Day 6, 7 & 8

We're Back...! Well, as I'm sure you all figured out that the east side of Big Bend doesn't have the luxury of cell phone/internet service as the west side did. We dry camped at a RV park near the Rio Grande River and enjoyed the roadrunners running around everywhere however, we did not enjoy all of the millions of little flying knats everywhere, the only good thing about them though is that they did not bite, but very annoying!! Aside from the knats we had a great time.
The first day we were there Day 6: we took a walk over to the Hot Springs that are part of the Rio Grande River which was pretty cool. One thing that was pretty crazy is that in front of an old lodging facility there were Mexican handmade trinkets for sale with prices on each item and a coffee can to deposit money...? We had ran into a tour guide that was making lunch for his tourists so we chatted with him to find out more about the trinkets displayed for sale. Much to our surprise every morning the Mexicans come across the river (illegally) to the US side and set up there display and money can and then cross back over to the Mexico side and set up an area (see pic) where they can watch their displays to see if any tourists are purchasing any items and then at the end of the day they come back over to the US and pick up their trinkets and money can and go back over to their side. They do this every morning. The Border Patrol and Park Rangers are aware that the Mexicans are doing this and just turn their heads even though it's illegal and let them do their thing as they aren't disturbing anyone or harming anyone. Pretty cool! Gives you a whole other outlook on the so called "Wall" that Trump wants to put up.
Day 7: OMG talking about stepping back into a 3rd World country... We took a row boat over to Boquillas, Mexico (this is more like a 4th or 5th world country)! The tourist crossing was shut down right after "9/11" which totally devastated this little town. The crossing re-open 2 years ago which, was a blessing to this town. Just a couple miles from our camp site there is the Boquillas Crossing with a Port of Entry of each side of course we needed our passports to cross the river to the Mexico side. So we walked down to the Rio Grande river on the US side and Carmelo from Mexico rows his row boat over and picks us up and takes us over to their side, there we get off and right away 2 little boys come up to us and ask if we would like to buy a handmade Mexican bracelet which we did, then we had to choose how we would like to get to their little town Boquillas with a population of 211which is about a mile down the road. Our options are by truck, horses or burros...we opted for the burros oh and might I add that every tourist couple/group is assigned a tour guide. Our guide was Jose Martinez who didn't speak any English lol, So we took our mile burro ride which was fun, glad we did that. Once to the town we had to go straight to their Port of Entry and complete their paperwork and then we were on our way with Jose for our walking tour of the town. There are 2 restaurants in town, a church, 1 bar, 1 school, 1 medical clinic, a little hotel which you can stay for $25 a night, and 1 little store that sells the bare essentials. Throughout the town there are kids and women selling handmade items. All of the housing is like adobe buildings with no running water or sewer. They get their power from a solar farm that is run by the Mexican government. There is no police in town the men of the village handle any crime or disruptions that may happen in town, however, that is very unusual. There is also a Mexican Army that is about a half mile away from the village if anything major happened they could contact them for help. Jose was going to walk us down to the hot springs which is where everyone baths however, we were unable to go all the way down to check it out because someone was down there bathing lol. Typical Mexican village there were chickens and dogs running everywhere. Jose our guide has lived there for 26 years and his father lives there as well which is actually the oldest person in their village, at a age of 89.
After our walk through the whole town we took Jose to lunch at 1 of the 2 restaurants in town. The one we picked has been there since 1972 which had to close for 14 years due to 9/11 however, was able to re-open 2 years ago. We talked to the lady that owns/runs the place with her husband, her father is the one who started the restaurant, she and her mother took it over once her father passed away. During the 14 years that the restaurant was closed she came over to the US to work as she is a US citizen also. She worked and sent money to her family in Mexico and while she was in the US she met her husband. She and her husband were very sweet and welcoming, she gave us a tour of her restaurant and talked to us quite a bit. The food was great and Jose seemed to really enjoy it as well!!  We had a great time visiting their village, very real and pleasant people.

We headed out this morning to our next adventure stop San Antonio. We drove half way and stopped in Del Rio to stay over night and will get to San Antonio tomorrow.

Now a little bit for the guys. Still averaging about 9.4 to 9.6 mpg. Couldn't be happier with the performance of the Ram 2500 6.7. Cruise control on 65 to 70 mph and hit it when I want to pass other RVs. The 5th wheel hitch started to act up a bit as far as disconnecting and connecting. Bought a grease gun from Wal mart and greased the hitch, seems to work much better, maintenance.

One of the many roadrunners around our campsite at Rio Grande Village RV Park

These are the Mexicans that come across to the U.S. every morning to display their trinkets for sell and put out their money can.

These are the Mexican trinkets that they left on the U.S. side that were for sale.

Boquillas Mexico - Main Street

Typical housing

The chickens running about the town.

A guy singing during our lunch along with a couple of the village dogs.

Us with our tour guide Jose outside the restaurant that we had lunch at.

Us on the burros :)

A tunnel we had to pass through to get to our campsite.

Day 6

Another day of scenic hiking here at Big Bend National Park. We got a little earlier start this morning and were on the road by 9:00 to our first hike of the day to go see the "Balanced Rock" on Grapevine Hills Trail which, was a nice 2.2 mi. hike with the last .25 mile being a steep hike to reach our destination of the "Balanced Rock" Pretty amazing to see, we were the only ones on this trail this morning, so peaceful and serene. Loved it!
Next we headed to Lost Mine Trail starting elevation was 6000 with a top elevation of 7500, the hike was a challenging 4.8 roundtrip hike however, the views always make it worth it. Once we made it to the top it felt like you could see for miles and were on top of the world. Quite a feeling!
Tomorrow we will be hooking up and heading out to another RV Park (Rio Grande Village) which is on the east side of the park. We plan to stay here for a couple of days and take a little boat ride across the Rio Grande to Mexico to visit Boquillas. Should be pretty cool! Wish us luck in Mexico and hopefully, we don't get kidnapped...however, we will be calling you all if we do to collect ransom haha!

Jerry inside the "Balanced Rock"

At the beginning of Lost Mine Peak Trail.

Views along Lost Mine Peak Trail hike.

Views from the Top of Lost Mine Peak Trail. Pictures just don't do it justice!

Ahh Doves along the trail eating seeds out of this tree...they could care less about us - Lol!

A rock formation along our Grapevine Hills Trail hike. Pretty Cool.
 

Views along the Lost Mine Peak hike. 

More views along the Lost Mine Peak hike.

Back at camp - Jerry with his new friend.

Day 5

Well...not exactly sure what happened to our Day 4 post since it is not showing up...there really wasn't too much to talk about anyway. Yesterday we drove from Carlsbad NM to Big Bend TX...so now onto today Day 5:

Woke up to a beautiful morning here in Big Bend and headed out to the National Park our first scenic stop was Santa Elena Canyon Trail, so amazing we have attached a picture. The left side of the canyon is Mexico and the right side is the U.S. the Rio Grande River is what divides the countries. That was our first hike of the day 1.7 miles, great way to start the morning! From there we moved onto Castolon which is a visitor center to get some input from the Ranger on the most recommended scenic hiking trails. While we were there we learned that back in the day it was a general store and a trading post in which Americans and Mexicans crossed the Rio Grande freely up until 9/11, at that point the U.S. stopped that activity. Love learning the history! From there we headed to the Burro Mesa Pouroff both the lower and upper trails. This is an area where rain runoff flows down hill approximately 2 miles to where it drops off and turns into a huge waterfall that cuts through the rocks (see pics). The lower hike was an easy 3 mile trail however, the upper hike was a challenging 3.6 miles hiking down a wash and crawling over boulders to get to the runoff. That was a great hike to end the day with. Tomorrow will be another day of more beautiful scenic hiking trails!

The Rio Grande River with Mexico on the left and the U.S. on the right.

The above building is the La Harmonia Store. During the Mexican Revolution
this adobe store stood as a symbol of harmony in that perilous time.

A guy by the name of Gilbert Luna built this jacal at the edge of Alamo Creek and lived/raised his large
family in it until he died in 1947 at the age if 108.

On the Santa Elena Canyon Trail, behind us is the Rio Grande River.

A rock formation along our Burro Spring Trail hike.

Unfortunately, I am unable to get the last 3 pics to post...gotta love technology.
 

Day 3

Cold day here in Carlsbad, NM woke up to a chilly 36 degrees and didn't get too much higher than that for the high today! We did conquer the Carlsbad Caverns which are so fascinating...lucky us the elevator was broken so we got our hiking in to say the least. Walked a very steep 75 stories (750 Ft.) down and then back up which kicked our asses lol (See before and after pics). When we walked out of the caverns which by the way consists of 90% humidity, it was sleeting and snowing, so walking out into that after sweating our asses off, we are now frozen! It was worth it though the caverns are quite the site to see, even though our pictures don't quite show it. Other than the caverns there isn't a whole lot to do in Carlsbad especially when it is sleeting and snowing....so off to Walmart we went to buy some movies since we STILL can't get the TV figured out, then back to camp for some movie watching. Off to Big Bend National Park in South TX tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

Day 2

Got out of Deming RV park around 9:00 and yes for those that are wondering if we hiked around the park this morning before we left, not! Before getting on the HWY we had to make a stop at the local Wal Mart to pick up a hair dryer, Carmel forgot hers. After our great purchase at Wal Mart we hit the road to Carlsbad and decided to take a little more scenic route than the shortest which would have taken us through scenic El Paso :( . When we hit Las Cruces we decided to take 70 to Alamogordo and then 82 across Lincoln National Forest to Artesia and then 285 down to Carlsbad. We are actually staying in an RV Park in Whites City, got to love the town name :) . Pulling a 40' 5th wheel through the mountains was fun and the truck liked it also, the check engine went out. Averaged 9.6 mpg today. Roasting a pork loin for tonight and going to play some cards, no tv :( . Still haven't figured the cable crap out. That's about it for today, will check in tomorrow.

Day 1

We hit the road at 9:00 this morning had good travels through AZ, stopped in Wilcox, AZ (I never knew there was a Wilcox, AZ lol) to fuel up and make a little lunch to eat along the way... (gotta love the convenience of a 5th wheel). Arrived at our 1st destination of Deming, NM and enjoying a little happy hour! Once we roll out of bed in the a.m. we will do a hike around our rv park, gotta keep the exercise going don't wanna get fatter haha! Then back on the road in the a.m. to hit Carlsbad, NM where we will stay for a few days!! 

Now for the guys! Averaging 9.6 mpg :(. Thankfully fuel is cheap today but not as cheap as home, paid $1.91 today. Check engine lite came on before Tucson, truck is running great right now so I am not going to get it checked until I get home, screw it, it's under warranty. Truck pulls the 5th wheel well, maintained 70 mph all day. Can't figure out the cable tv but we do have local channels, need some techno geek. Talk to you tomorrow!

Ready to Roll

Everythings packed up....we think! Ready to head out to our first destination of Deming, NM a short stop overnight before we head to Carlsbad, NM for our first scenic adventure....more to follow tomorrow! Thanks for checking in on our 1st 5th Wheel Adventure Trip!!