Rio Grande Village Campground Big Bend National Park

... It was not long before we saw more Wildlife<br>Michelle was in front and saw the grass rustle and there along the<br>side of the path was a big black tarantula. Michelle say &#8220; oo look&#8221;<br>as Dean and Alison got closer they realised what i had seen and took<br>several paces back... eek! So frantically we all trying to start<br>taking pictures but rather scared it was trying to get out of the<br>frantic paparazzi above it. So we left it ...

... street while tourists and locals mingle drunkenly in the roadways. And there is no shortage of bars by any means. For maybe a quarter mile every doorway on this busy street is an entrance to some sort of drinking establishment from shot bars to upscale lounges to dive bars. The 4 of us went first to a bar that had a balcony, so that we could watch the events on the street. A short while after, we met up with a ...

... for a spectacular panoramic view of the dessert below. I had a little trouble at the higher altitudes: my legs felt like lead, my movement was labored, and I got cranky (as John can attest to), but we carried plenty of water with us, and by the time our descent was underway, my energy surged again. The view from the top and sense of accomplishment was worth the discomfort. A drive clear across Big Bend to the southeastern edge of the park, took us to the banks of the Rio ...

... waves on the ocean. It was bizarre to see water the color of chocolate milk cresting like that. Throughout the trip, we also got to see the extent of the devastation. At the put in, a local resort town called Lajitas was so inundated with water that we floated over the 18th green of the golf course, and on the other side of the river we saw Mexican villages that had been partially wiped out. For ...

... scary moment where we saw nothing but sky, the car made it over the hump and landed on the road above. You should have seen our celebration! The best part, though, was that just before we tried it, I turned to Mike and said, "Are we being clever or stupid?" His answer was "both". So I guess in the end, we were clever, stupid and lucky, because we made it out the other end and drove another 10 miles or so until we found ourselves back on a paved road.

... per gallon, taking 20% off our cost per mile is a big deal and worth the extra time on the road and the prolonging of the boring parts. Now to Big Bend in SW Texas. This is our third time here and it never ceases to amaze us. Wish our camera was working. We are staying in the high basin, surrounded by desert mountains up to 6k feet high. The bird life here is spectacular. It is the northern end of the southern bird species and vice versa for northern species ...

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 ...

Well, we survived our first week of actually living in the camper van, and just loved it! Spent the entire week in Big Bend National Park - about 800,000 acres in southern Texas along the Rio Grande river, the boundary between the United States and Mexico. From an elevation of less than 2,000 ft along the river to nearly 8,000 ft in the mountains, Big Bend includes massive canyons, vast desert expanses, the entire Chisos Mountain range and an ...