THe most beautiful farms belong to a Mennonite colony. You can see them in their carriages. An hour out of Santa Cruz you will see the Rio Grande bridge. The river is quite impressive with its currents cutting away and redepositing huge sand bars. The bridge is single lane, wood surfaced with a railroad track in the middle.
Traffic is one way and the direction is reversed every half-hour.
It takes about 15 minutes to cross. The terrain eventually becomes more and more hilly, with many cattle ranches cleared from the forest. As pasture is prepared it appears everything is cut except the palm trees. One grass is established it looks as though it is a golf course. After passing San Ramon the first mission built in the area is found at San Javier.