Going and Coming

Gary and I hiked here at the RV park last Wednesday.  We headed towards where I thought I had spotted a cave from the road.  We ended up at a rock arch.  It was about 1 mile to get there, we hiked through thickets. barbed wire.... well not really.  But in a dessert, everything had stickers or thorns on it.  It was a touch hike. We took Stella with us, and she loved it.  We saw a couple of long eared rabbits, but no other animals.  I thought I was never going to get the last 50 yards to the arch, because I had to climb on large rocks (aka baby boulders) to get there.  I was terrified of falling.  Stella and I went one route, and Gary went up a wash out that had HUGE boulders he had to cross.  I had to rest a while when we got there.

Here are pictures

Gary was using the camera, so he took the pictures.  There are no flattering pictures of me.  I think it has something to do with being old and fat, but I am not 100% sure it isn't just Gary deliberately taking crappy shots of me.  As we left, we spotted a dump in the distance, and realized we had seen it the day before while scouting the area.  I spotted a road.  What took walking through the thicket jungle was not required to get back.  It was a jeep trail once we left the mountain the arch was on.  Thank goodness, it made it so easy to get back.  I was exhausted, so was Stella.  We all took a nap.

On Thursday, Gary and I attempted to hike West Contrabando Trail, and it was not a good trail.  We looked at it from the parking lot, hiked along the entry point, and reassessed the trail.  It required going so an hold winding highway road or else a steep descent to get to the scenery.  Then, walking through quite a bit of desert area to get to any type of scenery.  I can walk a decent trail, but I will not walk down a long ways at the start of the hike, I can do that, and the hike.  But at my fitness level, I cannot hike UP that steep of a trail when I finish a hike because I'm too tired.  I want the strenuous part up front.  Alas, we just went scouting around, came home and did nothing.  Bummer of a day.

Gary did get me a picture of a bluebonnet.  I wanted one with a mountain in the background.  I found one along the highway (that is the only place we ever see them) that had a bit of what I wanted.  However, I was afraid to lay on the asphalt, should a car come along.  There is no way I could get up fast enough.  Gary did take it for me.  Of course, it was at that time that a park ranger came along.  He flashed his light on, but didn't stop.  Here is the picture.  Oh, there was a fence in it, and the highway white lines showed really badly, but I attempted to remove it.  It is the first time I've ever tried to do it.  The results?  You be the judge.



Gary left for home Friday, and I cleaned up the trailer.I also took some pretty good pictures at sunset.







This one is of the moon that had been visible all day long.  This was after sunset.

The sunsets in the Big Bend area are so fantastic.  Not just in the direction of the setting sun, but for some reason (Sheila will confirm this), the sun appears to reflect off the sky for a full 360* range.  Just amazing.  Stella and I went on a hike, and that was pretty much our day.

Saturday, Sheila arrived... knocking on the door and walking in around 5 pm.  Thank goodness I knew she was coming.  I was in an electric recliner and I couldn't get it closed to get up out of it before she came in.  She brought enough food for the entire RV park, but only enough booze for a few days.  Let's see.... 10 beers for her, a case of Corona for me, 2 huge bottles of Yellow Tail wine, and 3 bottles of merlot.  It was great.  I tried to get her to give me a pedicure/spa type of evening but she refused.  Damn, all the hiking has rendered my feet in need of a pedicure.  Oh well, you can't have it all.

Sunday, we headed to the national park.  But first, we had to walk Stella, since we couldn't take her with us to the National Park.  Pets are basically not allowed.  We hiked the area directly behind the RV Park, where Gary and I usually walk Stella.  We took a ton of pictures, but I'm only posting one.  It is about 2 miles, and is nothing but photo opportunities.



Once that was out of the way, we made our way to the National Park.  I left my National Park Pass at home, and we needed it to get in free.  The man was so nice.  He looked up the info so I wouldn't have to get another one.  I noted his name was Mr. Sanchez.  He was extremely helpful.  He gave us a pass that was good until 2-28.  We are good to go.  Sheila and I both wanted to go to Boquillas, Mexico, so we had our passports with us.  If you read the article,  you'll know it is the only border crossing that is covered by a park ranger.  You deal with border security only via phone and a camera.  It is only open 3 days a week, so we decided to make it a priority and go first day possible.... Sunday.  It was really hazy when we set out.  It is a short distance.... about 42 miles, but that equates to a 1.5 to 2 hour drive because the speed limit is 45 mph.  Just hope you don't meet any bikers, they will not yield.  I drove and Sheila was lead camera person.


We went to Boquillas, Mexico.  It had sprinkled on and off all morning, but never really rained.  We had to pay $5 each to get across the river.  I kept singing "Miguel row the boat ashore" until she insisted I stop.  She threatened to take out her hearing aids if I didn't, so I had to.  I could not convince her to ride a borrow to town so we paid $5 each to get in a 35 year old truck and driven to town.  Then we ended up paying about $20 for a guide.

We were not really amazed by the town.... just what we thought it would be.  The ONLY economy they have is tourism, so everyone is trying to sell you something, even the kids, and even the man in a wheelchair singing in the middle of the streets.  We saw their small Catholic Church and their school (from a distance) and their solar grid.  They have two bar - restaurants.  We did have two beers and one coke (all glass bottles) for $5.50.  Amazing, no?

Though it was small, it has a very interesting history.  The story of the twisted wire art work they sell shocked me.  All that money the government spent on cable and it is being used to make art.  Boquillas has a very interesting story that cannot be told here.  If you are inclined to read it, here is a link I would love you to read. Ignore the picture..... just read the article.... the picture is a "draw them in thing" and has nothing to do with the story.

http://aplus.com/a/boquillas-border-crossing-mexico-texas-immigration

If you read the article, I too was amazed that Obama actually did one good thing in his term.

I'll continue by posting some of our Boquillas pictures.
Sheila walking to the boat launch

Beauty greeted us.


Then Miguel greeted us.



I began singing "Miguel row the boat ashore, hallelujah" and Sheila got real snippy and told me to 'knock it off".  Damn, she can get bossy.

Here we are in the truck.  It sort of made riding a donkey appealing.



Here is the one room church.



This is the Rio Grande





Here is Sheila with Gabriel, our guide.



Downtown, two dudes and the humping dog.. and no I did not get a video of him in action.  If it moved, he was humping it.  The little brown dog on the right.  I think he was after the German Shephard.



The street singer



Where we bought our beer and coke


We both bought some wire art.  That was the extent of our adventure.

Sheila entering the check point after clearing Mexican Customs on the other side.  We were glad to be back on American Soil.  Mainly because it sprinkled on us all the time we were there, and it was a little windy.



It was a great adventure.  The day is continued on the next post.