Click on a photo to enlarge it.
We spent our last day at the races writing on the computer and on Tuesday we spent over $100 on food shopping. We went to a campground and did four
loads of washing to get ready for Kirsten's mother who is arriving tonight.
Kirsten spent a long time trying to get tickets for Melissa Etheridge who is playing in Denver on August 25th. But she came back a happy bunny!
We made a bit of space so Kirsten's mom had some room to put her clothes and left for the airport. We only just got there in time. The first
problem was that we couldn't get into the short stay car park because of a height barrier. But we asked someone and found a different entrance.
In the airport Kirsten's mom came in just as we got there! Fortunately there had been no problem with customs and all the flights were on time.
Mutti arrives in El Paso.
We drove back to the campground and bought some beer on the way. There was, of course, lots to catch up on but we managed to get to bed at 11pm.
Wednesday was a driving day. When we tried to fill up with petrol, we got our petrol problem again! We decided to sort it out later and carried
on driving to MacDonald Observatory, which is one of the major astrological reasearch facilities in the world and has three large domes on the
hills. Unfortunately we got there just as they were closing but decided not to go back the following day for an $8 per person tour as the public
aren't allowed to look through the large telescopes anyway.
We drove to a ranch which has RV hook ups for the night and made chicken casserole - a typical English dish that Kirsten's mom hadn't had before.
Kirsten managed to get the petrol tube off to let out the air so that we can fill up tomorrow and then she went swimming with her mom in the cold
swimming pool at the ranch!
Later, Kirsten showed her mother how to play spider solitaire on the computer and she got hooked straight away! We didn't get to bed until midnight!
On Thursday we had bacon and eggs for breakfast and drove all the way down to Big Bend National Park, stopping for petrol and a few supplies on the
way. The road was very scenic and we stopped for several photos. It is a volcanic area but they are no longer active.
Big Bend National Park is vast enough for a life time of discovery but has enough roads and trails for visitors to see quite a lot in a few days. The name comes
from the "Big Bend" in the Rio Grande river which not only marks the parks southern boundary but also the border between Mexico and the USA.
There is a huge variety of wildlife, plants and birds here including mountain lions, black bears, javalinas (wild pig type animals), deer, 56
species of reptiles and amphibians and over 100 species of birds. There are also numerous free camping spots (you need to get a permit) so this
is really a paradise!
We entered the park on the west side and got a permit for a back country (free) Chimneys West campground which is 7 miles along a gravel road.
We were totally alone in the wilderness for the night! It was very warm and even though we waited until after 6pm to go for a walk along a trail
it was still too hot.
We only walked for 1.5 hours but enjoyed walking through the desert, sometimes on lava gravel. We sat outside and enjoyed the sounds of the desert.
Unfortunately, all the flies dived into the candles that we had put on our table outside and we had to blow them out and use our gas lamp. The
desert just for us!!
On Friday we drove another 7 miles along the gravel road and went to Santa Elena Canyon with its tall canyon walls towering above the Rio Grande
which is also the border between Mexico and the US. It was a really nice short walk up to a viewpoint and then along the river bank further into
the canyon for a while.
Then we drove along a tarmac road to Castolon Visitor Centre to find out about other trails in the park and got a permit for two nights camping
at another free campground in Croton Springs. We treated ourselves to ice creams!
We drove to Mule Ears viewpoint - two rocks in the shape of .....you guessed it! We stopped off at a number of sights and then did a 1 mile walk
to Burro Mesa pouroff - this was a tip from the visitor centre. It is a vertical chute where pour off rain water shoots vertically downwards. We
didn't know what to expect when we were walking along the path but we got quite a surprise when we went around the corner and saw how huge it is!
It's so big that you can hardly see Helen and mom in the photo!!
Our free campground at Croton Springs was our home for the next three nights and we had it to ourselves! Its not really a campground, just a sandy
parking area with no facilities but we don't need anything else because we have Winnie. It was quite windy the first night but at least it was a
bit cooler than our first campground.
On Saturday we drove down to the east side of the park and did a 1.5 mile along Boquillas Canyon. It was extremely hot - 36° C. There were three
rangers on horse back who were checking the trail and nearly caught a Mexican who had chopped down bamboo sticks to sell to people along the trails.
He high-tailed it across the Rio Grande on to Mexican land and sat across the river from us as we walked along the trail! He asked us if we wanted
to buy a bamboo stick!
The Mexican sides of the canyon tower above it a lot higher than the US side and it was a really pleasant little walk. We also saw some people
kayaking along the river.
We drove into Rio Grande Village and did a short boardwalk in the desert and up a steep hill. It was extremely hot and humid and we couldn't drink
enough water.
Then we drove to the visitor centre at the park headquarters, bought a trail map for the Chisos Basin area of the park which is surrounded by high
mountains and tested the drinking water available at the centre by using it to make a cup of tea! Then we filled up our water bottle - we have
managed to drink 4 gallons in 4 days!! That shows how hot it is here.
In fact, the National Park closes its visitor centres at the end of April because it gets too hot and won't open again until the middle of October.
That's probably why we didn't have any problems getting camping spots.
We drove back to our "home", made potato soup and then quickly went out for a shower using our solar shower as we could see a storm building up on
the horizon with lots of lightning.
We stood outside for a while and watched as it approached but then decided to get back into Winnie.
What a storm!!!!
The thunder was so loud that Winnie vibrated. 55 mph winds rocked us from side to side. It started to rain and we got surrounded by lightning
flashes. But then it started to hail!!!! The hail stones were over an inch in diameter and were striking Winnie with such force that it sounded
as if someone was shooting an AK 47 at us!!
Somehow we had managed to park in the highest spot of the camping area. We weren't actually parked in our slot because it wasn't even enough. We
were also parked so that Winnie's rear window got the brunt of the storm which happens to be the strongest window as it is also the emergency
exit and meant that we wouldn't be blown over onto the side.
Kirsten was taking photos and Helen shot video through the back window. But then a large hail stone smashed the rear sky light! That shows how
much force was involved for the hail to smash through the plastic!!
The hole was about 4x3 inches. We had to unscrew the metal surround and used duct tape as an emergency measure. It didn't stop the rain from
getting in but at least we didn't have a gaping hole that let in a flood! We used some bowls to catch all the drips.
Outside, flood rivers were flowing all around us as the ground couldn't cope with the amount of rain/hail coming down. Normally there is 7 inches
of rain per year here which generally fall in July. We got one inch in one hour!!
We realised how lucky we had been in parking in that particular spot as we saw the rivers of water turn away from us. One river turned right in
front of Winnie's front wheel and went off to the side! The rest of the campground was flooded!
It took about an hour for the storm to go over us and then Kirsten went out in the wind to take a few photos and Helen video'd her as she battled
against the wind with her hair flying all over the place and her shorts billowing! What a sight!
We even got two rainbows next to us! As it got dark we sat in the drivers cabin and watched the fascinating lightning in the clouds as the storm
went over the Chisos Basin mountain area. It was wonderful to watch the night sky being lit up so much. What a light show!
Storm in Big Bend National Park.
Then we watched the video that we had taken and killed ourselves laughing when Kirsten's mom said quite clearly " I don't think it will hail!!!!"
The next video shot was of the huge hail stones! Then there was Kirsten's panic as she saw a cloud and said "That's a scheiss tornado!!!!"
At about 11pm we saw the headlights of at least 5 cars that were driving out of the park! We wondered how all the tent campers got on - we'd seen
a lot of them down at Rio Grande earlier in the day.
We have certainly never lived through a storm like it before, but now we've experienced it we can say that "once is enough"!!!
On Sunday we checked the gravel road leading to the campground and it seemed to be alright so we drove to the visitor centre. Apparently hailstorms
are normal in the summer here but not this early in the year.
We also found out that Santa Elena Canyon had been closed along with the gravel road we had travelled along when we first entered the park. They
still had not been opened when we left so we were lucky that we had done that area as soon as we got into the park instead of leaving it until
last!
We spent one hour using silicon to glue back the broken plastic pieces of the skylight back into place. Whilst Helen was on the roof she took
photos of the air conditioning grille. The metal parts of the grille had been hit so many times by the hail stones that you could easily see where
the metal had been pressed together!
In the afternoon we drove up the Chisos Basin road and did the 5 mile uphill Lost Mine trail for great views of the mountains and lots of colourful
desert plants and animals. Then we drove back down to our spot for the night.
