February 1 – 5, 2024: We followed the Rio Grande River from the South Padre Island, Texas area all the way to El Paso, Texas and up I-25 through New Mexico to the Colorado border. This area is facisnating in so many ways with beauty, a diverse amount of wildlife and the
Our first experience of sitting on the border between the USA and Mexico started at our RV park in Mission, Texas. We actually camped between the Rio Grande River and the Border Wall. The RV park shared their boat ramp with the Border Patrol and the Coast Guard. About 4:00 PM, both groups would change shifts and be taking boats in and out right in the middle of the RV Park and then go on to patrol the Rio Grande. Interestingly enough, we felt perfectly safe and were quite intrigued by the whole process.
Mexico is just across the river. 
That is a very low key border wall on the levy. We drove our rig down that ramp and camped between the levy/wall and the Rio Grande. 
Coast Guard taking their boat out. The Border Patrol is just on the other side after putting their boat in. 
Border Patrol heading out for patrol. Yes, those are shuffleboards in the foreground.
We continued our trip following the highways that follow the USA side of the Rio Grande and ended up in Del Rio and Seminole Canyon State Park, which is tucked into Seminole Canyon off the Rio Grande. This area is also surrounded by Amistad National Recreation Area, which consists of the US portion of the International Amistad Reservoir. Amistad Reservior, which sits between the Rio Grande and Devil River was part of a large effort between Mexico and the US to tame the Rio Grande with a series of reserviors between the two countries. Obviously, these water sources provided resources for humans for the past 1000’s of years. In fact there are pictographs in the area dating back to 7000 B.C., which we toured.
Sunrise across the desert 
Camping in Seminole Canyon State Park 
Looking west along the path the to bird blind 
Art work representing many of the pictographs in this area 
Seminole Canyon SP Visitor Center sitting above Fate Bell Shelter in the cave where many pictographs are found 
The Fate Bell shelter area 
Seminole Canyon, which only has water when there are heavy rains. 
View from the Fate Bell shelter 
View of Seminole Canyon with a rock in the foreground that has some etiching and a hole from ancient human activity 
Painted pictographs from 7000 B.C. 
Our guide for a reference
We headed to Big Bend National Park, which we had visited 4 years prior. This time we stayed in Rio Grande Village area on the east end of the park. Big Bend NP is about 2 hours from ANY town or highway. So it is a trek in, but well worth it.
The Traveling Lounsburys 