A drive to Lake Amistad

It occurred to me that the last time I went to the lake and to the various campgrounds was back in November 2013 when I came back from Terlingua and almost ran off with Billy Bob...remember?  If you don't you can read about it here http://terlinguadreams.blogspot.com/2013/11/i-am-running-off-with-billy-bob.html

Yesterday I was curious to see how many people had come down for the Easter weekend so asked mother to come with me...she rolled her eyes and reluctantly came along.  Decided to check out Diablo East Marina first and the parking lot was pretty full with license plates from various states as well as Mexico.  Even a Border Patrol boat was in the water...pretty neat gig I would say.

For those new to blogging you can click on almost any blogs pictures (with a few exceptions) and the images will be enlarged.

Border Patrol

Idaho 

State of Chihuahua in Mexico

New Mexico

Next stop was my favorite campground at Amistad...Governors Landing.  As I was waiting to cross Highway 90 West I could see a truck heading east going at a very high rate of speed.  I don't know how he managed to turn at that speed as he was also hauling a big trailer and a boat.  I thought that was against the law in Texas.  Was even more surprised that he turned to go to Governors Landing as there is no way he was going to be able to fit all three things in the small campsites.

These cute dogs did not even bark at me.

I was sure glad this following campground did not have a car parked in front of it...as the speeding truck almost ran into me head-on but I was able to pull in here.  A Park Ranger vehicle then came up behind me and stopped them.

Went down to the picnic area but not too many people were here.  Saw a couple carrying their fishing gear and walk to the shoreline where more people were fishing.

Mexican State of Nuevo Leon

The lake levels looked low but it must be deep enough as there were a lot of boats out there.

 Many of the cactus were already in bloom.

Why is it that my mother dozes off but when I turn into San Pedro Campground she wakes up?  She absolutely hates this place!

Billy Bob tree

Barney of Old Fat Man Adventure Fame http://ofmadventures.blogspot.com/  was here a couple of weeks back and wrote of how dry everything was...hardly no shrubbery...he wasn't lying.  Only thing you see green is the darn mesquite trees...even the Billy Bob tree was looking sad.

Mesquite tree

There were only two places taken, the first one at the entrance by two tent campers and the second by the guy that I almost ran into head-on back at Governors Landing.  He did not seem to be in a good mood and was yelling either at his wife or maybe it was his daughter. In the Billy Bob picture you can see his camp in the background.

For Barney and Ed that have stayed at Broken Mill RV Park in the past...the place was full.  Either the Winter Texans have not left yet or a lot of people came down for Easter...or possibly both.

If you are interested in coming to Lake Amistad you will find plenty of room at San Pedro Campground...just stay away from the speeding guy.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Early Birds

I have mentioned many times in this blog that all the programming we get on TV comes from San Antonio, Texas a town 144 miles east of Del Rio.  I am more aware of what goes on in that beautiful yet far away city than I am of what is happening locally where we live.

These guys were having a lot of fun, especially with an ice chest full of beer!

San Antonio has a tradition dating back 30 plus years of allowing the population to camp out at Brackenridge Park over the Easter weekend.  Families go a week early to stake out a claim and save a space (usually grandparents or their non-working relatives) so their kinfolk can join them later in the week.

Campsite complete with an Easter basket pinata

I guess the powers that be decided to give us Del Rioans a chance to start a tradition of our own using San Antonio as an inspiration and a couple of years back allowed camping in the local parks during the Easter weekend.  Per the local newspaper this starts on Friday but I drove by late this afternoon and there were a lot of families already there.

See that nice house in the background?  It is located in the Del Rio side
This park is located in the San Felipe side.

These lucky owners get to go down the stairs of their deck and enjoy
the creek all to themselves.

All parks in Del Rio welcome campers during this time but the most popular parks are those that are along the banks of San Felipe Creek.  Long before there was Lake Amistad we had this wonderful creek that is the source of our local drinking water and where the majority of the locals learned to swim.

I cannot remember how many times my friends and I jumped off this bridge.
This is part of Moore Park but since it faces highway 90 it was known back in my day as
The State Park.



Back in the late 60’s not everyone could pay a quarter or however much it cost to swim in the only swimming pool Del Rio had at the time and which was located at Moore Park.  Even if you could most of your friends were swimming in the creek anyway, so that is where the majority of the people congregated.  Besides it was in town and within walking distance.  Back then people only had one vehicle and dads usually drove it to work, so going to Lake Amistad was like going out of town.

San Felipe Creek snakes along the city and divides the town from the poor working class mostly Mexican-American that live in the neighborhood bearing that same name (San Felipe) and the Anglo-Saxon and/or middle class Mexican Americans that live in the Del Rio side.

Our schools consolidated in the 70’s and I am proud to be a member of the Del Rio High School class that went all four years with the former members of San Felipe High School.  One of these days I may do a post on the history and importance of San Felipe Creek.

For now I leave you with a couple of pictures of the early birds and hopefully I can bring you some more on Saturday or Sunday when the parks will be packed to capacity.  Wish they had given us the opportunity to camp out when I was kid, it would have been a lot of fun and made for some great memories.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.