We had a shorter drive today. We were happy to have straight roads again. This evening we are at Seminole Canyon State Park, Texas. It is right on the US - Mexico border near Del Rio. I was a bit apprehensive about our destination -- I figured it would be treeless and hot. I envisioned a desert. Fortunately it was overcast from a cold front so the lack of shade wasn't unbearable. We were both overwhelmed by the vegetation. There was hardly a plant that we recognized. The "desert" was in full bloom everywhere we looked. Ninety percent of the vegetation had thorns, but every plant was new and fascinating. We walked all the paved roads in the park in the late afternoon. No TV reception here, other than two Mexican stations. Just after dark the winds started blowing. The trailer rocked and bounced and shook all night long.
Day 17, Tuesday
It was overcast and chilly when we started our walk this morning. We planned to hike all of the trails -- about six level miles. The park is focused on 4000 year old rock art painted at spots on the walls of the canyon. Indian history at this site goes back 12,000 years -- when mastodons and camel roamed the area. The trail we walked first led to the junction of Seminole Canyon with the Rio Grande river.
The Pecos river joined the Rio Grande just a few miles up river. At this spot, all the canyons are flooded up the steep canyon walls by a dam down stream. The canyon walls plunge up to 160 feet, with the waters below being up to 100 feet deep. No rock diving here ! Across the Rio Grande is Mexico. Between us are two 160' "fences" with a 100 foot deep moat! The sun came out around lunchtime and it got real warm. The second trail led to that point of the Seminole canyon where the waters did not flood the canyon bottom. That afternoon, we drove to the town of Langtry, about 20 miles away. We were looking for a Visitor Information Center which was supposed to provide Wi-Fi service. Langtry has a population of about 30. Most of the buildings are abandoned and falling down. The only reputable building we found was the Judge Roy Bean museum which closed just when we arrived. I checked for a Wi-Fi network and found one, but was afraid to connect to it. Nothing at the museum entrance mentioned Wi-Fi or a network name. This near ghost town did not instill confidence. When we got back to the trailer, a review of the information available revealed that the Judge Roy Bean museum contained the Visitor Information Center. That night, the winds blew again. We retracted the trailer slide, afraid the winds would damage it.
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