As US-83 continues south from Uvalde, the highway descends farther onto the mostly flat Rio Grande Plain, entering a subtropical zone of seemingly endless chaparral. Amidst “brush country”—marked by a mixture of thorny cacti, mesquite, dwarf oak, black bush, and huisache—spread large irrigated farms known as the “Winter Garden of Texas” for the bounty of spinach and citrus crops they produce. Forty miles south of Uvalde sits Crystal City (pop. 7,190), the Zavala County seat and self-proclaimed “Spinach Capital of the World,” where a photo-friendly statue of Popeye stands on the town square. Three miles south of Crystal City, the seasonal Espantosa Lake once served as an important water stop along the colonial mission trail between Mexico and Texas.
