An Old Maverick (Road)

It wasn't as windy as they warned this morning when we got up, so we rushed through breakfast and headed out for a day trip.  The dogs were let out for their bathroom breaks and set back inside the motorhome with the AC on, and the TV to drown out sounds from outside.  We packed a picnic lunch, grabbed water bottles, maps, GPS, and other assorted gear to explore the Big Bend Park.

We stopped on Sotol Vista outlook  and took this panoramic shot with my Galaxy Tablet ... it's 8 photos wide all stitched together.  It don't fit crosswise on my blog page, so I did something different... I put it longways!  Now... everyone... turn your computer screens to see this photo!

Our main goal today was to explore Old Maverick Road.  We decided to drive down into the park on the regular Maverick Road... and then stop by to see if fellow blogger Barney Old Fat Man had made it over to Cottonwood Campground.  Sure nuff!  There he was, map in hand, ready to tell us more about the wonders of Big Bend National Park!   We met his pals Bud and Susan too.

Barney's blog is at  http://ofmadventures.blogspot.com   and it's been wonderful meeting him in person and learning more about Big Bend park.  He is so knowledgeable on places and hikes and things to see and where to go and what to look for.  We really appreciated his introduction to our experience at the park for the first time!

With a hug goodbye, we were on our way to Santa Elena Canyon....  Along the winding Rio Grande, this river separates the United States from Mexico on this jaggedy course.   There isn't much water left after industries and agriculture uses to the north rob it of it's volume....

On the opposite shore, I saw a horse grazing!  I whistled to him
(I think in Spanish because he recognized my call)
LOL  

 I am sure he knew exactly what I was feeling ... and he looked at me.
We connected.

Steve and I did our "Tourist Thing" shots along the shores of the river. 

We sat here and ate our picnic lunch.  

The winds were picking up in the canyon, 

we can only imagine how strong they were getting up in the hills? 

Steve leaned wayyyy out and snapped this shot from a kayak launching ramp.  

A bit further down, we saw this big split in the huge cliffs on the Mexican side of the river.... 

turns out the river comes right down through this steep canyon. 

 I read a book called Borderline by Nevada Barr ... and much of the action
took place right here in this area of Big Bend.
Although it is a novel, it brought a lot of the area to life for me
seeing it through the words in the book, and now seeing it in person.

 Those cliffs are amazingly high, and look so little in the pics.
I guess you really have to be there to experience their massiveness!

 We meandered on north along Old Maverick Road....

 This road was much smoother than the Old Ore Road we took the other day... by far!
A car would be able to take this road, without much difficulty.  Just goooo slow!


We came across an interesting little building, and got out to look around.

 Can you imagine raising a large family in here?

 The rigors of desert living must have agreed with him,
he lived to the ripe old age of 108!!!

Getting back in the Tracker, we headed north again, 

to find some more lovely landscapes. 

 As we got further north, the colors of the rocks and minerals changed...
these almost looked like frosty snow, but we know it was around 90 degrees,
so it was quite misleading.

As we got back to the motorhome the winds were really blasting along...   we let the dogs out and got supper going.  All of those normal things we have been doing each evening.  After a quick meal, we ran down to the little grocery store here in Study Butte.  Their prices weren't too bad, considering they have a LONG way off the beaten track for suppliers to reach them.  They even had my Coffee-Mate French Vanilla creamer! ahhhhhh now I don't have to use the powder form.  My coffee morning is now secure in taste and flavor.  

We chatted with the neighbors a bit and I made a date to go back to the quilting shop on Monday.  It's called   

 Quilts By Marguerite  100 Bee Mountain Plz # 1 Terlingua, TX 79852

I couldn't find a website for the shop, but I did find this blog: 

 http://bigbendquilts.blogspot.com/

We have been up in the 90's today.. and still in the high 70's at 10:00 p.m.  but the winds are blasting and gusting.  The weathermen said it will be 30 degrees tomorrow morning?????   Oh boy! 

Re-JUUUUUUU-Vinating in a Hot Spring

Let's see--- what day is it today?  Is it Wednesday? Is it Friday?  We had to turn on the laptop and check the date to be sure! Oh.. it's Thursday!  Okayyyyy  LOL ... that is when you KNOW you are in "Vacation Mode".  Once you forget what day of the week it is.  They ALL feel like Saturdays!

We decided we wanted to head over to the western side of the great big park of Big Bend, and figured if we can get set with the motorhome on an electric site before the weekend, we could move over that a way and have a place to be plugged in when the temps rise up.

I am feeling better now, but needing a place for the dogs out of the heat is a must.  The temps are due to creep back into the 90's again by the weekend.  Oh my!

So we got online and found a site at Big Bend Resort and Adventures .. its a motel, rv park, motorcycle rental, horse stables and who knows what all else!  It's over on the western border of the park by Study Butte Terlingua.   http://bigbendresortadventures.com/  The rates are higher than what we have been paying at Stillwell Store and RV park over on the east side of the park.

Don't get us wrong, we really liked Stillwell, but after four days there, now we want to explore more western areas of the park.  The distance between the two campgrounds is 60 miles which allows us more access to the SW area of the park that was a half day's drive if we wanted to tour it and go back to Stillwell.  

So we said our goodbyes and paid our bill, and hooked up the Tracker... away we go!   We covered 60 miles through the park and got over to the new campground by noon.  Luckily they said we could have our site early, as check-in isn't until 4pm!   Strange....  

Anyhow, it doesn't have the charm or the quaint characters like Stillwell did.  (like lined up rockers on the porch with various guests sitting and telling tall tales and having a beer and chomping on a Stillwell burrito!)   But all good things must come to an end.  If we ever return to this area, it's Stillwell for sure!   Here is the route we took through the park, mostly 45 mph.  Sometimes less.

This new camping place was more a long gravel parking lot behind the motel with rows of posts and little tufts of grass here and there... but nice power of 50amp hookups to plug in!  When we got here, it was well into the high 80's.   We got the dogs settled, grabbed some lunch and took off in the Tracker....  we had a place in mind... to go... to...

ReJJJUUUUUUUUUvinate!

This is the hot springs along the shores of the Rio Grande at Big Bend National Park. 

The hot water burbles up in the far upper right corner, 

and there are various "tubs" around the perimeter that are cooler... 

you can sit or lay in the tubs... and soak it all in! 

We came prepared with our suits on underneath our clothing..

so we didn't have to try to change in the tiny outhouse by the parking lot 

(thanks for that hint, Travel Bug Susan!)

We slathered on the sunscreen on our shoulders 

and wore our hats to protect us from the sun on our noses and ears... 

we had on our sunglasses and sat back... 

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

(can you feel it?) 

The water was light and tingly and refreshing

it was not sulphery at all

but almost minerally sparkling as you swished your hand through it

We ran into a batch of six fun ladies from France.  They were there with a tour group and having a blast.  One gal went out in the middle of the Rio Grande, laid back and spread her legs to share herself I guess with both the US and Mexico?   I don't know but all her friends were giggling and encouraging her and taking pics!   So I took a pic too.

My high school French is very rusty, but I could tell a few of the words they were saying to each other. Oh boy what fun.  They even took pics for us while we were in the hot spring.

The water from the spring runs right out into the Rio Grande.  Just across that narrow expanse of water is Mexico.  It's not deep and you can wade back and forth. If you chose to.

The park pamphlets warn you to NOT go into the river nor over to the other side,  as it is not an official crossing entry and does not have border crossing status.  Thus you are breaking the law.  So we stayed out of the river.  Others didn't and waded around back and forth.

The other item that might cause a bit of controversy here, but I will write about it anyhow.  There seems to be enterprising young artist who brings his wares from in Mexico up to the border and camps out across the river in a camp with their horse and tent.
 

Why is he there? We watched him for a while in our binoculars.  A woman in the hot spring explained:  He has brought many little artistic items to sell to the US folks on our side of the river!  She said he lives in a village 200 miles south and comes a long way to get into that spot and camp. He rides a horse out many miles to get new supplies.  He crosses over (wades across) and replenishes the supply of items for sale, and removes the American cash from his jars,  He has 3 little stands set along the path that we tourists take from the parking lot to the hot springs.

Soooo why is this a controversy?  Because the park rangers have posted a VERY serious sign on the path saying  DO NOT PURCHASE ANY THING FROM ILLEGALS, IT IS AGAINST THE LAW TO DO SO, RESULTING IN $5,000 FINE... JAIL TIME...    yadda yadda yadda

Ack!  This guy is making these little artistic items from beads, copper wire, fashioning little scorpions, road runners, cacti etc.  We can see him over there whittling down the wood on walking sticks, brushing them with paint, shellacking them and turning them over in the sun to dry.  He is working his craft and he has found an eager customer base. They sure are cute and I was really tempted to buy some!

I admired his work... but the threatening sign was enough to make me change my mind.  I know he is not from our country, but he is finding a good way to make a living while camping out in the tent.  Working on his art.   He probably only has 2-3 months of good tourist trade time to make this effort, and the rest of the time the park hot springs doesn't get this much traffic... or the heat is unbearable to camp out there.

One lady in the hot springs said she tossed in a few bucks as a "donation" to him, 

but didn't take any articles in return.  So she felt it was not a "sale".  

I don't know what the rangers would say about that.  

What would you do?

Support an artist?

Break the law?

An Evening of Music and a day of Rough Riding

Our evening entertainment at the Stillwell Store RV park http://stillwellstore.com/    

was a duo singing team from Michigan (lower Michigan Trolls that is)   

They are the Whitfords  www.thewhitfordsmusic.com   

and can be reached at annwhitford@yahoo.com  

They played for the guests at the RV park in the museum hall for Hallie Stillwell.  We had such an enjoyable evening listening to them and I copied a tiny segment of one song on this video.  I never really do embedded video segments, so I hope this works.

They gave me permission to post this,

and the song is very fitting since we were AT the border.... 

Woke up to a cool Wednesday morning, and with clouds in the sky.  Once we got morning stuff taken care of around the motorhome, and the dogs walked, we got ready to set out for a day of adventures.  I was feeling a bit better, though weak yet, so didn't want to attempt any long walks.  Steve suggested we go for a long RIDE instead?????

First we drove down to the Panther Junction in the park to ship out some DVD's for orders to my customers.  That was a mere 35 miles.  They have a little post office there that I could use to ship out international mail, and also some post cards for the grandtots.   Then we went on down to the Rio Grande Village another 20 miles or so, and scoped out the hot springs.  Ahhhhhh it was a cool morning so I had on sweater and slacks and wool socks.  But once we found those waters, I just had to dip my feet in!

Steve didn't roll up his pants or take off his shoes, but he said that we will go back there tomorrow in our swimsuits and really enjoy a soak.  We WILL deserve a soak tomorrow... after the REST of the day we had.....


Because---- we took an off road route called the Old Ore Trail ....  it was 26 miles of rugged terrain to take our four wheel drive Tracker on.  WHEWWWW it was fun!

McKinney Spring

NPS Photo/Cookie Ballou

Old Ore Road26 miles (43km)
Used in the early 1900s to transport ore from Mexican mines to the railroad station at Marathon, the Old Ore Road generally follows the route used by mule and pack trains a century ago. The road has excellent views of the Chisos Mountains across the Tornillo Creek drainage to the west. Ernst Tinaja, five miles from the southern end of the road, is a popular destination.

We worked our way up and down and all around the rocky routes, down into dry creek beds, and up high ridges and along mesas.   We never had to put it into four wheel drive, but just the same, it was crawling speeds in low gears to get us through these places.

That little Tracker was as nimble as a mountain goat, I tell ya!   We had a full tank of fuel, plenty of water, food, blankets and our tablet and wilson antenna booster which we could get a data signal out there... just no cell signal.    We also had along a first aid kit, sunscreen and lip balm.... LOL

We did see three dirt bike riders coming the other way... and stopped on top of a big big hill to talk to a local man who was admiring the scenery and thinking of a long time friend who used to ride that trail with him who was no longer able to.  We didn't ask why, but nodded our heads in agreement.

The scenery was breathtaking! 

Some areas I was pretty well "tight-fisting" my grip on the handle over my passenger side seat.  We had some close spaces to the steep drop offs into canyons below.  I made a few video sections to sit back and watch some cold winter night when we are old and grey...  and say:

"HEY... REMEMBER WHEN WE DID THAT????"

 (Steve watering a cactus in the background) 

It was mile after mile of amazing terrain... sometimes dryer and browner, other times lush and green with flowers blooming... even in the middle of the road!

The views were stupendous and we jittered and jammed our way along--- doing about 5 miles per hour.  We scrambled up and down the washed and arroyos.  You could see where the rushing waters could come tearing down through these chasms when there was rain in the mountains.

This isn't a very good map, but we went so far around on the red roads that were blacktop from our RV park down around to the bottom by the Rio Grande, and then came up the yellow section highlighted which was all the rustic terrain of the Old Ore Road.

We saw sooo many things, too many to describe.  Again, I took 147 pictures, but only will post these for you.  The rest go into our slideshow on our little digital picture frame...   again for us to point and say:  "Remember when????"   

 Isn't that what this trip is all about? Making Memories?