Another Sunny Morning in Arizona

We've been enjoying the desert at Organ Pipe Cactus National Park on the Arizona/Mexico border. Yesterday we took a free van tour from the campground into the AHO mountains to see the desert and get acquainted with the area around us. Our guide told us about the different kinds of shrubs and cactus, the wildlife, and the history of the area. There are traces of human inhabitants going back six thousand years, and the Spanish came in the early 1500's.
We are next to a big Indian reservation to the north and Mexico to the south. We also took a hike yesterday to the site of Victoria Mine. It was a site for silver mining starting in the 1890's but it has been deserted since the 1970's. There is not a lot of wildlife here since the summers are so hot. The snakes, lizards and scorpions are not active in the winter, and bats and a lot of the bird migrations come at different times of year.
The sun is warm and the  temperatures have been good so we are not complaining.

Coming into the park.

Our new camp in the desert.

This is the star of the show, the organ pipe cactus.

A view of the desert with several varieties of cactus plants.

There are several rock arches in the park

This is the largest cactus, the saguaro. They live to two hundred years and are up to forty feet tall.

This cute little guy is the teddy bear cholla. Don't be fooled by the name, the fuzzy looking stuff is bristles that aren't fun to touch.

The site of the Victoria Mine from 1890.

Moving on into New Mexico

We left Texas and drove west on I-10 through El Paso (a very industrialized area since the trade agreement with Mexico). There was lots of smog and congestion from the automotive parts suppliers on the Mexico side of the border.
We drove west into New Mexico and our first camp was Rockhound State Park near Deming, New Mexico. This was a mountainous area with great scenery and evidently a lot of rock gathering.

Leaving Texas and entering New Mexico

Michiganians in New Mexico!

Open range for cattle. You don't want to hit one of these!

Snow cactus in the Florida Mountains (Really, that's the name of one of the mountain ranges in New Mexico).

A rock for Nancy;s flower garden

Robin egg blue sky!

Desert view at Kartchner Caverns State Park where we are staying.

Sunset view

Driving up to Coronado National Memorial near Sierra Vista, Arizona, on the border Mexico. This area looked like Colorado or Wyoming

The top of Montezuma's lookout at Coronado Monument

Looking out over the mountains

 

The line in the center of this picture is a fence which is the US/Mexico border.

Greetings from southern Arizona, Kartchner Caverns Stated Park near Benson, Arizona.

We have been here for two nights and have one more before moving to Organ pipe National Monument campground on Sunday. The weather has been on the cool side, mid sixties in the afternoon to mid thirties at night. But we do get plenty of sunshine and beautiful blue skies. Today we took a ride to Coronado National Memorial on the border of Arizona and Mexico. Sierra Vista is the town near the border and the mountains and the views here are simply incredible. We never expected to see such scenery here. It looks more like the Colorado Rockies than the Arizona desert!
I am going to try to catch up on pictures from the last few days.

Driving out of San Antonio towards Balmorea Texas

We camped at Balmorea State Park where they had a pool that was fed by warm spring water. The water was 72 to 74 degrees year round.

 

Lots of wildlife here in southern Texas. We were east of El Paso. American bittern in a cat tail pond

An egret

Coots were everywhere

We saw these sheep in the hills. We were not sure if they were desert bighorns of some other species

The view of the wide open west

McDonald Observatory in the mountains south of the park

Fort Davis Historic site

Some original buildings from the fort. Circa 1850's

Javelina, (wild boar), in the hills

A mule dear along the trail

Looking down on Fort Davis from the lookout trail

A roadrunner at the campground.

We're in the Wild Wild West

Another sunny out west kind of day. We had a beautiful sunrise with the sun glistening on the mountains across from where we are camped. We are in the Florida Mountains and surrounded by them on three sides. To the northwest we can see Deming, New Mexico about fifteen miles away. At night the lights from the city and surrounding development shimmer like stars in the desert. Speaking of stars, the milky way is clearly visible in the clear night sky.
We did a couple of mountain hikes today, and later in the afternoon we went to the St Clair Winery to do some wine tasting. They make a pepper flavored wine here that we had three years ago and I wanted to get some again.
The weather continues to be cool at night, but the days get into the high fifties with clear blue skies.

Here we are at the New Mexico border. I need to catch up on pictures, but will need to wait for a better WiFi signal.

That's all for now.

We made it to New Mexico

We have been Wi-Fi challenged lately so I haven't been able to post to the internet. Today we rolled into New Mexico from Texas. We are camped outside of Demming, New Mexico. We came through El Paso Texas before crossing state lines. We have been having cool days and below freezing nights, but still sunny skies and lots of new scenery to enjoy and explore. We can really feel that we are out west now. The plains and mountains are awesome.
We toured Fort Davis yesterday and drove into the mountains south of Balmoreah, Texas where we were camped. We have been seeing lots of wildlife including javelinas, Audads (a wild mountain sheep), mule deer, road runners, rabbits, Horned owls and more. We also did a hike in the mountains above Fort Davis, and learned a lot about the buffalo soldiers who were stationed here in the 1870,s.
When I have a better signal I will post some of the pictures we have been taking.
Hope everyone is well.

Our last day at San Antonio

Today was the last full day at this campground. We will be packing it up in the morning to move further west on our way to Arizona.
We had a nice, sunny day, but a little cooler. The high was about sixty in the late afternoon. We stocked up the kitchen this morning and picked up a few odds and ends at Home Depot to better secure the bikes while traveling and to lock them up while using them on our rides. I also indulged my curiosity and Nancy and I each got a "Whataburger" for lunch. We have seen these fast food joints here and in other southern states, and I finally gave in and had to try one. Now I'm good and can pass them up without wondering what I have been missing.
After lunch we took another bike ride to the last of the missions that we missed yesterday. This one was back in the direction of town.
Mission Concepcion was the best preserved of the main mission buildings, but the rest of it's buildings and perimeter walls are now gone. The inside of the church had much of it's original painting still on the walls. When we see the size of these buildings it's hard to imagine that they were all built by hand. It must have taken a lot of laborers and tremendous energy and engineering to get all of the materials in place.
We had a delicious venison roast for dinner this evening with potatoes and carrots. What a great way to end a nice day and a nice stay at San Antonio.
If you are enjoying these posts and pictures please leave me a comment so that I might know who is looking at them. It makes the endeavor all the more worthwhile.
Some pictures from the day....

We have now seen all five of the missions the past three days.

The buildings are amazing and interesting in their architecture and details. Water spouts protrude from the upper story to let rain water pour off of the building.

A prayer area near the entrance of the church.

The main church and alter under a huge dome ceiling. Again, it's amazing that these buildings were all built by hand.

An outdoor alter where services are held.

The cactus garden outside of the church.

Mission Concepcion

Biking the Spanish Missions

Today we rode our bikes away from town to tour the historic Spanish missions along the San Antonio River. The  Spanish Empire built five missions along the river here to fortify the territory and to convert the indigenous people to Catholicism. The Spanish forces were moving north through Central America into Mexico and north onto the North American continent. They wanted to protect this territory from invading native tribes coming from the north.  
They built the missions beginning in the early 1700's. In recent times there has been much restoration done to bring the buildings back to a useful state. The National Park Service owns these properties and is dedicated to preserve and refurbish them for future enjoyment. The churches are all being used for weekly services.
There is certainly a lot of history around the San Antonio area and the Spanish missions were very important to the development of the region.

This is the bedroom upstairs in the front of the fifth wheel.

Front closet, dresser and TV!

The San Jose y San Miguel de Aguayo Mission circa 1720. This was the most elaborate of the missions.

lots of arches and passages made up the main building. the grounds had housing and community buildings. This was considerd the queen of the missions for it's size and intricate architecture.

Hark the raven on the dome.

The front of the church had beautiful sculpture incorporated in the design.

Along the perimeter was housing for the people of the mission.

Flying buttresses to strengthen the walls.

Mission San Juan Capistrano has had much restoration done in the last few years.

The church has been plastered to strengthen the crumbling walls.

The interior of the church.

Cock-a-doodle-doo

Mission San Francisco de la Espada is the furthest from downtown San Antonio.

The original front of the church still is intact.

After our bike tour we returned to our camp on the pool.