"Today is a Good Day to Drive!" .....Van-Go

March 16,2008 We arrived in San Antonio bright and early and found construction blocked our way to our favorite parking area on St. Mary Street. But a few blocks over we found a safe place and walked down to the River Walk. The walk follows the San Antonio River and Canals. All along the Walk are hotels, restaurants, shops, benches, big ancient live oak trees, flower beds, waterfalls, an endless parade of tour boats and river taxies, golden crested herons perched in trees….what a beautiful place for a walk. Celebrations were starting for St. Patrick’s Day eve. Bagpipe players, clog and jig dancers, and lots of tourists dressed in their festive greens. We walked, watched the shows, were amazed as the boats went on parade spilling green dye into the river turning it an emerald green. The mayor declared the San Antonio River the River Shannon. The balcony of Salt Grass is where we enjoyed stuffed jalopenos called Rattlers and a steak salad. We walked through the Rainforest Restaurant wher...

March 15, 2008 We woke to sun coming up over the tops of the short mesquite trees just getting their green leaves so it looked like a green sunrise. After coffee and a few puzzles to get the brain working we headed into Big Wells, TX. We didn’t find big wells, but we did walk the main streets of town for our half hour constitutional; that’s three days in a row now! We turned off on FM1867, the road to Uvalde. All along the road are tall fences or new ones going in. We did see two deer bound away from the fence so yes, the fences do keep the deer in. The new fences are twice as tall with three rows of barbwire on the top. We saw our first cattle south of Batesville. First in brush covered acres, then in manicured pastures. The feed yards of today have thousands of cattle grazing in free-range irrigated pastures. In years past all these cows were in feed yards of dirt standing on manure piles several feet high; this is really much better. Next came fields of cabbage and onions. Truck loa...

March 14, 2008 The walking regiment continued this morning with another fifteen minutes around and around the little picnic park before we headed north on route 16. Stopped in the Freer Civic Center to see about a wifi hit we were getting from the library and found a group of ladies playing Mexican bingo. The library was closed, but the ladies were friendly. We left Freer and continued through the brush land; we past our seventh oil rig and decided to stop counting them-we are in oil country. This is the land of vanity gates, fences and caracara. Two caracaras were enjoying some fresh road kill when another pair came along and some vultures too. We stopped to watch the action, but they all few away. We waited for some minutes that turned into half an hour, but none returned to stay and eat. A covey of quail crossed the road-bobwhite quail. We turned off on a gray road, 649 headed northwest. The Nuces River, where the Mexicans believed the border to be back in the 1800s, is a small mean...

March 13, 2008 We woke to roosters crowing and a vehicle pulling in. It stopped at the gate and the tan lab ran over to greet its tires. The uniformed man got out and walked around the ferry compound until another officer came with the key to unlock the gate. Within a half hour four cars were in line and several were parked dropping off pedestrians. After paying our fifty cents per person we stepped aboard the first ferry across the Rio Grande River into Mexico. A woman was carrying two large bags filled with items from the US and we helped her carry them onto the boat. The ferry carries three vehicles and walkers. There is a thick rope across the river with pulleys and the men pull the ferry across. The Mexican town of Gastavo Diaz Ordaz is a short mile and a half up the road; taxies wait to bring people into town for $6. We walked up and down the rough sidewalk between the river and the Mexican gate; took pictures of the cable, the ferry and the river. We watched as a man swam across...

March 12, 2008 We took a small dirt road to a Wildlife Management area that was very overgrown and decided to continue on the little road to the Rio Grande River. The road crossed the border patrol road so we pulled up on it and parked. The drive down the otherside was too steep for the Roadtrek so we walked down. The river was flowing pretty quickly and seemed almost navigable. That was our first stop along the river. The second was at Progresso where we walked across the International Bridge and went to our favorite restaurant, Ay Jilisco's. The third stop at the Rio Grande River was at Pepe's On The River, a rustic spot with live music and food. Our night spot was at the Los Ebanos Ferry Crossing. It is the only hand pulled ferry crossing at a border in the US and has been around since the Spanish exploring days.

March 10, 2008 Leaving the Valley started with a stop at the zoo. We caught some really cute goodbye shots. Check the slide show to the right for more.

March 10, 2008 We stopped at Shuckman's and got a bag of grapefruit; ruby reds are the best in the Valley. Then we headed over to Dixie Storage and tucked the MR2 in for the season; we will miss sports car roadtrips. When we were at Laguna Atascosa the other day one of the volunteers handed Kathy a card she had gotten back in December from birders on one of the tours. It was Ruth and Harold, friends Kathy had lost connections with. We called them and met up right away at a little Mexican restaurant in La Feria. We had a good meal and time to catch up! They are planning to leave for KY this week. We made a stop to say goodbye to "funny" friends at Paradise Park; they won't be leaving the Valley for a few more weeks, but we have our cell phones and our blogs.