Month: October 2021

It’s called The Hill Country around here and it’s a region in south central Texas that boasts quite a few wineries, vineyards, and breweries, and Fredericksburg is the “Capital “of the Region.

          Fredericksburg was settled in the 1800’s by German immigrants and has managed to hold on dearly to its heritage. The entire town is German themed, and this makes is it a favorite destination for just about everyone. With the wineries, regular and German restaurants, and a downtown Main Street that has managed to maintain all of its old-world charm, Fredericksburg seems to be perpetually busy.          Especially now, it’s Oktoberfest time!

          We’ve been through this little town many times before as Rt. 290 runs right through the middle of it. Rt. 290 is the road that we take from our home base in Brenham all the way to the god-forsaken, evil-infested Interstate Route 10. It is also the town that we limped back to in the Texas Icemageddon of 2021 this past winter. We stayed an additional 3 days in the Walmart parking lot until we determined that it might be safe enough to venture out and make it back home.

          So, we definitely have a soft spot in us for Fredericksburg.      Unfortunately, during that wintry hiatus there, we were unable to sample any of its delightful feature’s because half of the town was without power, and if they did have it, the employees were unable to navigate the roads and come into work.

          So, we decided to come back some day.

          That day was perfectly positioned at the end of our Big Bend trip as we needed to travel right through it anyway!

          And it’s Oktoberfest!

          And the weather is still summerlike around here!

          We stayed at a very nice campground, one of the Jellystone Park franchises. Yup, that’s the one, the same as in Yogi and Boo-Boo!

          The place was meticulously clean and there is definitely a family vibe here with some nice activities and outdoor playthings available to use. The pool was sparkling clean, but we did not avail ourselves of that as we were too busy trying German restaurants!

           (And walking the town)

          We decided that the best way to conquer Main Street was to park at one end, walk up as far as we could, then cross and return back down. This tactic was good as almost every shop was interesting enough to poke our heads into and determine if they warranted a full visit or not. Our goal was to be back towards the beginning around lunchtime as we wanted to visit Der Lindenbaum, an authentic German restaurant complete with Helga, our native German accented waitress. This place had a nice Wiener Schnitzel, one of the dishes that Paula wanted to have.

          The other dish she wanted was Rouladen, her favorite.

          The night before, we had located another eatery, Auslander Biergarten,  where we had dinner. Our waiter was not German, but he was a hoot, and we had a ton of fun with him trading stories of all sorts.

          The Main Street has mostly covered sidewalks, which lend to its charm. I can see where these are crucial to this mercantile setting as they provide shade, which if it’s sunny, is somewhat of a necessity in the hotter weather.

          We did not venture out to the wineries as there were way too many to choose from, and Paula wanted to wait for Kaitie, her daughter-in-law, so that she could be there also. I looked to see if there were any dairies around so that I could do some Milk Tastings, but alas, there were none, so I may have to accompany the Winos, so they have a Designated Driver!

Here are some other views of Main Street.

          Back when we were driving through town I noticed a sign that read, WW II National Museum of the Pacific.

          I’m sorry, but I was immediately skeptical of this.

          Why here?

          Was this a ploy of someone’s to capture some tourist trade?

           What could possibly be authentic about a Pacific based museum here in the middle of the Texas desert?

          Be careful Doubting Donny! Don’t make rash judgements!

           Well, it turns out that Fredericksburg is the hometown of Admiral Chester Nimitz of WW II fame. I will not attempt to recite to you all of his attributes, as I could not begin to do them justice. I will tell you this, if you are in any way, a fan of military history and/or great American’s, then look no further and at least do some research and read a bit about him. I promise that you won’t be disappointed!

          As for the museum, drop what you are doing now and book a flight into Austin, let me know when you’re coming, and I will pick you up and drive you to this incredible place. We spent almost four hours there and could have doubled that if we read everything that was there. It truly is a totally complete history of the Pacific Theater of WW II.

          And Admiral Nimitz had a front row seat.

          To show you what kind of person he was, when the Town Fathers wanted to make a museum after the war, he refused to be involved unless it was a museum about all of the men and women that were involved, and it needed to be about their conflicts, not his. He once declined a promotion to Admiral because it would have meant that he would leap-frog over 30 men senior to him.  He thought that this would have not been received well and be a detriment to morale.

          How selfless can one be?

          His men obviously loved him.

          We saved a bit for a return trip, there is an Extension of the Museum called the Battle Zone which was closed for the day by the time that we finished in the main Museum. Along with that and the wineries, we are assured of another fine trip to The Hill Country and Fredericksburg.

          Hope to see you there!

No longer Novatas y Novatos (Rookies) in the Park, our last full day down here was sprinkled with relatively short jaunts from our site.

          The first excursion of the day was to Boquillos Canyon, the second most popular canyon to hike to and just look at, because there was really no way to go down the canyon (except by canoe) like we did in the Santa Elena the day before. One of the reasons that this hike was a good one was its proximity to us. It was only about 5 miles away, not the 56 of yesterday.

          This enabled us to sleep in (Not!) and get a later start.

          We actually left about the same time as yesterday because we had several destinations on our itinerary for this day and a few question marks that we may, or may not, be able to get to.

          One of the question marks was the little town of Boquillos that lay just on the other side of the Rio Grande. This town had its genesis back when there were mining operations in the area that spanned the Border. When the mines eventually shut down and the Park opened, they were able to stay in existence, in part, by the tourists that made the Crossing, aided by enterprising caballeros in small boats that would ferry you across the river….. for a fee.

          This practice still exists today. The US Border Patrol, in cooperation with the National Park Service, maintains a small Port of Entry here. It’s tiny as you may imagine, passports required, and the little town has its share local artisans that make local souvenirs to sell. There is also a small restaurante or two that will give you an authentic small town Mexican food experience.

          The question mark quickly turned into a declaratory statement when we pulled into the road that led to the Port and read the sign,     “Cerrado por culpa de Covid”.

          One did not need my four years of high school Spanish to interpret this when all you need was to read Covid and it became obvious.

          Besides, it was printed in both Spanish and English, but its more fun to write the Spanish one!

          This explained the plethora of trailside venues that the locals maintained in order to capture some of the Tourist Trade that has eluded them since the shutdown. They come across the river and set up small “stores,” complete with very polite signs that ask you to “Pay Here” for whatever you may want to purchase. I only saw one depository that was anchored in any way. Apparently (thankfully) there does not seem to be a problem with folks (on either side) absconding with either the wares or the dineros. There must also be a cooperative agreement amongst the proprietors of these “Shops” because  the price fixing conspiracy was evident, everything was priced the same. This was actually good because you need not worry , thinking that you may be able to “Get it Cheaper” somewhere down the path. Unless of course you just stole it, but as I said, this does not seem to be an issue.

          On our way to the Canyon, after we descended a small ridge, we arrived at the river level and proceeded to the mouth of the canyon. Soon we heard a melodious voice singing en Espanol. Rounding a bend, we came upon the ‘Singing Amigo’. He was an amalgamation of the ‘Singing Bush’ and the ‘Three Amigos’ from the movie of the same name. He was very polite and offered not only to serenade us but also to ferry us across the river if we wanted.

          He did not offer to check our passport’s, nor did he look like he cared. He said something like,

           “We don’t need no stinkin’ badges!”

            Not really!

           But I couldn’t resist the perfect spot to place one of the best lines ever delivered in a movie! We bid him “Adios!” and went on our way knowing that we would have this chance meeting once again on our way back.

          The canyon is, of course, beautiful and in the evening western light would have been magnificent. This is the stuff you learn and put to later use with a later trip. I can see one of these trips being taken during the winter or spring with a few canoe trips into these canyons being somewhat of a certainty.

          On our way back out we did encounter Ricky Martin again. We made a small monetary “Donation” to his cause, well… just because. He was very nice, and we exchanged pleasantries. He asked us if we had any granola bars. We did not, but we did supply him with a small package of Trail Mix for his enjoyment.

          Our next destination was Hot Springs.

          Apparently there is a fissure of sorts that finds it way up from the bowels of the earth and supply’s this area with a small pool of 105-degree water. It’s been happening for a really long time now, way before we (the collective we, as in humans!) came along. But when we  did, we immediately made a Resort out of it! This Resort  flourished during the early part of the last century up ‘til the Park was formed. The remnants of the town and resort are still here, nicely stabilized for all to see.

          It is still a favorite place to go here, even in this heat. One side of the pool is hot, and the other side (the river) is cooler. This may be another reason to visit down here when the weather is a little milder!

          We had our lunch here, taken from our now amply supplied backpacks that could have gotten us to the summit of Everest if needed. Then it was back to Base Camp for more binge watching of 24 during the heat of the day. Our next foray would be after an early dinner because it lay about 30 miles out and was supposed to be the best sunset view in the Park.

          We shall see.

          Our destination for that evening was a place called The Window. It was located in the Basin, which is snuggly nestled inside the surrounding rim of the Chisos Mountains.

          Think volcanic crater, albeit one from way, way, way long ago. This basin is where the Chisos Lodge is. This is the only lodging in the Park and has a restaurant, store, campground, and an amphitheater where the Rangers give talks in the evening. Many of the trails that lead upwards toward the higher terrain start here also. We arrived in time to witness this daily event, and even though the Window only affords a sunset viewed from our vantage point (through the middle of it) twice a year, it was still really nice.

           Unless you venture down the Widow Trail to change your angle of viewing, but we were definitely not prepared for that! But this time it was on purpose! The ‘Trail’ that we were on is actually ‘Wheelchair Accessible’, so we were not worried about “Being Prepared!”

Or, Parque National Grande Curva Dia Dos

Day Two’s weather forecast  at Big Bend N.P. was just as predicted, clear skies, sunny all day, and hot, with a chance of even hotter.

          This is why the recommended time for hiking is early morning with a goal of being off the trail by mid-morning, noon at the absolute latest. Our destination for the day was Santa Elena Canyon Trail, probably the most popular hike in the Park. The Canyon was 56 miles away, so we left early so that we could hike in the recommended time frame.

          But not too early, not because we didn’t want to get up, but because the light in the canyon would not be good until mid-morning. The Canyon runs kind of North/South so that means that the sun needs to be high enough to work its way down the Canyon walls in order to illuminate it nicely.

          Unfortunately, I am a Light-is-Everything snob when it comes to photography, so this makes a lot of our adventures Sun-Angle-Dependent. Most of the time it works out fine, as it did for this hike.          Hopefully you will agree when you see the photos.

          On the flip side, there is no doubting the advantage of hiking down here in the only shade in the Park.

           This shade is provided by Mother Nature only in the canyons and higher hills. Otherwise, the vistas need to be admired in broad daylight which after about 20 minutes becomes an issue. Fortunately, the hiker-gods were being nice that day as you will see.

          The Rio Grande may be Grande in some ways on its almost 1900-mile sojourn from the high mountains of Colorado down thru the deserts of New Mexico but at times it seems like just a small brook running over a pebbled bottom. It is ‘muy facil’ (very easy) to just walk across it. Hence the issues that our Border Patrol faces.

          It is hard to believe that this ‘rambling brook’ could carve out such beautiful canyons in this rugged landscape.

          But it did!

          There are three of these such canyons in the Park and we were fortunate enough to visit two of them. We were a tad more prepared for this hike than the one of the previous night.

          No, that’s wrong.

          We were way more prepared for this hike!

          Two backpacks filled with plenty of water, first-aid kit, sunscreen, more water, snacks, and of course lunch! Even my headlamp made the trip! And of course, our Leki Poles which came in handy when we crossed the “usually dry” Terlingua Creek. They helped us look for the best route across because both the hike and Canyon were on the other side of it.

          When hiking down here,  most of the time you encounter folks that are returning as you are going in. These “veterans” are very helpful if engaged in conversation. Most will impart their knowledge about the best and not-so-good parts laying before you. We then, return the favor by paying it forward on our way out.

          This practice was extremely helpful.

          Example:

          We needed to cross the aforementioned “dry” brook to get to the trail  on the other side. The problem was that unless you were following someone who knew the way, it was easy to go the wrong way as the destination on the other bank was not readily obvious.

          We started out and some folks let us know that “You’re going to have to get wet, no worries, it’s not too deep and your poles will help you look for the best spots to place your feet.”

          OK, good advice.

          We got to the edge and had to decide walk across with, or without, our hiking shoes on. Now these shoes can get wet, no issues there, but that means that the rest of the hike is in wet, squishy footwear. Not optimal. Surveying the situation from our vantage point, it didn’t look too bad. We spied what we thought was the destination on the far bank. We elected to go barefoot. This meant dealing with all of the rocks, etc. walking with feet that are only used to going barefoot around the house. This where the term “Tenderfoot” come in when you first join the Boy Scouts.  This was also the term the Indians called anyone who normally wore shoes as compared to their shoeless way of life, we definitely fell into that category!

          We slowly inched, (ouch!) our way across, shoes slung around our necks. When we got almost to our destination, a Voice from High Above, (no not That one!) yelled out, “Hey! You’re going the wrong way! Look there!” he said pointing. I looked up to a precipice high above the river to see one of the “People Who Had Gone Before Us” gesturing with his arms like C3-PO yelling at the Jawa’s transport, “Over here, over here!”

          It was a good thing that he advised us as we were heading for Mexico and a small beach that actually went nowhere! Reversing our course, we were able to find “The Way” and traverse the very wet “usually dry” brook and clamper up the other side, safely still on US soil, with only our Navigations Skill’s ego slightly damaged.

          Once there, we put our nicely dry footwear back on and proceeded down (up) the trail, up because it immediately gained probably 100 ft of elevation, using a set of very nice switchbacks that gave us the bird’s (hawks, eagle’s, you choose) eye view of where we had been and more importantly, where we did not go. It also afforded us a magnificent vista looking eastward.

          From there, the hike went about as smooth as can be, mostly in the shade, but with the sun creeping over the canyon walls, we could see that the further we went and the longer we stayed, the light would wash the western wall and afford us some beautiful views of the  morning sun-illuminated canyon cliffs

          We were not disappointed.

          When we were almost to the turn-around point, we met a nice young couple. They were perched out on a large rock, overlooking the river. I yelled to them, “Look over here!” and I snapped a few pics of them. “Give me your email” I yelled over. “And I’ll send them to you!” We’ve done this before; In Joshua Tree we saw two climbers scaling a vertical mini version of Yosemite’s El Capitan. I took some great pics of them climbing and then resting at the summit. We found them as they were walking out, and they were thrilled to have some photos of themselves.

          It’s hard to yell down to a random person happening by and ask to have your photo taken, so doing this was a nice way to surprise a stranger.                                                             

          On the return trip, we met our fellow hikers on their way in and gladly conveyed all of the trail factoids that we had learned and passed them on to them.

          When we clambered down to the edge of the “dry creek” and removed our footwear once more, we felt like seasoned pros. Reaching the other side, we advised all of the new soon to be “wet-backs” on the best route across. We ended the morning with our lunch where we shared a picnic table with a group of cyclists that made us feel like our cycling experiences were on tricycles. But they were very nice, (Hi, where ya’ from?) and I just silently drooled over the carbon-fiber frames of their bicycles.

          56 miles later, back in our home, we continued our binge-watching of Season One of ‘24’. We finished Season Two last week (because that was the set we found in storage) and decided that we needed to start from the beginning, so I ordered it and thankfully it came right before we left! This binge thing is way too easy to do when its miserably hot outside and there is no phone or internet service.

          Season Three has already been ordered.

          Big Bend National Park is one of the darkest places in all of North America and attracts sky watchers from all over. I went outside around 4 AM and was treated to a show that is not normally available to us. It is easy to see why astronomer’s like coming here. The photo was taken with just my cell phone.

          We had some decisions to make as we only had one more day here. A furious round of planning ensued as we got ready for the next day. Details to follow!

Or ……. Big Bend National Park, Day One

Anomaly is starting to become one of my favorite words to use while we are on these adventures because more often than not, it fits perfectly as a description of places we’ve been.

          Take our present location for example.

          Big Bend National Park is gigantic in size and has way too few visitors here now. There are several reasons for this. Mostly, the location and the time of year. These kind of go hand-in-hand, with an explanation.

          Get out your road atlases and find Texas. It’s the one with multiple pages to display it. Flip to the one for the southwestern part and find the Rio Grande River and trace it until its course makes a BIG BEND and starts to run in a northerly direction, until it takes another turn and starts to flow southeast again.

          That’s it!

          As I’ve said before, there a whole lot on NOTHING in this part of Texas. One really needs to travel to visit this Park, so remote would be a good middle name for it. There is No One here that is just “dropping in!”

          It is now the beginning of October, and their busy season is just starting. The Park’s busiest month is March. I’ve lamented before about the Hot Texas Summer’s and I’m a gazillion percent positive that their popularity is lower than a lizard’s belly in the summertime. It’s 94 today and forecast to be that and higher for the rest of our stay. It is highly recommended that any and all hiking be done early and that you be off the trails by mid-morning. They’ve had more than their share of heat-related rescues over the years. So, that means that you’d better have a stack of DVDs to watch in the afternoon because there are no services of any kind down here, Netflix is not an option!

          All of the Park’s services, such as the further-flung satellite Ranger Stations and camp stores don’t open until sometime next month and they close down in April, so good luck bringing the kids here over your summer vacation!

          After all this doom and gloom that I’ve cast over the Park, our advice is to get here as soon as you can! The hikes are spectacular, and in a way, the remoteness is refreshing.

           We attempted our first jaunt into the hiking world shortly after dinner on Day One. Sunset is around 7:20, so we figured that we had enough time to safely go and return with time to spare. Unfortunately, we put a little too much stock in the description of the hike. It was just at the end of our RV Campground road, where an old ranch had existed in the early 1900’s, irrigation ditches and displaced “Invasive Species” trees abounding. The Ranger Lady advised that it would be a “short hike” past the Daniel’s Ranch, and “There’s a short climb in the beginning and you don’t have to go the whole 3-mile trail, just go to the overlook, you can’t miss it.”

           Here’s where we learned the relative nature of trail terms.

          A good comparison here would be a ski area. There are no standards for rating ski area trails, one may designate the most difficult trail at your area as a Black Diamond. That means that Bill’s Ski Area can designate his most challenging run as a Black Diamond. Please don’t confuse his Black Diamond with one of Stowe’s trails.

          Not even close.

          The beginning of said Trail was easy……. for about 30 feet.

          Then it went vertical, or so it seemed.

          Once we were on the trail I began to have my doubts. We were woefully un-prepared for any emergency, and many lessons were learned after this. 

           We had no water with us. (It was supposed to be “Short and easy”. It was also in the cooler (?) evening.

          We had no helpful climbing apparatus with us. Mind you, there were no ‘technical’ parts to it so ropes, etc. were not needed at all, but we did possess two sets of “Leki Poles” that my daughter Lorelyn had given us. These look like ski poles but are adjustable, have built-in “shock absorbers,” and have two types of tips on them, one rubber and the other carbide, which seems to have the characteristics of Crazy Glue when it comes to adherence on rocks. These are “Walking Sticks” on steroids. They are most useful on the descent, where you place them on the ground before you to use your arms and the “shock absorbers” to help ease the gravity-fed drop when going back down, especially when you encounter a larger than normal “step.”

          These handy devices were safely ensconced back in the trunk, because the trail was “Easy” according to the Lady.

          We also did not have a headlamp because it was “Short”, and we would be back in plenty of time. Except the descent would be on the dark side of our ‘near-vertical’ hill. My headlamp was even safer than the Leki Poles, he was snuggled in a compartment back in the motorhome.

          Needless to say, our short hike to the overlook was not very successful. We did not, in fact, make it anywhere that even remotely resembled the Ranger’s description and we prudently (finally) elected to do an about-face and get back in the proverbial one-piece.

          Which we did.

           We also vowed to be like Scouts and “Be Prepared” in the future.

We were fortunate enough to actually depart on time, no weather anomaly delays! The morning was just perfect for traveling, good temps and bright blue skies. There was no rush to get going because we could have made this journey in just one day if we had wanted to, but we elected to do an overnight in Fort Stockton, at one of our usual Walmart’s.

          Unfortunately, this route was the same exact one that we were marooned on last winter in the Great Texas Icemageddon Storm of 2021. It is fascinating how past experiences have effects on our lives today. I don’t lean the obvious, big-ticket events of our lives. My example today is this trip in particular. As I said, the weather was just fabulous, we couldn’t have asked for anything better! So, why was this trip (for me) filled with such a feeling of uneasiness?  I finally figured it out and realized that the last time that we had been on this route was when we got stranded, and then when finally rescued, had to drive all the way back in those terrifying conditions. So much so, that when we retraced this route an underlying feeling crept into my feeble brain and sat itself down, right next to the “nice” feelings that I was having presently. My problem was that the “Bad Vibes” feeling was too fat and kept pushing my “Good Feelings” off of the sofa!

          It took that whole day, and it was not until we got past the “Breakdown Ground Zero Point” did I feel any relief!

          If we had done the trip all in one shot, it would have been a long one, 9 plus hours. And it would have gotten us down into Big Bend National Park by around six PM. The problem was that we did not have a reservation for that day. We had one for the next day which was Monday.

          But that was good, that was the plan!

          That left us with plenty of time to travel, no worries, no real timetable. The following days traveling time was in the 3-hour range so that meant that we did not even have to get going the next day too early, because check-in time was 1 PM!

           This left plenty of time for Paula to make some nice Cinnamon-Swirl French Toast for breakfast and for us to sit around and wait for the Road Service Guy to arrive and fix a flat tire.

          Yup, that’s correct.

          Now, a flat tire on one of these rigs is nothing to sneeze at!

          There is no way to carry a spare tire. They are way too large, and there’s definitely nowhere to store it!

          Nor would I want to try and lift it into place!

          That would indicate that I was able to get the lug nuts off!

          As they say down here, a short distance from the Mexican Border, “No way Jose!”

          The guy (Anthony, not Jose’) showed up with his truck and the requisite tools of his trade, namely a giant pneumatic jack and an even larger pneumatic air-gun-lug-nut-remover that would have made the guys in the NASCAR pits jealous.

          Now the back story.

          Remember back to last year when we bought the Life-Boat Honda CR-V to tow behind us?

          Remember the little automatic-brake-jammer-onner system that we got installed?

          Remember that the system also came with a nifty accessory to it that allowed us to monitor the tire pressure from each tire up front in the cockpit, displayed on a tablet?

          Remember how secure I felt, knowing that I would always be protected from a malfunctioning tire by knowing in advance that something was, in fact, wrong with said tires?

          Hah!

          Was I ever wrong!

          Because it was this system, namely the Pressure Detector Sending Unit, that gets screwed onto the end of the valve stem instead of the usual cap, that caused the problem.

          How could that be? (You may ask incredulously)

          Good question!  And I am now in a position for me to supply you with the correct answer.

          The Details.

          I was sitting at our table early that morning when I heard a little ‘POP’ and felt the motorhome move a little bit. Mind you, everything can make this thing move a little bit. At the same time, I heard/felt Paula arise from her nights respite and start moving about. I chalked up the sound and movement to her waking up. End of thinking about it.

          Until…… I went outside to re-attach the Honda and do an all-around inspection before we got underway.

          The first thing that I noticed was that the right rear outside tire had broken its bead and was no longer inflated. Well, that explains that! The question was …… Why?

          I never mind when something goes wrong except for the obvious reasons like its annoying and usually results in a delay.

          What really gets me is…..  Why?

          Why did this happen?

          When you get that answer, you know how to deal with it and are usually able to understand what to do to prevent it from happening again!

          But this was strange one.

          The tires were cold, we had stopped here in our favorite Fort Stockton Walmart the day before at 4 PM. The alleged offense occurred around 7 AM, a full 15 hours after we had stopped driving, when all was good, or at least it appeared so.

          When the suspected perpetrator went “POP” I did notice (thinking back on it) that there was no release of high-pressure air, you know that loud Hissss that can be heard when pressurized air is released. This just added more quandaries to my mystery.

          Anthony was not much help in this matter, although he was more than capable of fixing our tire. Which after re-inflating we were able to check for leaks.

          Nadda, not nary a one!

          Well, that’s good…  but it left me with the more bothering question…. Why?

          I called back home to Charlie at Tire King in Sussex. That was where we bought these tires, barely 10, 000 miles ago. Alas, Charlie was on vacation, but his son Dan got on the phone with me. I relayed our dilemma, reiterating that the tire appeared to be in great shape. He said that sometimes the valve stem can leak just a tiny bit and when the pressure gets too low, it can cause the tire to pop its bead. I explained that we had checked that already, so now the mystery would continue.

          I went back outside and checked the valves again, conferring with Anthony at the same time. He agreed that if a tire lost pressure then it would definitely be able to break the bead. He also agreed that our valve stem was intact.

          We were glad at least, that we did not need to replace the tire. Not only is that expensive, but it seems that there wasn’t any of our size in that region of Texas that day. It would need to be ‘imported’ from lands beyond. I went about re-attaching the valve stem sending units to the rear tire that had been worked on. The first one (inside) was just fine. But when I went put the second one on……..

          Hissssssssss…………very slowly.

          Ah-Ha! It seems that the sending unit had developed a crack in a seam (?) and was letting air escape! I screwed it off and called Anthony over and once again, put it on.

          Same result!

          Anthony concurred (not that at that point did I need a second opinion, but it’s nice to learn something new) so we did not re-attach the offending piece of malfunctioning hardware!

          And…. I took all of his brothers and sisters off of the rest of the tires until I can speak to the Company and get some satisfaction.

          I will now be checking the pressures manually once more.

          Thankfully we were finally able to extricate ourselves from the clutches of Walmart of Fort Stockton and finish the trip down to Big Bend National Park.

          Phewf!!!

           Now we were on roads that were brand new to us! Which, if you are travelers, makes for a somewhat exciting journey. I said that these road(s) were new to us which was true. But don’t think for minute that they are new to anyone else around here. Especially if you are Comanche or Apache. These roads had their genesis as the old trails that were used so long ago.

          By now, (if you are a regular reader of this blog) you have seen countless photos shot through the usually bug-strewn front windshield. These photos are of long, straight, and virtually uninhabited roads that seem to go on forever. Another premise that I have expounded on has to do with the vastness of out here, especially Texas.

          Well, here I go again!

          The road, US 385, leaves Fort Stockton and arrives in the Big Bend area about 150 miles later and is almost as straight as the proverbial (Comanche) arrow. For those of us from the Great State of Taylor Ham and Cheese (on a roll), this is like driving from Sussex County to Beach Haven on LBI, all on one two-lane road with nothing on either side of the road as far as the eyes (with sunglasses) can see!

          Nothing as in lots of nothing.

          Except if you are a desert critter, which then you are a something, but we didn’t even see any somethings the whole 3 hours on the road!     

          So, with our earlier dilemma-delayed exodus from Fort Stockton, we were actually only somewhat late getting into our site at the Rio Grande Village RV Park. We had assumed on arriving early, but you know what assume means….

          Correct!

           It makes a late person out of me,

          And an informed reader out of you!

          I could use many different  adjectives to describe the vastness of this Park, all of which would be for naught, so I will just tell you that it was 50 Miles from the Park Entrance down to our site in the RV Park.        

Need I say more?

          And “village” is a very generous name for this place. It has the Campground and the Store. This is where you check in, get some souvenirs, and more importantly (as it seems around here) also procure your essential’s, as in cold beer!

          It’s a good thing we stocked up on our milk supply before we entered No-Man’s Land down here because I’m not sure that I’d trust how fresh it may be!

          We are off the grid until we get back to Fort Stockton.

          Yes, that is correct. I will not be able to publish this until we return to some kind of civilization. There is no service down here and why should there be? With a lot of nothings around and the somethings not needing modern communication apparatus, it would be waste of resources to install a system.

          If we really needed to get a hold of someone, Mr. Drucker up at the General Store said that we could come in and he’d ring up Gladys and she’d patch a call into wherever we needed.

          It’s quiet down here.

Tomorrow we start a trip to Big Bend National Park which is way down by Mexico and derives it’s name from the big bend in the Rio Grande River that makes up its southern border (with Mexico). We have been here at the THB, (Texas Home Base) for exactly a month now. We did not intend to stay rooted for this long, especially in the Hot-as-Hell, Still Hanging Around, Texas Summer! But there were numerous doctor’s appointments that led to other appointments, that led to a few procedures, you know how it goes! Anyway, we used the time to improve our site here, pictures to follow, and to help out Danny with some campaigning and attend the County Fair. Here’s the rest of it!

Next post will be from somewhere in the Texas Desert. We’ve heard incredible things about Big Bend National Park and will report summarily.

Thanks, for reading!