Longhorn Ranch Motel Terlingua

... br>the film 'The hills have eyes'... rather eery. We got off the bus and<br>it was like stepping in to a sauna, hot and humid. We were told there<br>not was much to do, although there was a creek if we fancied a<br>paddle, or there was the bar, with happy hour currently on.... well<br>there was only one place everyone wanted to go, and too hot to put<br>tents up everyone crowded in to the bar, who already knew we were<br>coming had put a welcome sign ...

... food.<br><br> Sunday morning we said our goodbyes, Kate returned to Houston, and we drove on for Big Bend National Park in southern Texas. We arrived right around sunset after a few delays and the pictures just don&#8217;t do the sky justice. There were a few small, scattered storms throughout the area as we drove in and as the sun was disappearing over the mountains, the sky looked like it was set ablaze. The ...

... for the next few days at the local Wal-mart (yes, I said Wal-mart), we moved on. Big Bend National Park, located along the Mexican border in southwestern Texas, is massive, spanning 800,000 acres of Chihuahuan Desert, Chisos Mountains, and Rio Grande River. We spent two nights in this amazing landscape, and explored only a tiny fraction of it. Setting up camp in Chisos Basin Campground the first evening was a bit challenging due to cold, windy weather and a surprising ...

... 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 ...

... isolation. Our campground has been visited by a mountain lion in the past week, a bear a couple days ago and we have had a great time watching local Javelinas and deer graze through the place making Sophie a bit crazy. We got in a it of hiking and will now get ready to go north to The MacDonald Observatory in NW Texas. We have passed this place a number of times but never stopped. Now is our chance. So...back to 55 mph and hoping for more interesting scenery.

... They walk away. I pack my things and start walking down when 4 people are at the top of the stairs and are going to take a group photo. I offer to take a picture of the 4 of them. We chat a while. They indicated they were from India and Houston. There was an older couple and I'm assuming their daughter, and another older gentleman. Maybe it was the older gentleman that was visiting from India. But they were all Indians, from India, not North America. Boy this ...

The Baja 500 X 10&#8315;¹ I drove a lot further today then I had originally planned. But I'm where I wanted to be today even though I stayed an extra day in Brackettville. Life is good! The drive to Marathon was very windy and uphill all the way. Then from Marathon to the Big Bend National Park Headquarters it was a lot of downhill. The final leg to Terlingua was very snaky. I made it here by 3h30 which was a little earlier then the GPS had ...

... springs after the hike. The are naturally heated to 105 degrees F, and certainly soothe aching leg muscles!! It was Neil's groups turn to cook tonight, so we had a lovely stir-fry under the stars. Sat drinking outside of the tents for a while and then layered up for another night camping.

... Texas, where No Country for Old Men was filmed, and stopped for dinner at a fantastic Mexican restaurant in San Antonio. Overall, it was an exhausting, amazing trip, and we had a wonderful time. I had no idea Big Bend was so spectacular. I really enjoyed seeing Kelly the Outdoorsman in full swing. He's very accomplished and competent, and I felt I was in very good hands. We're already talking about how soon we can get out there again. Anyone wanna go?