Castolon Campground Big Bend National Park

<br><br>The following morning we were awakened<br>by the twisty roads rocking us out of our sleeping bags, the buses<br>horn as it rounded black spots. We were in Big Bend National Park.<br>Jonathan stopped the bus and welcomed us to Big Bend and to the fact,<br>we had lost another hour, it was 8:30 not 7:30. We were in one of the<br>visitors centres car park and this is where we were to freshen up and<br>have breakkie. <br><br>After breakfast we a ...

... anyway). We picked up Mark and drove back to his apartment in our car with Mark and his luggage on top of our supplies; needless to say it was a tight squeeze. <br><br>The next few days, while Mark was at work, we explored downtown Austin. We spent a lot of time in the Southern Congress, or SoCo area. The SoCo area reminded us of an Ann Arbor type area. There were many interesting little boutiques and shops ...

It's starting to feel like the west! Mountains, desert, and cacti. After leaving San Antonio, we spent one night at Amistad National Recreation Area (just outside border town, Del Rio). While we were closer to the road than we liked, we got to sleep under the stars (first time without the tent fly), and met a daring young, Czech from British Columbia, Lucas, who was on his way back to Canada after a 5-month car trip through Mexico and Central America. After stocking up on ...

... walls 1500 feet high and (normally) a few exciting rapids. But with such massive water flows, we didn't see a single rapid. The largest rapid is usually a section called 'Rock Slide', which is a rocky section that the river guide has to maneuver the raft through. We didn't see a single rock! Instead, we had to make our way through giant waves that swamped the boat, and got so tall that they broke ...

... the Rio Grande was not its usual placid self. It was a record 20 feet higher than normal (running at 30,000 cubic feet per second), with floods almost a mile wide and all of the riverside campgrounds flooded out. We popped into a river outfitter to get some advice, since we knew already that canoeing was out of the question, and decided to head out for a raft trip as soon as a local company would take us out. As it turned out, we weren't able to ...

Hey, Damn!.... Texas takes a long time to cross, especially with our determination to drive 55 mph and avoid freeways as much as possible. Took us a bit over 2 days to get here from the Texas Coast. Texas is not only big...it is flat, flat, flat. At 55 one can count the flowers on one cactus while you pass by. We are saving fuel however. By dropping our speed from 70 mph to 55 we have increased our miles per gallon by an average of 21%. With diesel at 3.99 to 4 ...

... a National Park with rules about taking rocks, plants, etc. So I couldn't tell people exactly where I found it. If I lied and said I found it outside the park they would want to know where. Then I would need to find a similar rock formation. Diamonds don't grow just anywhere. Lies and greed. A bad combination. Maybe it's better that I didn't find a diamond. Reduces the temptation to create some crazy story. I get to the end of the canyon and I have a choice. Go ...

... checked out some maps of the areas in the Park that I want to see. I noticed that the closest area I wanted to see was the Santa Elena Canyon. The Canyon was located about 25 kms off the main highway. I decided that that would be a good place to go this evening and take some pictures of the setting sun...hopefully. As soon as I turn off the main highway there's a sign warning that the road is only accessible by high-clearance vehicles. The ...

In the Big Bend National Park. Camping was very cold, but we did get some sleep. Hiked up Emory Peak today. It took a while, and ended up being about 9 miles in total length for the hike, but it was good fun, and rewarding when you saw the views. It was nice to be able to go to the natural ...

... Isaacks. As we entered, I counted nine deer heads, two mountain goats, and a javelina mounted on the walls. Nice. The restaurant was hoppin', and we were clearly the only out-of-towners in the joint. Every single person in the place from babies to grandma was dressed in camo. Most of the women were wearing high-fashion camo, but the men and children had clearly come straight from the field and were decked out head to toe. For dinner ...