

 Trav-L Park

 Trav-L Park Del Rio Texas

 Pool

Activity Building

Some pictures from Seminole Canyon State Park where we toured 

 Indian tribes that lived in this area thousands of years ago left their stories in rock art or pictographs.

Texas wide open spaces

Many rocks contained fossils

Fade Bell Shelter containing pictographs

Del Rio Texas

After yesterday and 80 degrees we woke to a chilly 47 degrees this morning. Because we slept with the windows opened last night it was a coin toss as to which one of us had to leave the warm comfy bed and turn the furnace on. After I turned the furnace on I concentrated on getting the coffee going. After ten minutes it was warm and toasty and the coffee hot and strong. We had breakfast and watch the morning news before getting ready to move on. We decided today’s destination was going to be Del Rio Texas, about 150 miles west and on the Mexican border.

We enjoyed the drive as we went through some very pretty towns. We stopped along the highway at a picnic area and Chris made some very good chicken sandwiches for lunch. We found a RV park in our book that we headed for upon arriving in Del Rio, however, one look at the place and we knew that it was not for us. We continued a little further down the road and found the Holiday Trave-L Park and checked in for a couple of nights. Very nice place.

After getting settled in we went over to the activity building to do laundry. While waiting for the laundry we visited with a lot of the other folks staying here. Many of them are snowbirds and are here for the season. After we finished with the laundry we went back to the RV and Chris fixed some walleye fillets that Ann and Steve had given us. Thanks guys, the fish was great.    

Del Rio is a border town, the town across the border from us is Acuna Mexico. For those old enough to remember there is a small radio station in Acuna where a fellow by the name of Wolfman Jack use to broadcast every evening. Because the station use to broadcast at 500,000 watts, ten times the power allowed for stations broadcasting in the states, he could be heard all the way to the Canadian border. 

Beautiful day for a picnic

Today's happy hour