Big Bend National/State Parks / Lajitas,TX - Part 1

Sunday, May 10^th – Mother’s Day -   We left this morning and about an hour or so down the road we came to Judge Roy Bean’s museum area, so we found a place to pull off in the RV and we took a break to see it all.  What fun!  What a time in history!  The 1800’s were unique.  He was an eccentric U.S. Saloon keeper and Justice of the Peace!  As far as we know, he had no real education in the law, but set himself up as judge and jury and held court in the saloon!  He called himself “The Law West of the Pecos River” – and was known to go just across the Texas Line onto a little island as fighting was illegal in both Texas and Mexico.   He built a bridge across and people would go over the bridge to watch the championship fights and enjoy his $1 beers.  Known  as “The hanging judge”,  Judge Bean relied on a single law book, the 1879 edition of the Revised Statutes of Texas, and later when newer law books showed up, he used them as kindling.  He did not allow hung juries or appeals.  His ruling was the law. Can you imagine living in that era?  The jurors were chosen from his best bar customers and were always expected to buy a drink every court recess.  I wonder what he would think of our justice system today?   Interesting stop, and you can see from the photos an interesting array of plantings native to this area.   

 It's hard to know exactly how many photos to post.  My RVing friends want info and photos of the parks we stay in.  My gardening loving friends want more photos of the plants in the area, etc.  so feel free to just quickly scroll through what might not be of interest.

 This particular plant is EVERYwhere in the desert areas of Texas.  From the road, we saw hundreds of them, and I thought they looked like dead trees or plantings that had shriveled and died, but lo and behold, you get up close and they are green and healthy looking, and some even have blooms on them.  I have to date been unsuccessful in finding out the name of it.

We got to Canyon Ranch RV Park mid afternoon – whew, talk about being in the desert!!!  Whoa….. we asked the guy when we checked in where there was a nice restaurant (it’s Mother’s Day for Pete’s sake!!) and he gave us a rueful smile and said there was one within walking distance that had good Mexican food, and a little American food as well, other than that, about 50 miles away!  So after we got all set up we got cleaned up and went over to have a nice Mother’s Day dinner and they were closed!!!  Judging by the looks of the place, not really sure I’d want to eat there anyway.  Haha  So….. Earl felt bad, but hey, he’ll make it up to me later.   We had plenty of food in the RV, so we were fine, just didn’t feel like Mother’s Day, and of course, the whole day was so different. We didn’t go to church, that felt strange, and  I’ve never not been near at least part of our family for Mother’s Day!  I have to admit I was a wee bit melancholy about it, but all the kids called and I got the cutest email from Justin!  That cheered me up a lot, and we relaxed.  Ready to move on!!

We can't get used to entire RV parks that are just gravel, you'd never see that in Florida.  I guess it's easy to maintain.

Monday May 11^th – we left about 10:30 and headed out.  Just as we were leaving, we spotted an interesting RV - a 5th wheel pulled by a large semi truck cab.  I'm sure there's a correct name for it, and I'm missing it, but we loved the sign on the back!  We stopped to talk to him about the Smart car he had loaded onto the back of the cab.  Since we have a Smart car, we were intrigued.  We know we cannot tow ours as it doesn't weigh enough, we'd have to "trailer it" which we do not want to do, so we continue to pull our Saturn, but the Smart would be great for running around. He has ramps that he stores underneath that enable him to drive on and off.

He was a funny guy.  We told him we'd leased our house and were traveling full time.  He smiled and said that as long as we owned a house, we were not full timers, we were just "long timers".  Ha  I asked him about his choice of driving such a big truck to pull his 5th wheel, when most large pick up trucks are what is the norm.  He kind of smiled and said, "This is a HDT (heavy duty truck) those other ones are LGTs - little girly trucks!"  haha

What an amazingly scenic journey today – all through the canyons and then through Big Bend National Park.  Just awesome.  It’s kind of a raw majestic beauty, but I have to tell you, I’ve decided I’m partial to GREEN things – I love green grass and trees and beautiful landscaping.  This terrain is rugged and rough, with the only color relief being the wildflowers here and there.  We arrived in Lajita, TX about 3:30 to Maverick Ranch RV Park at Lajitas Golf Resort and Spa.  It’s known as the ultimate Big Bend experience.  For my RVing friends, it’s $34 a night, with good wifi, cable and nice amenities. There’s cute shops and a little bakery and spa on the premises.  Once you leave the resort, there is NOTHING, seriously, nothing at all!!!  You drive miles and miles to get anywhere in Texas it seems like!  Here’s a few photos of the resort….really beautiful.

 The view from the RV...

 Complimentary pastry for residents of the RV park.... cute lil baker, huh?

 This is the clubhouse in the resort just across from our site.

 

We spent 2 days of enjoying fabulous scenery primarily in Big Bend National Park.  In the Park, roads end at the Rio Grande, which is the boundary between the U.S. and Mexico.  Many of the park’s amazing vistas allowing viewing into both countries.  Yesterday we hoped to go to Santa Elena Canyon, which is only half a canyon on the U.S. side.  Its south canyon wall towers above Mexico.  That was the end destination point, and just as we arrived, they barred the road from all traffic due to some flash flooding.  It has hardly rained at all, and I am amazed at how quickly the least little bit of water causes flooding here, so we were disappointed not to see the Canyon there, as the limestone cliffs rise 1,500 feet above the Rio Grande.

 We were fascinated by these rain markers throughout the park.  They must at times have serious flash flooding here.

 Very interesting pull off area, we found a small village that has been used in numerous movies for old western towns.  Being here has given me the urge to go rent a couple of old western movies.  It's really like stepping back in time here.

 This is the Rio Grande River - just beyond the river is Mexico.

We thoroughly enjoyed the views and hiking at the Chisos Basin, leaving the arid dry desert and enjoying some cool mountain breezes.  The day was just gorgeous with clouds in the sky providing a lovely backdrop for the rugged mountains.  They recommended no RVs over 20 feet on this route, and we could see why with very windy roads, hairpin turns and extremely steep grades.  One view seemed to surpass the former, we just were on sensory overload.  We just marveled at the majesty of our Creator!  To think He spoke the mountains into existence!  How could we ever doubt His ability to do amazing things in our lives?

 These tepees were interesting.  There's just room for one picnic table but provides great shade!

 We went to Presidio one day (60 miles from Lajitas) to enjoy the ride and to find a car wash.  Water is scarce here and car washes are expensive, but the car gets filthy from towing.  Just as we got to the area, I got this notice on my phone. I guess the GPS suddenly thought I was in Mexico (?)

 We were just driving along and suddenly realized we were at the border!! Right there in front of us! We thought later if we'd had our passports with us, we might have crossed over just for a few hundred feet and turned around to come back - we could say we'd been in Mexico - haha but our passports were back in the RV and we also had our guns with us, so we hustled to turn around....

 ...so here we were being welcomed back into Texas. 

 Pretty Catholic church in Presidio, and below, see where they commemorate the fact that his was home of the first Christmas in Texas back in 1683!