D & K's Trip Report - Big Bend - Dec.26-Dec.30
Tuesday December 26, (Amistad - http://www.nps.gov/amis/)
Dan & I rolled out of Houston at 11AM. Took I-10 to 90. It was a little
cool but not too cold all the way to Amistad.
We arrived at the Amistad Park office at 4:59PM. The office locked the
doors after we went inside. The office lady told us
where to go so we could camp that night. Dan & I left to go to the
campsite called Governers Landing. There's no electricity at
any of the campsites and first-come, first-serve. There were only 3 of the
campsites taken(15 sites total).
We figured out were Homer would be the happiest (a level spot). Great we
found a spot! The sun setting on the lake was really
pretty. Dan set up the propane grill and cooked up some spagetti with
italian sausage. Good now it's time for dinner! We ate
dinner. Smoked, got the bed ready in the bus, and watched a few National
Geographic pod casts. I fed Thor, then he laid in his
bed for a little while, until critters were trying to eat the rest of his
dog food! Dan got out of the bus and looked around to see
what was there, he saw nothing. We let Thor get into the bus and we got
into bed. Then we heard something trying to get the
trash can. I said,"OOOh lookey there Dan we have racoons in our campsite!"
They got into the trash and ate all the leftovers.
There was lots of them too, like about 15 in a pack. Dan got out of the
bus to scare them off and put the lid back on the trash
can. He's my hero he got rid of the coons. Good night.
Wednesday Dec.27, (Terlingua Ranch -
http://www.terlinguaranch.com/gallery.html)
Got up about 7:30AM and got ready to go to Terlingua. The day was
beautiful and ready for us to venture out into the great
deserts of Texas. Dan got Homer out on the road with no problems at all.
Taped up our doors and were ready to go! We had
some cinnamon rolls for breakfast so we were really hungry around lunch
time. We got to Alpine at noon and stopped by a
McDonalds for lunch. After that we waited on the longest train ever to go
by so we could cross the road, but no problems we
just munched on our Mc Donalds cheeseburgers & fries. There's just
mountains everywhere all around us,surrounding us,
made me feel kinda small. So we went down the road to Terlingua Ranch,
first 13 miles it's a paved road, last 3 miles it's a dirt
road. Got to Terlingua Ranch at 2PM. The office was open and ready for
business. I made reservations. The campsite had
electric & water, only $17.00 a night. Dan & I set up camp. So,what we
were gonna eat for dinner??? Well, we can just walk
over to the Bad Rabbit Cafe', it's only across a little bridge and eat
dinner. Open 7-11AM & 5-9PM. "Thursday is Karaoke
Night", that's what the cook/waiter said. It was a very warm place, it was
getting a little cold. I had 3 beef tacos, Dan had
chicken fried steak, the food was good. We went back to the campsite and
turned on the Mac and watched a DVD, Nacho
Libre, it was goofy, but funny. Good night!
Thursday Dec 28 (Terlingua Ghost Town/Study Butte-
http://gallery.hoyhoy.org/20040904_terlingua?page=1)
Dan & I got up around 7:30AM. We were hungry so we decided to eat at the
Bad Rabbit Cafe' for breakfast. Dan then said,"We
should go to Presidio today,we'll go down Hwy 118 to Hwy 170." I agreed. I
went into the office and asked where to get gas,
she said Study Butte, it is the second store you see, they call it the
Study Butte Mall. So we leave Terlingua Ranch and head
towards Study Butte. All of a sudden Homer doesn't want to go up a huge
mountain, 15MPH...Then we went down that
mountain about 65MPH. That was a rush. Finally we made it to Study Butte
Mall to get some gas and ice. Well, it was not a
mall at all. It was a grocery store & gas station. But it was the only gas
station around Terlingua & Study Butte. Homer then
headed down Hwy 118 to Hwy 170. The road was really twisty, they went
around the mountains, up and down and around. The
river was pretty, it runs right along the Mexico border. (Duncan you
really missed out on the best road to ride the motorcycle.)
Homer made it up every mountain, going about 30MPH on some of them. Passed
Terlingua Ghost Town and went about
halfway to Presidio, then decided to go back to Terlingua Ranch. It was
about 2PM. So we just pulled right over and had lunch
on the side of the road. It was the best picnic spot in the world. Gosh I
just can't tell you how breath taking the mountains
were. As we drove back to the Ranch Dan kept on saying,"I hope there's
going to be a good storm, I would like to see one here
in the Big Bend, we've been here 3 yrs. in a row and never seen any rain."
Lots of clouds were appearing from everywhere.
Some mountain peaks were covered with clouds, I could hardly see them at
all. Got back to the campground and cooked
some dinner. Had some eggs & buffet potatoes.Yummm. After washing a few
dishes Dan & I got into the bus turned on the
heating blanket and watched a scray movie called,"Chaos". (Horrible scary
movie-don't ever watch it) Watched some Podcasts
then went to bed. Good Night?
Friday Dec 29 (Terlingua Ranch-all day & all night)
Woke up around 8:30AM. Decided to sleep some more since it was pouring
down rain. Everything outside looked wet & cold. I
told Dan I could just sleep all day. Eventually we got up and ate cereal.
Then decided to get back into the bus, it was cold and
still raining a little. About 3PM Dan started making dinner. He made a
steak on the Karbachi and heated up some buffet
potatoes on the propane stove. Not much happened, just ate and went for a
short walk. Good night!
Saturday Dec. 30 (Driving back home all the way down HWY 90 to Hwy I-10)
Got up at 7AM. It was really cold. Got everything all packed up, our tent
was really wet. Got out on the road about 8:30AM. As
we drove through the mountains we noticed there was snow on the peaks. It
was so pretty. But it sure did look cold outside.
Drove through Alpine and there was snow everywhere. Thor was just staring
at his bed and kept on going around in circles. I
told Dan maybe we should stop in Alpine to let him out so he could do his
business. Well ohhh my Gosh I let Thor out and
froze my buns off. Thor really didn't have to use the restroom, he was
cold too I think. He just wanted to get out for a second.
He got back up in the bus. It started warming up around Del Rio, but it
never really got warm until we got to Houston. We got
home at 10PM, just in time to watch Madd TV. The End.
Katrina & Dan Martin
71'bus "Homer"
http://web.mac.com/danandkatrinamartin/
http://ical.mac.com/danandkatrinamartin/Volks32Shows
--
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.432 / Virus Database: 268.16.4/615 - Release Date: 1/3/2007
1:34 PM
