When we were in Texas the Spring of 2009, we usually stayed at Falcon Lake State Park. We had heard about the Los Ebanos Hand Pulled Ferry, about halfway between Rio Grande City, TX, and McAllen, on the Rio Grande. We heard you could ride across and back for a quarter, and you had to help pull the ferry across with the ropes. This certainly sounded like an adventure like no other, so we hopped in our GMC and headed South to find Los Ebanos…
The little “town” of Los Ebanos was named that because of the Ebony trees that are plentiful there. The Los Ebanos Ferry was it’s only claim to fame…
Yes, that IS Mexico just across that very narrow spot in the Rio Grande. The man who owned and ran the ferry decided that the ferry wasn’t going to run this day…He can do that, I guess. If you had plans to go across, you had to find another way, right? We were a bit disappointed we didn’t get to actually ride it, but we took pictures and learned some history of it.
Below left is the huge Ebony tree the ferry was anchored to…Hard to believe..
…Above is the lift station they drove the cars up on to inspect the underneath when they entered the US…Pretty primitive, but I guess it did the trick.
Here is the “tourist trap” where you can buy souvenirs, just before the ferry landing. The lady who posed for me was the owner of the store…It’s pretty obvious they weren’t very busy today…DUH..the ferry wasn’t running. In fact, there is talk that the Dept. of Homeland Security wants to close it..It certainly IS very close to our border. I would hate to see it closed for history’s sake, but our border security has become first and foremost importante!!!
OK….long story short…this is Sunday at 5:20PM…long day at Den’s Aunt and Uncle’s house to fix a chimney….Check the blog on Tuesday for a full report with photos….Thanks for following…I need a drink…
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