Sorry for the delay in getting this out to ya'll... Had a sick manager at
work so I have had to work some long days instead of easing my way back to
civilization. Food service management... grrr.
   My first impression of Big Bend was "oh great, it's a big ole desert"
as we drove in on the road from Marathon. I was not impressed.... We had
originally planned on staying outside the park in Sanderson so my wife Beth
could chase snakes that evening (her new addiction). The night before the trip
we decided to go ahead and shoot for BB the first day. We left Leander at about
3:30am with a big box of snacks and two coolers of iced water and pop.I wanted
to see Sanderson after Beth and daughter Meghan had gone out there last month
for snake days. We birded the cemetery for a bit and got my best ever looks at
Cactus Wrens that were my nemesis bird up to last year... By the third day
Meghan declared Cactus Wrens the "grackles of the desert".   After paying
the $25 a week car fee at Panther Junction HQ (I was glad we were going to be
there three days and not just an afternoon at that price) we headed for the
Chisos Basin. I switched the GPS to the location setting to see the altitude
change as we approached the pass into the basin (sad that our beloved GPS
"Maggie" fell later in the trip and met her death... I suspect suicide after
the girls changed her to the guy voice last trip!).   The drive into the
basin is where I started to get excited about the park, and more than a little
nervous. My first girlfriend as a teenager lived at the top of a Butte off the
Willamette Valley in Oregon. The drive to her house always made my car overheat
and boil over. She would literally be standing in her drive way with the hose
to try and cool my 65 Mustang (boy wish I still had that car!)... As I white
knuckle drove into the Basin the first time I was hoping they had a hose at the
top! I think we made 5 trips into the Basin all together and by the third day
it seemed routine. As a Oregon boy it was neat to get to look up at mountains
again even though I admit to a case of Mountain/ Warber neck ache by the third
day.   We spent a couple hours in the basin. I was told in planning that
the Basin was 20 degrees cooler than the desert and it was the place to be in
the afternoon. This is all true, it was cooler... but it was still hot and
shadeless. We had high fives and big smiles when our lifer Acorn Woodpecker
flew onto a snag right out in the open... It was a bird I have been looking
forward to seeing for years and its clown face did not disappoint. The drive
and heat was starting to take its toll so we headed to town for a needed
siesta  We stayed at Big Bend Resort in Study Butte. It is a "resort" in
name only... very old and run down but only three miles from the park entrance
so it served our purpose well for half the price of Basin Lodge Inn. We
attempted a meal at the cafe next door that is connected to a c-store. Very
confusingly there was a sign directing us to order at the store cashier which
we did. The food was okay but you had to eat fast to try and beat the flies.
There was a group of a dozen birders there also and I eves dropped all I could
as they went through their daily list--- I am guessing it was this group that
located the Clay Colored Thrush the next day at Cottonwood Campground. That
night I got Lesser Nighthawks feeding in the lights above the C-store and a
couple Scaled Quail running around by the dumpster in the morning... cheap
Lifers but I didn't complain.  We went back out to Sam Nail after dark
looking for critters. In short order Meghan ran into a spider web and had a
panic attack. Beth no sooner told her that there was nothing out there that
could hurt her as long as she followed the flashlight when Beth screamed and
threw her flashlight in the air! She had somehow gotten stung by a Honey Bee!
She had never been stung before by a bee and a couple years ago she had a
undiagnosed reaction to something that made her have to carry an EPI pen with
her so we decided to head back to town, but not before chasing a kangaroo rat
and finding a Diamondback Rattler on the warm road. 500+ miles and 19 hours was
a great start.
to be continued....?Fingers almost bleeding from typing so much!
Randy DuncanLeander TX
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