You are currently browsing the daily archive for May 15, 2009.
Late Monday morning we headed off for West Texas. And after ~8 hours of driving we were doing the same thing Tuesday morning. Seriously, you can think about messing with East Texas, but West Texas is a whole ‘nother story!
After touring a couple of Wal-Marts, we were all ready for our first night of camping on the road. We stayed in a $4 rustic campsite at Lake Amistad outside lovely Del Rio on Monday night and were thanking our lucky stars that we packed a couple gallons of water to take with us.
Chris making friends with a walking stick
They say the first night camping is hard, the second night you toss and turn, and the third you sleep like the dead. We would certainly agree. We packed up camp early that morning and headed back into Del Rio to steal internet from a hotel parking lot before we headed into the real West Texas where they haven’t heard of them internets. One more Wal-Mart stop and we were on our way to Big Bend!
The West Texas countryside was straight out of No Country for Old Men and went on for miles and miles and miles. Apparently, it doesn’t agree with the trusty Focus because just outside of Marathon, TX the engine started chugging and the check engine light came on. D’oh! We stopped by Slim’s Auto Service and Slim told us that it was probably nothing much and we could check in at the NAPA in Alpine (the next town over, only 70 miles away) to get the part. We decided to take our chances and head on down to Big Bend. Fortunately, the Focus held up but she did remind us the whole way that she was unhappy.
We arrived at our campsite in Big Bend National Park in the early evening and we won’t try to describe it, just look at the picture below of the view from our campsite.
View from Big Bend campsite
Mountain deer grazing in the campground
We cooked up a delicious dinner of canned black beans and corn over soba noodles (mmmmmmm) and quickly headed off to bed, to be woken up at 1:30 am by a crazy windstorm that lasted 3 hours. The next morning we woke up at dawn to head off for our rafting trip down the Rio Grande.
After a 45-minute drive we arrived at the closest town and the headquarters of Big Bend River Tours. Lucky for us, there was a mechanic next door so we left our car with all our gear, blissfully hoping that we’d come back to find the Focus all fixed up.
We arrived at the river at 8am and had a day rafting trip ahead of us through Santa Elena canyon. The morning was great, not too hot … plenty of sunscreen, all good. Our river guide was doing all the rowing so Chris and I just hung on and took loads of pictures.
Our trusty river guide, paddling away
Liz is smiling away!
Chris, with a little more tan ...
After 4 hours we reached the canyon and things started to heat up. We stopped the raft and our guide set up a satisfying lunch spread, complete with Nutter Butters and Chips Ahoys. Back on the water, the canyon was amazing, starting at 800 feet and by the end soaring to 1,500 feet of cliffs on either side.
The canyon walls
By 4pm we’d reached the end of our journey … all of us a little sick from all the sun (temp in the shade must have been at least 95). But we were dreaming of the Focus all fixed up and ready to head back to camp. When we arrived back in Terlingua, we heard the bad news. The shop had closed down and the Focus was locked up … with everything in it! We had to wait another hour and a half for the owner to come back. We did so and Archie told us it was a simple problem to fix. He had run a diagnostic and all it needed was spark plugs and wires. He told us to go to the NAPA in Alpine to pick up the parts, and then go on back to see Buddy (no signs or nothin, just tell him Archie sent us). He would hook us up and get it all taken care of lickety-split.
So we headed back to the campsite for one last night, completely worn out. The next morning we woke up at dawn again to take the Window trail before it got too hot. It was a lovely trail with a great view at the end.
Another self-portrait at the end of Window Trail
We packed back up and headed to Alpine to find Buddy. Turned out, he was on vacation, so we got the car fixed at another place. Took 30 minutes, and the Focus is running smooth again.
Last night we stayed in Marfa, TX at the Thunderbird Hotel. It’s kind of hard to describe this place, you kind of have to see it to believe it. It’s like an old Texas town that’s been turned into an artists’ oasis. We’re about to check out and look for a Marfa sticker for the Thule box.
Dang, we’re just about blogged out. We’ll give another post in a week or so!
After a short drive (for us, at least, only 4 hours), we drove through lovely downtown Houston and arrived in Galveston early afternoon to be greeted by our fantastic hosts, Roy and Diane, at their awesome Bay House.
Motoring through Houston
Since it was Mother’s Day, we made sure to check in with our moms and let them know we were still alive and kicking. Then, it was off on another boat, cruising through the Houston bay. And fast (but not faster than the pelicans)! Later that night we went to dinner in Galveston and then checked out the fancy hotel for a nightcap. We hopped in the hot tub when we got back and then headed to bed. We had another long day of driving ahead of us the next morning!
The giants at the Bay House
