April 24, 2010 - The Rio (not so) Grande

* This morning Laurie and I got up early to see the sites of El Paso, Texas before we hit the road for the day. We turned “Maggie” (Magellan GPS) on and headed for town. We drove through the old part of town, heading for the Rio Grande River. On the other side of the river is Juarez, Mexico and there are a couple of bridges from El Paso to Juarez. I expected the Rio Grande to be a magnificent river, you know, like the John Wayne movies when he drives the cattle across this huge river….what a joke. The river is the size of an irrigation canal, about 35 feet across, and it only has a trickle of water in it.

I guess in previous years it was a major tourist attraction to walk over the bridge from El Paso, hang out in Juarez for the day, and then return to USA side. Well, we found out that Juarez is the major Mexican gang centre and there are shootings in the streets, almost on a daily basis. There are constant parols on both sides of the river (canal), soldiers and police carrying machine guns and wearing full military gear, and the USA side has a huge (30 feet high) fence with razor wire on top which runs the entire length of the common border. It is a complete military state so we stayed in the USA. Even the Texas State Tourist magazine warns tourist about the danger of crossing. We drove along the border road and ended up finding Socorro Catholic Mission, which dates back a couple of centuries. We went back to our RV, hooked up and headed east.

Driving east of El Paso on Hwy. 10 you experience rolling hills and a little bit more vegetation. There is some “green”, unlike Arizona where very little grows.

John Madden Hall of Fame


We stopped for lunch in a little town called Van Horn, Texas. If you didn’t know better you would think that you are in Mexico, and it is in the middle of nowhere. Very few businesses, many boarded up stores, and a couple of gas stations along the highway. However, Van Horn’s claim to fame is that 10 years ago NFL TV announcer John Madden stopped in Van Horn as he was travelling through and he stopped at a tiny Mexican restaurant called ‘Chuys’. Madden is afraid to fly so he travels across the country to get to his next NFL game in a motor home. Well, Madden was very impressed with the food and the reception he got at Chuys and he has returned every year since. He has mentioned the restaurant in Sports Illustrated, Time magazine, and numerous times on his broadcasts. He then added Chuys to his restaurant “Hall of Fame”. Needless to say, his promotion has garnished a lot of recognition for this restaurant and the tiny town of Van Horn. By the way, I had the “Madden Special” (Picado) and it was the best Mexican food that I have ever eaten. Laurie loved hers too!

We continued our journey and stopped in a town called Fort Stockton and stayed in a nice RV park. They have their own little restaurant and the dinner special was Mesquite pork and all the fixings ($7.95) and was it ever good. I better get my bike off the rack and get some exercise!!

Because of our late start, total travel today was 373kms or 231 miles. We have now crossed two time zones and are in Central Time.