The Rio Grande flows south from Colorado, through New Mexico before it becomes the border between Mexico and Texas. At Big Bend the Rio Grande carves through the limestone cliffs. Water induced erosion carries naturally occurring carbonic acid etching existing rock formations. It is only when the Rio Grande cuts through these mountains in west Texas that the landscape is distinctive. In south Texas next to the Mexican border the Rio Grande drifts through flat, dry land. Donald Trump wanted to build an impregnable wall along the Rio Grande through the Chisos Mountains in Big Bend National Park.
A man walked across the Rio Grande to a gravelly sand bar on the Mexican side.
The river was barely knee deep at Hot Springs. He shoved a steel rod into the
silt where he hoped the sand would be firm enough to support the tablet and keep the
rod in an upright position. He hung a 'nexus wi-fi tablet' from the top of the rod
with monofilament fishing line. He then began to video
record the river as it bent around the surrounding hills.
He turned the camera to the suspended monitor hanging two feet
above the river and video recorded the tablet screen with
river as background. As he was completing this task he turned
around and saw a man on horseback watching him.
The rider had high cheekbones, taut reddish brown skin,
black hair and wore a cowboy shirt. The rider continued watching the videographer and then
slowly turned his horse around and left. The videographer took the nexus tablet and put it in his
daypack and then waded back across the river and walked to the car. Later, on leaving the park,
a ranger told him that Mexican cowboys routinely rode through the Rio Grande valley.
He queried that maybe they were federales, but the ranger didn't
think that that was the case.
The video playing on the media tablet. A father, his daughter and son are playing in the water in Lake Champlain, Vermont. Water waist deep. It is late afternoon, early evening and the figures are becoming silhouettes. A wedding party is being photographed next to the lake.
The day before. A traveller leaves Lake Martin, Louisiana around noon and begins the drive towards Texas. Later that afternoon as he approaches Houston,
he decides to avoid the city and stays on Interstate 610 which loops around the city to the east before heading south.
By early evening he finds a motel in Edna, Texas, an American Best Value Inn. Pick up trucks line the parking lot facing the rooms.
Almost all of the rooms are occupied by oil or construction workers.
The room smells of tobacco smoke. The dank carpet and upholstery retain the odor. It was rented as non-smoking.
There is a family operated Mexican Restaurant down the highway from the motel within walking distance.
McAllen, Texas is a city of almost 150,000 people right across the Rio Grande from Reynosa, Mexico.
McAllen is near the Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park which
as part of the World Birding Center is a world-class destination for bird-watching.
The Rio Grande Valley hosts one of the most spectacular convergences of birds on earth with more than 525 species
documented in this unique place. The bible of birdwatching for the United States is called a Peterson after its author Roger Tory Peterson.
The book devotes several pages to the birds of south Texas alone. The Rio Grande Valley seems to be a natural divide between the birds of the
continental US and those of Mexico and central America. The Green Jay is a brilliantly colored member of the Jay family (yellow,green, blue, black)
whose northern border is along the Rio Grande in the United States.
The birdwatcher arrives at the park entrance in early afternoon and
begins to walk the park circuit. He sees several green jays chasing each other through the trees. It begins to rain so he hides under several mesquite trees.
He then sees a Plain Chachalaca running along the ground under the low hanging branches in a manner resembling the animated raptors from Jurassic Park.
As he starts to leave the park, he notices a couple of black SUV's with police type officials parked along the road exiting the park.
He realizes they are border patrol. It seems that early evening must be a popular time to cross the Rio Grande.
Later he saw similar SUV's chasing a young man on a bicycle through the streets of an industrial park. He finds a La Quinta Inn in the
center of McAllen. The hotel parking lot is full. The cars in the lot all have license plates
from different states in Mexico. He goes to find something to eat other than shopping mall fast foods so he decides to buy assorted groceries from a supermarket.
His motel picnic includes raw peppers which prove to be to hot as in spicy to eat. Also beer, cheese, crackers. On the way to his room he walks
by the swimming pool where young Mexican children are swimming and playing around in the water with their parents relaxing next to the pool.
Several days later.
Still in Texas.
Chisos
Mountains Lodge is a concession in
Big Bend National Park. The restaurant looks over a valley formed by the Chisos Mountains. The lodge closes for the summer during the first week of June
due to heat. It is the last few days of the season. The hiker finds a trail on the map which looks like a 3 mile walk to the Rio Grande from a small
store near a camping site. After doing his laundry he sets out on the hike hoping to find an interesting location to video record along the river.
He gets to the river and tries a couple of the locations but finds that the midday sun creates too much of a glare on the screen to see the video,
so he decides to return to his car and try again later in the afternoon. 
He begins the hike back over the stone and scrub path which crosses over several low hills. After a while he becomes slightly dizzy.
His head begins to hurt from the sun even though he is wearing a baseball cap. He starts stumbling on the rocks scattered across the landscape.
There is no shade so he keeps walking. The three miles stretch uncomfortably. There is no one else on the trail. Back at the store he buys a beer.
The owner tells him it is 110 degrees in the sun. It is only the end of May. The store is next to a grove of aspen trees next to the river.
A vermillion flycatcher is singing from an exposed branch.
The next day while getting gas at a station in the park a FedEx driver notices the man's New York State
license plates and starts talking. The Fed Ex driver's ten year old son has bought a Frank Sinatra album and has learned all the songs on it.
The Fed Ex driver is Mexican American or Native American. He says, somewhat astonished, that his son took up Sinatra on his own.
The newyorker tells the Fed Ex driver that Frankie was big among Italian Americans in New York. He adds that his daughter loves musical
theater which she also picked up on her own.
The next morning around 6am the man begins to leave the park.
The park entrance is forty miles from the lodge. Most of the road is straight and flat like the rest of west Texas. The speed limit
within the park is 40 miles an hour. There is no one else on the road so quickly he is driving 70 or 80
when he flies by a park ranger going in the opposite direction. The ranger turns and catches up to the speeder and admonishes him for breaking the park speed limit.
He doesn't issue a ticket. The ranger booth wasn't open when the man entered the park so he didn't have a park pass either. The man promises to pay the entrance fee
at the Ranger Station on leaving the park. There is no one at the ranger booth.