BIG BEND COUNTRY

“The stars lean so close that if one stood tiptoe on the highest hill he might grasp at least one star in his tingling fingers. ......We should be able to glimpse eternity through those spark holes in the blanket of the long night. Perhaps we do. Where else is such order, such an eternal pattern, as in those stars that light the winter sky?” - Hal Borland

After stopping at a car wash to remove all the Padre Island salt and sand from our motor home, we traveled west stopping in Laredo to stock up on groceries and do laundry. We were definitely the minority. It seemed like the only English speaking people were the staff at the campgrounds. Our Spanish is limited but hola an gracias seemed to be enough. The last two weeks of December is an ongoing festivity along the border -- lots of parties in the campground with family and friends. Dick said there were many broken pinatas in the dumpsters and every evening we watched fireworks. To celebrate our thirty-fifth wedding anniversary on December 28, we satisfied our Mexican food craving at Palenque Grill in Laredo. We both agree the best gift to each other is this five month trip.

I love the cactus covered, wide open spaces of Texas. We now and then drive by an entrance to a ranch and pass through several, what appear to be, ghost towns. After Del Rio we crossed the beautiful Pecos River and, of course, had to stop in Langtry to visit the museum in honor of Judge Roy Bean “law west of the Pecos.” http://www.historictexas.net/valverde/people/judgeroybean.html 

We then moseyed on to Seminole Canyon State Park where we hiked 7 miles and had lunch overlooking the Rio Grande River. We watched a beautiful full moon (the blue moon) light up the clear sky, and settled in for a night of fierce winds. We have had many nights of Texas winds. There are times we feel like we’re in a boat during a storm, but it eventually rocks us to sleep. We’ve had freezing temps several nights, but the sun warms everything up into the 60‘s or 70‘s during the day. Locals are saying they haven’t seen it this cold in over 20 years. 


We traveled south out of Marathon (pronounced Marathin out here) heading for Big Bend National Park. We liked Marathon so much we visited again on our way out of the park. On a whim we took a side trip down to the Stillwell Ranch. We'd heard about the legendary Hallie Stillwell, a pioneer woman who married a cowboy who owned the 4L Ranch (4 L's in Stillwell in case you didn't figure it out). In 1997, she died at age 99. There is a campground and an old general store. The campground isn't much but it was not a wasted trip because we enjoyed meeting the granddaughter who now runs the place. She handed us a key to Hallie's Hall of Fame museum and told us to shut off the lights and lock it up when we were done. The museum and the hour long documentary honors this interesting woman. http://stillwellstore.com/hall-of-fame/

The park personnel asked us to keep Big Bend National Park a secret. It is very remote and the least visited National Park. It's difficult for me to keep a place as unique as this a secret, but I understand their reasoning. It is called Big Bend country because it is located at the Bend of the Rio Grande River which divides the US from Mexico. The park shares 118 miles with Mexico. The bird watching is great. The roadrunners were everywhere, and a site to see was the Vermillion (fire red orange) Flycatcher sitting in the morning sun just outside our window. Again, the coyotes were lurking around and hoping for a cat dinner. The only other wildlife we saw were the javelinas and deer. Big Bend’s night skies are so clear and with no light pollution the milky way and stars are intense. It was paradise sitting in the hot springs along the rushing Rio Grande River. The white throated swifts were thick as mosquitoes swooping over our heads and over the river and canyon walls. Best of all were all the beautiful hikes and places we explored.

My parents decided to try out their new camper and traveled from Arizona to camp with us at Big Bend for a couple of days. We had fun visiting and playing cards. Mom resupplied us with food before they left knowing we wouldn’t be near a grocery store for a while. The nearest town was over 100 miles away. We are hoping to camp together again in southern Arizona. 

After nearly two weeks, we finally pried ourselves away from the park knowing there are more wonderful places to explore ahead. 
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