Ojinaga Mexico

Took Nancy to Ojinaga and Peguis Canyon today. Peguis Canyon is 25 miles south of the city of Ojinaga on Mexican highway 16. It is a 4000-foot canyon created by the Rio Conchos, one of the most impressive sights of the Big Bend Region.

Contrabando Movie Set

If anyone remembers the 1986 movie "Uphill All the Way" staring Roy Clark, Mel Tillis, Burl Ives and Glen Campbell, this was the La Cantina trading post where there was a fierce shoot-out.

Big Bend Stables

I think Nancy looks good out riding horses. I took her horseback riding today at Big Bend Stables in Study Butte.

 

McDonald Observatory

Another 200 mile road trip up to the McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis this afternoon. The observatory is on top of a 7,000 foot mountain in the Davis Mountains.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pinto Canyon Road

I got up and watched the sunrise this morning as I sipped on my coffee. It wasn't the most spectacular sunrise that I've seen here but this morning's wasn't bad. Afterwards Nancy and I went into town for breakfast. I had a great bowl of menudo rojo and Nancy had huevos ranceros. After breakfast we went shopping and then toured Fort Leaton. Then we took a 150 mile road trip through the desert mountains on a  road traveled by very few. Pinto Canyon Road is a county road that cuts through the middle of the Pinto Canyon Ranch between Ruidosa and Marfa. The first 22 miles of it is dirt and gravel with several water crossings. It's been 10 years since the last time I ventured out on this road. It was a long day by the time we got back to the motorhome.

  

  

  

 

Back in Presidio

It's been 6 years, December 2008, since the last time I was here in Presidio, TX with my late wife Barbara. She was having problems with her big toe healing after burning her foot earlier that summer. We had left for Palacios, TX right after the surgeon in Alpine gave her the clearance to go. That was also the year of the big flood here in Presidio which left the golf course under 15 feet of water.

Not much has changed since I was last here. A couple of new buildings in town. There's now a city-wide, city-owned Wi-Fi system that we are connected to out here at the park. Few people come here for the winter now. Most of the older people who used to come here for the winter no longer come. They're up in age or have passed on. BJ had built the park for them after the RV park in Lajitas was closed. Jim & Jenny Kidd are still spending their winters here. They first came here the same year that Barb and I did back in 2003. Happy-hour is still everyday at 4PM when Jim fires off a couple of bottle rockets. Happy-hour is when everyone gathers at a central point to socialize with one another.  It's a good time to greet new comers and pass in formation. There will be a Christmas pot-luck dinner Christmas Day. A lot of the cedar trees in the park have died and were removed and the golf course isn't kept up like it was anymore. The caravans that used to come here don't come anymore. Since there's very little money coming in to the park now there's very little money to keep things going. This will probably be my last time coming here since next winter I want to take Nancy to the West coast and then to the East coast the winter after that. After that who knows. I'll be 65 years old and Nancy will be 68. We may just want to find a favorite place and spend our winters there.

Yesterday the temperatures in town got up to 83°F. There's a cold front coming in today so the forecast temperatures is supposed to only get up to the mid-50s. I'm not sure yet what Nancy and I are going to do today but we only plan on being here for a couple of weeks and there's a lot of places here for me to take her to. Maybe since we've been on the road for the last several days since we last done laundry maybe we should stay around close and get that done before taking day-long trips.

Oklahoma City

We got into Oklahoma City and checked into the Rockwell RV Park by 11:00AM yesterday. I tried posting the night before at the turnpike service area south of Wichita, KS were we spent the night but we didn't have WIFI and the posting I made on my smartphone didn't go through. We'll be here until next Saturday then head down to the Dallas, TX area for an overnight to visit one of Nancy's cousins. From there we're heading to Presidio, TX for Christmas and New Years.

We had a good trip coming down so far except for a fuel problem with the motorhome. While going up hill I loose power just before the top. I think I've got it narrowed down to a clogged fuel filter. When I had the coach serviced a couple of months ago he didn't change the fuel filter. So I'll get with a service shop here in Oklahoma City to get that changed this week. So far we've only been going over some hills but next week we'll have mountains to go over and we'll need all the power out of the engine that we can get.

The circled W on the map below is where we are.

On our way to Oklahoma City

Nancy and I got the last thinks packed this morning and we were on the road by 8:35AM. We made it all the way to the first stop sign when Nancy said she forgot her sunglasses. So back around the block to go get them. No problems on the road today except the water tank is empty. Showers at the truck stop. We stopped at 4:00PM for the night at a truck stop in Brooklyn, IA. Tomorrow we should make it to Emporia, KS for the night then on to Oklahoma City on Saturday.