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Leaving Big Bend and riding through Big Bend State Park, Terlingua, Marfa, and Alpine

2/26/2016

It was a beautiful ride along the Rio Grande River. We drove right through Telingua, Marfa and stopped in Alpine for two days. Very cold 45 degrees....love our fireplace.

If anyone passes through Terlingua you must eat Mexican food at this restaurant. Our dinner was excellent! I had the Pulled pork Tostada's. no pictures or anything memorable in Alpine except this precious dog in one of the shops...he was truly special...I wish I got a shot of his giant ears.

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Leaving Rio Grande Village to Cottonwood

2/25/2016

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Drove around the park today watching birds ( posted in bird section) and viewing scenery. Climbed up Santa Elena Canyon Trail which was very cool until Trish was paranoid about the height and wanted to go back to the ground floor.

Looking close at the picture on the right you can see metal railings along parts of the rock climbing trail....

We saw several rigs like the one on the right. A big rig truck pulling a fifth wheel but on the truck is usually a rubicon or golf cart, motor cycle, canoes....completely loaded with toys.

In the picture above the little dots on the beach are people...we were very high! Nice trail but very high.

Getting back to the Cottonwood campsite tonight there was a beautiful sunset and mating great horned owls in the trees!!! Their nesting tree was on our campsite. They hooted the night away...so cool.

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Big Bend National Park Texas

2/24/2016

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Stopped just west of Del Rio at Seminole Canyon Desert and camped for the night $16. Went through the Museum but did not hike to the picture graphs...saw the replicas instead.

Border Patrol everywhere. Here they are dragging tires to smooth out the rocks a little. The dirt road next to the high ways is for the border patrol to cruise. We went through many sets of cameras along the way and check points with the K-9's at work.

Arrived at Big Bend Rio Grande Village Campground staying two nights. Beautiful weather but one of the days it was 97 degrees....yikes.... Went to the Ranger talk about the night sky and light pollution. The rock cliffs were phenomenal and pictures do not come close. The colored cliffs below in the background were Mexico.

The Rio Grande Village had a desert oasis with green lush trees and many birds I have added to the bird list in an other post. The road runner below walked the camp with much curiosity.

Mexico, Boquillas Del Carmen-Border Crossing

Various parts of their very simple city. A yellow church to the right. The woman in the kitchen making our lunch while we drank Fresca...

The Mexicans to the right have crossed the border illegally to sell their souvenirs at one of the look out points just down from the city. Border patrol knows they do it but at times they give them space and leave them alone.

At the border we received the details on how to do this little walking trip into Mexico. First you walk through the woods to the river, Rio Grande. Across the river you will see a welcoming group of Mexicans waiting for your arrival. A man in a row boat will come get you for $5.( up and back) Darn I forgot to take a picture of this. Next, one foot out of the boat 6 kids try sell you bracelets....no surprises here. Did I mention they sing to you as you cross? Very charming....but of coarse a tip jar is waiting...For $5. each you get a donkey and a guide for the day to take you around the city, to lunch, customs and anywhere else you want to go. Our guide Marti was very pleasant and took us everywhere we wanted to go for about 4 hours. We even went to his house.

Marti explained the new electric solar system they just got last year. He knew very little English. With this they were able to get refrigerators, running water and television.
Below Marti took us to his home property where his adobe home is, his daughters home and his new house his son was making. The son is 24 the video shows him conditioning mud for the adobe bricks he was making. It was 93 degrees that day and it was about 1pm...he was sweating profusely. Excuse the plumbers butt.... Marti is 48, has 5 children and 2 grand children.

After the mud bricks are in place, making the walls they are covered with cement to seal them. Hard work has gotten this family a nice start...

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Fort Clark Springs, Brackettville, TX

2/16/2016

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On our way north and west from Mission, TX we stopped in Bracketteville (because there was no other place to stop) The RV park was in Fort Clark Springs....we had no idea what we were about to experience. The fort has a wealth of history in every area. And the RV park with surrounding areas are very simple. The people are super friendly and very special...inviting you to pot lucks, sitting at their space, inviting you in their home and giving you their golf cart for the day to experience the 54+miles of trails to ride on. This was a fabulous birding area of various species that we have never seen before. Hundreds of deer everywhere....hunting season is every other week end. White tail and Axis deer from India were among the group we saw. At 4-dark every night we could sit in our lawn chairs and watch them eat corn, we and the neighbors tossed out for them. Saw quite a few large bucks.

Our camp site had a full view of the deer each night. A very relaxing visit. On Monday February 22 we heard that the park was his with a severe storm and many vehicles and RV's had lots of damage...we are so sorry...hope everyone gets their repairs done without trouble.

The sign to the left is on the bridge that crosses the stream from the spring. This under ground spring is mostly never ending. (drys up occasionally) The spring rises up into a pond that is directed into an olympic size cement swimming pool. The pool is emptied once per week to keep the water clean for swimming but the water freely flows from the pool to the stream that runs through the 2700 acre Fort grounds continually . It was a very interesting place.

Above is the funky little sign that directs you into the RV park. This campsite was $23.-$11.75 per night depending on what discount you give them. And laundry is a $1.
Sites that have a nice view are a little close.

The Axis deer at sunset...took this at 400 zoom 30 minutes after sunset...too bad it isn't clear. Below was a few of maybe 100+ dear crossing the road at dark that night. Mostly axis dear I think...

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Birds, birds, everywhere there are birds...

2/11/2016

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The following pictures are various birds we have photographed along the way during our trip. Some a little fuzzy and barely visible but, proof they exist. Hopefully I have the species names correct.

Above Royal Tern the small one is a Least Tern, top right Sandhill Crane, bottom two Crested Caracara...

The above bird is of the falcon family. It is a Caracara and I have yet to grab a decent photo of them. I think these are my favorite because of the large size 23" long and 50" wing span and unusual looks. Below is the Vermillion Flycatcher 6"L 10 WS...same species but different bird on the right and bottom...this one is either young or molting I am not sure which.

...his back side on right. There are three different birds here...

Cardinal male and female.

Above and below bird with the bubble gum pink legs is a Black-necked Stilt.

Above is a Northern Shoveler. Below Blue-Winged Teal.

Above Long-billed Thrasher. Right Eastern Blue bird.

Below and right the red-bellied Woodpecker or the Ladder- backed. Above Killdeer.

Above the Eastern Phoebe and below the clean up crew, Black Vultures.

Below Turkey Vulture also part of the clean-up crew

Ringed Kingfisher 16" L and 25" WS....When this bird flew by I thought it was a duck because it was so big. Shot in Fort Clark TX. What a find....NATURE IS THE ART OF GOD!

Below ?

Below White-tailed Kite 15"L and 39" WS.

Red Shoulder Hawk at Cotton Wood Camp ground in Big Bend NP. Great Horned Female owl mating with male who flew to nesting tree right above our camper and hooted a lot during the night. Anyone know what these birds are to the right and below? I am stumped... the yellow front or throat elliminate the Scotts Oriole, I believe.

Above and below are the beautiful Green Jay 10.5" L and 14" WS

Above a Meadow Lark.

Golden-Fronted Woodpecker...males have the red cap on top of head. 9.5 L and 11" WS

Below Great Kiskadee.

Three pictures below are the Female Green Kingfisher 8.75" L and WS of 11"...little and cute as a button...as I shot him with the Cannon 5D Mark II, she flew towards me and sat directly in front of me on the stick....I could hardly believe it! So exciting!
Because we meet Jerry and Kit walking on the trail we were able to take their golf cart on a 4 hour ride into the 54miles of hiking trails they have here, to this location and other places. THAN-YOU JERRY AND KIT

Below Hawk ?

Any guesses what the red birds are? These and the yellow birds were shot in Dugout Wells in Big Bend NP.

Below ?

Acorn Woodpecker...he was pecking at tree and then he would stop and listen for a bug, turn his head and look in the hole.

Cactus Wren singing at sun set....loudly I my add :)

Black-chinned ?

Broad-billed Humming bird 3 3/4 "L

Mexican Jay above and the Tit Mouse below.

Road Runner at Big Ben Nat'l Park Rio Grand Camp.

Above ? Below and left Yellow Bellied Woodpeckers.

Above and below ?

Lesser Finch?

Above Below Nut Hatch.

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Port Aransas Pass-Rockport,Corpus Christi-Padre Island

2/11/2016

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According to Margret and her husband from Sunshine RV in La Grange, TX we needed to go to the Valley. She was a little book of information to say the least. Telling us where to go and where not to go. Without her we would have missed Port Aransas near Corpus Christi. We had to load the rig on to a ferry to get to the island from the north. We arrived at the sea shore camping area at dusk. The wind was very strong but 72 degrees; which cooled overnight to 40 something. What an amazing display on the water for the next few days...super cool....some of the pictures were taken right from our bed over looking the ocean. It is a very beautiful sight to wake up in the morning overlooking all of this.
It was not outdoor weather without our down jackets, my alpaca sweater and yes I wore my ear muffs! Beach sites were $12. per night what a deal for such beauty. We were one rig amongst only 4.

Probably should have avoided this park on left, so we could have enjoyed the Atlantic Ocean a little sooner.

The winds were at least 25-30 MPH so this wind surfer would fly high after catching a few good waves. The ships would all take a sharp right about where this one is and head into the port.

While visiting South Padre Island at the National Seashore Park we joined a 2 hour bird tour learning all about the birds that live there and where they hide. The rangers were fun to talk to. This was our camp ground that night at Bib Camp. This park was $2.50 per night with this beautiful view....WOW...53 degrees today. Light wind on the intercostal side of the island.

Look a Rinalta Rig just like Steve and Linda's

The sand was hard in most places and everyone drives right on the beach...but there definitely were a few soft spots...

Looking at the map and our next westerly direction I noticed Kingsville and the King Ranch was in our direction. Looking more into it the Ranch I realized that it was the ranch our Ford King Ranch truck was named after....so that was a no-brainer we must go there. Little did we know that this place was huge....825,000 acres to be exact! The ranch was quite the big deal with many tours. We did the 2 hour history tour and the 4 hour birding tour. I am going to place all the bird pictures of our trip in one place because I am taking numerous pictures of the many common and notable species, some of which we have never seen before....some good pictures and some not so much but a record non the least. These pictures will all be in the next post and I will be adding to them as I capture them along the way.

The ranch brand and the brand our King Ranch Truck has is the running W. It is a brand that is easier to heal for the branded animal because of no intersecting lines. The brand also is less easy for rustlers to change.

Downtown Kingsville they have a very high end retail store that sells everything King Ranch. In here they had a working saddle shop with the original saddle maker still making saddles. He was in his 80's...side note, all the ranch's trucks are FORDs but no King Ranch trucks that we saw...,