Wednesday, March 31, 2021
White Sands
We did Carlsbad this morning and we are doing White Sands in the afternoon. Whatta day!!
Carlsbad Caverns
When John hit his COVID burnout point back in December, he planned a trip out West completely himself. I honestly gave very little input. One of the things he really wanted to do was go into Carlsbad Caverns.
When he looked on the website when he first planned the trip, it said the Caverns were available first-come-first-serve. Then, a few days ago, we realized they had changed it and were now taking reservations. John was disappointed, but this has been a wonderful trip with 15 days away from the ER, and we weren’t going to fret about small things that didn’t go as planned (including hitting my head on things in the small places of our camper over and over again.)
We decided to go into Carlsbad and see what we could see. We got there and the lady at the counter said some people had not shown up, and we could go on a self-guided tour for free with Abigail’s fourth grade pass.
I teared up and thanked the lady profusely ... I told her this was a recovery trip after a year in the ER for my husband. She started crying. I was crying! All because we got to go into a cavern.
The world can be a very beautiful place sometimes!!
Tuesday, March 30, 2021
A few bird photos
Golden Eagle (Sidge photo)
Nashville Warbler (Sidge photo)
Cactus Wren (Sidge)
Verdin (Abigail)
Pyrrhuloxia (Abigail)
Desolate
Before you have permission to use the word “desolate” you MUST see this section of Texas ... wow.
The best travel purchase
I bought one of these for me in the passenger seat. Oh man! Game changer!! So great!!!
Camping details
Camping is fun. Moving from spot to spot is a bit harder. Wendi would like to plunk down at one point and “set up camp” but this trip isn’t like this. We are staying 1-2 days at each site and the moving onward.
This is Treva. She and her husband Bill were an amazing couple with six children and even great grandchildren now. They were traveling with Ted and Janis. “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” they called it! The girls LOVED them and their dogs! So neat to see a great big world with so many different people.
Campsite people are very nice folks. We are very impressed with the people we are meeting. We have been preparing to “Hipcamp” our farm ... this is an airB&B service for RV/campers. The last two couples we met were excited to possibly Hipcamp at our place someday.
This is Treva. She and her husband Bill were an amazing couple with six children and even great grandchildren now. They were traveling with Ted and Janis. “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” they called it! The girls LOVED them and their dogs! So neat to see a great big world with so many different people.
This camp had some water issues. (Surprise! It’s the desert!) We did take showers in our own camper but five people taking a super fast cold shower filled up our gray water tanks: and I didn’t get a shower. The laundry was also not working well so I didn’t get to wash clothes either. We are nearing the end of our supplies so really hoping for laundry at the next park.
We brought a LOT of food. In the future I think we will bring less. We brought one fantastic cooler, but the two “cheaper” coolers we have are junkie .... we lost some croissants and cinnamon rolls to thawing quicker than expected. We do have a fridge and freezer that stays cold while we travel, but it’s pretty small.
I was hoping the microwave would work when we stopped at gas stations ... but the battery won’t run the microwave so we can’t do an on-the-go lunch as easily as I thought.
We had wanted to do a practice trip before we went but just didn’t have the time. So this has had to be more of a practice trip. We are learning some things ... among them .... kids are messy. Well, I knew that of course, but I’m realizing it’s more true than ever. They have no clue how to not get a lot of clothes dirty or a lot of rags, etc.
But we are learning!!
Trip Reading
One of the things I most look forward to on trips is getting to read more. I rarely reread a book, but I reread this book from Francine Rivers these past few days. What a fantastic story about forgiveness, marriage, redemption, and the Lord! France Rivers is in a league of her own when it comes to Christian writing. She is amazing.
Monday, March 29, 2021
Entering Big Bend
Only National Park to contain an entire mountain range — The Chisos.
Nestled in the bend of the Rio Grande River along the Texas-Mexico border.
Within the park you can go from 1,850 feet to 7,825 feet and the temperature can range 20 degrees within the park at any given moment.
The park is known to have more species of birds, plants, reptiles, butterflies, bats, and even ants than any other U.S. national park!
Even better, Abigail is a 4th grader this year which means we get free entry to every national park we visit!
Sunday, March 28, 2021
Big Bend Reptile Checklist
This is a fantastic website that my reptile-loving-Sidge is having a fantastic time studying ...
Pronghorn Antelope Range
We are just entering the green on this map in TX near the city of Junction, and we saw a Pronghorn Antelope dead on the side of the road! Not happy to see a dead animal but exciting to see new mammals!!!
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