(Kim's Perspective)
Planning. Lots of planning went into this, our "Epic Journey". It went (roughly, in a paraphrasing kind of way) a little something like this...
K: "Where should we go for our 20 year anniversary trip? It has to be big. We can't do Hawaii or Alaska - they're too far, too expensive, and we don't have enough vacation time. It has to be someplace we love to be. Oh, let's go back to Stanley!"
B: "No, that's too far for a two week trip."
K: "Okay, FINE. Where else?"
B: "Colorado."
K: "We DO love Colorado."
B: "We can go to Ridgway and ride the trails in Ouray, Telluride, and Silverton again. Maybe we can ride Black Bear Pass this time."
K: "What?!? Ohhhhh, no. I am NOT doing that. No, absolutely not, I'm NOT doing that. I am NOT riding that trail and shooting off the mountain to my death. No way. Not gonna happen. Lovely. Now I have to poop."
Over the next few weeks, as we commuted to work together every day, the trip planning progressed. I would get in the car after work, pull out my trusty atlas and stare at the two page spread of the continental U.S. Since this was supposed to be "a big trip", we needed to go somewhere new, and of course I needed to bag at least one new National Park. We've done nearly all of them on the East coast, the Midwest, the Northwest, and the Southwest portions of the U.S. Where to, where to? Humpf. One day, while staring at the map, it all came together.
K: "Let's go to Big Bend! We could go there first and then zip up to Colorado from there."
B: "Uh, 'zip' up to Colorado?"
K: "Sure! It's not even a thousand miles. We've always talked about going to Big Bend. What better time to go than for our 20 year trip?"
B: "Um...it's August, it's a desert, it's going to be hot."
K: "So what. We've hiked in the desert before. We've BACKPACKED in the desert. We got this!"
B: "Okay. I'm game. Make it so Number One."
K: "Really?!?"
B: "Really."
And a big toothy grin ensued. For weeks I planned and mapped and mapped and planned. I love this! I researched the park and poured through a hiking guide I bought, reading the book from cover to cover. We maxed out our lame 4GB monthly data plan watching videos about the park. We got excited. Really excited. We bought new gear - a new Arai helmet for me (it was time, no really, it was time) and a new GoPro Hero 4 for Bill to take videos of the rides. We were SO STOKED about this trip. Fast forward to departure day....
We were up early and pulled out of the driveway at 5:57 a.m. We had a LOT of miles to cover and we were looking forward to jamming them out. As is my habit, I snapped a "hittin' the road" photo before folding up the stairs, doing a final hitch check and walk around, and jumping in the truck.
We took 81 to 40 to 75 to 59 to 20 and kept on gittin it (that's redneck speak for "we drove for endless miles on the interstate"). We quickly fell into our "travel mode" routine of NASCAR stops. Lane, as always, was the perfect traveler.
The trailer was pulling great and all was well. We rolled through Virginia, Tennessee, the corner of Georgia, Alabama, and crossed into Mississippi at 8:00 p.m exactly. We drove another 77 miles to Roosevelt State Park and drove around the campground loops trying to find a spot. It was dark which is always a bit more challenging. Only needing a place to park for a night, we found one that would accommodate our rig and proceeded to set up. The campground attendant stopped to chat with us and when we asked about registering he told us not to bother since we were leaving so early. We drove 900 miles for the day and had another long day ahead of us, so we quickly readied ourselves for bed and looked forward to continuing our journey.
Saturday - August 27
We left the state park at 5:30 a.m. and settled in for another long day. We crossed into Louisiana which excited Lane since this was not a state he had been to before. No seriously, when I told him we were getting ready to cross the state line, he got up from his memory foam cushion 2'x4' bed in the back seat, put his front paws on the armrest and peered out the door. I'm telling you, he's the best cat ever.
When he realized that Louisiana roads look the same as the previous 900 miles of roads, he went back to bed. We rolled into Shreveport at 9:49 a.m. I know the exact time because that was the moment that we almost hit someone. See this guy? Mr. Jeep? Yeah, well, he's an idiot.
Let me tell you why. We're driving along doing our polite stay-in-the-far-right-lane-out-of-everyone's-way thing and trying to keep a safe distance from the surrounding vehicles as they merge on and off the interstate. A dump truck, which was evidently overloaded and moving at about 20 mph in the merge lane, made the poor decision to continue merging at said speed and cut over right in front of us. That was jerky of him, but we had sufficient room to slow and let him squeeze in....until Mr. I'm-In-A-Rush-To-Get-Somewhere-And-I'm-The-World's-Suckiest-Driver decides he too is going to merge in front of us...also at 20 mph. For the record, anyone who tries to merge into freeway traffic at 20 mph is stupid. Someone who decides to do it while practically kissing the bumper of the dump truck in front of them must have a death wish. We were doing the speed limit, but that's irrelevant when you literally need to slam on the brakes with your 31' camper behind you to keep from rear ending some idiot who cuts right in front of you and is driving 30+ mph SLOWER than you. Bill hit the brakes HARD and the guy had to have pooped his pants when he looked in his rearview mirror and saw us inches from his bumper. We both were certain we were going to hit him - when we didn't, we looked at each other in amazement. New BFG All-Terrain T/A KO2 LT tires? Paid for. It's confirmed. Everything "KO" is awesome. Hahahhaha!
We took deep breaths and then I pulled out the camera so I could take a pic of what we coined as our "Jeep Sandwich". Now, we would always have a reminder as to why we sell perfectly good tires and buy brand new ones right before big trips. Ah, memories. Around mid morning, we attempted a NASCAR stop but it turned into an hour long camper cleaning extravaganza when I went inside to grab a drink and found ants everywhere. Bill mentioned that there were ants swarming all over the place at Roosevelt State Park. Apparently, ants like to road trip too, and like little illegal stowaways, their presence took us by surprise. I sent Bill off to find some bug spray while I did my best to clean up and start ant-proofing the kitchen. Oh joy. Instead of bug spray, he brought back Armadillo Eggs. What?
An employee at the convenience store told him about the restaurant next door and said they had good Armadillo Eggs. Bill just blankly stared at her....and waited....and finally said, "I'm not from around here". She chuckled and explained that Armadillo Eggs are a local favorite. Turkey and chicken wrapped in bacon and jalapenos and cheese and then deep fried. Um. Yes, please. That was Lane's take on it, too. Who knew? Now we do.
We drove along and enjoyed the scenery a bit as we left Louisiana and crossed into Texas.
Mmm....steak.
Lane was a little surprised to see steak driving around.
The plan was to spend the night in Austin and experience for ourselves why it's so (supposedly) amazing. So, we continued on our westerly path and were surprised when we came upon a clandestine government operation. It actually explains a lot about our government.
I preferred this sign (duh).
We finally got onto the Toll Road that parallels 35...80mph?!... :D
.... and skirted by Austin to get to our destination....
We checked in around 3pm, got set up...
...and got ready to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening in Austin. Lane had heard that everything is bigger in Texas, but he didn't seem impressed by the mediocre stature of these deer.
Since we only had a few hours to spend, we decided to park downtown so we could walk to the park and be in the general vicinity to watch the nightly bat emergence from the Congress Avenue Bridge.
We headed into the city....
(In light of my current choices, this might not be a bad alternative...)
....parked the truck and then walked to Zilker Park.
We were dumbfounded to find a beautiful, perfectly manicured grassy playing field filled with people walking with their heads down staring trance like at their smartphones. Everywhere we looked, people were oblivious to their surroundings and staggering across the park like zombies. Uh...is this what the Zombie Apocalypse looks like? Fortunately for us, the only thing people were infected with was a disturbing and incomprehensible need to play Pokemon. They were everywhere....
It was one of the most pathetic scenes I've ever witnessed. I'm embarrassed for all humanity. Seriously, I am. We continued on in amazement and tried to enjoy the park despite the lunacy surrounding us.
We made our way over to the bridge, along with thousands of other people, gah!, and patiently waited for the bats.
I had read that 1.5 million bats roosted under the bridge and emerged nightly in a black cloud of fluttering wings. Well, perhaps there ARE 1.5 million bats, and perhaps they ARE one of the largest URBAN bat colonies, but I've been to Carlsbad Caverns and I've watched the bats and I had some expectations...that WERE NOT met. Maybe the bats were busy playing Pokemon, I don't know, but it was horribly anticlimactic and not at all the black cloud of bats I was anticipating. The only cloud I got to see was the cloud of mosquitoes that circled around us. Having doused myself in mosquito repellent, that actually worked out nicely as it kept the mosquitoes at a safe distance and kept people away from me, too. Apparently, humans are just as repulsed by the cloying smell of citronella, eucalyptus, and lemon grass as mosquitoes.
We watched the slow flicker of a dozen or so bats leaving the bridge at a time and after a quick flick of the Blackhawk Tactical Light which drew "oooohhhhhs" from the crowd (bwaaahhaaaaa), we tired of the batfest batfail and made our way to the top of the bridge. Sadly, when I noticed ripples in the water, we again used said tactical flashlight to peer down into the river...and saw scores of bats who were drowning in the water. I guess it's survival of the fittest, but still a bummer to see. Maybe those were the bats playing Pokemon and they forgot to FLY. We continued across the bridge. Not something you see every day....
...and walked around the city for a bit before heading back to the car. We stopped by some awful 50 year old walk-up/drive-through style restaurant someone at the park had recommended to us and sucked down some food and a terrible root beer float. We walked back to the truck and then drove back to the campsite. As with all my city experiences, it was short, sweet, and effective. Effective simply being a reminder of why we don't live in the city. Blech.
Sunday, August 28
We were up and left McKinney Falls at 8am and rolled on to our ultimate destination. We entered "Hill Country" - yeah, whatever. Guess what....it's only called that because the rest of Texas is pancake flat. It doesn't actually make it all that exciting. Texas Hill Country kinda looks like home. You know....the place we like to leave so we can go see cooler things. I rolled my eyes a lot thinking about how people at my old job tried to convince me to relocate to Austin when the office moved. No thanks.
But, trying to keep a positive outlook, I focused on all the cute little towns and interesting sights along the way. Like this for example....which had me laughing my, well, you know, off.
We totally dig these cool old trucks.
Here's a little shout out to the Wheaton's in Kerrville.
As we approached the park, and by that I simply mean, as we got to within 400 miles of the park, we left the "Hill Country" <snerk> behind and the roads straightened out.
This is the Texas I'm used to seeing.
We encountered some construction which was somewhat unpleasant. Note their idea of the safe recommended speed for a "Rough Road". ?!?!?!
We drove through Fort Stockton and headed South to the park entrance - just a mere hundred miles away.
We had a little rain for just a few minutes that didn't really concern us until I kept seeing these go by...
....wait. What?!
Apparently, dips in the road which also happen to be in flood zones can be a little terrifying.
After a little longer, the terrain changed and we starting seeing some REALLY COOL stuff pop up in the distance. Kitteh was intrigued as well.
We finally arrived at the park boundary and took our NP sign photos....
....and continued to the Entrance Station...
....where we bought our Annual National Parks Pass (wooohooo!) and chatted with the rangers for a few minutes. We headed to Panther Junction Visitor Center which was closed and checked the info board. We walked around and snapped some photos...
.... before making our way (another 20 miles) to Rio Grande Village where we "set-up" for the night at the Village RV Campground. Ew. We knew it was going to be nothing more than a parking lot. We had no idea that there would be a small river running through it.
Even though it was raining, we wanted to make the most of our time so we pulled on our rain jackets and walked from the RV campground to the Rio Grande Village Nature Trail. It was simply a little walk to a peak overlooking the river into Mexico. We chuckled at the "imports" for sale...more on that later.
As it grew dark, we walked back to the camper in the rain and sucked down some dinner and made plans for the next day. It took us over 2,000 miles to get here over the course of three days, but looking around and seeing what we're in for - well, it really is going to be an EPIC vacation!
[For the record, I'm aware how awful this post looks. I have some choice words for Blogger and the way it refuses to allow proper text alignment and paragraph spacing when inserting multiple pics at a time. Perhaps if I was better with HTML, I could fix it, but I'm not, and as it is, this post has taken me five hours to draft and format the content. Plus, Bill's like a small, eager child on Christmas Eve..."Can I see it now?"..."How about now?". Yes, Honey, you can see it now. XOXO]
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