Day 19

Day 19 – Friday – July 9, 2010

0430 It’s raining and still very windy.

0700 Wake up. Get dressed, get the kids up, tear down our wet camp. Felisa reports that Ryan lost a tooth while brushing his teeth this morning. Current temperature, 60 degrees.

0805 Loaded up and leaving the campsite. As we are driving out of the park, we see several deer along the road, having breakfast. We were talking about the weather last night and Felisa said, “Every time the wind blew, the tent whacked me in the face.”

Our favorite parts of Big Bend:

Bella – the Texas Ranger program

Felisa – camping

Ryan – the Texas Ranger program

Ron – seeing Mexico

Sheila – the ocotillo trees and the scenery

0853 Leaving Big Bend National Park

0907 See a roadrunner (finally!)

0920 There are lots of big birds perched on the fence posts this morning. Vultures, hawks…

0923 Border Patrol checkpoint. There wasn’t much traffic this morning so the agents asked a few questions. They also had a dog checking the car.

0930 Marathon, TX. Gas, $3.34/gallon. For breakfast we have gas station coffee and hostess mini donuts. We have driven about 300 miles since we left Alpine yesterday. Probably 200 miles just inside the park. Big Bend is a big place, just like the rest of Texas!

0951 No cell phone signal yet and the only radio station is broadcasting a call-in yard sale/classified ads. Has anyone seen that guy’s 3 dogs?

1010 Construction zone has us stopped.

1012 Cell phone service is back.

1014 We are following the pilot car through the construction zone. The signs say Pavement Ends and Rough Road. Those are not good signs!

1036 Stop for brunch at IHOP in Fort Stockton.

1138 After a very slow breakfast, we are back on the road.

1141 Gas, $2.98/gallon

1:22 p.m. Ozona, TX We are looking for the Crockett Memorial but can’t find it so go to the Crockett County Museum instead. Afterwards we go across the street to the park where the memorial is located. This town needs some better signs!

Favorite parts of the museum:

Felisa – the saddle room

Bella – the schoolroom

Ryan – the Alamo scene

Ron – the bank room

Sheila – the pencil collection

2:20 p.m. Make a couple phone calls to check in back home.

4:03 p.m. We are off the highway and headed for the ranch. Ryan tells Felisa to wake up and start looking out the window. He says, “Look for body parts. We might find it early this year!”

4:15 p.m. It appears to be naptime for the cows. There are a whole bunch of them lying down in someone’s front yard.

4:18 p.m. We have arrived!

Shortly after arriving, the latest band of rain hit. Pizza for dinner. The special drink of the year this year is margaritas. Yummy chocolate chip cookies for dessert. James and Betty Lou looked through my scrapbooks from last year’s trip and our Disney trip. The internet is not cooperating so not sure how much I’ll be online while we are here this year.

Bedtime!