Monday, April 10-Wednesday 12

We definitely planned to visit Carlsbad Caverns.  Last fall, we went with Mike and Tricia to Bluegrass Underground.  This is a music venue inside a cavern in TN.  We saw John Anderson, stayed in a near-by lodge, and had a lot of fun.  I had never been inside a cavern, and was pretty impressed.  Mike and Tricia both commented that on the cavern scale of really great caverns, this one was a 1 or 2.  Mike said, “you need to see Carlsbad.”  So we knew we had to go!

The closest camp ground turned out to be Guadeloupe National Park, just south of the New Mexico border and very close to Carlsbad.  We didn’t even have this park on our list, but it’s really beautiful and when we were there, not too crowded.

The campground was small and primitive, which is fine with us: fewer RV’s.  Our site had a lovely view of the mountain, which is actually a fossil reef from the Permian Era. This made Andy happy while he was cooking.

We started out on a hike, but before we had gone too far, we came across a guy sitting on the edge of the trail.  He was having some unexplained issue with weakness in his legs, and had kind of collapsed as he was hiking with his wife.  She had gone for help, so we hung out with him until she could come back with a park ranger.  I have been thinking about him and hope that he’s ok. Andy and I are very grateful that we’re healthy and able to get around.

We did some bird watching and enjoyed a mysterious moon and night sky.

The next morning, we got up early and headed to Carlsbad, just 45 minutes north.

Taking pictures of this fantastic underground otherworld is kind of lame; there’s no way a camera can capture anything close to what it’s like.  We walked down 85 stories. (Fortunately, there’s an elevator back to the top.)  It was dark and dramatically lit in places, and the whole thing is a wonderland; petrified waves of water, incredible shapes and textures, bottomless pits and enormous stalactites/stalagmites…I could keep talking, but like Mike said, you gotta go there.

I called Tricia to say, “you were right, we hadn’t seen a cavern until today.”  I think this one is a 10.

 

Sunday, April 9-Monday, April 10

Our friend Gianne told us we had to go to Marfa.  With that kind of recommendation, we knew it must be something pretty great.

It really is!

Marfa is town of about 2,000 people.  I believe there must be some sort of creative vortez or eccentricity magnet surrounding the area.  Several well know films were made here (Giant, No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood), and there is a very serious art presence (i.e. Chianti Foundation and Donald Judd).  We came into town on Sunday afternoon when everything was closed, and so didn’t get to take in much.

We did find a local beer garden, and then had dinner at the Hotel Paisano in town. Claim to fame: the cast of Giant stayed here during the making of Giant.  There are posters of Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean every where.  We enjoyed the courtyard restaurant, and heard a very good guitarist who reminded me of Leo Kottke.

We spent the night at El Cosmico: a really cool kind of hippy hostel campground commune community.  They have a variety of accommodations; teepees, yurts, 50’s travel trailers, and safari tents.

We had a safari tent, and it was a lovely accommodation.  Too bad we couldn’t stay up late enough for the community hot tub event, but…we gotta keep going!

 

 

Friday, April 7-Sunday, April 9                                                                                             Southeast Texas

Big Bend shares a border with the Rio Grande and Mexico for 118 miles.  The park gets its name for the U-turn that the river takes.  The diversity of landscape and wildlife here defies belief.  I had heard about the beauty of Big Bend, but I was unprepared for the breath taking wildness, vastness, and holiness that we encountered here.  At times it was like being on a different planet.

Big Bend has an incredibly complex geological history.  The oldest rocks here have been dated back 500 million years.  This area was once under an ocean, then subjected to mountain building by compression, volcanism and tension.

There are fossils that are 100 million years old.

There are deposits of volcanic ash that look like cement.

There are distant mountain ranges,

structures that look like fairy dwellings on top of the world…

and so much more.

We took a 6 mile hike to a hot springs.  As it turned out, this was rather ill advised as it was 102 degrees and the trail went down and up across several canyons in the blazing sun..  We were pretty exhausted when we got back, but we made it!

People from the Mexican side of the river leave offerings along the trail.

We had to bring one of these scorpion ladies home with us.  We decided to leave her price tag in place, so we’ve named her Skinny Pearl after one of my favorite country music icons.

Buzz was a little apprehensive at first, but they seem to be getting on pretty well.

We were able to get in a couple more (shorter) hikes, and on our last night we heard a presentation by two former poet laureates of Texas.  They are traveling to each national park over the next few years and writing about their experiences.  They shared some poetry with us and I was grateful for their ability to capture images and memories. They have a blog if you want to check it out: poetsparktour.blogspot.com.

I wish I had better words to describe what it was like being here, but I’ll just throw in some more pictures instead.  Stay tuned for a post about the birds and wildlife we’re seeing on our trip.  We can’t photograph everything we see (like the bighorn sheep with his huge horns who bounded across the road right in front of us the morning we were leaving), but we’re keeping track and will report more about that in the future.

 

 

Wednesday, April 5-Thursday, April 6                                                                                       Comstock, Texas

We stopped at this campground because it was on the way to our intended destination of Big Bend National Park.  What a delightful surprise!  We camped in the tent section and were the only people there.

The weather was perfect.  We’re definitely getting into dessert territory now!

We had a lovely evening and woke up to find some deer nosing around our tent.  We packed up and then had time for a hike down into the canyon and a talk by one of the park rangers.  There are amazing examples of 7,000 year old pictographs in the canyon.  These paintings have been wonderfully preserved due to the dry climate of the area.  Although they have been extensively studied and dated to the time the pyramids were being built in ancient Egypt, their exact origin and meaning remains something of a mystery.

The ranger Randy Gonzales was very knowledgeable and Andy and Buzz really learned a lot.  (So did I!)

This distinct style only appears in an area which includes portions of the Rio Grande, Pecos, and Devils rivers.

This park was a lucky find! Now, on to the next adventure.

Monday, April 3-Wednesday, April 5

I was looking forward to spending time on the beach, and believe me, this beach was all I was hoping for and more.  Padre Island National Seashore separates the Gulf of Mexico from the Laguna Madre, one of only a few hypersaline lagoons.  The park protects 70 miles of coastline, making it the longest stretch of undeveloped barrier island in the world.  It is a nesting ground for the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle and home to a huge variety of birds.

Campers are allowed to pitch tents right on the beach, but it was quite windy during our stay and we elected to camp on the dunes.

There was a place for our hammock on the beach, and we spent two days relaxing, reading, walking, and swimming in the warm waters of the Gulf.  My idea of heaven. It was hard to tear ourselves away, but we were sunburned, and Texas is a big state with a lot more to see.

Sunday, April 2

We had a long drive today, and it was getting a little late in the afternoon, so we decided to splurge and spend the night in a hotel in Corpus Christi.  We had a chance to walk around a bit and have a nice meal.

Our hotel had a nice view! I’m not used to seeing palm trees on the beach.

I saw this guy at the grocery store the next morning and had to ask if he would pose for a picture.  The theology is a little confusing to me, but he is definitely making a statement!

Friday, March 31-Sunday, April 2

Today was a drive from Natchez, Texas, to Abbeville, Louisiana.  We passed through some beautiful bayou country and saw a lot of birds.

This is a rice paddy. If you look closely, you’ll see some pots bobbing in the water. Those are crawfish being raised in the rice.  They eat the leftovers from the harvest.

Egrets flock to these paddys; they are feeding on something; I’m not sure what.  All in all, a pretty sweet piece of permaculture.

Palmetto State Park, in south western Louisiana, is a very popular park located on the San Marcos River.  It has great facilities (i.e. hot showers and a laundry), so we decided to spend two nights here and take a day to re-group before heading to Texas. The park was full (again, we were the only tent), and most everyone had a huge RV and a giant truck.  Most of the RVs were strung with brilliantly bright LED lights left on all night, and a popular pass time seemed to be cruising through the park in one’s truck, sometimes dragging chains(?).  We met a lot of nice people, though, and managed to enjoy ourselves and eat some good food.

We collected some local seafood on the way and cooked it up on our trusty camp stove.  I made a stir fry with crawfish, ginger, garlic, lemongrass, and some bok choy. When I reported this to the woman camped across from us, she looked at me like I was crazy and later brought us some boiled crawfish, which is obviously the way you’re supposed to eat them.  Andy and I liked it both ways.  The fried catfish was pretty good, too.  We got a chance to use our hammock (thanks, Bill Northington!), and it was very relaxing swinging in the palmettos.  Next stop, Texas!!

Wednesday, March 29-Thursday, March 30

Joe Wheeler State Park Resort, Rogersville, Alabama

This is a very nice place; a large park located on Lake Wheeler and the Tennessee River. There are campgrounds, a lodge, restaurant, and big marina.  We had originally picked another Alabama state park as a destination, but when we looked on the map, we saw that Joe Wheeler happened to be near a town we very much wanted to visit; Muscle Shoals.

Muscle Shoals is home to the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, one of the most famous recording studios in the country.  It was originally owned by 4 musicians known as the Swamp Boys. If you were listening to rock music in the late 60’s and 70’s, chances are these guys recorded your favorite artist.  Not only did they record everyone from Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Led Zeppelin, Paul Simon, Willie Nelson, to Cher, Bob Seeger, Joe Cocker, Jimmy Buffett…they were amazing musicians in their own right. The Swamp Boys played on every album recorded at Muscle Shoals and their iconic sound became the backdrop to the music of the times. So glad we got to go there and do the tour.

Thursday, March 30-Friday, March 31

Natchez State Park, Natchez Mississippi

We reached this park in Southern Louisiana after a days drive down the Natchez Trace Parkway.  This parkway follows the ancient trails used first by bison and other animals, then by native Americans, then traders and settlers.  It stretches from Nashville, TN to Natchez, MS and features beautiful scenery and several historical sites.  We didn’t have much time to explore, but I will remember the Indian mounds and the amazing fields of yellow flowers…maybe canola??  We didn’t take this photo but this is what we saw.

Beautiful!

The campground is nice, but one thing we notice; there are an awful lot of people camping in RVs.  Ours is the only tent in the park, and because it is spring break week, there are lots of kids.  It’s lively, but not the camping experience we’re looking for.  That will come later.

We enjoyed spending some time in the town of Natchez; the oldest on the Mississippi River.  Natchez is famous for its lovingly restored antebellum mansions, many of which are open for tours.  As the case in most cities, there is a marked contrast between the stately homes along the river and the dilapidated houses in neighborhoods just blocks away.  I wonder how many of the ancestors of both slaves and slave owners still live in this historic place.  I’d like to learn more about that and many other things, but for now it’s time to hit the road!

 

 

March 27-29  Cade’s Cove Campground

Great Smoky Mountains National Park straddles the border of North Carolina and Tennessee. It was designated as a national park in 1926 and initially funded by John Rockefeller, Jr.  More than 11 million people visit here every year, making it the busiest of all our national parks.

The park is home to a diversity of wildlife, including a large population of bears.  Buzz Roadkill kept a sharp eye out, (look closely and you’ll see him!), but didn’t see any.  We did see deer, elk, turkeys, possums, and lots of birds.  We heard owls and Andy heard a coyote in the middle of the night.  The stars were truly amazing; having to get up for a bathroom trip in the middle of the night has its benefits.

We made our first hike of the trip; 5 easy miles to Abram’s Falls.  Not the most spectacular falls we’ve ever seen, but a good way to break in our boots.

We made two trips around Cade’s Cove, which is located at the western part of the the park.  This must be one of the most beautiful places in the world; at least it seems that way to me.  The cove was created by native Americans who cleared it for planting.  After the native people were forced off their land, settlers moved into the cove and continued farming there even after the land was designated a national park.  The cove was home to about 600 people at one time.  The last residents, who had signed life-leases allowing them to stay on their land until their death, left in the late 1940’s. Some of the cabins and other buildings of this community have been preserved.

We could have enjoyed several more days here, but the road is calling!