Four hundred plus miles from Concan. The drive finally felt like an adventure, even though it was exhausting. The countryside was what I think of when I picture the southwest. The first part was the hill country where I stayed. High steep hill a quarter to a half mile away from the road. Many groves of oak. Dry washes everywhere.
Then I passed through the town of Uvalde and headed west. Almost immediately the countryside was flat, with gulleys. Vegetation was bushes every eight to ten feet, every now and then a cactus or a Yucca. Once in a mile there would be a gate with the name of a ranch and a road leading away from the highway. Sometimes you could see a house in the distance. These are supposed to be cattle ranches, but on the entire trip I saw not one steer. This is big sky country. As I would top a rise I could see for many miles. I'm certain that at times I could see mountains a hundred miles away. I know that at times I was looking into Mexico.
After a couple of hundred miles of that I entered what I would call canyon country. Steep descents into canyons and then climbs out. Lots of cliffs. Where the highway would cut through hills the rock walls had layers that had been cut away by the wind so that the wall looked like a venetian blind. The soil ranges from reddish brown to white. I passed the Amistad National Recreation Area. This is a huge reservoir. From what I could see it was totally uninteresting. For some reason plants don't grow next to the water. So it's just dirt and then water.
Then I got to the town of Marathon and turned south. Now it was high desert with mountains, mostly dirt and cactus.
Now I'm in the Big Bend National Park area. Many steep, barren cliffs. Very beautiful. Today I just rested and did a little shopping. Took a few pictures. I'm going to take many more while I'm here.
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