In the morning we check out the Amistad
dam over the Rio Grande. Amistad means friendship in Spanish. It was
built jointly by the USA and Mexico in 1963-1968 for $125 million in
response to droughts and floodings. The dam is nearly 10 km long and
77 m high. Since half the dam is in Mexico, this also meant we
stepped foot in Mexico! From the dam you can spot the bouys in the
Rio Grande denoting the border between Mexico and the USA.
We drive along the Rio Grande and make
a couple of pit stops for scenery and food. We see lots of prickly
pear cacti, some Javelina (wild cute miniature pigs) and cargo trains
that go on forever.
As we drive on the towns get smaller
and the vistas get bigger.
We make it to Marathon for the night.
They are blessed with the highest class of dark sky and there is a
local Astronomer holding a session at night with a huge telescope.
Even without the telescope we can see more stars than we have ever
seen. With it though, we can see: Venus, Orion's nebula belt, the
Andromeda galaxy, the Sagittarius belt of our Milky Way and the ultra
rare zodiacal light (less common than the northern lights).
Today: 303km - 4h30m
Total: 20,031km - 396h17m
