Big Bend 2010

I couldn't leave Texas without a farewell trip to Big Bend! Lauren and I have become great travel buddies... if we can do the crash-course Europe trip and camping in the rain and still look forward to the next trip together, I'd say we've passed the test of the travel-able friendship. :) West added to the conversation and provided gentlemanly assistance (i.e., driving tent stakes into rock-hard Texas soil). Thanks West!

For a 3-night trip to the Chisos Basin and Ft. Davis's McDonald Observatory, I'd say we did pretty well to only experience about 3 or 4 minor setbacks to the plans. Who else could say that in 3 days, they were fortunate enough to see a crackling lightning bolt start a raging desert brush fire, a full-grown black bear foraging for bugs in the brush only 50 feet ahead on the trail, and a light rain followed by erratic gusts of wind that nearly blew their tent over all through the night? So the last one wasn't our top experience on the list, but...

Minor setback #2 (see #1 below): FOOD. We forgot the gas tank for the cook stove and the cheap self-lighting charcoal burned for about 5 minutes, so my plan to boil water over the grill back-fired. Thursday night dinner was PB and bread with apples and bananas, and then our neighbor across the way had pity and brought over some of his jalapeno & bacon-wrapped chicken stuffed with cream cheese... YUM! This will definitely be on the menu the next time I camp (with legitimate charcoal, that is). We were able to get enough warm-ish water for oatmeal and instant coffee in the morning... a far cry from my last camping experience, a la Kent, but at least we could drive to towns with legitimate restaurants. Limpia Hotel in Ft. Davis has the only "watering hole" in town and one of the only and The Best restaurant... awesome dinner there.

Minor setback #3: Other minor setbacks included difficulty getting cell service while we spent 2 hours cooling off in the Visitor's Center air-conditioning while the information guide glared at us over his counter. West also made a few rather unsuccessful phone calls to the Ft. Davis lodge, which not only could not make a reservation for Sat. night, but also could not tell us whether or not they could make a reservation, and also could not cancel and refund our money for the camping reservation we'd already made... but could give us a lot of unimportant information about their holiday bookings for the next 365 days.

Minor setback #4: Not being able to eat at the Starlight Cafe (for the 2nd time for me!) because it was closed for a private party, which turned out to be the junior high dance (Terlingua is a small town)

Minor setback #5: Almost not being able to actually see the moon during the lunar viewing show at the Observatory due to an oncoming thunderstorm. Fortunately, it cleared up enough to see both the moon and Saturn... which looks ridiculously fake through the high-powered 16-inch lens telescope. It literally looks like a yellow cardboard cut-out with a pencil stuck through it, the kind of Saturn we all made in school for our planet mobile projects. I swear the astronomer slipped in a slide or something when he went out to exchange joysticks (after dropping one on the ground and breaking it). Crazy to me that after all the high-powered visual equipment they use, they still have to boot up Windows to run their viewing software. Why doesn't Mac make astronomical viewing software? Shouldn't they be superior at the visual imaging?

Minor setback #6: Turning around on the Santa Elena Canyon scenic drive when it turned out to be not-so-scenic. The lightning bolt and the ensuing fire were quite a scene, but we didn't really feel like becoming a part of the scenery, so we had to turn around to avoid the fast-spreading flames.

Minor setback #7: Turning around on the Window Trail when Mrs. Black Bear decided to have a bug feast in the middle of the path. Actually it was kind of cool to be that close to a wild bear, though, so that pretty much made up for not getting to the Window.

Ooo... and I almost forgot! (Thanks for the reminder in your reflective e-mail, West.) Near major setback, which we will call Minor setback #1 for the cohesiveness of this post:

The most bizarre experience, above even the brush fire and the junior high dance, was the ghost town of Scheffield, where a kind guardian-angel of sorts appeared out of nowhere to help us fill our dangerously-close-to-empty gas tank. We were somewhere between Ozona and Marathon (=between nowhere and close-to-nowhere), debating whether to call AAA ahead of time and give a projected location where we would be coasting to a stop, as to lessen the amount of time we had to wait in 95 degree desert heat for a rescue. (Despite our other camping blunders, I did think to bring over 3 gallons of water with us... go me). Then we saw the little town of Scheffield. Thinking this would be a pleasant place to find some gas (a sign read "Grandad's" only 1/2 mile off the highway), we turned off I-10 and into a time warp. Houses and cars circa 1940 sat vacant, rotting and rusting in the heat. Some lots looked like junkyards, with toys and garage materials lying in little piles in front yards. Grandad's was definitely closed, all boarded up. We were turning around to get the hell out of Scheffield, before the chupacabra jumped out of the creosote bushes and saved us the worry of running out of gas first. Waiting along a major hwy for a few hours in the hot Texas sun and taking our chances hitching a ride with the next passerby was far preferable to vanishing like a mirage in this creepy deserted town. Then, down the next street came a Range Rover (at least circa 1990). We frantically hailed the driver to wait for us to explain our city-slicker predicament. At first he just stared at us, blank eyes in his dark complected face. Does he only speak Spanish, I thought? Or is he hesitating between helping us or hijacking our car? Or is he too, just a mirage, a figment of our foolishly hopeful imaginations? But then he spoke: "You could try this one up here. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't." Whew. It seems he was only debating whether we could really be as stupid as to forget to buy gas in the town 60 miles back. But there was no sign saying "Last chance to buy gas for over 60 miles." (They do create such signs. I have seen them before.) "We're really glad we saw you. There appears to be no one in this town." "Yeah," he replied. "Not much here anymore. I was just about to drive 18 miles to Marathon to buy the paper and eat a hamburger."

We pulled up to the ancient gas tank, Lauren muttering "What the hell kind of gas tank only sometimes works?!?" and me muttering, "Uh, this looks like diesel only..." Thank God the guy actually got out and helped us figure out how the thing worked. It even took a credit card! Incrediblé! I feel bad that we didn't even get the guy's name. He explained to us that the town used to be more.... alive, but "then when they put the highway through in the 60s, it really got hit hard." Then he explained it got to be an even worse place to live in the 80s when Mexico drug lords really started pushing through the tiny West TX towns. "The border patrol is actually out hereabouts right now on a drug bust case. It'd be best for you to go ahead and get on out of here." No problem with that! Yikes! Thank God that guardian angels exist even in freaky Texas ghost towns harboring Mexican drug traffickers. We should have followed him to the next town and bought him his hamburger.

Bottom line after this trip: I realized I should never go camping without experienced campers until I become one myself. As much as I love traveling with you, Lauren, and as much as you are a nice guy, West, I do think it would make a better trip all-around for us next time if we invite an experienced camper who could bring their gear and set it up in an experienced fashion. And Lauren, you really should try this. Don't give up on camping altogether because of one bumbling camper experience. Now, take a look at my pics. You have to agree, it is worth the minor discomfort for the incredible views. God bless beautiful Texas!