March 13
Biked 9.1 miles
Another nice day. The overnight stay at the Flying J was fine, and we were able to leave very early.
North of Laredo, Highway 83 is lined with ranches with the familiar Mesquite, rather than oranges. But the ranches have also changed. It looks like the land has been adapted to oil and gas production with pipelines being laid for miles and miles.
We had our first Border Inspection stop (“Where are you from? then “Have a nice day.”). We saw a large presence of Border Patrol and Sheriff’s and State Police cars, including the black SUV with the large post holding what is probably a camera:
There are lots of RV parks along this stretch, but they have been taken over by pipeline workers. So it’s not very touristy here at all. Eagle Pass, a small town, is now booming with energy resource dollars.
Further north, there is more water in creeks, so more agriculture with several Pecan groves. We even saw some sort of African antelope, an escapee from a Game Ranch.
We went to the Amistad National Recreation Area, built on a huge reservoir that is now dry in spots. It is what should be a major boating and fishing area, but the RV parks and the reservoir itself are quite empty.
But it made for quiet and cheap camping ($4) at the San Pedro campground (only two other couples) and an amazing bike ride through the empty reservoir:
…to a portion that was filled:
AND we had a new bird, a beautiful Vermilion Flycatcher (great to the naked eye, but elusive for photos):
Here’s the view of our campsite and from my chair (yep, we’re in the desert now):
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