Searcher: Big Bend National Park to....Boondocking

The weather is warming up....thank goodness, as we were getting a wee bit stir crazy in Sanderson, Tx. It wasn't Sanderson, it was the cold windy weather that pretty much prevented fun bike rides around the area which is quite unique and full of history. Also, a heffy dose of a head cold that my traveling partner was more then happy to get rid of found a home in my head so I was pretty much side-lined for a few days. After leaving Sanderson and the routine of getting up every hour on the hour to run water to keep our pipes from freezing and bursting it felt good to be a bit further west and in warmer climes. Marathon, Tx is only about 50 miles west but the cold front that had settled like a wet blanket over the area had dried out and blown away. After one night on the cross-roads of old Texas and hippy wanna- be Marathon, we checked the weather forecast and traveled south to Big Bend National Park. This is definitely a hands-on National Park. If you really want to see and experience this area you must get out of your vehicle, put on your hiking boots, throw on the back pack and head for the back country to really see the land; the canyons there are awesome. With the tenacious head cold hanging on we continued our drive through this beautiful terrain and stopped at B.J's RV park. This was one of those small, closely knit little communities on gravel. These people...maybe 15 maxium even had a covered ramada (wigwam) where they meet each day for happy hour. This is not one of those huge spread out Stepford Wives RV parks where each front door is the same color and all the flowers are lined up in symmetrical order. B.J's is lived in and homey. No frills, but we were made to feel welcome immediately and invited to come to the Christmas Tree lighting ceremony that evening. These are the hidden treasures we seem to just wander into when ready to bring the day of driving to an end. This variety of park is not the typical kind listed on the Garmin GPS or in the vacation literature. They just appear out of nowhere.

We are now north of Big Bend in Fort Davis, Tx. We were able to boondock last night (dry camping...stealth camping) no park, just a little piece of desert in the middle of West Texas. Richard installed two solar panels this past summer and we put them to the test last night. They passed with high marks and that was with overcast skies yesterday!!! It was not too cold...41 degrees at its lowest. Quiet, peaceful and restful. We continued on to Fort Davis, Tx for tonight and will head west toward our eventual goal of Arizona on the morrow.