Well, I think my adventure is over. I'm tired of traveling and also need to get my kitties from their foster home. Autumn and Meghan committed to giving the kitties a foster home thru the end of March - I was hoping they could keep them longer, but they can't. There's also bad news on the kitty front. Tuft has always been an escape artist. About a month and a half ago, he snuck out and somehow managed to break his leg. It isn't healing well and he may need surgery, so he's fairly high maintenance at the moment. So I need to get back and deal with the kitties.
What I'm going to do, I don't know. I was hoping that during this trip I would find inspiration - either stumble on an opportunity or pass thru a small town that I fell in love with and wanted to settle in. But it hasn't happened. So I need to get serious and make some decisions. Find a job and a place to rent somewhere. Anyone have any good ideas?
In the short term, I need to find a place for the cats (and for me). Would anyone out there be able to provide them a home for a while? Know of a short term rental or housesitting job?
I'll be leaving Denver and heading back to Oregon this week. Not sure when I'll get there, it'll be somewhat weather dependent. If there aren't any bad storms coming I'll take the direct northern route and should be there by the weekend. If there are storms, I may take the southern route which will take longer. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Marathon, TX to Big Bend to Guadalupe Mountains to Denver
I know - I've been AWOL for a while. Adventures and travel burnout set in, along with slow wifi for awhile, too slow to upload photos.
So on February 8 I left Marathon, Tx and headed south into Big Bend National Park. I had mail to deliver from the Guadalupe Mountains National Park ranger to the campground host at Rio Grande Village, so I headed there and set up my new tent:
Isn't it cute? Black and orange. Hmmm... hadn't really realized I was buying a beaver tent. Well when you put the rainfly on, it's sunshine yellow, and even cuter:
I'm really happy with the tent. It's easy to set up. And has doors on either side, which I'm loving - makes it much easier on a slightly unlevel campsite to put my head uphill and still have a door in a good place.
I was still recovering from my cold, so I had a few lazy days, spent some time sitting in the sun reading - it was sunny and in the 80s, just perfect weather. Did some scenic drives and short hikes. The Rio Grande is really not a very grand river:
Yes, that's it, and Mexico on the other side.
Really beautiful scenery:
After a few days I moved to the Chisos Basin campground in the mountains:
Did a really cool hike to the Window, which is a slot canyon that ends at a cliff down a couple thousand feet to the desert floor:
On the way back up I ran into a pack of javelinas on the trail:
In Chisos Basin the Jeep stalled on me a couple times, which it has never done before. As I was driving that Sunday to another hike, it coughed on me a couple times, the tach going to zero RPM, then picking right back up. Uhoh, I thought, and headed instead to the nearby gas station at Panther Junction, hoping against hope that they might have a mechanic on duty. Of course they didn't. What to do? I'm 60 miles or so from the nearest mechanic. Well, maybe I just got some bad gas, so I filled up with premium (which I never treat the Jeep to), and bought one of those STP gas treatments, hoping that might do the trick. I get back in, turn the key, and the engine just won't catch. Aaarghh!!! There I am, with a dead Jeep, 20 miles or so from my tent, on a Sunday, with no cell phone service. But luckily in a national park - I've really become a big fan of the park service. A nice ranger gave me a ride back to my campsite, then the next morning the campground host gave me and my stuff a ride back to the Jeep. The rangers let me use their phone at the Panther Junction visitor center to call the closest mechanic, Archie at Terlingua Auto Service. In such a remote spot, you figure you take what you can get in the way of service, but several rangers use Archie and recommended him which made me feel better. So I call to get towed there, and wouldn't you know it, Terlingua's tow truck driver has gone to Daytona to the races for a couple weeks. So I had to get a tow truck from Alpine to come get me. The Jeep went for a very expensive ride:
I got to Terlingua right as Archie was closing, handed over the Jeep and checked into the motel across the street for the night. The next morning I walked over and he had it diagnosed - a broken crank shaft sensor, which is a magnet that tells the computer how fast the engine is going around. If the computer doesn't know the engine is going around, it doesn't give it any gas. Not too expensive, but the part had to come from Midland, meaning it would be the next day. Well, people had told me Terlingua was a cool ghost town - it was a quicksilver (mercury) mining town back in the early 1900s, died in the 40s or so, then got resettled by hippies in the 70s. The mechanic was 5 miles or so from the ghost town at a highway intersection, but I'd been told of a hotel by the ghost town, the El Dorado. I figured if I could get a ride out there, I could hang out there for the day, which would be more fun. Archie said he thought he could find someone to run me out there. As I waited at the garage, John and Gayle, the couple from the campsite next to mine at Chisos Basin, pulled in to pick up a solenoid they'd ordered for their camper van. They'd been among the people to speak highly of Archie and recommended the El Dorado. They kindly ran me out to the ghost town:
They're traveling for a couple months and on the ride we got to talking about where we're from - amazingly they live maybe 5 miles from where I grew up in Virginia. Small world! So I got a room at the El Dorado and spent the afternoon sightseeing at the ghost town. It's a funky place, with a really cool old cemetery:
The next morning the hotel gave me a ride back to the garage, the part came in around noon, and by 1:30 I was on my way back to Big Bend. I camped for a few nights at the Cottonwood campground on the river in the western part of the park:
One day I took a really neat hike into Santa Elena Canyon:
Yes, that's the not-so-grand Rio Grande again:
Just a beautiful spot:
And I did some scenic drives around the western part of the park:
Big Bend really is an amazingly beautiful spot:
Then I headed back to Chisos Basin campground for a few nights since there was a hike there that I hadn't been able to do before called the Lost Mine Trail (no, there's not really a lost mine, they just call it that):
It was a steep climb, the trailhead is way down there where you can see the road snaking thru the mountains:
The views were really worth the climb tho:
Then I headed out of Big Bend, stopped a night at the Holland Hotel in Alpine, and back to Guadalupe Mountains National Park. When I was there before, I'd camped on the northern side of the park at Dog Canyon. I'd wanted to go to the Pine Springs campground on the eastern side, but the ranger warned me it was a really exposed windy spot - when I left Dog Canyon the forecast was for 60mph winds, gusting to 90mph, so I skipped it. But now I saw the forecast was for a few days of calm, nice weather, so I decided to check it out. It was a beautiful spot:
And I had a nice hike:
with some cool views:
The next morning tho the winds were picking up again, 25 or 30mph and forecast to get to 50mph later that day. Time to pack up and get out. Where to go, tho? My plan had always been to head south thru Arizona, New Mexico and on to Big Bend. From there I wasn't sure if I'd continue east, maybe volunteer with Habitat for Humanity in New Orleans for a few weeks. I checked out their website, and I guess it's a really popular thing to do for spring break - they don't need any volunteers until into April. So where to go? After that terrible cold, the Jeep's adventure, and with the winds picking up, I was sick of traveling, exhausted with packing up the tent and trying to decide where to go next. This is when good friends are a necessity. Looking at the map I realized it wasn't that far up I25 to Denver. So I called my friend Amy and pretty much invited myself for a visit. So I headed up to I25, stopped at the Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas, New Mexico for the night, and then on to Denver. I really owe Amy for putting up with me just showing up, I really needed to get off the road for a little while. Thank you Amy!
One day we had nice hike in the nearby White Ranch Park:
Amy, her dogs George (the fluffy black one) and Riley (the gray one), her friend Karl, and his dog Blitzen (the greyhound):
I've been enjoying relaxing and trying to figure out what to do next. And I also got to have a nice visit (and yummy lasagna) with my brother and his wife, who live here in Denver.
So on February 8 I left Marathon, Tx and headed south into Big Bend National Park. I had mail to deliver from the Guadalupe Mountains National Park ranger to the campground host at Rio Grande Village, so I headed there and set up my new tent:
Isn't it cute? Black and orange. Hmmm... hadn't really realized I was buying a beaver tent. Well when you put the rainfly on, it's sunshine yellow, and even cuter:
I'm really happy with the tent. It's easy to set up. And has doors on either side, which I'm loving - makes it much easier on a slightly unlevel campsite to put my head uphill and still have a door in a good place.I was still recovering from my cold, so I had a few lazy days, spent some time sitting in the sun reading - it was sunny and in the 80s, just perfect weather. Did some scenic drives and short hikes. The Rio Grande is really not a very grand river:
Yes, that's it, and Mexico on the other side.
Really beautiful scenery:
After a few days I moved to the Chisos Basin campground in the mountains:
Did a really cool hike to the Window, which is a slot canyon that ends at a cliff down a couple thousand feet to the desert floor:
On the way back up I ran into a pack of javelinas on the trail:
In Chisos Basin the Jeep stalled on me a couple times, which it has never done before. As I was driving that Sunday to another hike, it coughed on me a couple times, the tach going to zero RPM, then picking right back up. Uhoh, I thought, and headed instead to the nearby gas station at Panther Junction, hoping against hope that they might have a mechanic on duty. Of course they didn't. What to do? I'm 60 miles or so from the nearest mechanic. Well, maybe I just got some bad gas, so I filled up with premium (which I never treat the Jeep to), and bought one of those STP gas treatments, hoping that might do the trick. I get back in, turn the key, and the engine just won't catch. Aaarghh!!! There I am, with a dead Jeep, 20 miles or so from my tent, on a Sunday, with no cell phone service. But luckily in a national park - I've really become a big fan of the park service. A nice ranger gave me a ride back to my campsite, then the next morning the campground host gave me and my stuff a ride back to the Jeep. The rangers let me use their phone at the Panther Junction visitor center to call the closest mechanic, Archie at Terlingua Auto Service. In such a remote spot, you figure you take what you can get in the way of service, but several rangers use Archie and recommended him which made me feel better. So I call to get towed there, and wouldn't you know it, Terlingua's tow truck driver has gone to Daytona to the races for a couple weeks. So I had to get a tow truck from Alpine to come get me. The Jeep went for a very expensive ride:
I got to Terlingua right as Archie was closing, handed over the Jeep and checked into the motel across the street for the night. The next morning I walked over and he had it diagnosed - a broken crank shaft sensor, which is a magnet that tells the computer how fast the engine is going around. If the computer doesn't know the engine is going around, it doesn't give it any gas. Not too expensive, but the part had to come from Midland, meaning it would be the next day. Well, people had told me Terlingua was a cool ghost town - it was a quicksilver (mercury) mining town back in the early 1900s, died in the 40s or so, then got resettled by hippies in the 70s. The mechanic was 5 miles or so from the ghost town at a highway intersection, but I'd been told of a hotel by the ghost town, the El Dorado. I figured if I could get a ride out there, I could hang out there for the day, which would be more fun. Archie said he thought he could find someone to run me out there. As I waited at the garage, John and Gayle, the couple from the campsite next to mine at Chisos Basin, pulled in to pick up a solenoid they'd ordered for their camper van. They'd been among the people to speak highly of Archie and recommended the El Dorado. They kindly ran me out to the ghost town:
They're traveling for a couple months and on the ride we got to talking about where we're from - amazingly they live maybe 5 miles from where I grew up in Virginia. Small world! So I got a room at the El Dorado and spent the afternoon sightseeing at the ghost town. It's a funky place, with a really cool old cemetery:
The next morning the hotel gave me a ride back to the garage, the part came in around noon, and by 1:30 I was on my way back to Big Bend. I camped for a few nights at the Cottonwood campground on the river in the western part of the park:
One day I took a really neat hike into Santa Elena Canyon:
Yes, that's the not-so-grand Rio Grande again:
Just a beautiful spot:
And I did some scenic drives around the western part of the park:
Big Bend really is an amazingly beautiful spot:
Then I headed back to Chisos Basin campground for a few nights since there was a hike there that I hadn't been able to do before called the Lost Mine Trail (no, there's not really a lost mine, they just call it that):
It was a steep climb, the trailhead is way down there where you can see the road snaking thru the mountains:
The views were really worth the climb tho:
Then I headed out of Big Bend, stopped a night at the Holland Hotel in Alpine, and back to Guadalupe Mountains National Park. When I was there before, I'd camped on the northern side of the park at Dog Canyon. I'd wanted to go to the Pine Springs campground on the eastern side, but the ranger warned me it was a really exposed windy spot - when I left Dog Canyon the forecast was for 60mph winds, gusting to 90mph, so I skipped it. But now I saw the forecast was for a few days of calm, nice weather, so I decided to check it out. It was a beautiful spot:
And I had a nice hike:
with some cool views:
The next morning tho the winds were picking up again, 25 or 30mph and forecast to get to 50mph later that day. Time to pack up and get out. Where to go, tho? My plan had always been to head south thru Arizona, New Mexico and on to Big Bend. From there I wasn't sure if I'd continue east, maybe volunteer with Habitat for Humanity in New Orleans for a few weeks. I checked out their website, and I guess it's a really popular thing to do for spring break - they don't need any volunteers until into April. So where to go? After that terrible cold, the Jeep's adventure, and with the winds picking up, I was sick of traveling, exhausted with packing up the tent and trying to decide where to go next. This is when good friends are a necessity. Looking at the map I realized it wasn't that far up I25 to Denver. So I called my friend Amy and pretty much invited myself for a visit. So I headed up to I25, stopped at the Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas, New Mexico for the night, and then on to Denver. I really owe Amy for putting up with me just showing up, I really needed to get off the road for a little while. Thank you Amy!One day we had nice hike in the nearby White Ranch Park:
Amy, her dogs George (the fluffy black one) and Riley (the gray one), her friend Karl, and his dog Blitzen (the greyhound):
I've been enjoying relaxing and trying to figure out what to do next. And I also got to have a nice visit (and yummy lasagna) with my brother and his wife, who live here in Denver.
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