Upstairs At The Mansion Terlingua

... and freaking out at random<br>things....but we eventually were all fast asleep.<br><br> <br><br>The following morning we awoke, some<br>nursing the hangover from the night before, After Breakfast was the<br>'toss off', which is basically every single thing inside the bus<br>being brought out so we can clean the bus. So everything was turfed<br>out on to the tarp on the rocky car park. It was like a military<br>operation, day sacks in one area ...

... 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 ...

... border was a first for me. National land borders are a strange concept for a citizen of a country as geographically immense as the United States, and when one comes upon them, it's a bit of a shock, as if access to the seemingly endless and open landscape, will never end, be questioned, or denied. We were actually stopped by border patrol two or three times coming and going into Big Bend, and I found it a bit intimidating. A wake-up call to the privileged mobility we enjoy.

... 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 ...

... wiped out the road, leaving a ledge about 3 feet high on both sides. Looking at the road, though, we decided to give it a try, since our plucky little Ford Escape seemed to be faring surprisingly well. After about 4 tries with nothing but spinning wheels, we turned around and gave up. But after about 20 yards, we decided to give it one more try. Mike got out and tried to kick out a path in the dirt, then got back in and gave it one last try. After ...

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 truck mounted camper with Quebec plates. The scenic drive has stops along it with signs explaining what you are seeing. The pictures will hopefully be titled what the areas are. At Tuff Canyon I decide to hike down into the canyon and see the rock formations. The sign at the top of the canyon talks about the volcanic activity that created the canyon. The volcanic and other various rocks are quite interesting. I stop for some water and notice some rocks with ...

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 ...

... a temper tantrum worthy of a two-year old. Kelly kept up a constant stream of encouragement to get me to our campsite. We arrived blistered, exhausted, and proud of ourselves. After a quick dinner of couscous and salmon from the pouch, we turned in. I was planning to read for awhile, but holding a paperback was more than I could handle at that point. I turned off the light at 7:35 pm. By 7:38, Kelly was snoring deeply. PHOTO_ID_L=babyx ...

... re made of bacon! Monday February 27, 2006 7:30AM Okay, least favorite thing to do in Big Bend: Get out of warm sleeping bag, find a secluded spot, dig a hole six inches deep, and.... Favorite (one of them) thing to do in Big Bend: Wake up to coyotes calling to each other all around me. It's really impossible to be scared of them because they sound more like drunk people singing or pretending to be coyotes than any kind of fearsome wild dog. Convo with Ranger Bob about ...