BORDER FENCE, Texas 2013

I'm thinking most of my friends have no idea what the border fence looks like separating US from Mexico.  Well honestly it's a joke.  What purpose it serves totally escapes me.  It is not a solid continuing fence.  It's a panel here and there, big openings with no gates and no "protection".  Most of the time the "fence" goes along the levee, which in reality is not on the border.  Sometimes it leaves lots of US federal land behind the fence before reaching the Rio Grand.  There are some sections of it that make me think of the movie Jurassic Park.  You know when they are entering the walled in area and there is a big gate.  Some sections of the border fence have big gates.  I don't have any photos of those yet.  But it's my goal to get some.  Here's what I've got so far.  The fence is probably 15 ft high and it's made of metal.  When we went to the Sabal Palm Sanctuary we had to drive through the fenced area to reach it.  We had our passports so I wasn't worried about leaving the country, but once we reached the sanctuary we realized it was still in the US.

We actually don't have a fence like this along the river, here at the refuge.  There is a chain link fence, though.  There are lots of places along the river that have no fence.  We got a great look at the Rio Grand when we were at Sabal Palm Sanctuary. 

SABAL PALM SANCTUARY, Texas 2013

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.  A few days before Christmas we took a drive to Brownsville.  We went to the Palo Alto Battlefield and the Sabal Palm Sanctuary.  The first battle of the US-Mexican war started on May 8, 1846 at the Palo Alto Battlefield on the edge of Brownville.  The National Park there has a very nice facility and tells all about the situation leading up to the battle and the circumstances afterward.  Dale found it interesting that this took place a little over 100 years before he was born (May 17, 1946).  After checking out the battlefield we drove over to Sabal Palm Sanctuary.  The vistor center there is in a 2 story Victorian home that was recently renovated and just opened.  They have some wonderful walking trails there.  We really enjoyed our walk there.  There use to be over 50,000 acres of Sabal Palms along the Rio Grand.  Now all that remains is approximately 500 acres there at the sanctuary.  We have a few at Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge but less then 20 trees, I'd say.  Sabal Palms are native to Texas, withstanding the occasional cold weather we get here.  It takes them 100 years to reach their full height of 50-60 feet.

 

 

 

 

HI - Long Time No See

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've posted updates.  We actually left Aztec, NM on October 3rd and arrived at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge on October 6th.  We hadn't planned on leaving New Mexico so soon, but because of the Government Shutdown they gave us 48 hours to leave.  Fortunately I had already  been in touch with the Santa Ana folks and they said "come on down" their volunteer campground was open and they had room for us.  So we were able to camp out there until the park opened back up and we were able to get to work.  Dale is a Tram driver and I'm  his narrator.  We started our training on October 21st.  Sam and Bette Learned have been coming to the refuge for about 7 years and they were our instructors.  We're sort of short handed because the 3rd couple that was expected had to cancel.  So the tram is only able to run 6 days a week instead of 7.
The Tram didn't actually start running until November 1st.  We are really enjoying ourselves and like being on the "Tram Team"  The refuge is located about 7 miles south of Alamo, TX right on the Mexico border.  When we arrived the first thing we said was "This looks just like home".  As most of you know we were born and raised in California and lived in the San Joaquin Valley until 1984 when we moved to Missouri.  There is lots of agriculture in the San Joaquin Valley.  Well there is LOTS of agriculture here in the Lower Rio Grand Valley, too.  There is always something going on.  Lots of produce, here.  There are Grapefruit and Orange groves, as well as, almost any produce you can think of.  Cabbage, lettuce, Swiss Chard, Broccoli, Cilantro, squash, carrots, tomatoes....too many to name.
They are either plowing, planting, spraying, picking, cutting, crop dusting.  Always something.  We love it.  The weather has been great.  In the 80's most of the time.  We did have a cold spell a few weeks ago.  That was a shock to the system.  One day the high just got up to 45, Brrrrr.   I know you folks in Missouri aren't too sympathetic :).  I'll try to post some more photos soon.

TRIP JOURNAL - check out our new travel journal

I've started a new trip journal.  Feel free to check it out.  It includes a map so you actually see the ground we've covered.

I've set up a Personal Trip Journal at MyTripJournal.com. As I travel, I can send you an email notification each time I update it. However, you need to agree to receive my Update Notices.

To start the process, click the following link:

     http://www.mytripjournal.com/RequestUpdateNotice/patanddalesrvadventures

then follow the instructions.

Note: If the above URL does not appear as a link, you will have to copy and paste it into the address bar of your browser window.

Enjoy.....Pat

WE GOT A NEW TRUCK - Sept 2013

HERE'S OUR NEW TRUCK 2011 Ford F350

6.7 Power Stroke dually.....it did a great job getting us from

Aztec, NM to Alamo, TX

 

 

Dale while we were at Libby Dam

Pat in the Libby Dam gift shop

SOME DUFUR HISTORY - Aztec, NM 1909-1906

Dale's great-uncle, William T. Dufur was the San Juan county Sheriff in Aztec, NM from 1909 to 1916.  Two years as the territorial sheriff, then after New Mexico became a state in 1912 he was sheriff there for another 4 years.  Actually the longest serving sheriff in San Juan County history.
We went to the Aztec museum and they have a "Pioneer Village" with old buildings. They had a sheriff's office and on the desk in the "sheriff's office" was a photo of Sheriff Dufur.  It was a lot of fun.  When we came back to the museum part after our walk thru....the lady there had a file all set out for us to go through.  Lots of photos and documents even a copy of Dale's great-grandfathers homestead certificate for property in Arkansas.  Very interesting.....signed by Grover Cleveland.  Our trip to Aztec was motivated by the desire to get more family information.  We weren't disappointed.

AZTEC, NEW MEXICO August and Sept 2013

Geez.....I can't believe how much time has passed since my last update.  We left Libby, MT  August 10th and arrived at Aztec Ruins National Monument in Aztec, NM August 15th.  The put us to work right away.  It's amazing to me, that over 1000 years ago people built thriving communities.  I don't know what I was expecting for that time period.....maybe something more temporary....like Tepees....something that could be taken down and moved on to the next spot.  I don't know, but it wasn't the fabulous structures we saw in the Four Corners area of Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico.  During our time in New Mexico we were able to visit other ruins besides the ones there in Aztec.  We went to Canyon de Chelly in AZ and Chaco Canyon in NM.  We had planned on going to Mesa Verde in CO but the Govt Shutdown put a stop to that.  We had intended on staying there in Aztec until the middle of October.  Effective Oct 1st when the shutdown went into effect we were given 48 hours notice to vacate the National Park property.  So that put an end to our exploration of that area.  All the ruins we visited were products of Ancestral Puebloans during that 850 to 1300 time period. In addition to the ruins we also visited Durango, CO and checked out the Silverton-Durango Railroad.
                                           SILVERTON-DURANGO RAILROAD, DURANGO, CO

 

CHACO CULTURE HISTORICAL PARK

                                           

 

AZTEC RUINS NATIONAL MONUMENT

 

CANYON DE CHELLY - Hogan

CANYON DE CHELLY (Arizona)

CANYON DE CHELLY Cliff Dwelling

TRAVELING.....LIBBY, MT TO AZTEC, NM August 2013

On August 8th we picked up granddaughters Sarah and Kat at the Spokane, WA airport.  On Saturday  morning the 10th, we hitched up the trailer and headed to West Glacier. We met Christine and the boys, there and camped there Saturday night.  We had a great time.  It was so good to see everyone again.  It may be awhile before we meet up with them again.  On Sunday morning the headed back home to Canada and we started our journey to Aztec, NM.  We stopped at Grants-Kehr a national park....one of the first cattle ranches in Montana and the next day we drove up to Yellowstone.  We'd never been there and just couldn't pass within 100 miles of it and not stop.  You just can't see it all in a day.  We went to a couple of the geyer basins and actually got to see Old Faithful do it's thing.  It wasn't as breathtaking as I was expecting but I wouldn't have missed it for the world. 

 

GRANT-KEHRS RANCH

YELLOWSTONE