Our Last Day at Rio Grande Village and On to Stillwell Ranch

Friday January 25, 2013

Yesterday morning Greg took off for his third day of biking in Big Bend. He went quite a ways up the Old Ore Road and had an adventure with the gullies and rocks in the 4 wheel drive road. I decided to write a blog post and then ride my bike around the paved roads of the campground. Stopped for a while to watch two road runners. They were very tame and not very concerned with me as long as I kept still. They are interesting to watch as they walk a few steps and raise their long tail and at the same time lift the crest on their heads. Then they drop the tail to the ground and flatten the crest. Then they stretch their necks down and gobble up an insect. Slowly they repeat the motions.

After my ride I finally tackled the window cleaning. Some of the outside windows I couldn't reach from the ground, so I took out screens and reached my arm from the inside to the outside. I still left some strips of dirty window, so Greg worked on them this morning. The desert is so dusty and dry. It took awhile to get the windows looking good.

After lunch we decided it was shower time. We rode our bikes down to the general store. Greg got the $1.50 five minute special and I spent $3 on two sessions. Greg said I was worth it! Seriously, that was the only way I was going to be able to shampoo and condition my hair. I really, really need a haircut and it is two months until my next appointment in Frederick. The dry climate here has turned my hair totally limp.

We rode back through the campground with full hookups and back home. Sat outside in the shade of our picnic table covering and read. Close to sundown we ventured back on the nature trail we had visited the first night. We saw a few coots, two great blue herons, and a large turtle. The amateur photographers were setting up their tripods and long lenses and giving the rest of us dirty looks as we walked across the decking and floating docks. We followed the trail further and instead of going up to the overlook, we took the river trail. As we proceeded down it, Greg spied someone ahead in camouflage clothing. He scooted into the brush farther down the river than where the trail went. As we went along and spied the “Mexican craft stores”, we noticed that the money jars were empty, so I guess he was sneaking over the river to empty them. Farther down the trail we saw horses hoof prints that went right down into the river mud and we remembered the horses we saw on the Mexican side yesterday at Boquillas.

We came back to camp and fixed dinner. I complained that I am running out of eggs and fresh produce. We've stayed in the park longer than we planned. The nearest grocery is at least 60 miles away. After dinner, when it got dark and the amazing moon came out and illuminated everything, we went on a Javelina quest. We saw three grazing on the grass. When Greg shown his flashlight on them, they weren't startled. They just looked up at us with rather expressionless faces.

Today we packed up and left Rio Grande Village. It was easier than usual, because we were not hooked up. All we had to do was stow things on the inside so that they don't fly about as we bounce down the road. Imagine your home on wheels or in earthquake country. Anything loose flies around. Every now and then, less and less, we forget to take something off a counter top, or securely close a cabinet or drawer and we hear a crash on the first turn or big bump. The worst was when the refrigerator door flew open on a sharp turn and jars flew out! We have since remedied that problem by putting tension rod bars across each shelf before we leave. Also, Greg was able to tighten the closure for the door.

We filled up our water tank and dumped our tanks before leaving the campground and headed north and out of the park. We stopped at the visitor's center and met some volunteers from Minnesota. The couple were manning the center for three months. This was their third winter. Their trailer was parked behind the center.

A few miles out of the park we turned east onto a farm road. Five miles in to the Black Gap Wildlife Management Area we came to Stillwell Ranch Store and RV Park. Next door is Hallie's Hall of Fame Museum. We decided to spend two nights here. Hallie Crawford Stillwell came to the Big Bend as a young bride of 18 and lived on this ranch into her 90's. Her husband died young and she managed to live here and raise her children herself. The ranch is over 7,000 acres. The store is being manned by more volunteers, even though it is a private enterprise. The couple we met as we checked in are from Michigan and work in the store and then play cowboy music at the museum on weekends. They have been wintering here for a few years. We met several other fulltimers who are living in the RV park for the winter. Our neighbors living in an Airstream are from Delaware and have been coming here for 15 years.

Greg had a nice conversation with the husband. He said that in the 15 years they have been coming here, he has never seen it this dry. A lot of the desert plants are not dormant, but dead. Greg and I had noticed the same. The sign in the showers asks you to limit the shower to 3 minutes because of the Texas drought. (Actually, they do not charge for the showers and this way you can cut the water on and off to lather and rinse and use less water.)

We spent the afternoon doing chores. We still have no cellphone service. The store was using a satellite phone to contact someone. But, we have wifi at our site, so we are catching up on e-mail. We plugged in ALL the electronics and recharged everything, including the electric toothbrush! Greg worked on his bike under the picnic table shelter. He had to replace his chain. The grit from biking at Big Bend wore it down. It wasn't too terribly hot as long as you stayed in the shade. We had a few clouds and a few sprinkles as a cold? front came through. I got to do laundry and met another volunteer from Minnesota working around the property.

We wound up eating dinner during the concert in the museum, that everyone had made a point of inviting us to. I guess we'll catch it tomorrow. We can stream here, so we watched the latest episode of Downton Abbey. Tomorrow night we hope to stream the Fringe finale.

Tomorrow at 11 am we are supposed to take a 4-6 hour jeep tour, mostly on the ranch. We hadn't connected to the right person by this evening, so hopefully we will get signed on in the morning. It is supposed to be a little cooler and partly cloudy, so it should be pleasant to be in an open Jeep on the desert.

I am now down to some carrots and two onions for produce. When we walked into the store I checked out the coolers and there was a lot of beer. But, I got excited when I spied eggs, so I put them on our tab. They run a tab for you and you pay for your site and anything else when you leave. I needed quarters for the laundry and they pulled out from under the counter, a huge coffee can on steroids filled with quarters! Greg was down to one beer, so he resupplied with Lone Star, a Texas beer. I told Greg that I can put together one more dinner and then we have to leave and find a grocery store!