Big Bend National Park

Early January in northern Missouri was very cold! We were excited to move to warmer weather...south! But it had been cold there too. Even in Texas, it had snowed in Austin right before we left for Texas. However, we timed it just right and were met with warmer and warmer weather.

We stayed the first night at Smokin' Joe's Campground in Davis, Oklahoma. The campground was very full with pipe line workers and we got the last opening. Not sure if it was this influx of workers or the camp management but the campground was filthy with dog poop everywhere and trash. Aside from that, it was a nice campground. Smokin' Joe's is right in the campground with BBQ that the locals seem to love. We ate there and they had huge portions but the BBQ was only average.

Tom at Smokin' Joe's
Weird upside-down decorations hanging from the ceiling.

The next day we drove to Glen Rose Texas. The traffic was very congested and the driving was very tense the next 1.5 hours. But we made it to the Oakdale Park Campground. The city now owns this large park and campground. It boasts one of the oldest and largest pools in Texas. By now the temperature had risen and we were happy to feel the warm breeze as we opened our door, instead of the expected death defying blast of cold air!

Wow! 78 degrees!

The Women's March went on without me this year and was a huge success! We were not near a march so we had to be there in spirit only! Here is an oil painting that Kathy Lindert painted from last years march. She's such a talented artist!

I think I was a bit naive when we began this adventure. It seemed that we were always fixing or updating our house, mowing and fertilizing our yard and maintaining our vehicles. It was never ending and a huge money pit. We spent so much time doing these things that we rarely did much on the weekends, when we had two days off. So our weekends were spent maintaining our home and vehicles.... I imagined a simpler life, with days spent relaxing and doing the things we wanted to do. So, in our pursuit of a simpler life, we got rid of everything and bought a new 5th wheel and truck. But, there are still things to maintain and clean. Still things that break and have to be fixed or replaced.... Back in November we "lost" our sewer storage and still have not replaced it with the one we had before. We are doing fine with the one we bought but would like the convenience of the old one. So we still need to order it and replace it. Also, when we were in Winchester, VA we had a bug shield put on our new truck. Well, we noticed that it has warped terribly and is rubbing the truck. What caused this? We have not been in extremely warm weather. We took it off after taking pictures and contacted the company. They are mailing us an new one. Also, on the stressful drive through Granbury Texas we had to slam on the brakes pretty hard. Honalee's brakes worked very well by the way! But when we went inside, the sliding door in the bedroom broke at the bottom and needs repaired. In addition, Tom and I were under the 5th wheel looking at the generator exhaust hose. We noticed that the membrane covering the underneath of our 5th wheel is bowed down. What does that mean? Is it something to worry about? What is making it bow like that? Something else to look into. Then, Tom noticed one of the tires on Honalee was wearing on the edge and not evenly. So, just like when we had a house/yard etc, we have things to repair and maintain. It's just that now, it definitely doesn't take very much of our time and we have all the time in the world!

Of course, it's still a bit chilly in northern Missouri. Here are Parker and Haley playing out in the snow!

One day we were driving around Glen Rose. I remember reading about structures in this area that were built years ago with petrified wood. Here is a good example! Isn't it beautiful! It would be beautiful if it were restored also.

We visited my mother for a few hours one day. She lives in Granbury Texas and did not know we were coming by. She's my mother so the guilt of having a very stressed and superficial relationship with her is overwhelming. Luckily I have a VERY supportive family of my own and an older brother who shares the pain with me. He and I talk a lot and we help each other through this difficult chapter of our lives. It is what it is. Here we are:

Here is our home in San Angelo Texas KOA campground. Normally we don't stay in KOA campgrounds because they are crawling with little children, very loud and not relaxing at all. But this one was different. It was clean, quiet and well maintained and a great place for a stop-over.

San Angelo Texas KOA

The campground store had some weird "dogs" for sale. They are not alive but have a fake heartbeat and their chest goes up and down to the beat. Who buys these? People who want to travel with a dog but don't want a dog that poops, eats or barks? This was strange. Here are pictures of two of the dogs. They look just like Kiwi and Buster!

Through all my years of living in Kansas, I always heard jokes about Kansas and how flat and barren it was etc. People would ask why anyone would want to live in Kansas. I found Kansas to be full of rolling hills, beautiful sunsets and picturesque farms and land. Now we are driving through Texas and I don't see the beauty in Texas that I saw in Kansas! We drove from Ft. Worth to southwest Texas over several days and saw only dry desert. It has scrubby trees and cactus type plants. It's not like the deserts in Utah and Arizona which are beautiful. Many small towns we drove through were filled with "tiny homes" and trailers for all the oil field workers. Some worker's "tiny homes" are what we would usually use as a backyard shed. These little towns are only in existence because of the oil and it's workers.

The land we drove through for two days.

During our drive in Texas, we saw several Roadrunners!! Every time we saw one, I yelled, "Beep-Beep!".

Our friend Joe is a Judge so I've been taking photos of court houses as we drive by them. I thought I would share some here. Some of them have very unique architecture and are very old. Some are in the main square of various small towns.

Courthouse on the square in Granbury, Texas

Courthouse in Comanche, Texas

United States Courthouse in Alpine, Texas

Courthouse on the square in Glen Rose, Texas
Cool statue in front!

Courthouse in Fort Stockton Texas

Okay, now it's time to talk about Big Bend National Park. The park is located in the far south west part of the state. It's right on the border shared with Mexico. We had no intention of going to Big Bend National Park. It was not something either of us had even considered. But, we had an extra week and a half so Tom began looking into it and eventually we were both okay with going there for a few days. I was not especially thrilled, thinking it was just desert land and wondering what could possibly be there. Well, I was totally amazed at the beauty of this National Park. It's different than any place I have ever been. I have always been drawn to lush green mountains and large bodies of water. A desert was not something I was excited about. But.... when you open yourself up for new places, new thinking and new experiences... We let serendipity happen! This is why we are on this adventure!

We arrived on a beautiful afternoon at the Lost Alaskan RV Park in Alpine Texas. Alpine Texas is the gateway town to Big Bend National Park. We stayed two nights so we could see the town a little bit.

Lost Alaskan RV Park.

We explored the town of Alpine Texas. The Museum of the Big Bend is located on the Sul Ross State University in Alpine, so we went through it. Here are pictures of the beautiful outside of the building.

View from the front porch area.

The Museum is located on the Sul Ross State University Campus. The museum extensively covers how the land was formed and the geology of the land. There is an abundance of dinosaur bones in this area and it explains when these great mammals roamed the land. Actually, this whole area used to be under water. It was a huge lake/ocean at one time. The museum also covers how three native american tribes and the Mexican people played a huge part in the history of this area. The area has been home to many Mexican families for many generations.

The little town of Alpine boasts murals on almost every building! They were all so beautiful. Here are a few of them.

And we encountered this sign downtown ... hmmmm?

We left Alpine and drove 95 miles south toward the "town" of Lajita. There isn't any thing really there... just lodging at a resort/golf and the RV Park. Right before arriving in Lajita, we passed the little towns of Study (stewdy) Butte and Terlingua (Ghost Town). Terlingua means "three tongues" for the Apache, Cherokee and Shawnee tribes who used to live here. Although they say they are a ghost town, people do live there and they have the Starlight which serves dinner and has music almost every night. Both towns were small and old and looked like people were just trying to eek out a living. A big attraction is the International Championship Chili Cook-off held yearly in the desert in Terlingua. Here are some pictures of Terlingua.

Notice the little square of green grass!! 

Old uninhabited homes right next to current residences.

Below is a photo from the Quilt store we visited. The lady that owns it looks to be in her late 80's. She and her husband traveled full time in a RV for 14 years before he became ill and they had to quit. During their traveling days, they came to Terlingua every winter/spring and loved it. So, when he passed away, she came to Terlingua and started this store. She had two other ladies that work there too. They don't sell fabric... they sell quilts that they make from scratch! They also sell some weavings, paintings and jewelry. She was a talker and it was fascinating listening to her.

We also stopped at this art gallery and met another unique person. Jack and his wife Alice Knight own the gallery and Alice is the official artist. Alice paints in water colors and acrylic paints. She also works in clay and makes jewelry. She is also a singer/songwriter. Here is the Big Bend Art Studio in Terlingua. We bought a very small pot that Alice made, with a small succulent cactus plant in it.

ON TO LAJITAS!
We booked the Maverick Ranch RV Park in Lajitas Texas. It sits right on the Rio Grande which separates the USA and Mexico. Here is our desert RV site. See the beautiful adobe home in the background.

Home for a few days!

We immediately set out on our adventure. First we drove the Big Bend Ranch State Park Visitors Center which is located in Lajitas.

From the Visitors Center you could walk up this hill nearby and look over the Visitors Center and turn around and look into the valley and see our Honalee!

This was zoomed in and was really over two miles away.
We are the last trailer on the right.

BIG BEND RANCH STATE PARK:
We then drove into the Big Bend Ranch State Park which is to the west of the Big Bend National Park.

Here are photos from our drive on 170. The road goes through the southern edge of the park and follows the north side of the Rio Grande. Here are some photos.

The Rio Grande and Mexico on the other side.

Rio Grande

This is a very common plant in the desert here. It's called Ocotillo.
The wagon trains that went through her called it a whip.
When it rains it forms leaves and has an orange bloom.
When it dries, the leaves fall and it looks like this.

BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK:

Big Bend covers 801,163 acres. Big Bend has 1,200 species of plants, more than 450 species of birds (more than any other national park), 56 species of reptiles, and 75 species of mammals.

GRAPEVINE HILLS:
We drove Grapevine Hills road for 7 miles. It was a very rough road and the last few miles were for 4 wheel drive vehicles only. The road goes through complete desert. Here are some photos of the vegetation along the way.

I was just getting out of the truck at the trail-head and, the most amazing thing happened! It was a beautiful sunny day with NO wind. Suddenly a Dust Devil appeared just a few feet from me! It twisted around and lasted about 30 seconds before just disappearing. A mini tornado! But there was no wind... very strange! And, after our hike and as we drove the 7 miles back to a paved road, ANOTHER Dust Devil appeared in front of us on the road. It lasted only about 15 seconds. Wow! Two in one day!

The walk/hike was easy for about 2 miles. Then we had a straight up vertical climb to this beautiful sight!

Balanced Rock

I walked out as far as I dared, in order to take this photo.

We were alone up there. It was so quiet. No road noise. No people. Just birds and silence. It was beautiful. We sat in the shade and ate lunch. Definitely a day to remember.

I later bought a book at the Visitors Center titled "Deaths in Big Bend". Apparently a man, lost the trail on his way coming down from the Balanced Rock. He became dehydrated and walked out into the desert and died.

Even with these trail markers. We easily lost the trail several times and had to backtrack.
We met a couple along the trail who had lost the trail completely and had a rough go of it.

Can you see the trail down there. The rough part was the vertical climb.

We met another older couple on the trail. They have been doing this hike for 14 years.
She could no longer make it to the top so she waited at the base.
When I asked about snakes on the trail, her husband told me,
"No snakes but you better believe a mountain lion has his eye on you right now."
Oh great!

Tom carried a lot of water and our food.

BOQUILLAS DEL CARMEN, MEXICO
Another big adventure was going across the border into Mexico. Before 9/11, the border was freely walked by both Mexicans and Americans. But now of course there are specific border crossings. We  could easily go to Mexico but coming back into the USA was the challenge.

We really didn't know what to expect but had read that we would be rowed in a boat across the Rio Grande. From there, someone would take us by donkey/horse/truck to the town of Boquillas Del Carmen about 1/2 mile away.

Border crossing - Port of Entry on the USA side

After a short walk we saw this sight across on the Mexico side.

Once they saw us, they rowed a boat over to us.

Within minutes we were on the other side and up on top of donkeys! Thank you Raul!

This is Raul. He spoke wonderful English and stuck with us the entire time.
He also helped push this short old lady up on the donkey!

Raul spoke so well. We asked a lot of questions. The town has a population of less than 200. It is an old mining town but the mines closed. In 2014, the Mexican government gave them some starter money and they built a solar farm and it provides electricity for the entire village. That is the first time they had electricity. The nearest town is 4 hours away. They have only one phone in town and it's very expensive. The school recently expanded and now provides an education K-12. It had previously been only K-6. The school has 3 computers but internet is very rare so they can't use them.

Main street Boquillas Mexico

We ate here, on the patio. There was a really strong wind blowing!
Raul's family owns the restaurant.

I had goat tacos! Yummy!
The goats were raised right in Boquillas.

Tom had chicken tamales! 

We were totally unaware of the bull scull behind me.
We saw later that there is a photo of Trump and "no wall".
They were very verbal about no wanting a wall..

Many children and families approached us to buy various craft item.
The entire town relies heavily on USA tourists. 

It was extremely windy in Boquiallis! This is Raul's wife and she hand stitched
all of these kitchen towels and Raul makes wire replicas of the cactus and plants in the area.

This is Raul's home.

We are almost to the USA border entry.
Strange border crossing. We had to lay our passports in a machine.
It was viewed by someone in El Paso Texas who looked at it. We then picked up a phone receiver
and that person asked us what we brought back, why we went etc.
But in the end..... we were allowed back into the USA!!

CASTALON AND SANTA ELENA CANYON
Another day, we drove the beautiful Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive to Castolon on the Rio Grande.

We then drove followed the river and drove over to Santa Elena Canyon. Wow!! Stunning and grand!

Obviously I did NOT take this photo.
It shows the huge canyon (from the air) cut in the rock by the Rio Grande river.
Mexico is on the left. On the right you can see the trail.

As we begin the trail.

Making our way up the trail. You can see we are climbing higher.

Toward the top of the trail. You can see people on the banks below.

We began the long drive home, knowing we were going to be driving in the dark because it was almost dark when we were at the canyon. So, we ended up seeing the most beautiful sunset.... We had stopped at Sotol Vista overlook on the way to the canyon and we were able to get back there for the sunset! What a beautiful show it put on! I wish these photos were better.... it's always more beautiful in person.

CHISOS MOUNTAINS
The Chisos Mountains are the only mountain range contained entirely within a National Park. They are 7,825 feet above sea level. The Chisos Mountains are the only area that is not completely desert in Big Bend National Park. It is forested primarily with Pinon, Oak, Juniper, Aspen, Douglas Fir, Bigtooth Maple and Ponderosa Pine.
These photos were taken at Chisos Basin Visitors Center.

ANIMALS:
While driving between Panther Junction and Rio Grande Village we came upon this little guy. He's a wild coyote. He was in the road and came up to our car and was very friendly. He made eye contact and looked like he was saying "take me home with you!" This is VERY unusual behavior for a wild wolf. We reported it to a ranger at the Panther Junction Visitors Center. She said, "Oh! That coyote!" She said that he has been doing that for quite some time and no one knows why he is so outgoing. She agreed it was very unusual behavior.

This is a Peccary but around here it is called a Javelina. They roam the entire park and we found this one happily eating grass in the Cottonwood Campground near Castolone.

ODDS and ENDS:
Here is a tunnel we drove through on our way to the Rio Grande Village.

Every bush/plant in this area.... has stickers and sharp points!

Tom by the Rio Grande!

Love the way these folks travel!

A Million Dollar Rig!!
The extra trailer has a hydraulic car lift so they store their corvette on the top and their
two Harley Davidson trikes on the bottom. AND matching custom paint jobs!

An old homestead that is now a small museum about the early settlers
and Mexicans of the area. 

Saw this in a museum in the park. Great explanation.

How this land was formed.

Cerro Castellan

Bright moon in the middle of the day!

Relaxing with a beer at the Lajitas Resort.

Wow! We loved Big Bend National Park!! And now, we are on to our next adventure!! Our next adventure will include water so we can spend some time getting to know our new kayaks!