Goodbye Texas! Denny says we have now been to Texas 4 times and visited all the interesting sites and parks, so we aren't coming back unless it is just on the way through.

After leaving Big Bend we had to spend a few days in west Texas. We kept it as short as possible since west Texas is fugly, all dirt, cactus and oil wells.

Like I said "fugly"

Then on to north central Texas where we were pleased to again see trees, water, and green grass. We visited a great little park on a lake called Possum Kingdom. We saw a few deer but no possums.

Lake front site

View of campground  from a trail high above

Our next stop, Fort Richardson was also small but interesting. We visited the fort, walked the trails and picked up a few geocaches. Part of the park was a nine mile gravel hiking, biking, equestrian trailway along the lake that we biked. Since we were there on a weekend and the weather was nice we expected it to be busy but only saw 2 other bikes on the whole trail. Plus one car which was very illegal and scared the crap out of us when it came up behind us!

No cars allowed but apparently covered wagons are!

We reserved 2 nights at a state park in Oklahoma before heading for home. We stopped for groceries at a big store in Norman, OK where we were denied a beer purchase because neither of us had brought ID in with us and as usual we were parked in the outskirts of the lot so we could take up two spots. Instead of calling a supervisor she just said no. I explained that we were both over 70, but sorry no beer! Neither of us can remember the last time that happened ! 

After one night of thunderstorms and more predicted, Denny got antsy and we packed up and headed out a day early. The next two nights were supposed to be at Harvest Hosts locations but that also got shortened to one quick overnight. We figured if we were going to be stuck in the RV because of rain we might as well be moving!

Next, one night at our nation's newest National Park, Indiana Dunes, before heading for home on 4/6. 80 days, 6200 miles, 29 parks, 2 National parks, one Harvest Host, and 100+ geocaches. Fingers crossed that the snow is gone and we can make it up the driveway when we get home!

We have left the majestic mountains and dusty desert that are Big Bend. The first time we were in Big Bend, seven years ago, it was January and quite chilly—it even snowed a little one night—and we couldn't see the central mountainous part of the park because the RV was too big and no rental cars were available. This time we made sure that we would be able to see everything by renting a car for the week. We thought the warmer temperatures of March would be great. What we didn't think about was that March also brings spring breakers!

The park is huge, and we put over a hundred miles per day on our rental car. The first day we visited the west side of the park all the way to Santa Elena canyon where we climbed some scary steps for the view. Then I told Denny to take this gravel road back because it was only 13 miles. However, we found that it was 4 wheel drive only so had to go almost 50 miles back around.

We climbed these steps to the Santa Elena Canyon Overlook. See the white railings? And the large rock that looks like a man's face?

Santa Elena Canyon

These two mountains are called Mules Ears.

Me, wearing the mule's ears.😂

Hiked to the Lower Burro Mesa Pour off. No water coming down today.

Homer Wilson Ranch down in the valley

                                          Inspecting the view from the inside of the ranch house

Our spot for the week at Big Bend Resort. They use the word resort very loosely here!

The Rio Grande is not so grande because of the drought.

Next we visited the central mountain basin. We did some hiking but found the trailhead parking at the most popular trails full. 

 

This bird was eating the seeds off this yucca plant for hours!

"The Window" at Chisos Basin

The east end of the park has another canyon that we hiked to and at that end is also a border crossing. We crossed, taking the rowboat ferry across the Rio Grande, and walked into the little town of Boquillas where we had a lovely lunch on a patio overlooking the river and did a little shopping before taking the ferry back. Our bill for lunch and some items bought in their shop was $101. I whipped out my credit card but was told they only took cash. Between us we only had $70. After I put $10 in the tip jar for our lunch, we were down to $60. The owner wouldn't let me put any items back and even gave me back a $20 in case we found anything else we wanted to buy before leaving their town. Now I owed her $61 which she told me to pay by PayPal when I got back to the US. How trusting is that! I was dumbfounded! Of course, I paid immediately with interest!

Tunnel as we entered Rio Grande Village/ Boquillas Canyon

Boquillas Canyon

We were part way up the beginning of our hike when I decided I needed a hat. Nice guy, Denny, went all the way back down to the car to get it for me!

 

 

 

International Ferry!

Our Boquillas lunch view of the Rio not so Grande

Our lunch spot, Jose Falcon's

 

The outdoor patio floor at Falcon's

 Closer to home, we took a dusty desert road to see some petroglyphs, but all we found was a dinosaur egg.

Dinosaur egg

Denny hiked up for a geocache but no luck. It was a slippery slope, so I stayed down!

Another hike to Cat Tail Falls at the base of The Window. Just a trickle of water but cool pools and shade at the base of the pour off which was quite welcome on this very hot dusty six-mile hike. 

Lots of info wars bumper stickers on this car in the parking area. Conspiracy theorists are alive and well in Texas!

Terlingua is a small desert town with one grocery, one gas station, tons of RV parks and only a few restaurants. Since we have been mostly in state parks until now, we took advantage of the nearby restaurants and ate out three nights. First night Mexican, second night pizza. At the pizza place, we ordered a beer, and when it arrived, the waitress said it was complimentary because they were in a transition phase and weren't allowed to sell alcohol yet. We did leave a large tip to cover it. I'm not sure this would fly in Michigan! And for our last night, another bar and grill serving Tex-Mex. They had some live music with a gravelly voiced old guy singing what he called "old hippie music"—Bob Segar, CCR, etc. Great way to end our stay in Big Bend!

In our continuing saga of "if I didn't have bad luck I'd have no luck at all":
We rented a car while there because you can't go up the steep and curvy mountain road in the middle of the park in anything larger than 25 feet. After five days, the inside of the car was quite dirty, so the night before we left, Denny cleaned everything with a damp cloth. The next morning the key fob wouldn't work. We called the rental agency who told us to use the small key inside the fob to unlock the door and explained how to get off the cover. Once found, we discovered that the keyhole was dirty and wouldn't move. Denny sprayed some lock spray into it, and we kept trying but it didn't work. The rental person then suggested we change the fob battery. There are only two stores in this small town, and we checked both. No luck. We called again and he said he would come down with the second set of keys. Unfortunately, the rental location is 80 miles away. When he got there, we discovered that his fob wouldn't work either and he also couldn't make the lock work, so he called a mechanic who came over and manually opened the door. Apparently Denny had hit a dial while cleaning that left the marker lights on all night and the battery was dead. After a jump-start (and several hours) we were on our way!