Seminole Canyon, Texas

We are now in Seminole Canyon State Park.  As I type this, I can see Mexico out the window and canyons that lead to the Rio Grande River.  But first…

Before we left Van Horn, Texas, we experienced our first dust storm.  We knew high winds were coming.  But the dust was a surprise.  All of a sudden the surrounding mountains couldn’t be seen.  Of course, we happened to out to dinner at a local cafe when it hit.  There is nothing quite like rain coming down and dust sticking to the water spots on your car.  Someday we’ll get these vehicles clean again.  Maybe.

Dust storm blowing across main street of downtown Van Horn.

The drive to our current location was interesting.  In the middle of nowhere, we first passed a building with “Prada” on the front of it.  As it whizzed by, I wondered “What the heck was that?  Is someone selling designer shoes in the middle of nowhere?”  I googled it and found out it was an art sculpture someone paid $80,000 for.  I guess art is in the eye of the beholder.

The Prada Marfa store in the middle of nowhere!

It’s in the town of Marfa…that is why the “sculpture” says “Prada Marfa” on the front of it.  We went by too quickly for me to get a picture, so I “borrowed” this picture from the Internet.

Then, further down the road, the town of Marathon’s Fire Department got into the act.  How about a mini Target store along the highway? 

Target store

An aerial drone (grounded due to high winds) was also spotted. It is used to spot drug smugglers….when in the air.

We were fascinated by the rock walls where the roadway was carved out.

 

We also saw a lot of these blinds. Are they for hunting? Used by the border patrol? Paul H. – any ideas?

Yup, the things you will see along the highway!  Finally we arrived at the Seminole Canyon State Park in Comstock. Texas, right on the Rio Grande river.  We got a sweet dry camping spot overlooking the vast desert and canyons.

Our campsite.

Janelle joined us that evening, having driven over from College Station.

Janelle has a thing for the roof of our RV. She’s lucky we didn’t make her sleep up there! ๐Ÿ˜‰

This state park is known for its canyon and for its 4000 year old pictographs. So, we spent a few days hiking, biking, sewing, relaxing and catching up with Janelle. We took a guided hike down into the canyon to see the pictographs. Researchers have no idea what the images mean. The State of Texas is doing all they can to preserve these images. But pollutants and people are thwarting their efforts.

A sculpture at the park’s visitor’s center. It was inspired by the pictographs.

4000 year old pictographs.

Janelle & Me…taking the guided hike to the canyon floor to see the pictographs.

I have a new camera, so you will have to forgive me for some of the artsy photos I took.  I was playing with the camera’s features. Here are more of the sights of the area.

Yes, snails do exist in the desert. They hide in their shells when it gets too dry.

Janelle hiking and gazing at the Seminole Canyon.

Prickly pear bloom.

Janelle hiking…and me playing with my new camera.

A red dragon fly.

Ocotillo bloom

Ocotillo in bloom.

You can see the Blue Flame from the hiking trail.

This bloom is on what we would call a thistle up north!

A bird’s nest!

Presa Canyon and Seminole Canyon coming together.

Desert hiking

Fossils in the rocks…as spotted by Janelle.

Seminole Canyon

Where the Pecos River meets the Rio Grande. The Rio Grande was surprisingly full of vegetation on this section.

The Pecos River just before it flows into the Rio Grande. There is a fishing boat down there. We took this picture from the top of the boat ramp…a long steep boat ramp!

Time for some Mother/Daughter paper-piecing quilting time. Janelle and I are working on some blocks together…whenever we are together.

We have another full day here.  Then Janelle has to go back to school and we are heading for our next destination.  Again, we have NO idea where we are heading.  And that’s the way we like it.

Update:  After I wrote the above, I figured the blog was done. All I had to do was find Internet fast enough to upload everything. But no…our peaceful stay turned unexpectedly exciting on Saturday evening, MUCH too exciting.  We knew we were in for some stormy weather that night, but we had no idea to what extent.

It start out with lightening strikes over the horizon.  We could see them in the clouds. Janelle climbed up on the roof of the RV to watch.

Janelle had a prime vantage point for watching the lightening in the DISTANT sky.

Then the rain started. Then the hail.  Oh Oh.

This was the best I could do to get a picture of the marble to golf ball sized hail that was coming down.

We had the weather radio on, because that was about the only guaranteed way we had to receive alerts.  Every half hour it was another “BEEEEPPPPPP…The National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Val Verde County until….”  This was on top of the tornado watch we already had.

The rain was coming down. Janelle and I were mopping up the water than sneaked in through the window frames and the water heater vent. And Jim slept. Grrrr.  At one point the refrigerator started beeping and showing a “No Flame” error. The water/wind had blown out the pilot light on our absorption refrigerator that runs on propane when we dry camp.  So, we turned off the fridge for a while.  Then water started dripping in from around a vent in the bathroom.  So towels went on the floor.  Usually we stay dry in a rainstorm, but we later learned we had 4″ of rain in 4 hours!

This went on until about 4:00 a.m.  Needless to say, Janelle and I didn’t get much sleep.  But I am sure we got much more than the people in tents.  We watched one couple scramble from their tent into the car at about 1:00 a.m.  In the light of day, I talked to the couple.  They asked me if this weather was normal.  I told them “I had no idea, I’m from Rochester New York.”  It turned out they were from New York City.  Someone was getting even with us New Yorkers.

The next morning we surveyed the damage.  Janelle’s rental car had a new series of dimples caused by the hail (her own car was in the shop back in College Station).  We thought our 2 year old Jeep had fared O.K., until the rain water evaporated off the hood.  We too had a number of hail dents.  Darn, time to call the insurance company.  What about the Blue Flame?  Jim climbed up on top and we have a few dimples in our aluminum roof, but our year old solar panels were fine.  Phew.  I can live with that. The RV hood is made of fiberglass and had zero problems! Fortunately, there was no glass breakage. 

It’s hard to see the dents on a white hood in stark sunlight. Trust me, they are there.

So we will be telling stories about that night for years to come.  It’s not something we want to live through again.  But we were safe with minimal damage.

Janelle is now back at school, and we have moved up to the hill country of Texas.  It’s green and there are trees.  What a change from the past 4 weeks of desert!  We were prepared to sit here at this nice campground for a week…but the campground Internet is out due to a lightening strike from the same storm we experienced.  Jumping through hoops to get email, etc. is going to get old real quick.  it’s time to find another place to stay….and watch the weather!

4 thoughts on “Seminole Canyon, Texas

  1. dominiquefeather

    Oh my — you sure are getting to experience lots of new things!!!! Some o.k. and — others that you can do without. Pretty pictures of the desert flowers. Glad that you had a nice visit with Janelle.

    1. Corinne Post author

      The new camera is a Nikon Coolpix point and shoot. It has a 16X optical zoom. Sometimes you can’t beat having a real lens on a camera! And yes, “it” was an experience. ๐Ÿ™‚

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