funrivers.com blog

"Concan Not Cancun"

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:39:04 -0500

For many years, I have heard this phrase, seen the bumper stickers and T-Shirts quite often. Anybody that has been to Concan is surely familiar with the catchy saying. Yes, we are not Cancun nor can we offer a Beach or Ocean, but Concan does offer a beautiful crystal clear and "saltless" river, sunsets on rolling hills and unique white rocks that encompass the Frio.

Yes, you can fly thousands of miles and pay thousands of dollars to see Indonesia and Thailand's Bali and Phuket, but here in the Lone Star State and only hours away (if you live in Texas of course) you can see beauty you never knew existed in the Texas Hill Country. Many come to the Frio Canyon for the first time and end up coming back every year or many times throughout. Some even buy a vacation home or just end up retiring here after their exposure to the Frio.

Pictures can't express what the human eye experiences in person and we are fortunate to have this in our backyard . We would be selfish not to share pictures, videos and stories via funrivers.com. If you are ever in the Texas Hill Country or more specifically the Frio Canyon Area, check out Concan, Leakey or Rio Frio for more economical yet worth every penny travels! You will feel like you are in another country- Frio Country! As always, feel free to contact funrivers.com staff anytime if you have any questions about the area.

Happy Traveling!

Frio Bound!

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 22:57:08 -0500

It's that time again.. actually it's been that time for last couple months for the Frio River. What time is that? Frio Bound Time! Last weekend "Father's Day Weekend"- all the camps, lodges, RV sites, river crossings and the roads were swarming with Frio Bounders..

We noticed immediately on our circuit that there was significantly more people out than the previous weekend and this is just the beginning! 4th of July on the Frio is only a couple weeks away. Just as we are seeing traffic pick up every weekend at Rio Frio, Concan and Leakey; funrivers' traffic has increased an average of 200+ visitors from only a month ago.

Gas is not getting cheaper nor are we getting the much needed rain but it's not keeping folks from packing their gear and driving 1,2, 4, 6+ hours to get their Frio Fix! Many people make last minute plans and decide to drive up but don't realize the difficulty of finding a vacant place to sleep. While doing our routine flyer distribution, at least 3 people stopped us asking where our cabins are and if we had anything available. At the moment, funrivers.com doesn't own or rent any cabins but we sure wish we did seeing the crowds and demand for accommodations. I hope they found something and that we helped. funrivers.com actually gets quite a bit of inquiries throughout the week via email or calls asking if we have any availabilities. In fact, we just got a call a few hours ago for a Father and his daughter looking for a tent site for this weekend. We don't do property management/reservations ourselves but don't mind referring leads to the locals; after all it's one of the main reasons funrivers.com was established.

Lesson here is if you are reading this and planning on coming to the Frio for the Fourth of July or any weekend this summer, book your reservations NOW! Give us a call or shoot us an email if you have to.

If you are a RV'r and looking for a spot to hook up near the Frio, check out the World Premiere Addition to the funrivers.com family: Nana's RV Park On the Frio..

Until next time....

Our Tree is Bigger Than Your Tree!

Mon, 9 Jun 2008 21:16:42 -0500

Any Tree Lovers or History Buffs in the audience? Well, about a mile down the road from funrivers.com headquarters and in the big city of Rio Frio, holds the 2nd or 3rd largest Live Oak Tree in Texas!

For decades, we have been driving past the massive trunk and one day we just had to stop by and check out the mammoth and learn more about the historical landmark.

Besides being the runner up in Texas Trees, we learned the evergreen is also a staple in the birth of Rio Frio. Below the Historical Mark reads:

"Rio Frio Landmark Oak

This mighty oak served the early settlers as a social, religious, educational and political gathering place.

During the early 1870's a school house was built just west of the tree. It was constructed of native cypress lumber and its walls were filled with caliche.

Between 1880-1890 N.M.C. Patterson laid out the town of Rio Frio using the tree and schoolhouse mountain to the east as bearing points.

Through countless centuries this tree's enormous branches have provided shade and shelter for many people, with our loving care it will be a part of our future.

Friends of the Big Tree"

If you ever want to stop by and observe history, from HWY 83 turn on 1120 and go about a mile and a quarter passing the Frio crossing to Rio Frio. The Landmark Oak resides in a yard on the left side of 1120 a little past the intersection of 2748, and is identified by a historical marker.

Come back soon.... we'll post up some more interesting tidbits about Rio Frio, Leakey and Concan.

Thoughts from the trail

Wed, 4 Jun 2008 10:18:02 -0500

On a recent weekend on the Frio as we placed flyers on hundreds of vehicles along the right of way on CR 350, FM 1120 and River Road, there were a number of things that struck me:

• It's amazing how many of the vehicles in the Frio Canyon any given weekend come from more than 200 miles away. There are as many who (are from or come from) from the Houston area as (there are) from Uvalde. From the south we see lots of vehicles from Corpus Christi to Brownsville. To the west and southwest we have Del Rio and Laredo visitors and from the north are the cars and trucks from Lubbock and Dallas, Waco, Austin and even some out of state vehicles. Gas prices may be high but folks have to go somewhere and we're glad you chose the Frio River Canyon.

• We are very pleased that folks are glad to see us distributing the funrivers.com flyers. We often are stopped as we walk along the lines of vehicles and asked to give the passing motorists a copy. We appreciate that, as printing and distributing these flyers is a major funrivers.com marketing expense. We also appreciate that we rarely find our flyers tossed carelessly away; in fact, Frio Canyon visitors have mostly left the roads clear of debris. And don't forget to pick up one of those free litter bags to carry with you on the Frio.

• It's sad to be stopped on a busy weekend by a carload of folks who have come to the Frio River without making advance reservations. It's almost impossible to find a place to stay at the last minute as many of the lodging facilities are booked a year in advance. Even with a large number of new and expanded facilities out here you need to make your plans early if possible and get your reservations as soon as possible, especially for all the holiday weekends.

Sometimes you just gotta TUBE!

Sat, 31 May 2008 21:00:14 -0500

While we were out today passing through the Frio crossings and doing our routine flyer distribution, there was one Frio Bounder we had to get on video. On River Road at the 2nd Crossing, we noticed a gentleman appearing to come straight from work outside his vehicle filling up a raft with an air pump. Of course, we didn't think too much about it and figured he was meeting someone waiting for the float at the Frio.

Well, after doing our flyers and crossing over, we realized we forgot something and turned back. Luckily we did because while crossing the river, we noticed the same gentleman in the Frio on that very float, rafting in the same wardrobe! Watch the clip and you'll see the devotion some have for the Rio Frio or how the Frio will drive someone to jump in with no reservations. Enjoy!