Thursday, October 25, 2007

Day 5: The day Kathy will claim Chris tried to kill her.

We finally reached our destination this morning when we entered Big Bend National Park. (Pictures on Flickr.)

We saw a family of javelinas, collared peccaries, crossing the road even before we reached the visitor center to pay. We have also seen numerous roadrunners, but no Wil E Coyotes.

We spent the day driving from the north gate to the Rio Grande at Santa Elena Canyon.

The scenery is a typical Western landscape: dry desert sliced with dry arroyos and sprouting with rocky mesas and ridges with talis skirts. The desert is full of color. Prickly pears, for example, can appear light green or purple. The purple appears in drought conditions.

As you approach the Rio Grande you see a cliff. Finally, when you are about a mile away you realize how big this cliff is. It's like a wall, almost perfectly vertical. And big, really, really big and it goes a long way east and west. It is amazing. In the middle of this wall is a narrow opening called the Santa Elena Canyon. The Rio Grande flows through this canyon. So Texas owns one half the cliff wall and Mexico owns the other half of the cliff wall.

Kathy and I walked down the canyon. This requires walking up several ramps and flights of steps to an elevation of about 100 feet, then walking about a mile. Chris kept asking Kathy if she wanted to turn back. She kept saying no. So when Kathy says I tried to kill her, I want you to remember that she knowingly took a full dose of this poison.

The canyon is very narrow, but the straight walls go up and up. It is amazing.

The Rio Grande passes through three canyons in Big Bend park. Chris wanted to raft through the canyons, but, according to the rangers in the visitor's center, the water is too low for good rafting. June and July are better. Oh well.

In the old days, US citizens could visit Mexican towns on the other side of the river. Now we can't and US citizens trying to get back in the US are fined $5,000.

Tonight we are bedding down at a campsite at Terlinqua west of the park. Before settling down, we drove to Terlinqua, the ghost town about 5 miles further West.

When we arrived we took a dirt road on the east side of town that went up on the desert floor and down into the dry arroyos. Up and down, up and down for at least half a mile on dirt roads.

We finally got to the West side of town where the remains of the old town stood. The place was jumpin' with a reunion of the descendants of mercury miners. The original town was started by a man named Howard Perry as a mercury mine, Chisos Mining Company. Several of the old buildings have been renovated for new uses. So, despite the name, "ghost town" the place is still active, possibly even thriving.

Kathy and Chris returned to the new Terlinqua to eat in a Mexican restaurant called The Roadrunners. The salsa for the chips was actually spicy hot. The gaucamole was good too.

Tomorrow we will return to Big Bend for another visit, then off toward San Antonio. On the way we will pass by Langtry where Judge Roy Bean held court.

Day 4: Big Bend or Bust

We spent the morning visiting the state park headquarters of Monahans Sandhills State Park and trying to slide down a sandhill. We rented one snow discs for a $1. Kathy actually slid down the sand for about 20 feet. Chris could not slide at all because too much weight was spread over too small an area.

We spent the rest of the day driving toward Big Bend National Park.

On the way south we stopped in the small town of Marathon, named because an old sea captain told them that the surrounding land reminded him of Greece. And the land does look like Greece.

We stopped at the public library to use their Internet connection, only to discover that they do not have wireless. We had a nice professional chat with the librarian. This town of 500 has some wealth. They have nice hotel with fireplaces in the rooms. A grocery with gourmet foods. This grocery store, called French Grocery, has wireless Internet. So we bought some food and sat at picnic tables out front and added Day 3 and 4 to vacation blog. While we were there, customers in nice, new cars pulled up. The town is doing ok.

After finishing our blog we drove the rest of the way to Big Bend. Before reaching the front gate of the park we turned left 18 miles to Stillwell Store, RV park and museum. It's the only RV park near the north entrance of the national park. What a dump. RVs are right next to each other. Fortunately, it's off season and so some lots remained empty. These people are related to Hallie Stillwell, a famous woman in these parts.

Our RV was backed-up against a rocky hill covered with cactus. As it got dark, three horses walked around the hill snorting and stamping their feet. We could see them be the light of an almost full moon.

There were no clouds in the sky today. The nights are chilly, even cold earlier in the week. The mornings are cool. The days are warm, but not hot. Perfect weather.