Day 69 - Del Rio, TX to Seminole Canyon State Park

In the morning, while packing up, one of the firemen offered us some fruit and yogurt and a bagel for breakfast. They were all so nice. We were really fortunate to have met them. Once we got on the road, we decided to stop at a Sonic for milkshakes so that we could use up all of the 10 lbs. of coins I had stuffed away in the side of my handlebar bag. I ran into a problem where a bunch of coins would fall out each time I hit a bump because I had so many of them. I was sick of it so we used them all up - gave exact change even, for two small shakes. Well worth it.

 

Even though Del Rio was vital for us in some respects: food, technology, mail...we were happy to leave. These busy streets were not for us.

 

 

It was a cloudy morning but we saw a lot of beautiful scenery. This is a National Recreation Area. I can't remember the name of it, but it evidently has some of the best bass fishing in the country, if not THE best.

 

This bridge you see to the left (for the railroad) was just a few yards away from the Mexican border. We were very close to it, it was so exciting!



Here is the lake again. Very pretty. I would have never expected it to be so good for fishing.



Brian and cloudy skies. we were ripping through the day. With such a short distance ahead of us, we wanted to get to the park as soon as possible. We also had a deadline - our tour left at 3.



Woot! We reached our first checkpoint.



Brian had a very nice experience with the Border Patrol. I did not. I asked them if their dog wanted to sniff me and they told me to get lost. I guess that's not something you say to these folks.



Though it was cloudy, it was a nice day to ride. Cool and we had the wind at our backs.



Mexico?



This was very cool to ride through. Almost to the park!



Brian crushing some miles. The roads here are absolutely awful. They decrease your mileage by at least 1 or 2 per hour.



We made it with 15 minutes to spare! You can see off in the distance is a rock shelter (shoulder?). We didn't get to go to that one.



It was a quick ride, but we were excited to see what the park had to offer.



The first sight on our tour was this guy. He was made in the 80's, I think, and was and interpretation of some of the paintings that are common in the area.



The tour consisted of about 8 people including Brian and myself. We learned a lot about the local vegetation and different uses for plants of the area.



It was clear that it wasn't the first time for some of these folks. One individual even remarked on how it was his first time here while cloudy.



You can kind of make out the different pictographs along the wall of this rock shelter. They were thousands of years old and were not as identifiable as they once were.



We all learned a great deal about the different meanings of some of the drawings. Our towr guide was very knowledgeable.



Some more pictographs.



Beautiful, huh?



This here is the Fate Bell shelter, named after the previous owner of the land before it was given to the state.



The views in the area were phenomenal.



The smeared paint you see in the background is a result of cattle in the past century or so rubbing up on the walls to itch themselves. The ditches before the wall are a result of treasure hunters who had come before the land was owned by the state. Some of the ditches are also speculated to be from earth ovens.



Here is one of the more identifiable pictographs of the shelter.



Climbing back up to the observatory after the tour.



The canyon carved out by the Rio Grande.



When were got back to the bikes, we found that Brian had a flat. He ran over some pretty nasty glass just before stopping. In order for the Stan's to seal, the tire has to roll after being punctured. Because we stopped, the Stan's didn't have a chance to do its job. Still, I got a good laugh from Brian finally getting a flat after I've had more than my fair share.



After setting up camp, we decided to go for a run out to the Rio Grande.



It was a 6 mile loop and took us out into the middle of no-where. The views, fortunately, were spectacular.



We were both testing out our new trail running shoes in the nasty Texas mud.



Can you see the Rio?



Now can you? It was quite a sight.



We were really enjoying ourselves, even though we got lost for a while.



I'd say about 90% of the people who stay at the park miss out on this amazing sight. No one takes the time to adventure these days.



You can see a rock shelter off to the left.



The pictures speak for themselves.



Jealous?



I know you are.



When we got back, we met a few guys who invited us over to their camp for dinner and drinks. Bill, Ed and Phillip. They were all ex-military nurses who now work as Intensive Care nurses. Or something like that. Basically, they were the last stop between the patient and life or death. They shared amazing stories and amazing food. It was really great to meet them.

Total mileage: 45