TEXAS/MEXICO Border Towns Drive: The CRAZY Things I Saw Between McAllen And Falcon Lake
This is the LA Lomita Chapel. It was built in 1889 for the Cavalry of Christ. They were a traveling group of priests who would minister to people who live along the Rio Grande. Uh, it's really cool. It's just sits open, you can walk right in.
Wow! It is a Saturday morning, by the way, about 9 A.M. Hh did you see that bird? I believe this Chapel is still in use. Sure looks like it doesn't it. Incredible. Would you look at this. Some of the candles are even lit.
There's no one here. It's just open for anybody who wants to come in. Even this bird who's trapped up in the roof there. this is a shrine to the Virgin Mary not as old as the chapel behind me if this was made in 1956.
even fresh flowers there very well maintained here it's pretty impressive there's another look at the chapel yeah that's border patrol helicopter yeah they are flying overhead constantly Just for Laughs I came over to the other side of this park you know I wanted to see if there was maybe a trail over to the Rio Grande which is just about 50 feet that way but there isn't I'm not going to try to navigate that thick brush so uh gonna get back in the Bronco and start making my way along the border I can hear a second helicopter coming though wow they were everywhere today yeah I can sit in the distance anyway all right time to go oh wow there's two border patrol trucks right there I wonder if they're uh checking me out yeah it looks like he slowed down take a look see what I'm doing down here there's three of them up there woo yeah they were everywhere wow and look here a second helicopter is there something going on where I'm at yeah there is way up high so that's two helicopters he's kind of hovering over me maybe they think I'm some kind of troublemaker I'm not guys just a YouTuber all right I'm gonna get in the Bronco and start heading that way up the Border all right I am exiting the park now this is uh an Access Road for border patrol but I think it's okay to drive on it so that's what I'm gonna do there's that mission I was just at the LA Lomita Chapel amazing little piece of History anyway uh yeah I want to see what's uh up this way the uh motor fence is pretty small here isn't it there's actually homes in there so there are people who live here yeah looks like an RV park actually wow and that is uh that is the Rio Grande right there I'm gonna go in and check it out yeah so I've come down here uh that's the Rio Grande Right There and that is a boat ramp okay I won't you got it so there's a boat ramp here I'm kind of amazed by that that's Mexico right there on the other side so people in this RV Park can take boats out I guess uh what happens if you actually accidentally go to the other sides what I'm wondering anyway uh right behind me there is National Guard and they didn't want to talk and they told me not to film their vehicles so I'm going to obey them and not do that but anyway yeah you can walk right up to the Rio Grande here that's pretty awesome it's pretty quiet though isn't it private Dock and property no trespassing so I guess I'll stay off there but yeah there she is the Rio Grande and all her beauty it's amazing looks really nice and peaceful here all right I'm going to leave here now those National Guard they were pretty scary see if I can get a glimpse of them through my rear view mirror and I'll show it to you guys uh I don't know if you can see it but they were fully decked out in military gear with a pretty heavy caliber rifles so they mean business wow a lot of people here too all right I'm gonna cut a left and move on down the road that was an interesting experience though right now I'm passing by the National Butterfly Center I'm not gonna go in just wanted to show it to you I'm continuing my way down Military Road which I've been on before uh up here to the right is the border patrol Corral area that is where they keep their horses and uh you may remember all of that being in the news anyway yeah that's where they keep them see some of the fences very small and then big for a little small section and short again and then high again all right I'm making my way down Old Military Road West that's dirt road I like how they lined it with palm trees though it's kind of nice for sale three-quarter acre got a house here that it's not livable obviously again yeah you can just see little puny three foot high fence I'm gonna drive up here and it's got a big gate I mean well I guess that's maybe three foot high yes you're not going to stop anybody you can see that line of trees that is the Border in the Rio Grande actually pretty close right here give you a look-see see that's the border right there I have a big fence here but just for a few feet hmm all right I'm in the small town of penitas wow huh that's seen better days got another one over here wow I'm not sure what's going on there that's interesting oh wow there's that blimp can you see that uh let me zoom in yeah it's a border patrol that blimp there in the sky that's an interesting looking place it's in disrepair but that's an interesting looking home I think hmm anyway this is Military Road I'm gonna get back out on it it's really interesting along here I believe that's someone's home and you can see short bordered wall or border fence and then it's like the little tiny chunk of big this is border access restricted area so I'm not allowed to go there Rio Grande is very close it's just right over there I'm approaching the town of La Jolla get to it from here it's got a big sign that says no trespassing see what we got up here thank you interesting wow look at those I know they're old and Rusty but those are worth some bucks wow how about that uh Military Road it is dirt road now very much in a middle of nowhere wow there's more National Guard yeah I'm sure they don't want me to film them so I won't continue it but yeah that's more National Guard there when I passed those guys they were eyeballing me boy and there's border patrol right ahead truck just sitting in the middle of the road and now we started moving as I move this way along the border you are definitely seeing a lot more security I'll talk to him if they'll talk to me but so far nobody wants to most likely they are told to not say anything two civilians and right up ahead up in the air is another blimp one of those border patrol blimps hopefully you can see it it's kind of small but is it directly ahead so uh yeah that's border patrol and he's driving past another yeah that's a National Guard again anyway yeah I better put my camera down well they're just uh eyeballed them in but let me go continuing down Military Road I'm going to show you here on the map you can see me up there on the top right but right here looks like a little settlement or something you can see this is the Rio Grande in Mexico kind of makes it a little kind of a finger shape there but whatever that little settlement in is is it's a very close so I'm gonna head that way that could be interesting let's see what's going on there all right directly ahead of me is border patrol they're just sitting there okay one just took off see I'm gonna cuddle left here go into that little settlement all right I've cut a left there border patrol guy just waved me off I was going to try to say something to him but he didn't want to talk anyway yeah you can see I'm heading into this little settlement whatever it is and it's like tucked right in between Mexico let's go check it out see what it looks like yeah the town is called Los ebenos e-b-a-n-o-s uh for those of you who like to follow on on Google anyway warning illegal to carry firearms ammunition into Mexico oh there must be a way into Mexico here 's another border patrol guy uh they definitely swarm in this little town generalita's Ranch it's for sale you can see all the chickens uh the chickens have made that their home how about that wow well I'm almost all the way in here yeah you can see I'm at the bottom there I'll just go in here and turn around see what's here though first well this is it yeah I'm at the very bottom abandoned house is here that are for sale it looks like keep going through here looks like it makes a circle well yeah interesting well look at that look at this big Cemetery Los ebanos Cemetery America is number one thanks to our veterans look at all the flowers all right I'm heading out of there uh I'm gonna cut a left on West Military Road got a bunch of cars over here there's a horse amongst all that foreign look at all that is a lot of stuff isn't it well I'm still on Military Road but it is uh they come in dirt road again uh yeah there I am borders just to the left there well time to put my four-wheel drive Bronco to the test shouldn't be a problem yeah no problem anyway yeah I'm still on Military Road look at this Old Military Road there's just nothing or nobody here okay still on this road uh you can see the little town of lagria here and like that last town it's kind of tucked in close to the uh Mexican border so I'm gonna head that way next all right I'm almost in LA gruya yeah there it is see what we got here this has been the most dominant building in the town so far pretty much a beautiful building though isn't it look at that stained glass it's nice yeah still making my way through the town I would just I don't care I I couldn't live on bricks like that I gotta have a foundation I've had people tell me that it's no big deal but um that's like the uh third mattress I've seen laying on the ground there's two of them here yeah look at all this cactus this is definitely a desert yeah this road is uh wow it's not really maintenanced at all goodness look at this whoo yeah I'm in Rio Grande City now much bigger town a lot more traffic about 14 400 people here uh the town along the road here is modern and uh quite nice actually is this downtown Rio Grande City I'm not sure there's no building it's completely falling apart see what else is down here okay Tortilla Factory sadly it is closed yeah you hate to see that yeah this definitely looks like um around the downtown area doesn't it see what's up this Little Road wow that is some interesting architecture okay wow that's pretty cool well let's see what's this way yeah here's downtown that's pretty cool very old Border City downtown how about that all right I'm cruising down 83 right now towards Roma show you where I'm at just kind of skirting the Border there anyway Roma is a site of a lot of cross-border activity so it will be interesting uh to see that town all right I am in Roma now uh jeez you don't get any more border Town than this one this town is right on it uh that's a four-way stop good um yeah let me quick down here see that that's the Rio Grande right in front of me let me come over here and take a look this is basically downtown Roma there's not much to it yeah yeah I'll stop here real quick there's a lookout spot here someone get out and show it to you real quick that's Mexico there uh trying to remember the name of the town see you Dad Miguel I can't remember the last last word yeah anyway yeah that's it there's the Rio the Rio Grande and uh I'll show you some more here in a minute though but that's the little road that border patrol uses uh there's an international bridge right there but look how close Mexico is this is uh from what I understand can be a high traffic area because the water's maybe a foot deep from what I read think about it you're that's Mexico you could just go right there and run across and be up this embankment and into the streets of the United States just like that yes the craziest thing here I got another spot I'm going to show you that's even closer but I've been here before and you know when there were guys fishing on the banks there in Mexico oh I look at the Bronco put it through the ringer today these muddy roads whew this is the city center of Roma Roma Texas r-o-m-a free do you uh Google Map people if you like to follow where I'm going yeah this is uh this is it downtown anyway um I'm gonna get out and show you something else real quick now that's an interesting looking building I will say that I like it anyway yeah I'm gonna come over here and show you something kind of astonishing yeah I'm walking right up again there's the river yep there's a spot here yeah where you can look out over yeah right here anyway uh yeah you can see the road the border patrol uses again the river look at all the trash over there geez but yeah again you can just run across there hit the ground if you're young enough you could jump right up this and you're in the U.S right here I was thinking about going down there but I'm going to guess they probably have motion sensors I don't really want to be detained by border patrol today but it is uh it is kind of amazing because I'm driving around the streets of Roma heading you know heading towards this spot and I didn't see any border patrol here at all right I'm making my way to Falcon Reservoir I'm on 83 uh you can see just kind of skirts along the Rio Grande and the Border so uh yeah I'll just continue that way I'm just giving you a glimpse of what it looks like well I was driving down 83 and then I was looking at my little map here uh this is salenino road and it goes to something right there on the river that white area usually means it's some sort of town or homes something like that I'm thinking uh let's go see what's down there it doesn't seem like it even has a name so I don't even know if it's a town but well it's in this direction on this road uh this road doesn't look that bad it's in pretty good shape so what the heck let's go take a look is what I'm thinking okay whatever this place is I am entering it now here let me give you a look I'm just going to drive through the middle of it I see what's here if there's anything there's definitely some houses here though that looks like it was recently built thank you well there's a church let's take a look around here yeah this church actually looks really old Maybe huh thank you people living here well I'm going to yeah I'm gonna head down this road because it looks like it goes to the Border so see what's down here now let's something there it's not in good shape there's a dog but he's not barking well it's a dirt road I'm not sure if I want to go down there or not I guess I am here I go yeah this is the road that goes to the river so I'm gonna check it out butterflies are everywhere I've never seen so many anyway yeah I'm geez I'm just about there see what we got salinino Wildlife Preserve it says huh what's this sign say morning illegal dumping okay well according yeah according to a little map here I'm here yep there it is wow there is no security here look at this there's the river that is the that's it that's the uh Rio Grande amazing there is no security here whatsoever I have never put my feet or hands in the Rio Grande but I'm about to right now I'm not going to take my shoes off yeah I like to touch every body of water that's significant when I come to it look at this of course the Mexican side is uh pretty thick with foliage and trees quite frankly looks like a jungle again look at all these butterflies I mean it's beautiful it's a little bit of trash here which is a damn shame what a place look at this is the Rio Grande untouched no people no border patrol lots of fish I can see them I'm kind of astonished I'm not gonna lie I didn't think there would be any place along the U.S Mexico border like this right here where there's just nothing nobody I mean if you wanted to illegally cross this is the spot that little town I didn't see a single law enforcement person of any kind including border patrol I mean you I just showed you it on camera and you can drive right up here to the river wow it's beautiful absolutely beautiful I love it that was so worth the side trip that's got to be one of the very few places where you can just drive up to the Rio Grande and there's no one there to tell you to leave that was amazing anyway I'm gonna head up back into this town or unincorporated area whatever it is let's check it out check out some of the neighborhood see what's here wow look at this house it's just like right on top of the street this place is like the place That Time Forgot huh I don't even know if it's a town I've yet to see a name of it or of any kind of you know designation of any sort you know it is so quiet here right of the black cat it's like some tiny little secret I'm kind of uh flabbergasted I guess I didn't think there would be a spot like this on the U.S Mexico border
wow all right well I'm going ahead or continue on the drive to uh Falcon Reservoir all right I'm in the little town of Falcon Heights just showing you some of the sights Nellie's beauty salon you got a motel and grocery here uh doesn't look like it's open looks like there was a gas station there then you got is this four rooms oh maybe some more up here anyway yeah this was a motel looks like how about that huh back up a little yeah so there is a motel there that's all abandoned clearly uh but there was a bar there that's closed down and there's another Motel Falcon Heights Motel says there's a vacancy yeah it looks like people may even stay in this one occasionally uh and there's a gas station where what used to be a gas station over here it's long gone for sale wow there we go another interesting site here that store looks open and look there's a saloon it says Saloon I don't know if that's open though huh look up here there is a horse what's he doing he's just sitting there by the side of the road oh he's got a rope around he's around him he's just sitting there by the side of the road that is so weird wow you turn around take another look at him he's just sitting there in 1.6 miles turn right onto North Grant Street yeah there's Siri uh Australian Siri telling me stuff tell me where to go yeah look he's got a rope attached to him I don't know that's odd to me huh all right I'm making my way to Falcon Dam yeah so there's the you can see the reservoir there's me on the right and in the border right here I'm gonna head over there take a look and uh that'll be the end of this video but uh let's go there first uh looks like I've driven up to a place where it's at border crossing let's see yeah I really don't want to go uh go through customs I thought I had a little ways to go I guess I don't so I'm just going to turn around here but anyway yeah there's the uh yeah that says now leaving us so I'm just going to turn around and uh head back yeah there's a welcome to Texas sign so apparently that was a border crossing I'm just going to stop here for a second because this will be the end of the video uh yeah so today I started here in McAllen and uh well west of McAllen and went all the way up here to the lake uh it's called Uh Falcon Reservoir now the next video I will be doing on the other side of the reservoir up to Laredo and then the videos after that there'll be a couple after that see if everything pops up basically I'll be doing the other side of Laredo two different videos ah up through uh Eagle Pass and uh Del Rio and those are the places where there is a lot a lot of cross-border activity so the next three videos should be really interesting let's see if I can show it up here anyway anyway we'll get to that then but anyway yeah how many times can I say but anyway uh that's the end of this video be looking for the other halfway from this Reservoir to uh Laredo next so I'll see you then
2022-10-11 00:32
