Langtry, Texas

When we left Brackettville and headed to Langtry, the scenery was so barron.  It looked like a giant bucket loader took gravel and piled it up in several heaps.  And that's exactly what it looked like, gravel with many different sized rocks.  As we drove along we could see the landscape dotted with a few dwellings, some occupied and many deserted.  I could picture people settling here, with their covered wagons and all their belongings.  How did they ever do it, with such a rough terraine, hills, valleys, canyons, etc.  No wonder there were so many abandoned homes.  The only vegetation was some prickly pear cactus and small bushes.

And here we are, miles from any civilization.

This is the bridge we crossed going over the Pecos just past where it connects to the Rio Grande.

And of course, here's Bruno.  He loves it when he doesn't have to be leached.  He listens so well, he has that luxury. 

The top of the picture is the Rio Grande, with Mexico on the other side.  This is the Pecos River running into

the Rio Grande.

Our next stop was Langtry, Texas.  A town with the population of 17.  The legendary Judge Roy Bean ran the town.  I spoke with the store keeper, his grandfather and Roy Bean didn't like each other, they almost shot it out.They had an RV park with 5 full hook-ups. It was really kind of neat. And we could see Mexico.

This was the saloon and pool hall.

Here's a little history.

We had to take a ride to see if the Jeep was truly "trail tested"

Fort Clark

We were camped at Fort Clark in Brackettville.  This is a bronze statue was at the gate.  All the baracks were turned into a motel.  They have a retirement community and an RV Park.

Double click on this and you'll be able to read the history of the horse.

One of the old buildings.

We found this onl house when we went to investigate the town.

This explains the house.  It was associated with Fort Clark.

The town of 1,876 people has one of the largest swimming pools in Texas.  It was HUGE, that's Don & Paul walking on the other side.  It's spring fed, it was interesting to see the spring, how they cleaned it for the pool, the run off, etc. 

Brackettville, Texas

This was a VERY interesting day.  You'll never guess what happened.  We knew the Alamo Village Movie Location was closed but decided to take a ride there anyway, "just in case".  When we drove in the yard, a border patrol drove in.

All he wanted to do was tell us it was closed, but Don just had to get out of the car and assume "the position" just to be funny.  Paul was there with his camera.  So we spent quite a few minutes talking to the officer, he's from New York City and has been stationed here for 2 years.  I guess they get quite a few drug runners, so it's not as boring as we thought.  Just as we were getting back into the Jeep and the officer was driving out, a lady pulled up from the other side of the gate.  She let us through, told us Rich, the tour guide, was bored and would love to give a tour, she would call him ahead to let him know we were coming.  What a deal, a private tour. 

I took 150 pictures of the Alamo and the village where movies were filmed from 1959 up until 2007.  Many documentaries, music videos & commercials.  It was tough deciding which pictures to post, but here goes.  This was the gate into the Alamo.

This was the front of the mission.  I didn't realize it, but the real Alamo mission did not have a roof until some time after the battle.

One of the buildings within the walls.

I climbed up a gravel ramp where the soldiers must have had their "look outs" and got a shot of the village.  note the prickly pear cactus growing at the top of the perimiter wall.

This is the marshall's office.

This is the Cantina.  When this village was open for tours, they actually had a restaurant in here.

We were in a building where many original wagons were stored, this is Don talking with Rich.  Not only is he the tour guide, he worked there for many years and was involved in the movie making from 1967 on.  He was very interesting.

A room in one of the houses.

The church.

Some houses.

Inside the saloon.

Not only did we get a private tour, it was 3 hours long.  I was so facinated with all of this, I went right on Amazon.com and ordered "The Alamo" with John Wayne and "Bandolero" filmed in 1967 with Jimmy Stewart.

Mexican Border

When we left Kingsville, we went to Harlingen, on the southern tip of Texas, and met up with our friends again.  (Paul & Joyce)  Jack rabbits were all over the place, they'd crawl under the fence and eat on the lawns.  On this walk, when I got to this lawn there were about a dozen of them sleeping.  I had to wake a few up to see their ears pop up.

When we left there we drove along the edge of the Rio Grande to Laredo.  I was amazed at how much trash there was everywhere, along the road sides, in towns, everywhere.  Bags, cups, paper, etc.  And Texas has a $1,000 fine for littering.  I don't think it's working.  This was a road side picnic area, look at the pile of trash, and paper scattered everywhere.

We came to Fort Clark in Brackettville. 

Our main reason for being here was to see The Alamo Village Movie Location where the original Alamo movie with John Wayne was filmed in 1959.  When we registered we found that it closed about 5 month ago.

King Ranch, Kingville, Texas

Kingsville, Texas is the home of King Ranch, founded in 1853 and sprawls accross 825,000 acres of Southern Texas.

They breed their own quarter horses for cattle herding.

See the 2 of them over on the left, they're young ones starting to play.

These are cattle that they breed.

This is the building now used as offices.

This is the home that was built in the late 1800's.  It's still used by family.  It is huge.

This was the carriage house.

Corpus Christi, Texas

The USS Lexington was an aircraft carrier during WWII the Japanese called it "the blue ghost".

It was an interesting tour.  Like I said, Don likes boats (and airplanes).

He went all the way to the top.  I could never live on a ship.

The acquarium was more my speed.

See the 3 dolphins introducing themselves to us?

This one jumped all the way up to a red ball at the end of that tube.

We could also see them play under water. They are absolutely fun to watch. They have so much personality.

We saw a beautiful eagle.

I had never seen a sea horse.

And this bird was beautiful.

And of course, we found another beach for Bruno to run on.

All in all, it was a very interesting day.