Big Bend at last!

Last night in Del Rio, I woke up because there was a violent thunderstorm about 3 AM. I heard hail and worried about my iKamper, but it was fine. When I got up in the morning, I discovered that it was 40˚ cooler than it was when I went to bed. It was cold, overcast, and drizzly! I immediately switched to a long-sleeved wool top and loaded the car. Before I left Del Rio, I went to H.E.B., so I can check that off my list. It's a Texas grocery chain that I'd heard a lot about. I came out with my cookie stash replenished, and more snacks than I need. Honestly, I have enough food and snacks for another month on the road. The problem is that I don't always eat my food—my next stop was Starbucks (probably the last one for the next week or longer) for a mocha and a breakfast sandwich, totally forgetting that I had just bought a chocolate croissant for breakfast.

It was a nice drive to Big Bend. Like yesterday, I saw many border patrol agents, and went through another checkpoint. For quite a while (maybe 150 miles) the road ran very close to the Mexican border. There was a dirt road that ran the entire way beside the highway, with border patrol agents parked along it. I even saw some blinds set up (like deer blinds). Looking at the terrain, I think that migrants are probably pretty easy to spot moving across the open land. BTW, they never asked me for ID at the checkpoints.

As I got within 50 miles of Big Bend, the terrain began to change. There are lots of cacti and beautiful rock formations. The sun also came out, but it stayed cool. When I got to the park, I stopped for my parking pass, then had another half hour drive to Big Bend Village, where I'm camping. I will go back to the headquarters, though, as there was a lovely cactus garden there that I need to explore.

When I got to my campsite, I hit a snag. There was a tent in the site already. No people, no other belongings, just a tent and bedding. I double-checked the campsite number post, and my name and reservation were there, so I headed to the camp host. To make a 90 minute story shorter, the host gave me the option of using another site for tonight while it got straightened out, but all of the available sites (every site is booked, but they apparently keep a few in reserve) were out in the open and not in the generator-free zone. I told them I wanted the site I'd reserved, though I would stay 1 night at another if that would keep things simpler. She (the host) called the law, and an officer came and dismantled the tent and the site was mine. I got my tent up and a car pulled in. A woman got out, pointed at where her tent had been, and asked me what was going on. I said that an officer had removed her tent, since I had the site reserved. She indignantly told me she had a 2 night reservation. I just told her to see the host, and that I had this site for a week. She slammed her car door and departed, never to return. I found out later that she was nasty to the host, and drove to get a cell signal so she could "prove" she had the reservation. She then returned and apologized to the host—she did have a reservation, but it wasn't at this campground.

So, all is well and I'm set up in the campsite that I reserved 4 months ago.

One reason I chose this site is that it is right by the entrance to a nature trail and close to the Rio Grande. I walked down it a little, and can't wait to explore it more. I got a nice image of the Rio Grande and the mountains.

It's still pretty chilly, though I think it got up into the 60s, but it is seriously windy. The wind is supposed to stop, but it's not letting up yet. It's buffeting my car and tent. When I cooked dinner (ramen, the dinner of lazy campers), everything kept blowing away. But the sky is cloudless and the stars are already coming out. This is a Dark Sky location, so it should be amazing when it gets fully dark. As expected, I have no cell signal, but I think the nearby camp store has wifi, so I'll go there to post this and to touch base with the outside world.

It's so windy that the birds are all hunkered down and quiet, but the javelinas came out! There were 14 of them grazing in the grass in the campsites. Cool critters! I'd never seen one before.

I'm going to have an early night of it and a lazy day tomorrow. I've been on the go (and in the car) nonstop for a week, so a lazy day will suit me to a tee.

And I just discovered that the post I wrote last night is still listed as a draft! I thought I posted it! Arghh! I guess I'll post 2 things tomorrow.

It's now Monday, 4/24. It was cold and windy last night, and the coyotes were having a party in the campground. Their calls were more yippy and high pitched than I'm used to hearing, a funny sound. I've been birding, and I'm going to walk to the store where I can get wifi and post this.

One more thing: one of my purchases for this trip was a plug in refrigerator for my car. It will also act as a freezer/refrigerator, but I decided it was more use to me as a fridge. When I've stayed in hotels, I've been hauling it inside to plug it into the wall, but I've just been letting it sit in the car (unpowered) when I've been camping, and it's stayed pretty cool. But now I'm without power for a week, so I decided to see if the Jackery would power it overnight. Wow! Not only did it power it, but overnight used only 20% of the battery power. This morning, I plugged in the solar panels that I bought with the Jackery, and they are adding back more power than the cooler is using. Desert sun is pretty powerful!