 SUNDAY |
TRAVEL DAY |
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We had a very short travel day today, but it did come with a little excitement. We were about halfway to our destination when we saw signs on the road stating there was a Customs and Border Protection checkpoint a half mile ahead and we would have to pull over to be inspected.
My first thought was how effective can these checkpoints be when the criminals know exactly where they are. It's not like they are keeping their location a secret.
Then I thought of all the horror stories I've read or heard about of vehicles being emptied of their contents and thoroughly checked by agents and canines. Even when nothing is found, people are left to put everything back into their vehicle by themselves without any help.
That could end up being a very arduous task with everything we have packed into ROVER and THE POD. There was very little traffic on the road today, so no one was in line when we approached the checkpoint.
I pulled in, rolled down my window and said, "Good Afternoon". The agent asked if it was just the two of us in the vehicle today. I replied, "Yes". He then wished us safe travels and sent us on our way. Must be I have an honest face! Of course the face of Santa Clause is trustworthy!! Hee Hee!! - T
All that worrying for nothing, this time anyway!
The rest of the 33-mile trip across Texas' Route 90 was uneventful. That was until after we passed through the very small town of Comstock (pop. 475) and saw a sign stating there were "No Services" for the next 88 miles. I guess that means no food, no gas and no cell phone coverage.
We soon pulled into Seminole Canyon State Park, checked in at the Visitor Center and then setup on our campsite. While in the Visitor Center I noticed there was a small museum and a Ranger led hike is offered Wednesday through Sunday, twice a day at 10AM & 3PM, to see the Fate Bell Pictograph Site.
We are too late to sign up for the hike today, but we are still here on Wednesday so we will do it then. We will probably sign up for the morning hike, because the temperatures in the afternoon will be in the low 80°F's.
Campsite #26 at Seminole Canyon State Park outside of Comstock, TX
Our site came with a really nice shade pavillion to watch the sunsets from.
Our office view out the rear of THE POD.
Just two miles west of the park is the Pecos River Bridge. Completed in 1892 it held the distinction of being the third highest bridge in the world. It was strengthened in 1910 and again in 1929 to support the ever increasing weight of the freight trains using the bridge.
The right hand canyon wall ends where the Pecos River empties into the Rio Grande River.
The opposite bank of that river is of course in Mexico.
In the top left corner of the above photo you can just make out the edge of a shelter high above the bridge level where I'll bet we could get some excellent photos of the bridge.
But first one more from the road level.
As I suspected, there is where you want to be to photograph the bridge.
While we were up on the observation deck we noticed that downstream was a boat ramp where we might be able to get a new perspective of the bridge to photograph. We'll have to check that out later this afternoon on our way back from the museum.
JUDGE ROY BEAN VISITOR CENTER
We weren't terribly impressed with the indoor/outdoor museum about Judge Roy Bean, but their very well maintained Cactus Garden on the property was well thought out and displayed most of the plant life found here in the surrounding Chihuahuan Desert.
It is funded by the state of Texas, so it also serves as a Rest Area and Travel Information Center. There are restrooms and picnic tables located here for use by the public. There were two very nice employees here to answer all of our "travel related" questions, but they didn't seem to know much about Judge Roy Bean.
I guess they weren't big fans of the 1972 movie starring Paul Newman and Ava Gardner titled "The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean".
Judge Roy Bean's historic bar/courthouse, the Jersy Lilly.
Inside of the Jersy Lilly is the infamous bar.
We enjoyed the walk through the Catus Garden more than the museum.
On our way back to the campground we once again passed over the Pecos River Bridge and decided to try and find access to the boat ramp we saw earlier this morning from up on the observation deck.
We stopped in the parking lot/picnic area for the boat ramp to take a few photos and heard what sounded like a baby crying. Being down low in the canyon the accoustics were such it sounded like it could be coming from one of the bushes that were all around us.
What we found was that on the opposite shoreline of the river, some hundred or more yards away, was a large herd of goats up on the canyon ridge. Several at a time they where making their way down the steep canyon wall to the river. The older adults did this with relative ease, but the younger ones were experiencing a little bit of difficulty.
Perhaps making this journey for the very first time they were a little more reluctant to make some of the larger leaps down the rocks. This is were the crying baby sounds were coming from, the younger ones begging the parents to come back up the wall to their rescue.
We watched them for maybe an hour until there were probably several hundred goats grazing on the river bed grasses and drinking the precious water from the river.
The view from up high in the boat ramp parking lot
shows there are a lot of goats over there on the beach.
A closeup of several goats making the perilious journey down the canyon wall.
From the boat ramp you get a better perspective of what they accomplished
coming down that steep canyon wall.
But the reward is they get something to eat, something to drink and
we get another wonderful view of the bridge.
When it was my turn I asked about the people waiting outside and was informed that on Monday and Tuesday's they have unadvertisied hikes down into the canyon that are lead by a knowledgeable park volunteer. I asked if it was any different from the Ranger lead hikes and was told they were the same. I then asked if I could change my reservation from tomorrow morning's hike to this afternoon's and was told no problem.
So we are going on the Fate Bell Shelter Tour hike this afternoon to see the rock art that was painted on the walls by the local Native Americans some 3000-4000 years ago. The hike takes about 1-1/2 hours and covers about 2-miles.
We can't wait to see it! It's the main reason we stopped here for a visit.
FATE BELL SHELTER TOUR HIKE
This one is mostly red, the yellow is hard to see.
An early moonrise over THE POD on our last night here
at Seminole Canyon State Park
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