Mileage:  70,537

Falcon State Park Falcon Heights, Texas

It was already warm this morning.  It was cloudier than we are accustomed to and Tim noticed dew as we packed to leave.  

The first part of our journey today took us through oilfields and all the services necessary for the oil industry. 

As we neared Laredo, we saw lots of trucks.  Laredo is the largest inland port on the US/Mexico border.  This is a direct route for trucks to bring supplies in from Mexico and to take products into Mexico.  There are 4 international bridges and one railway bridge across the border.  The town is at an altitude of 438 feet.  The population of the city of Laredo is about 250,000 people.  The entire economy is based on international trade.  It is a gritty, working city, not a tourist town.  This is “The Gateway City.”

As we left Laredo behind, traveling on 83, hugging the border, we saw more farmland.  We saw deer and javelina. 

By noon we had arrived at Falcon State Park.  We were exhausted!  I worked on the blog until almost midnight last night and we were up and out early today. The view from our campsite.

A cardinal on site…we haven’t see a cardinal for months!

We napped and then took a ride in the area.  I put my feet in Falcon Lake.

I took pictures of this osprey. He had a fish in his talons.

This is the Falcon International Reservoir.

The Falcon Dam stores water from the Rio Grande. It is an earth embankment dam that has been here since 1954. Both Mexico and the US have power plants that utilize the energy from this dam. We were hoping to visit the dam but you needed to cross through customs in order to do so…so we elected not to. 

We did find an opening to the river. 

Another osprey on the prowl.

Javelina in the campground…mom and babies…aren’t they odd looking?

Happy hour with a hefty Gigi pour…thanks Tim!

We made grilled tuna Caesar salad for dinner and it was pleasant enough to eat outside. 

We plan to drive to the gulf coast tomorrow.

Hasta Manana!

November Days of Thanksgiving Day #5:  We are thankful for our family and friends.  Old friends and the friends we have made along the way.  We appreciate those who support us and encourage us and welcome us!  We are also grateful to those you who check on us when we haven’t posted for awhile!