LANGTRY & THE JUDGE ROY BEAN VISITOR CENTER

After spending Friday night at the Del Rio Home Depot, Saturday afternoon we headed west to Langtry. 

One of the reasons we moved quickly from Eagle Pass to Del Rio was to stock up on on e-juice for Derek's e-cig. After more than three months in Mexico he was down to nothing. Saturday before heading out we stopped off at Del Rio Vapor to get him topped up. Nice guys, Derek was impressed with the guys and their products.

Then we carried on.

It was a grey day.

I take a picture here at the Amistad Reservoir every time we go by - dating back to spring 2008. 

I notice from the link above that I take the same pictures each year along this route. 

One of the things I love about Texas is the golden rock.

Going over the Pecos River. 

Last year we went up to the viewpoint - good thing we did it was a much nicer day.

Blue sky just as we arrived at our turn off into Langtry. We took it as a sign!

As in - welcome to your second home!

Our usual boondocking site at Langtry in the parking lot of the community center - by donation.

I didn't take pictures this time of the museum and visitor centre since I did that in detail last January - you can see that here at Langtry & Judge Roy Bean. We highly recommend this stop if you are along highway 90. Susan and Sarah - in the Visitor Center - are lovely ladies - we enjoy visiting with them each time we are by. 

Once we were parked, Cassia ran over to see if her friend Neal (Neally) from last January was home. He was and they were quickly playing together. Turns out we arrived on his 6th Birthday!

Cassia and Neally waiting for the Birthday Party to begin.

So, what are we to do when we happen upon a Birthday Party? Give cash of course …. Cassia and I rigged up an envelope with lined paper and electrical tape and a way we went.

A few fun games. Cassia was enjoying herself as it was the first large Birthday Party she has been to.

Fun! Digging out 5 pieces of pineapple covered with whipped cream and putting it into a second bowl. 

A little cool outside but not bad. Setting up the piñata.

The Birthday Boy starting with a few swings.

Later, Cassia's turn.

Candy scramble!

We had a great time at the party meeting all of Neally's friends and their parents from the local community. We appreciated that they included us in their celebration - a great dinner was supplied of salads, treats and hot dogs and hamburgers. And Birthday Cake of course! 

Neally's family was out Sunday until the afternoon. We got some computer time in at the Visitor Center but later Cassia was back over visiting. I wandered over and took pictures of Neally's animals.

While Cassia, Neally and Neally's sister Haley drove around.

Later they brought Cassia back to the van. As you can see, Cas wasn't too impressed that playtime was over and that we would be leaving the next day. I got a great picture of Cassia and Neally last January - scroll down to the last picture. So cute - they walked around holding hands back then. Such a polite kid - maybe we'll plan a family trip back here when Cas turns 18!

Later we went for our usual walk down into the river valley.

A nice warm evening.

Cassia going her own way to the top of the hill.

The plan was to spend one night in Langtry but as with most of our plans that ended up changing - to two nights. Last January we spent three nights. There is just something about this place that has a hold on us. Electricity and wifi at the visitor centre helps also.

I was a bit sad as we pulled out wondering when we'll be here again. 

Monday we carried on west through Sanderson and on to Marathon. Then a left turn on the 385 south to the Big Bend area.

Those pics next.

Teresa

PATZCUARO TO EAGLE PASS - 3 DAYS IN 1 POST

Here it is! Our trip through and out of Mexico. 

1,374 km (854 miles) in 21 hours over three days - last Wednesday to Friday. 

It was quite the ride - villages, towns, one large city, a lot of country side - 100's of topes (or it felt like it anyway)!

Along the way we gased up 7 times spending a total of $353 and stopped at 8 casetas (toll booths). In all the cuotas (toll roads) cost us $65. Pretty close to our total down last November at $60.

Two years ago (Spring 2013) when we did this trip we had our telcel stick with us so I could post along our journey. Our trip and those pictures are here: Villa Corona to Zacatecas and Zacatecas to Sabinas ending with Welcome to Texas.

This time I'm just going to put all the photos together. I'll apologize now for the huge amount. I thought if you scroll really fast through them it would be like those books some of us had as kids where you flip the pages really fast to see the cartoon. Remember those?

Fasten your seat belts…...

Heading out of Patzcuaro last Wednesday at around 8:00 am - still very foggy. Just after this we stopped for gas at the Pemex station.

Not far up the road our next city was Quiroga on the northeast side of Lago de Patzcuaro.

The sign we were looking for to head west to Zacapu.

Pretty soon we were out of the city and into the mountains and trees. 

A nice ride but slow.

At Zacapu we stayed right to bypass the city. We are headed to the main highway between Morelia to Guadalajara.

Getting on the toll road.

We were stopped briefly at this gate. We've never entered onto a toll road mid way so we were lost for a moment. A fellow came and pushed the right button for us. Then on to the caseta - we passed through three toll booths between here and Guadalajara.

Nice part of autopista 15D.

Another crucial turn on the south side of Guadalajara to get onto the Periferico Ote to take us around this huge city.

Funny that it's a small road going through a housing project.

Guadalajara in the distance.

Just after this light things went wrong. If you can believe we missed out turnoff to Saltillo not once but twice. I THOUGHT that I was prepared but evidently not. The turn was not well marked which made the driver mad at the navigator and the navigator choked at the city! We missed the turn - spent the next few miles finding a returno - missed the turn off again! and spent the next few miles coming to terms with that and finding another returno! It was only with blind faith and a hope for the best that on the third try we made the right turn. Not that there were any signs to tell us! 

Grrrrrr……...

Thankfully on the 54 headed north!

Leaving Guadalajara area the road winds down until we reached 

the Rio Verde - then it was a winding road up.

Nice to have that done and a bit straighter road.

An area with agave plants.

The clean and scenic town of Juchipila.

We spent our first night at a Pemex station just south of Jalpa. We stopped at 5:30pm - we were done with the day. We'd only made it 482 km. It was slow at the start and at the end. Our time in Guadalajara frazzled us. It wasn't as far as we wanted to get for our first day.

Derek took this photo in the morning. We were up at 6:30 hoping to get an early start.

I include this picture because we followed this Frito Lay truck - f  o  r  e  v  e  r!!! We were so frustrated because we couldn't pass him on the curvy and some times hilly road. We were down to 40 miles per hour for the better part of an hour. Not a good start to a day that we were trying to make some time.

The pretty town of Guanusco. I took a picture of it last time also. This year they are doing major construction on the main road through.

An easy bypass passed Zacatecas.

Late breakfast/lunch at the Pemex station just north of Zacatecas. This is where we spent the night two years ago. They used to have an RV Park here but it no longer exists.

After Zacatecas the road really opens up - smooth and easy.

Mile after mile of Joshua Trees.

Leaving the state of Zacatecas entering Coahuila.

Going through the mountains we were a bit worried what we would find on the other side with ominous clouds like those. But it turned out to just be low lying clouds.

Trying to get to Sabinas we made quick time getting to Monclova. If you are an RV you need to go around but with our van we can drive right through. There are a few bottlenecks and it was rush hour but it went ok.

Back to a flat and fast road.

I took this picture Friday morning as we were filling up on gas in Mexico for the last time. We spent the night here as we did two years ago. 

We pulled in Thursday night just in time at 6:30pm as it was getting dark - with 806 km - 500 miles - behind us. Derek did well but he was done - with a sore knee. A long day for all of us.

It's a fairly short drive from Sabinas to the border so we weren't up early and took our time in the morning cleaning the van and getting it ready for our border crossing. 

Near the town of Allende we stop at the Aduna to cancel our vehicle permit and get our passports stamped.

Removing the hologram.

From there we carried on to Piedras Negras. There are two border crossings. We knew from last time to take a right turn here and then a left to take us around the city to the International bridge.

Our last caseta to cross over the Rio Grande - 26 pesos.

Two years ago we were pulled over on the Mexican side but not today. Here we are waiting to enter into the USA. Last time we were also pulled over by the Americans who searched our van but not this time! Not that we have anything to hide but it's nice to have an easy border crossing.

Now in Eagle Pass making our way over to Lowe's and Walmart. 

Back in the USA! and Texas - we ❤ Texas!

Thanks again Mexico! We had another great winter traveling through your beautiful country. 

That was a long three days. After 2 1/2 months of sitting at the beach we weren't used to so much time in our seats. 

No, we didn't have to do the trip so fast but there wasn't anywhere that we really wanted to stop. We had our minds on getting back to the USA so we fast tracked it. 

After spending Friday afternoon in Eagle Pass - treating ourselves to lunch at Luby's and stocking up at Walmart we carried on to Del Rio for the night. 

We are now parked at one of the Wood Clans happy places - Langtry and the Visitor Centre at the Judge Roy Bean Museum. If you've been with us for a while you may recall we stopped here last January as well. That post includes a ton of pictures of this place and Cassia's friend Neal who she has been visiting with again this year. Yesterday was his 6th Birthday and so we spent yesterday afternoon and evening at his party!

Tomorrow we carry on to another of our happy places - Study Butte and Terlingua!

Teresa