Big Bend National Park

Big Bend National Park - Texas

Departing Davis Mountains State Park after an extended stay due to  45 mph winds, we headed out to an originally unplanned part of our journey, Big Bend National Park. We watched anxiously over the weekend as the Government closed down and after calling the park, we were informed that yes! they were open and our reserved campsite awaited!! The drive here included refilling the propane tank as well as the RV fuel tank and 4 hours later, we passed unrestricted into the Park (no one on post due to the Government shutdown). Our campsite had our reservation on the post and so we backed into place, put the  levelers down, the slides out and setup camp for a four day stay. This place is absolutely gorgeous in a desolate, rugged way. A geology book our nephew Lance loaded us, stated the area natives legend claimed the area was formed with all the leftover elements after creation - this could quite possibly be true. Yes it is a desert - The Chilahuahuan to be precise, but it is not uniform in its 800,000 acre tract.

Part of the Chisos Mountains as you enter Big Bend National Park. The entire range is within the  1250 Sq miles of the park!

90 miles south of Marathon Texas, you come to  Rio Grande Village - RV camping. The mountains in the back ground are in Mexico!!

Having lost a day due to the windstorm, we immediately set out after setting up camp the explore the area. Rock cliffs, a natural hot springs, the Rio Grande, a border crossing into Mexico (more on that in a bit) Jeep trails and Roadrunners!! We checked them all and decided to visit the Hot Springs first thing the  next morning. It was awesome! Located in a stone foundation of a former resort right along the Rio Grande, you sit in 105 degree natural springs while gazing at the  mountains, river and desert. Even though the air temp was 35 degrees, after we were in there for half an hour, we didn't notice the air temp as we walked back to the Jeep to return to base.

Hot Springs right beside the Rio Grande. Delightful!!

That afternoon, we headed out for a 3 hour Jeep trail experience on the East River Road to Glenn Spring Road. About 3/4 of the way through, and  back miles and miles from anywhere, the check engine light came on in the Jeep. All gauges , Oil Pressure, Temp, Charging and Fuel were in the  desired ranges, so we felt comfortable enough that we would not be left to die in the desert, but still, bummer! We exited back onto the  hard road, drove back to the camp store (nearest town is 50 miles away) and asked about a auto service place . They recommended one in Terlingua and even placed a phone call to them. I spoke with the office person and she told be to be there first thing the next morning (by now it was 3:30PM). That night we did Laundry, took showers and caught up on email and the news. The next morning I was on the  road at 6:45 to be sure to be there when they opened. They put the jeep right in the service bay, put the  diagnostic computer on its, and by 9:30 I was headed back to base with a reset light and the diagnosis that it is a potential bad O2 sensor. 500 miles later , it still hasn't come back on.

several hundred miles of trails at BBNP

Old Ore Mine Trail - BBNP

ever changing rock landscape along trail

nice Jeep trail - Old Ore Mine BBNP

ah- Jeeping at last!

Each day, we would take small walks, and gaze at the  beauty of BBNP. The rock formations provide countless hours of exploration and the temperatures were very welcoming after teens and twenties in central Texas earlier in the month. Now we were in the sunshine and upper 60's!!!

raw beauty like this is all around you 

There is a canyon close by the campground, the Boquillas Canyon, where the Rio Grande carved thru the  rock leaving behind walls several hundred feet tall. You can walk for about 3/4 of a mile back in along the  Rio Grande to get a a view. While going back in , you would see a display of Mexican crafts (wire animals, walking sticks, etc) and a money can. We were told not to purchase these as they would be considered contraband as they did not come through customs!! While passing these by, we heard a very nice singing voice, and out of the  brush walks an older Mexican man, singing for a few  dollars. They are not pushy, and quietly slip away into the brush if you show no interest.  (we had seen them, but thought we had no chance of getting a picture) While back in there, we discovered that Roadrunners are not shy!

Mexican items for sale along hiking trail

info sign for Boquillas Canyon Hike

end of trail in Boquillas Canyon. I threw a stone across the Rio Grande from here!

Roadrunner - got within 3-4 ft of us

We checked out the crossing into Mexico and decided to venture over there for a lunch and look around. Since the day was a bit cloudy and Cooper and CJ would be OK back in the RV without the benefit of AC we hurried back and grabbed out passports and returned to the  Portal. This is an actual crossing portal, passports required. The portal was closed for over 10 years following 9/11 and just recently re-opened. The interesting/quaint thing is the Rio Grande is only about 30 yds wide and 4 ft deep at this point!  You get rowed across (unless you decide to walk across) and then either hop a Burro or walk the 1/2 mile up to the village of Boquillas (Bow - Key-yes).

this is the legal way to cross into Mexico in this area!

Portal sign as you head down to the Rio Grande

crossing the Border! - $5 for a round trip!

Burro ride into the village - also $5

Music with our meal!

We opted for the drier rowing option, as well as the Burro ride. At the village, we had a very nice cheese enchilada and Margarita lunch!. One Margareta was all you need!  The meal even came with  entertainment. Then we walked around the village with our "guide" who spoke no English, but did understand pretty much what we were asking him and he was able to  communicate in Spanish. The town has approx. 250 residents, a water system, a health clinic and several restaurants. The majority of income probably comes from the  rowing, guiding, and trinkets trades. Cindy bought bracelets for the grandkids, I bought a copper wire and bead Roadrunner. While the village was poor, it was clean looking

local wares for sale!

my purchase - a copper wire and bead Roadrunner!

A side note: our 1 week stay at Rio Grande Village Campground was what is referred to as dry camping, no hookups. We were running our lights and furnace blower off the  two large deep cycle batteries the RV has for such needs, but.... you need to be able to recharge the batteries. We had purchased a 200 Watt portable Solar system for exactly this scenario. I had tested them out back home in the driveway, but now we were getting a chance to try them out after transporting them across the continent for 5 months!! Thanks to Phil Theis, back in Pa for supplying the 30' long 10 gage wire to allow us to set the panels where ever needed!! The abundant sunshine and the 200 watt capacity did the trick and by sundown each day, we had a healthy charge and no problems. I was very pleased.

solar panels in action at BBNP

We took advantage of the great weather and nature's beauty. Each day we ventured into another part of the  800,000 acre park. One day was to the  western edge and a hike back Santa Elena Canyon, another a drive out of the  National Park and into the  adjoining, almost as large Texas State Park - Big Bend Ranch State Park.

Santa Elena Canyon - 1500 feet canyon walls!

Santa Elena Canyon

Heading up to Chisos Basin - lodge with good food and great views

scenic drive to Presido Texas through Bid Bend Ranch State Park

Cindy along Rio Grande - Big Bend Ranch State Park

These high water signs are quite common in the area - as rains can produce flash floods

BBNP, like so many of our National Parks, is hard to appreciate by simply viewing pictures! If you found this interesting, I highly suggest visiting there for a week, There are Cottages and rooms available at Chisos Basin and River rafting trips as well as numerous hiking opportunities to enjoy. As the Park Ranger said, this is a destination, not something you stop at on the way to somewhere. There is nothing for a hundred miles!!!


hope you enjoyed this - we are heading out of Texas now after almost 6 weeks here. We have enjoyed them all

Cooper and CJ

Fort Davis Texas

Davis Mountain State Park -Fort Davis - Texas

One of the many great things about an adventure like this is meeting fellow RVers and sharing experiences. In the campgrounds, people are frequently asking others where they have been, where they are going next and what do they recommend. Our stop after Lockhart was one of these gems. We pulled out of LSP and headed Southwest to Uvalde and the Walmart there for another cold Texas night. (Uvalde was the home of FDR’s first Vice President John Garner). We were travelling through a different landscape once again, heading for West Texas and the varied rock formations. Along the way we stopped at Langtry, Texas, home of Judge Roy Bean, a historical character of note. In the Cactus garden next to the saloon, stands a 1900 vintage Wind Mill. This one was interesting as the plaque stated it was from Fairbanks Morse Co, later known as a maker of very large diesel engines (locomotives, submarines, etc) and was sold and shipped as a kit! After a RV fuel stop at Marathon, TX we pulled into our next home, Davis Mountains State Park . DMSP, located just outside Fort Davis, is a CCC constructed park, set in the rugged hills outside of town. This is a very neat park, with several nice hiking trails, scenic vistas, a nice restaurant, and well maintained campsites.

Judge Roy Bean's Saloon, Langtry Texas

Wind Mill water pump, familiar to us all 

On our first full day CJ and I went for a one and a half mile hike from the scenic overlook through some nice country and back down to camp.

CJ hitting the trail at DMSP

one of many scenic views while hiking at DMSP

In the afternoon, we decided to visit Fort Davis National Historical Site, a pre-Civil War US Army fort. Many original buildings remain, several have been refurbished, and they offer a museum to the Buffalo Soldiers (name given to the Black US soldiers in the post Civil War West). There was also an interesting 15 minute video about the fort and its mission narriated by...Kareem Abul Jabbar (complete in western shirt and cowboy hat)!!

Fort Davis did not have walls!

wagons like these brought supplies from San Antonio - 400 miles away!

Saturday found us sharing a rather large breakfast at the in park restaurant, running errands in town, including snagging some free WIFI outside the town library, a scenic drive to take in the great scenery and the Gem of our visit, - attending a Star Party at nearby McDonald Observatory. Starting at dusk, you sit outside as night falls, allowing your eyes to adjust to the darkness as best as possible, to take in the night sky. We were instructed on the various constellations, informed that Polaris, the North Star, will be replaced in 2000 years by another North star as the Earth wobbles on its axis!

observatory is small white buildings on top of hill straight ahead!

Then we had the awesome exprience of looking through the large telescopes housed inside the domed enclosures and several free standing large ones as well. Each telecscope was aimed at a different object in the night sky, including the Moon (you could see great detail in the surface, including the rims of the craters), a new star cluster, a dying star and a distant gallaxy -the Andromeda Gallaxy! A very memorable experience.

Our last day found us packing up, walking and brushing Cooper and CJ and watching playoff football. (DMSP provides cable TV!!)

our site at DMSP

view out behind café at DMSP

We will be heading on soon and will be out of touch for over a week.

Until then take care

Cooper and CJ

Lockhart Texas

Lockhart State Park - Lockhart Texas

Departing the Gulf Coast at Matagorda Bay, we drove 170 miles to central Texas and Lockhart State Park. Located NE of San Antonio and SE of Austin, LSP. was our base for 6 days.  Rather small by some standards, with less than 30 total sites, LSP was a nice place to visit, offering several nice hiking trails, a 9 hole golf course , clean, well maintained facilities and close proximity to the town of Lockhart and the attractions of Central Texas and the Hill Country.

oil wells are everywhere near Lockhart

  One of the many places we wished to be sure to include on our travels was San Antonio. Our first full day at LSP found us driving the 50 minutes or so down to San Antonio.

Jeep did not get up to the posted speed limit!

Unlike many urban areas with downtown attractions, San Antonio has numerous, conveniently locatated public parking lots! Several native Texans we spoke with mentioned San Antonio really should be visited. The famous Riverwalk district and of course the Alamo were tops on the list of destinations! Cooper and CJ were along for the trip, and after parking and letting them acquaint themselves with the city, we placed them back in the Jeep, parked in the shade as it was in the mid 60’s, and walked 3 short blocks to the Alamo

Casa Rio was our choice for lunch on the River Walk

Right in what is now downtown San Antonio, this is a site to see. Almost 300 years old and full of history, it is well preserved and nicely presented to the public. Numerous rooms and areas are available to inspect, along with artifacts from not only the area but the famous struggle that took place on those grounds as well. The Alamo offers several ways to tour the site, including smart phone  guided tours, re-enactors and do it youself . Several videos are played for your education on the events of 1836 and the gift shop will do its best to meet your needs.

probably one of the most recognizable buildings in America - The Alamo!!

Monument to Alamo Heroes

Only a block or so from the front of the Alamo is the famous Buckhorn Saloon, Teddy Roosevelt came there while training the Rough Riders before going to Cuba during the Spanish American War. We stepped in side to take a peak and headed aone more block to the famous San Antonio Riverwalk. Really cool setting a story below the current street level, this scenic area aflows for several city blocks, offeres narriated boat tours and awesome riverside dinning! We had checked ahead and settled on for lunch.

stroll along the River Walk in San Antonio is a must do

visiting the River Walk one sees all types of landscaping

We followed a nice TexMex lunch with a stroll along the river, then back to the dogs to drive to our next destination, the Spanish missions.

Mission Conception - still an active church, almost 300 years later

original wall painting in Mission Conception

Mission San Juan

About two miles farther South, several of the Spanish missions built at the same time as the Alamo, are still active churches and are open to the public. Interesting to think that when they were built, nothing was between them and the next mission was a couple of miles of open land! We checked the largest one out, Mission Conception, and then drove to and viewed the outside of the remaining ones and then pointed our grill NE to get back home. A great place to visit and we highly recommend it as a destination.

The next day, Saturday, we headed West to Johnson City, Stonewall and Fredericksburg to experience what they have to offer. However, as we were driving through Lockhart to head over that way, Cindy spied a building that we had to checkout closer - the County Courthouse. Built in the 1890’s, it is most impressive.

County Courthouse in Lockhart Texas

Skirting South fif Austin, we arrived in Johnson City late morning and visited the childhood home of LBJ, his grandparents' first home and the National Historic Site museum dedicated to LBJ. All very interesting.

entrance to LBJ Ranch, Stonewall Texas

 Half an hour to the West was Stonewall, and home of the”Texas Whitehouse” the LBJ Ranch. You do a driving tour around the 9000 acre working ranch, see the rebuilt birth place/guest house, family cemetary and  the  House that LBJ called home from the early 1950’s until his death in 1973. This is a working ranch with a cattle herd, crops and items such as pecans, jam and salsa for sale in the gift shop. we opted for the crème brulee pecans and a jar of salsa!

Texas White House of LBJ

By now it was 2PM and I had missed my mid day feeding. We had scoped out where to eat of note and selected Cranky Franks Bar B Q in nearby Fredericksburg. The WEB said don't let the appearance turn you away. We did pause a minute, but went in and were thoroughly impressed with the food! Well Done!!!!

some very tasty food awaits you inside!

The next few days were spent doing errands and getting ready for some seroius cold weather. A Winter storm was forecasted to hit even our area starting late Monday night til Wednesday noon. The daytime highs were to be in the mid 20’s and predicted overnight lows Tuesday into Wednesday in the teens!!! This is too cold for too long a time to let the RV plumbing system remain full of water. Cindy and I performed our first RV Winterization!!

Cooper and CJ needed to do their thing several times each day, and with our system winterized, we choose to walk the 50 yards to the  Park Restrooms. Cooper took me for a 2 mile Walk Tuesday afternoon after the winds subsided. Brisk to say the least. Wednesday AM it was 17 degrees, but then the temps started climbing as we once again packed up and found our selves heading for a friendly Walmart where we would spend the next night.

we are onsite now but will be in scattered contact til the next post in a week or so!

take care and stay warm

Cooper and CJ