New Life Chapter: Western Texas

1/30 - When I left the campsite, I decided to try and find this reservoir I supposedly camped next to. I drove down this road, that appeared to be on water according to Google Maps.

Drove into Del Rio and either I missed it or there is no interesting downtown area. Kinda a wasted trip. Oh, well. Left there and went to Seminole Canyon, which was recommended to me by another camper in Del Rio area. So, I didn't go very far, but enjoyed a night there and did a tour the next day. The prime spots were all taken, so we parked in the primitive area, which was very nice, but quite a ways from the bathrooms. Thankfully I like to walk.

Nice sunset spot from campsite

Stars were amazing!!!

Sunrise from the van

1/31 - I really wish I had a bike here as there are some good trails that I could have explored. It was kinda hot and sunny for Zoe, so we couldn't walk too much. I did a tour of the canyon at from 10 - 12 while it was cool out and then walked Zoe after. It was hard to know when to turn around. There were some clouds so it wasn't bad, until it got sunny. As soon as the clouds disappeared it was too hot for Zoe. I poured water on her back and a cloud came along and we made it back with her being OK. It's scary as she gets so slow and I don't know what I'd do if she couldn't go any further.

View of the shelter we would be visiting

Area clearly used for grinding.

There were some of these showing the rock art more clearly.

More of the canyon from walk with Zoe.

Zoe sniffing something. So happy she's on leash as everything is spiky here and will hurt her. She almost walked over a dead prickly pear cactus, but thankfully I caught her.

I had considered staying here for the sunset, but I decided to move along.

Ended up driving as far as Marathon, TX as it's right where I'd turn to head to Big Bend NP. I parked at a closed museum. The people at the library next door said it would be fine and it was. The recommended place was right on the main road and I didn't like the sound of that.

Zoe tried to go into both the museum and the library. I really think she just wants to be inside a building and not in the van. It makes me really sad.

2/1 - Onto Big Bend NP. Of course, we couldn't do anything, so Zoe had a sucky day of just riding in the van. At least I was enjoying the scenery.

Coming down with a cold...

Approaching Santa Elena Canyon. It's amazing how this one spot was cut out

I did leave Zoe in the van for about 30 minutes (planned for 20) while I did a quick/partial hike of the Santa Elena Canyon trail. This was the only hike that I was inspired to do. It was warm in the van when I got back, but not too bad. I wouldn't have wanted to leave her longer without better adjustments to her climate!

It's not often I see trees like this around here! This was at the start of the canyon trail

So much less water in the Rio Grande now!

I decided to just do this one called the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive. There was another route I considered taking, but a ranger said it probably wasn't going to be worth it. I was told not to go on any of the dirt roads with my van. Tows start at $1000! They didn't have to tell me twice once they hesitated when I said I had a 2wd van. I had considered walking Zoe on a dirt road, but with the unrelenting sun, we wouldn't have been able to go far.

Went onto Terlingua where I was staying for 2 nights. I found my place was quite a ways out of town and down 2 miles of kinda rough road (wouldn't do after rains!). It's a great place though. Sat around the fire in the evening with Kate who was car camping. I admire folks doing that! Lots of sharing stories and places to visit.

I tired to shower at the offered showers, but it seemed that there was no hot water... I ended up showering in the van, which didn't go well at all. Now I wish I had the bigger shower pan as I have to bend over all the time to grab the shower head, soap, etc. I ended up pulling down one of the hooks, but thankfully not a big deal. And where to dry the curtain? I did end up hanging it over the outdoor shower wall (after dropping part of it in the dirt - aaargh!) to dry and thankfully it dries really fast. Apparently they had to reset the hot water heater. Thankfully they have wifi as there if no cell coverage at all (with AT&T anyway). It seems to come and go, but it's better than nothing and I can make phone calls.

Sun set behind us, but this is the view to the East

Sunrise

2/2 - Big Bend Ranch State Park is just West of Terlingua and isn't much more dog friendly than the NP, but they do have 2 trails where dogs are allowed. I got out early (for me) to take Zoe hiking before it got to 80 degrees. I had considered doing them both, but would have had to start with the Hoodoo trail and then do the Closed Canyon trail. I definitely wanted to do the latter and was afraid that Zoe wouldn't be able to do it after the first one. So, we went right there and I'm glad I did. But, I'm not sure why it's a dog friendly trail since it's kindof a slot canyon with some too big dropoffs for dogs. If I let Zoe be, she would have just jumped down and then not be able to get out. She's a bit crazy that way and has no self preservation skills!

This was where we stopped. I had no idea how to avoid the water (probably at least 1.5' deep) and also no idea how we'd get back out. Maybe with multiple people, but certainly not for just me and Zoe.

I'm so glad I had booties with me. I didn't think the gravel would have been hard on her feet, but she looked uncomfortable. Once she had the booties on, she was running around like crazy. In here, since there was no one else here, I allowed her some freedom to run. She was so cute!

Cemetery in Terlingua ghost town

Interesting additions to this one. Phone to call home?

I'm guessing this person liked to drink...

Back at camp. It was really windy, so we took up shelter behind the bus and under the roof. I sad in the shade, Zoe in the sun. Maybe the concrete kept her cool enough as it was about 80 degrees. Dealing with the weather is such a challenge. Too cold, too hot, too windy, too sunny. Of course, we don't talk about the days when the weather is perfect as it certainly is sometimes!

I'm not sure if this haze was from the wind or what

2/3 - One year anniversary of my retirement!!! I can't believe it's been a whole year. Not one single regret! Especially with Agilent laying off critical people to BioTek's success. What a mess.

My plan today was to head to Alpine, TX, but looking at the weather report, they were calling for extreme winds with possible gusts up to 70 mph and high profile vehicles should be careful. Well, I learned my lesson in Louisiana and wasn't about to do that again. So, I decided to stay another night. It's still really windy here, but not quite as bad. I had to move sites, so I picked one that I hope will have some windbreak, but I'm not sure.

We took a nice walk from the campground. Not super long, but had great views at the top.

See my "little" van?

Mechanical (obviously) Teradactyl

So many cool fossils!

I was very anxious about gas today. I only had about 70 mile range left and there's only one station close to here and between here and Alpine (about 100 miles). So, I ended up driving to town to get gas. When getting gas, I noticed that the store is going to be closed tomorrow. OMG! If I hadn't gone today, I would be stuck! (But then I did read that you could still get gas, but only pay at the pump.) Can you imagine? Gas was over $1/gallon more than it will be in Alpine, but the extra $10 I paid (I didn't fill up) to have the peace of mind is worth it. I probably could have gotten to Alpine by adding just a few gallons, but I'm not interested in adding that kind of stress to my life!!!

And then we stopped at Venga to grab a bite (late lunch/early dinner) and have somewhere comfortable to hang out and most importantly to escape the wind. The van is comfortable (for me), but it's nice to have a little room to spread out. It is beautifully sunny and makes me want to be outside, but it's nice to hang out here on a couch. Zoe is being a champ, though she would like to comb the entire place to clean the floor. We ended up visiting with Cassie and Ben, who I met at the campground. Cassie helps out there. It was fun to hang out with some locals. Now I understand the million campers around town - apparently many are housing for the workers. Also, they get rented out on Airbnb. Really, they are everywhere and some are in clumps, but not appearing to be an RV park, so now it makes sense. Cassie and Ben are young and seasonal workers like so many.

Time to head back to camp and see if site 10 is protected at all.

I'm not sure how well protected site 10 was, but it was super nice with the views to the east. The sun goes behind a hill long before sunset, so both sunset and sunrise beauty is to the east.