One of the things on our list to do while we are in this area was to drive along the southern-most road, the one that parallels the Rio Grande River. Today we got that done.
 |
| Our Lady of Visitation Church |
We traveled east to west along Military Highway (Route 281) from Los Indios to Pharr where we turned back east along Business Route 83 to Donna, then Route 83 home to Harlingen. It was definitely an overview of the Valley which is what we wanted. Not surprisingly, this is farmland. The fields have been tilled and planted. Many had crops above ground from tiny fresh shoots to what seemed to me to be ready for harvest. The primary crops in this area are sugar cane and cabbage. We passed only one orange grove along today’s route.
 |
| Sugar Cane |
 |
| Border fence |
The Military Highway originated as an Indian trail which ran along the Rio Grande. These trails were later used by Spanish explorers during the 18th century. Later, ranchers built a real road from the trails to connect their ranches. Eventually the road was used to link frontier forts, stagecoach and mail lines running from Brownsville to Lerado, and as a military telegraph route between Forts Brown and McIntosh. The road is paved and in good condition. There are historic markers all along to inform the traveler of various historical events along this route.
 |
| Along the trail at Santa Ana |
Our first stop was at Our Lady of Visitation Catholic Church which was built in the early 1880s. It was boarded up no longer in use, but there was some evidence that restoration may be forthcoming.
Our second stop was at the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge a few miles south of Alamo. The interior roads were closed to private vehicles and we were not much up for the hour and a half tram ride. Instead, we browsed through the gift shop and then walked along one of several trails. We saw several ducks on one of the ponds. I would have made a picture but when I looked down and saw 4 mosquitoes lunching on my leg we decided to move along. By the way, we discovered quite by accident the other day when we went to Laguna National Wildlife Refuge that our National Park pass would get us in the gate at a National Wildlife Refuge for free. Free is always good.
 |
| Don-Wes Flea Market |
Our last stop was at the corner of Business 83 and Victoria Road in Donna, TX. Several folks had mentioned the flea market there on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. We don’t normally shop flea markets, but there had been so much talk of this one we just had to take a look. We found pretty much everything there, from new to very, very old. We only found 2 items we felt we couldn’t live without. Gene got some short bungee cords to secure his water hoses and the funnel cake. It was difficult to choose between the funnel cake and ice cream. The booths were next to each other and we stood in the thruway swiveling our heads from one to the other. Then we noticed the sign that offered funnel cake with ice cream. Now that’s more like it.
Having used up most of our energy, we headed for home confident we had a real feel for the Rio Grande Valley.
No comments:
Post a Comment