This morning on my daily run, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud at the irony of willingly heading toward the Rio Grande. After all, just two generations ago, my Mexican-born grandparents were desperately getting away from it.
Ayi yai yai! Here I am today, with my gringo husband who speaks better Spanish than I do, parking our traveling home in one of the last vestiges of real isolation and ear-splitting silence in America, the Big Bend.
We’ve been bouncing along the Rio Grand between Lajitas and Black Gap since mid-February, but it feels like we just arrived. No matter where you look, the timelessness of every panorama just drives home the fact that we’re all just insignificant specs of cosmic dust. Time moves slowly here, if at all.
To the casual eye it appears that Jim and I do a whole lotta nothing, but we’re working hard on some big projects including Jim’s upcoming speaking engagement at Blog Paws. But for once, we’re not all about work (at least until summer when we return to Vicker’s Ranch).
We took a day trip to Mexico at the re-opened Boquillas Crossing in Big Bend National Park (more on that soon):
Then one of our dearest, oldest friends from Humboldt County drove a couple hundred miles out of his way to stop by. It’s always a blast when our current life intersects with our so very different old one.
After boondocking for nearly a month straight, we lived a life of luxury and paid for a week of full hookups at Maverick Ranch RV Park. Normally a “golf resort” park isn’t the kind of place where you’ll find trailerin’ folk like us, but our friends the Whitfords are playing a regular gig to the Prevost-driving gringos.
We haven’t seen Eldon and Ann since our last trip to Stillwell, and we’re so glad we caught up with these two! If you’re in the area, do not miss their hillbilly hour music show.
After Lajitas, we popped into Alpine to re-stock our provisions, but that was just an excuse to see a mind blowing show by the Texas Americana music legend, Ray Wiley Hubbard.
A cross between a derelict and a genius, a prophet and a pervert, Ray and his bluesy licks (with just one drummer accompanying him the entire time) kept the crowd dancing, grinding and singing for more than two hours. Not bad for a 68-year old stone cold sober outlaw resurrected from the ravages of addiction.
When it comes to the best winter snowbird destinations it don’t get no better than this.
Next week we’ll be heading over to New Braunfels for a month-long stay at our old love/hate destination along the Comal River, Landa RV Park. Until then, we’ll soak up as much quiet time and isolation as we can before jumping headfirst into the crazy Hill Country scene.
I’ve lost track of you guys! We haven’t been to Big Bend in years. We have to get back there. Glad to hear they opened the border crossing. We’ve been doing little trips around the area and nothing big for the last year. Hope to hook up with you two sometime in the near future!
Excellent post. Living in Marathon, we were good friends with Nan, Kay, D.W. and all the rest at Stillwell Ranch. Glad to get the info on Eldon and Ann. Also, spent an evening with Ray Wylie Hubbard at a Texas North House Concert (a small – 25 people – concert RWH put on in the living room of a friend in Coppell, TX a couple of years ago). He always does the same shtick, including the walking goat, etc. Follow our Big Bend Blog at texasflashdude.wordpress.com and come see us when you’re in Marathon.
Thanks for reading Bob! I loved checking out your blog, you’ve got some amazing photos.
How cool that you got to hang out with the Stillwell gang, I feel like we barely touched the legend of Stillwell when we first visited a couple of years ago. It broke our hearts when Nan, and then Kay, passed on. We stopped by the store the other day and I swear I felt their presence watching over everything.
Very cool you got to see RWH in an even smaller venue. I’m jealous!
We’ll be in Marathon later this week I think. Be careful what you ask for, we might have to come knocking on your door for some tall tales about the area!