Make New Friends

There are a lot of reasons I’m sad to be leaving the Big Bend area; the stark beauty and perfect weather are two. But, the main thing I’ll miss are the new friends we’ve made. If you visit a place where people are staying for 2 or 3 months, waiting out the winter, you find folks who have developed friendships that span 5 or 10 years because so many return to the same campground (even campsite) year after year. Even though we were “newbies” to the park, we were included and welcomed by Johnnie and Carol (successful artists from New Mexico), Jim and Betty (ranchers from Oklahoma) and John, who with his dog Carly have been on the road, full time, for five years. A few of his goals: looking for the best mountain biking, disc golf (he travels with his own practice basket) and hole-in-the-wall eateries in the lower 48. I don’t know if we will ever meet anyone we share more common interests with than John! We are grateful to have gotten to sit at the “cool lunchroom table “ with this crew. Adios Big Bend! We will definitely be back.

Rio Grande

Big Bend National Park is named for the great curve or bend in the Rio Grande as it winds its way through west Texas. There are 118 miles of river in this area shared by the United States and Mexico. On our recent hike along the Rio Grande, we came across a small tin can weighted with stones and 5 small copper wire/bead sculptures labeled with masking tape price tags. ($6 for scorpions and ocotillo plants) When I asked other park visitors about the art pieces, I found out that the Mexican town of Boquillas, (where many visitors to the park take a row boat ride across the Rio then “rent” a donkey to ride into the small Mexican town for lunch at one of two cafes)....anyway, Boquillas was devastated after the borders closed, following 911, and didn’t reopen until 2013. Copper spools of phone wire coils had been delivered to Boquillas to help advance development of the town but were never used after 9/11. Local artisans now use the copper wire to make these tiny sculptures hoping park visitors will buy/donate and take home as a souvenir of Mexico. I also found it interesting, while asking questions, that along the entire border the Big Bend sector has had the fewest apprehensions of illegal crossers every year for the last 44 years. When you hike in the park and see the beautiful vistas surrounding this incredible river, it’s encouraging to know the unforgiving terrain of this park will hopefully protect it from a “traditional “ border wall. Electronic monitors, underground sensors and camera towers are already in place and seem to be effective.

We finished our hike at a natural Hot Springs and decided it would be nice if all our hikes ended with a soak in 105-degree mineral enriched water!

Star Gazing

Have you ever seen the Milky Way? Remarkably, 99% of people living in Europe or the United States live in light polluted communities that make it impossible to see the Milky Way. Lajitas is a dark sky community. That means the community has agreed to certain rules and regulations to preserve the night sky. Night skies are ranked from Class 1-9. Class 1 is the darkest sky on earth. Class 9 encompasses most inner city skies. At Maverick Ranch RV Park, the rules of the park clearly state that all campers should extinguish outdoor lighting from 9:00 pm to 6:00 am. Mark and I love staying in these communities because you can star gaze from your camper on a clear night. Ironically, on our first night here we were disappointed to observe some campers who weren’t following the rules. We shook our heads in disbelief, saying “what’s wrong with people?” Our fourth night here, we were sound asleep when we heard a knock at the door. It was the park manager pointing out we’d accidentally left our “porch light” on. Mark apologized and sheepishly turned out the light, but thankfully we learned our lesson and will be less judgmental of our neighbors the rest of our stay!

Big Bend Ranch State Park

Since this is our second trip to the Big Bend area, instead of staying in the Study Butte/Terlingua area, we chose to stay in Lajitas because of its close proximity to Big Bend Ranch State Park. The state park is where all the cool mountain biking trails are and the hiking trails here are more dog friendly. The National Park is only about 50 miles away. We decided being able to ride our bikes to trailheads from our campsite was a good trade off for the few extra miles we have to travel to get to the National Park.

The National Park is divided into five major sections because of its size. They are Castolon, Chisos Basin, Panther Junction, Persimmon Gap and Rio Grande Village. When we were here before we explored Castolon and the Chisos Basin. This time we plan to concentrate on day trips to the Panther Junction and Rio Grande Village areas. So much to do; so little time!

Rich & Famous

We all have preferences, but on cross country adventures, Mark and I have discovered being open to new camping experiences leads to a trip full of surprises. What I mean by this; our campground preferences lean toward isolated parks with beautiful natural surroundings and few if any neighbors. Because we wanted to stay in the Big Bend area for two weeks we opted for an RV Park which has none of the above. The wonderful surprise we’ve found, doing something different, is finding ourselves in a “home” setting with neighbors we would never have in our “real” life. This RV Park is not the kind people live in year round, but it is a place “snow birds” come from all over the country. We are very small in this park (just 19 feet) while most of our neighbors have 45 feet, or larger,  motor homes; and these aren’t ordinary motor homes. They are high end touring coaches like the Prevost; a subsidiary company of Volvo. I could say we are camping with the rich but not the famous, but the famous are here too. We met a fellow Airstreamer, and his wife, who are artists with artwork in museums all across the USA. Johnnie Winona Ross is a minimalist painter who also happens to have been a pro mountain bike rider in his younger days.  Did I mention that most everyone goes out of their way to be nice? It’s so cool to be neighbors with people living such different lives....if only for two weeks or so!

West Texas

Yesterday’s travel was my least favorite of the trip. Three hundred miles of interstate driving from Dallas/Fort Worth area through Abilene with views of oil fields, refineries and lots of roadside trash. However, the day ended at our first “gem” of the trip.

We spend a lot of time pre planning a trip, doing research (mostly online) of the areas we will be passing through. But sometimes it is nice having a hard copy resource to leaf through when internet is spotty or you’re just tired of looking at a screen. Our son bought us a “travel book” that has been an amazing resource for us and has never given bad advice on “must sees”. The book continues to bat 1,000 recommending a stop at Monahans Sandhills State Park. These ancient dunes (or Sandhills) are beautiful and the park is just picturesque! We must not be the only ones with the “Off the Beaten Path” book because the park was completely packed with mostly travelers from out of state (or country); we met two nice Canadian couples. We hiked on the dunes, watched the sun set and prepared for tomorrow’s 200 mile push to Big Bend National Park where we will settle for two weeks!

Weather Medly in Texas

From rain, to snow and finally 70° temps today; crazy weather if you decide to try camping in January. Our time at Mineral Wells State Park has been a welcome break from consecutive travel days. However, it’s time to move on. Five nights in one place is the perfect amount of time to get in most of the things we like to do; hike the park’s trails, bike at least once, set up our outdoor space area, put up a clothesline, have a fire, grill a meal and eat locally. The bonus of this Texas park was feeling like we were in the wilderness but actually being just 10 minutes away from the town of Weatherford where resupply was effortless. We are traveling to a more isolated area, so I’ve tried to plan meals at least a couple weeks ahead. That way, hard to get items will be stocked in our truck when we need them. Mark makes wonderful Reuben and Pastrami sandwiches and you’d be surprised how hard it is to find rye bread in some parts of small town America. Romaine lettuce and good bagels are luxury items we stock up on too.

Another noteworthy thing about this park, for me personally. On a morning hike, I heard a splash and couldn’t believe it when I discovered the sound was caused by two otter playing in the reeds. Seeing river otter, in the wild, is a first for me and another perk to camping when crowds are down. I wasn’t quick enough to snap a pic but they did leave their tracks behind!