Wednesday, February 4, 2015

We will have little or no internet access for the next several days.  Best way to contact us if necessary is a text to Steve's cell, as we will occasionally be in cell range.

Deb

Sunday, February 1, 2015

We are in Lajitas, Texas, and this is the view from my window:

Lajitas is between Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park on the Rio Grande River.

We got up Saturday morning to temperatures in the 50’s and gorgeous clear blue skies.  The plan was to drive east to the town of Marathon and then south to the Big Bend National Park.  The entire route was labeled as a scenic byway on the map.

Which was great for about 20 miles, when we drove into a dense fog.  I say fog, but I think it was really a cloud.  We were at 4400 feet and climbing slightly.  The fog was very thick and we slowed way down.  We made it safely to Marathon and stopped for lunch.  Urban spoon helped us find a good place,  Johnny B’s.  Apparently this is where the local ranchers come in for lunch.  There were about 8 there.  It was a tiny place, but the burgers were good, and Steve said the milkshake was, too.  I think the waitress made 3 for the ranchers, who were leaving, before she made Steve’s for the road.

The fog had lifted a bit by the time lunch was over and we found the turnoff for the road to Big Bend National Park.  I don’t want to say this is out in the boonies, but it is.  From Marathon to park headquarters is 43 miles.  We drive through desert grasslands.  I think we saw about 6 cows and two horses in 43 miles.  Ranching has got to be a hard life.

The clouds still covered the tops of the mountains we could see.

We saw a few ranches, but mostly what you see is the ranch gate and the dirt driveway, which disappears over a hill or into a valley.  In other parts of Texas, the ranch gates vary from very basic to very elaborate.  Out here, they are very basic, utilitarian.  Most do have the ranch name, but mostly they don’t even have mailboxes.  I assume they pick up their mail at the post office when they are in town.

We finally get to the entrance gate and flash our senior pass for entry.  (If you are over 62, you can buy a life time pass to the national parks for $10.  Best bargain ever.)  We still have miles to go to get to the visitor center.

The park covers 801,163 acres.  The geology, climate and landscape varies depending on where you are in the park.  118 miles of the Rio Grande form the southern border of the park.  The lowest part of the park is at the Rio Grande, 1800 ft. above sea level.  The highest peak is 7832 ft.  (Numbers from Wikipedia.)

Parts of the park were overgrazed before it was parkland and changed from grasslands to desert.  One of the places to stop was the grave of a pioneer.  Nina Hannold moved here by covered wagon in 1908 and she and her husband ranched here.  Her husband also taught school 8 miles away, so much of the ranching fell on Nina.  She died during her fourth pregnancy and asked to be buried overlooking the spring where she used to sit under the cottonwoods with her children.  Both the spring and the cottonwoods are gone.

We did finally reach park headquarters and picked up maps and information to help us plan our next few day.  We were now in the mountains and beautiful views met us in every direction.  We needed to head west to our campsite for the night.

There are several campgrounds in Big Bend NP, even one with full hookups.  But we also wanted to tour Big Bend Ranch State Park a few miles away, so Steve booked us into the Maverick RV park.  No trees, but a spectacular view and we can get both cell phone and satellite.  So we’re watching the Super Bowl as I’m typing this.

Today got off to a late start, as we needed to get more propane for the trailer.  While it’s much warmer here than elsewhere in the country, we still have been using the furnace at night.  And since we wanted to watch the Super Bowl, we decided we would do the river drive along the Rio Grande in Big Bend Ranch State Park.

I have 58 photos on my phone from that drive.  Picking a few to show you is hard.  Steve said this is rated one of the 50 best drives by National Geographic and I believe it.

The first surprise is the river.  The Rio Grande is not Grande.  The Wabash is a bigger river, at least in this area.  And right now, it’s not very deep.  You can tell that the water level is low.  We saw a few cattle on the Mexican side of the river shortly after we left town, but since there was a small ranch on this side, I suspect the cattle had waded across.  There’s a fine of up to $5000 for crossing into Mexico improperly, but I expect that the ranchers are allowed to round up their cattle.

The rest of the drive held a few surprises, along with gorgeous scenery.  We came across a movie set sitting right on the river:

It was built for a western in 1985 called “Uphill All The Way” and has been used several times since.  The buildings are adobe, which is still used a lot.

There are several camping areas along the road.  These are campsites with usually a picnic table and grill, period.  And most cannot be seen from the road and you should have four wheel drive to get to them.  Roger D., this one’s for you.  The Rio Grande is behind the line of trees behind the picnic shelter.

Most campsites or picnic areas have a shelter in Texas.  In the summer, it’s absolutely necessary if you are out for any period of time.  The shelters at the campsites were simple and rustic, but one picnic area had unique shelters.

There was a picnic table under each teepee and a grill next to each one.

I’m going to close with some shots from the road.  Enjoy:

More later.

Deb