Big Bend

I made it to Big Bend National Park! Finally. And just in time for the Arctic Blast….today’s high is 35 with a brisk wind, and the clouds are so low, I can hardly see the mountains. Drat! I may have to extend my visit.  As soon as I entered the park I saw my first wild critter…a big fat tarantula crossing the road; how exciting! I did not stop to take a photo of him. Then I noticed another, and another…..a really disturbing number of tarantulas!! Eww. Once I got off the paved road I didn’t see any more, but I bet they’re out there, just waiting to jump on me! Also waiting to leap on any unsuspecting person or dog are cougars and bears.Spiders, cougars and bears, oh my!

I am camped in a Backcountry site in Grapevine Hills. I was hoping there’d be a cell signal here but no, at least not on my phone. I really wanted to get the Government Springs sits as it’s quite close to the paved road, but it was taken. So my site is down 4 miles of very bad dirt road, but it’s nice once you get back there. It’s a sort of double site, and my neighbor is a young guy with kayak and bike and he’s camping in an old vintage Playmore camper! It’s cute as a button. (and so is he, if you care about that sort of thing) Oh no, I just tried to enter some photos and again my USB converter doesn’t work!  I really hate when that happens.

In the middle of last night I had to go outside and gather up my canopy, as it was too windy and the poles were banging on the camper. Oh the stars!! That song is right, “The stars at night are big and bright, deep in the Heart of Texas”!

It was so nice to not have to get up early and drive today. I made a big breakfast of “everything eggs” (sausage, ham, green pepper, onion, potatoes, eggs and cheese) and dawdled around all morning. I came out to empty the porta-potty and use the free wifi at the Panther Creek Visitor Center, which is only about 7 miles from me. On the way out the dirt road, I saw a coyote, a bunch of some kind of quail, and a roadrunner! I did take photos though they were kinda far off, so I don’t know how they turned out yet.

At the visitor center the ranger identified the thorn that went through my shoe as  mesquite, and he said the same thing happened to him the other day. I’m now very careful what i step on, but it’s already feeling better.

I’ll keep playing with the camera disc converter and hope to post photos the next time.