It should be called Magnificent Bend

Good evening, Campers! It’s Silver Cliche’ with you again. Tonight’s report is being filed from Big Bend National Park, Texas. I’ll keep it short and let the park tell it’s own story.

The day broke cold and grey. 48 degrees and overcast in Alpine. For us Floridians that was winter conditions. Several of our neighbors from the trailer hood were out in shorts and tee shirts. What’s wrong with these Texas people? (Anyone with a Biden/Harris sticker still on their car is exempt from answering that rhetorical question about Texans. I was only questioning their attire. They are wonderful people. Patriots, even.)

I was feeling about 25% of the symptoms I was warned about following Moderna #2. Worst for me was “injection site pain”. Maybe a little fever. Not much suffering given the prospect of protection. We hit the grocery on the way out of town and pressed south for Big Bend.

Mrs. C’ resumed photog duties. Here are shots as we rolled along:

We got to our campsite at about 2:00. Tonight we are in a “primitive” site. Specifically, we are about 3 1/2 miles down a gravel road from the main thoroughfare through the park. There is a trailhead at the end of the road and five campsites strewn along the route. It was a 5 MPH journey given the class 6 washboard and its effect on the Airstream. There is another site in this turnout with us. So far, nobody has shown up to occupy it.

When campers put a trailer into a camp spot, it’s customary to back in and leave by shifting into “D”. Of course, most campsites have some sort of concrete or asphalt pad, water, electric and “dump” connections placed strategically and neighbors watching to see if the team of driver and spotter know what they are doing (for us, the spotter gets consistently higher marks than the driver). Here, none of that applies. This is a gravel turnout with no specific place to put the trailer, no water, no electric, no dump. So, I got out, looked at the horizon, picked the direction for the hatch, pulled in nose-first, turned the recliners around to enjoy the view and snapped this pic:

Mrs. C’ took a walk after feeding the dogs and found something with a softer touch.

The high desert is in bloom with shades of yellow, blue and red.

That’s it for tonight! A short jaunt to another part of the park where the campground we will be in is on the Rio Grande and looking across open water at Mexico. Anyone with a MAGA 2020 sticker will be exempt from commenting on that post!

Later...