Santa Elena Canyon-Big Bend, Nov. 8, 2013

The next couple of shots are distant views of Santa Elena Canyon.  It is so big that it can literally be seen from miles away!

 

 

We decide to take the 1.7 mile hike into the canyon to get a better look.  This is the entrance to the trail.

After you walk across seemingly acres of river stone you come to this "entrance".

This tells that the canyon is 8 miles long, 1500 feet deep and as little as 30 feet wide at some parts of the river bottom. 

On the right is a speck which is really Jim. This will give you an idea of how immense it is.

Jim thinks it is real easy for Mexicans to walk across the Rio Grande here.  It isn't that far but the current looks a little fast here.  The point is they can walk across the Rio Grande at many spots.

The river is coming out of the canyon here, flowing east.  Out friends, Roy and Shelly Annis, have canoed this river through the canyon.  They said you had to lie flat on the bottom of the canoe to see the sky. Roy has lots of stories to tell of their trip.

Jim is starting on the upward zig zag trail.

We did see sea shell fossils in the rocks here but they were very small.

Amazing how flowers and plants will bloom anywhere!  It was fun to see!

Jim is at one of the highest points here on the trail.  I am also here, which is amazing, knowing of my height phobia.

This is the view of the Rio Grande from that spot.  It is higher than you think.

Can you imagine perching on a cactus limb?  Brave bird, I say!  Asking for anyone to identify him!

Jim continues on the trail when I stop and can go no further because of the narrowness and no guard rails! (Ha, Ha)

This shows the trail and how it is literally on the side of the mountain.

I wish this photo was bigger but if you look closely, you will see the trail zig zag up the mountain.  Jim is the small dot near the top.

More flowers to enjoy!  There is bauty everywhere.

 

El Paso to Lajitas and Big Bend, Nov. 7, 2013

This is the south side of El Paso, or in other words, Mexico!  We left the Walmart at 8am & arrived at our destination at Lajitas at 4:30pm.  We headed east on I-10 to rt 90 which we took to Alpine.  From there we took Rt 118 south to Big Bend National Park, then headed west on Rt 170 to Maverick Ranch RV Resort in Lajitas.

One bad thing we noticed in the area and even in Big Bend was the air pollution.  I guess we can try to blame Mexico but who knows?  Can you see the cloud of airpollution here?

I took some shots of water towers along the way.  Well, I was out of lighthouses so water towers and bridges had to suffice.

 

I don't think this was the same guy we saw the day before.  This guy had all sorts of "stuff" on his bike including buckets and flags.  Again I admire him but do not envy him!

This scene is near McNary, Texas, where I-10 is still following the Rio Grande.

I guess we were too close to Mexico.  Even though we were in the USA, they still made us go through the homeland security checkpoint.

 

This is an old structure!

Again, we find interesting vehicles on the road.

The one truck is towing the other and both are full of "stuff".  I have no idead where they started or where they are going.  It would make an interesting story, I'll bet!

Now we are starting to see different types of Cactii.

These are some of the Big Bend mountains...more later.

This cactii are quite pretty but very sharp!

After we arrived we were able to do our laundry and see a sunset.  Cool, eh?

I think this is either a Brown Headed Cowbird or a Rusty Blackbird.  Anyone want to identify it?

This is our Passposrt America reduced rate campground in Lajitas.  It was very nice!  We carried our two bikes inside the Jeep and had the older one on the back.

The building in the background was the office.  They had a clubshouse and a pool, which was very nice.  We recommend the Maverick Ranch RV Resort in Lajitas to anyone! We stayed here 3 nights.

Phoenix to El Paso, Texas, Nov. 6, 2013

We did not see much of Arizona north of Phoenix because we drove it after dark last night.  This morning we left the Phoenix Walmart and headed south on I-10 southeast through Tuscon to Las Cruses, New Mexico.  Then we went south on I-25 to El Paso.  Do you like the reflection of our motorhome in this tanker truck at 8:30 am?

These are Saguaro Cactus, if I spelled it correctly.  They have to be 100 years old before they grow an arm.

I don't know what kind of tree/bush this is but it looks like an overgrown yucca plant.

This national park is near Tuscon, but we did not have tome to stop here.  That will have to be for another trip.

This is an Arizona road scene southeast of Tuscon.

These are your typical cactii which we all see.  I do not know what they are called, either!

Here is a guy on his bike with all sorts of gear.  I admire him for traveling this way, but am glad that I am not him!

I love these old steel bridges, as you know. So this one is in Arizona.

There were several bushes in bloom in November, which I enjoyed seeing.

Another Arizona road scene with weird rock fomations.  A geologist would have a field day out here!

Arizona has many cases of red Oxide rock but this is just one scene on this rocky mountain slope.

This white stuff on the far away hills is unknown unless it is borax, similar to what they used to get out of Death Valley.

This is still Arizona, at route 191.  We did not stop here, either.

More blooming plants on Arizona or New Mexico's roadway.

I think this is New Mexico because of the orchards which are watered from the Rio Grande which runs alongside I-25 headed south to El Paso.

This is a shot of the orchard advertised above.

 

We arrived in El Paso about 4:30 that afternoon, found a Walmart which was recommended by our grandaughter, Jessica Chevrier.  We wanted this recommendation because of safety in this town which is right across the river from Mexico.