Big Bend Ranch State Park

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Having left The Earth Bag house in Terlingua (after a 5 taco selection at roadside: Prickly Pear, Chicken, Pork, Beef 2.), we headed to BBRSP (big bend ranch state park) which is wilder then Big Bend National.

The ride was beautiful as we drove on the paved Rio Grande road. We stopped for a hike on the river where the trail wanders through the Hoodoos. The main road up into the park is on the southwestern edge and goes northerly for 20 miles then easterly to the other side. The rough roads branch off to the remote sites. The park is 500 square miles, (half the size of the State of Rhode Island) which was up until 1988 a private ranch when Texas bought the land. Ranching is still done.

                                                Yes that is Mexico on the other side.

The main park road is as most dirt roads: not tended to regularly, washboard, but in perspective like a highway when compared to what lay ahead.

 Novices, we were unaware how intense the 4X4 drive (crawl) in to remote sites were. Both of us can say it was the longest 9 miles of our experience. Can’t explain other than insane road conditions where we averaged 2-3 mph, where I got out of the truck 20, 30+ (?) times to scout the next 100 feet. I was advised to bring a pick and shovel and I now painfully know why. One needs to do “road building”: anything from filling in a 3 foot deep trench across the 6 foot wide ‘road’, to taking the pick and shovel to get rock to get over a boulder 18” high in the way. Some of the “roads” are ‘tipped’ at what feels like 30º or more so the truck feels like it wants to roll over. The road is overgrown at the sides with thorns that are an inch long. I now have a ‘badge of honor’, what they call here pinstripes: a thousand scratches the length of the truck. Seeing it is so over the top that you just can’t say anything but “oh well”. So it was 3-4 hours to do 9 miles (which we will do again to get out and then another 3-4 hours to get into the next site after 3 days here. We arrived in the most beautiful remote spot we’ve ever seen. 

The light changes constantly, like camping in the Grand Canyon or Bryce. We are very glad we brought the 8x8 ft pop up screen house as there are lots of black flies, which I can not understand, the air has no moisture and it is DRY. It was so nice to sit inside and relax at the time of evening when the bugs come out… Lucy appreciated it too being tied to a bumper with only a 20 ft rope. The reward is what we see all day. And the stars at night like you might see in Arizona magazine.

Over Easy

Another lucky timing that could have been more interesting but not fun was toward evening when the black flies were starting to come out I decided to put Lucy on her bed in the camper. Instead of staying there she jumped down with her nose held in ‘inhale mode’. We always back out the door so that we have our eyes on her not running past us and into the wild. I backed out and shut the screen and looked over my shoulder to see a prehistoric wild pig, a Javelina, with a babe behind it about 50 feet away, then another until a pack of eight were crossing the trail. They have no necks. Just a body of a tank with a pointed boulder sized head. They look to be about 75 pounds with short legs., They can move very fast as I cleared my throat and the last one stopped and looked at me then bolted. Lucy would not fair well matched with the ‘Sherman’ of Texas. I do have a marine air horn for emergencies to scare off something which won’t go away, but it would scare the pants off of the dog. It s loud. We also have bear spray which frankly is not effective in a cubby in the camper. We just don’t want to carry it around all day.

Some folks I know and love look at me like I’m crazy and they have good reason. I judge myself similarly on many occasions. Why go through all this? I know it is true that the sine wave of life brings high and lows and though I still have the vim the vigor is waning to do a trip as remote as this again. I know I will not regret it. The highs are pretty high to balance out those road building lows. I am in the screen tent having a morning coffee sitting comfortably in my kermit chair with a 50 mile view, not a single sound of mankind. That is really something. Today I go back up the ‘road’ with pick and shovel. Yesterday I took an hour to work on a very treacherous spot that Jack and Dani described to us as they were here 10 years ago. The road needs building up to get us out tomorrow after three days here. I will say, Jack, if you are reading this and smiling at your recollection of the gut wrenching descent into Guale 2, I now think of you as a man of understatement. I look forward to sharing two tall Irish and reliving this with you. If I had seen a Youtube of this road I probably would not have attempted it. 

If you do a Google search (or better a ‘Duck Duck Go’ one… no tracking) you will find a record of a man stuck out in the mountain desert on a road equally as bad or worse with his FW camper disconnected from the truck on a very steep ascent of rough road. Yup, I can pretty much see and feel that as a holy S—T !!! event. Like staring at something you just broke on the floor and that flash of denial that sweeps through you that what you are seeing really just happened and the shock that time is not reversible. He told the story of sitting there with two separated pieces of importance. For those unfamiliar with these little campers that can go anywhere your truck can, they are attached to four eye bolts that go through the truck bed with things called turnbuckles. Gotta monitor those babies or you will have a similar disaster. About hours passed when suddenly jeeps with burly men appeared. And being crazy enough to be out there “ having fun” on those roads, were fully prepared for calamities. They offloaded as much weight as possible and repositioned his truck. The camper’s dry weight is about 1000 pounds. Yes, yes they did. If you were thinking they lifted one end of that camper and rested it on the bed of the truck, then lifted the other end up and winched it back into where it was supposed to be. They held it in place until it was securely reattached to the truck. Here’s a link to that story with photos!

https://www.truckcampermagazine.com/off-road/adventures/the-camper-that-fell-off/

Puma, Cougars, Mountain Lions, creatures with paws as wide as my tires and sneaky like. I keep watching the Hoodoos that surround us (with caves) waiting to see, like in the movies, a big cat looking at Lucy like a great hors d'oeuvre. You can bet that air horn is handy!  I’m banking on my 8 year younger wife jumping in front and whomping the tar outta that cat with some martial moves. Another surprise to me was thinking, as I had always heard, folks go to the Southwest to help their allergies. Not true! If it’s grass pollen that afflicts you it is Benadryl to the rescue; especially when the wind is 15 mph with gusts over 30. I would make for a lousy cowboy where the sky’s are not cloudy all day. 

The paint job had to be sacrificed getting through the very sharp thorns; the sound of which was nuts!            I'm hopeful that cleaning or rubbing compound will take the worst of it down. And for all you crypto folks out there this image is now an NFT and if you want to buy it the starting price is $10k... I think that might just cover the damages!

So much to take in. The plants, not like our soft and cuddly ones of NE, but ‘keep your distance’ plants that make you sorry if you hug them. They are many varieties of tough, even the grass has burrs. We have 3 GMRS walkie-talkie radios (2 hand held and one in cab). When either goes for a dog walk or stroll on their own, we keep connected as to where the traveler is and that all is ok. Luann did some trail walking both with Lucy and solo. Saw a snake which we will have to ID later. A lizard of some sort. And yes, the stars. Luann stepped out of the camper last night and took it all in, as much as it can be. Something else being in one of the “Dark Sky” locations. What must the original people have conjured up to make sense of such spectacular light displays that swirl around overhead and seem both constant and seasonal? As Albert Einstein said, “We are like a little child who walks into a great library full of books written in many languages. S/he knows someone must have written them”. 

Another area of forgotten learning is Geology. I need a refresher course. There is a lot going on under your feet and the topography has been shaped by colossal energies. It is hard to read a book sitting out in our chairs because every time you look up it is a shock as to where you are and what you are looking at. Try reading sitting in a Grand Canyon, you’ll read the same paragraph multiple times as you sit in awe of it all.

1/20

A change in plan due to road conditions; or in honest terms due to lack of a road. We had arranged to be at a site for three days that after getting half way there we encountered an impossible way forward. It perhaps could be done with  jeep rock crawling skills but with a 1500 pound weight in the truck bed it was a simple decision. Age does that for you, I asked myself: is this the mountain I wanted to die on? So we boon-docked near a watering tank for the free range cattle, and yes they came to visit. 

That allowed us a, not too long drive back, to a soon to be closed ranger station (and a shower!) and were able to reserve two other remote sites with easier access, at which I type this. We decided to stay here 4 nights. A great view to look at. Set up the screen house and shade tarp, solar shower filled and ready. So a hike later and burgers on the grill. I have renamed this campsite “Dust and Dog Hair”. After over 100 miles of talcum clouds of desert dust and Miss Lucy shedding, everything looks like a set from a Clint Eastwood spaghetti western movie. 

                                                                    Yedra 1 campsite

                                                    Best view ever when nature calls

Solar shower setup

                                           Leveling blocks keep the camper better for sleeping

                                                                Lucy on the lower bunk

                                                                    Burgers on the grill

Also I’d like to shout out about the Buckland Manor home network. Having not had internet until late 2020, I had a lot of time to plan what could be done to take advantage of it when we did. A ‘smart home’. It has allowed a worry-wart like me not to fret when away from home in the winter. It is not hard to do and anyone wanting to do the same please let me know as I like to share knowledge, what good is it if you don’t?

The house has 4 terabyte server in the basement, If you use (and pay for) a cloud service, then it is exactly the same except you own it and all your data stays offline. Your own safe treasure box of files, photos, movies, music etc all of which is accessible anywhere you have Wi-Fi or cell coverage. For this  3 month trip I decided to shut that part of the house network and take along what I needed, save electricity and 3 months of wear on the server (NAS). 

The network is up and running so all the smart devices on the IOT (Internet of things) is accessible and manageable at any time from the iPhone or computer: There are 4 different smart plugs for four lamps, each programmable at any time for offs and ons, the garage door can be opened/closed if someone needs to get into the house, the propane tank for the furnace is monitored for % level and you can order propane with a click of as button, there are four security cameras (2 outside and 2 inside) one of which is in the basement to be able to see the furnace, the security camera hard drive and the cellar floor (for water), there are 2 water sensors: one below the kitchen sink and the other in the basement below the bathroom pipes which if wet send a text/email to let me know. So in a few minutes I can check on the house and then forget it. This is good when one sees there is a storm coming! 

                               

        

One has a lot of spare time on a trip like this so I enjoy chronicling; and it has been fun to return to the blogs of where we have gone to reread and see photos. Helps in remembering where you went when! A few more days in the BBRSP and then we emerge in Fort Davis (1/24) to take a three day little house rental to clean up truck/camper (wish I had a leaf blower for the dust!) laundry and eat out! Lucy continues to model perfect behavior until she sees a roadrunner or rabbit, then she loses her mind. Maybe I’d be better behaved if it was me tied to the bumper.

We have been very fortunate to have had the 20 gallons of water in the tank without freezing temperatures. The forecast for the three day stay in Fort Davis is 60's day but 21 at night. After our stay there the prediction is for warmer nights. This being the case I will have to drain the water tank and use the portable compressor to blow all the residual water from the lines. If I don't it will freeze and force the buying of plastic water containers. The compressor also allows us to 'air down' the tires for the rough road and really low for the sand, then back up for pavement. 

Fort Davis, Texas and on to the border.

1/25

 I promise not to rub in the fact that there is no sleet, freezing rain, slushy snow and dreary grey days, really I promise. All this darn sun is drying me into rawhide. We exited the Big Bend Ranch State Park and are in an Air B&B in Fort Davis for three nights. After 9 days camping we needed time to clean out the dust and wash clothes, I also had to do some scheduled maintenance on the truck as we expect the trip to be about 8,000 miles or more and we have put on nearly 3,000 so far. An oil/filter change and also the diesel engine fuel filters sometime on the road. So that's what I did this morning in the B&B's driveway and we are now all set until we are home. As to the last posting, turnbuckles need also to be checked and retightened today and the tires brought back up to pavement pressure. Makes a big difference in mileage too.

I like this small town of Fort Davis. Not much to it but a main street. Kids walk home from school for their lunch (like I used to do) and they wave and say hi passing by. Sad though to see there had been a boon in tourists passing through before covid and half the town's small businesses are shut. Folks are nice and generally curious as to our license plates. Don't think that many people from our state pass through. Funny too when they try to pronounce the states they sound like me when I was a kid with a stutter, usually takes about 3 or 4 attempts before they just let it go. There is something very nice about taking a walk to the end of the town and back. It is flat as a pancake with bluffs rising up along the length on the north side. We are fortunate to have a big window looking right at it. Long ear hares take over at night. Dogs go nuts in their fenced yards. Seems like a simple and relaxed place to put your feet up if you wanted to retire to a Mayberry kinda place. I just do not think I would survive the summer sun. We took a day to go to the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute, with a green house Museum of Cacti. Great hike around with beautiful views.

http://www.cdri.org

The ride out of Fort Davis was beautiful going up in to the Davis Mountains on route 118 past the McDonald Observatory. The landscape was one I could immediately say I could enjoy being in. Topography! Trees. albeit few but Oak! Juniper and Willow. Yes more Javalinas! But the eye had things that drew attention every minute. Wide open spaces. Then back on the dreaded route 10 west. to El Paso. All I can say about that is fugettaboutit. Ick. Sad place to live. If you have to know 50 years ago, yes half a century, I was on a hippie bus called The Grey Rabbit (there was also the green tortoise and something rainbow). It was a 1950's greyhound bus with the seats torn out and a platform in covered in mattresses. $60 from Cambridge to San Francisco. Non stop, three and a half days. We were a motley bunch of longhairs and tie dye drawstring pants. I had a Smith college T shirt on that read " A Century of Women on Top".... passing through Mississippi we had some interesting moments but we had a bus issue (Ok an accident) in El Paso... driver went through a stop sign and hit a car. So we had an opportunity to cross into Juarez, Mexico for an evening of diversion. Then it was simply walk across the border. Long story short we returned one passenger short due to a bar incident and Mexican police finding pot on a passenger. We left him in jail and the bus rolled on. Well I think it was a better place back then. "Less progress" and  more pollution and sprawl.       

Our eyes on the prize (Baja) we wanted to get across the desert along the incredibly sorrowful "WALL"  we drove along side of for hundreds of miles while your own quiet thoughts contemplated the realities of human nature and the altruistic ideal of open borders or even dare I say no borders (ya hippie but "If I were king of the forest?!") We had to get distance and so a pin on the map, Leasburg Dam north of Las Cruces NM, a convenient  place to roost for the night... then pack up and hit the road. Hint: always double check train track location... 5 freight trains passed that night at an apparently important train whistle toot spot. Wake up and make coffee!

Then on to the Whitewater Draw AZ near Douglas on the Mexican border. Sandhill cranes and Snow Geese in the thousands. We went to a place unbeknownst to us, where my sister Elizabeth had been just a few days before on a birding tour! the photo she took was of Sand Hill Cranes and there they were. We  boondocked in an area called the overflow and it was quiet... but there was the gurgling honks ofd the cranes. We got up yup at dawn but still too late to catch the over flight and thousands take off from the draw wetland)_

Through sad Tombstone …harley davidson’s sold image of masculinity retro reinforcement. guns and spurs loud pipes, saves lives…. yea sure..... loud pipes cause deafness. But, if you like to see what appears to be western types with spurs'n-all with a loaded Colt on the hip. Here it is. Re-enactments of the shoot out at the ok corral, three times daily.

On to a new rolling desert hill with trees to Patagonia in Coronado Nat Forest (section) BLM land to disperse camp. A windy dirt road into the hills where there is the Arizona Trails system of 800 miles of horse/hiking trails. A great evening in the boonies and a nice hike in the AM before getting back on the road to Painted Petroglyphs in Southern Arizona …Sonoran Desert Saguaro Cacti!  My favorite. A BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land where any American can camp free where they want mostly. 

The plan is to head north and west along the Mexican border to the town of Tecate. From Fort Davis, it took five nights camping to get there. It is on of the smallest border crossing spots and is situated so we could choose to go down the east coast of the Sea of Cortez or down the west Pacific coast. Either way we will do the Valle de Guadalupe. The wine capital of Mexico. We have our Truck/camper insurance papers complete as well as the multi-page FMM tourist visa for each of us. This will be exciting and fun. But border crossing is always a bit anxiety producing due to all the formalities and forms. 

https://www.discoverbaja.com/baja-california-information/cityregion-guide/valle-de-guadalupe/

https://www.foodandwine.com/travel/valle-guadalupe-mexico-guide 

Here's another side track. It was gently pointed out to me that somehow I forgot to mention one of my screwups. Huh, not sure how that could have occurred but awhile back when we were just going into the National Big Bend, we were gob-struck at it all and we had checked in to the station and off we went to our (what now seems pretty tame 'remote' site). The road was a tad bumpy and I had opened Lucy's window, as, what do dogs do? Head out and inhaling cataloging what's there. On we went with the other side truck window apparently, unbeknownst to me, open and trucking on rocking back and forth up the dirt road. So we are settled in and camped and I notice the rear window on  the gear side of the truck was open. Open? And, there is nothing on the top shelf of the gear box. Huh. Flash back to opening Lucy's window... Well Luann seems to be missing a small but vital stuff sack of clothes. Mind you, protocol clearly states: all gear on said top shelf needs to be carabiner-ed to the hanging said carabiner (my stuff was!). Well then ... gone. On our departure from the park a couple days later, we went by the center to dispose of out 'spelunker-ed take out' and I went to the desk to query about said sack.  Lo and behold Luann's stuff had been turned in by a kind camper, found on the shoulder of the 'road'. Mea culpa. Mea Maxima culpa.

1/31 

We are set to  cross tomorrow. Camping in a Lake Morrena county park in San Diego County. Not so good but a place to crash and have a cold shower after $2 in quarters for hot water... someone is laughing somewhere. Clean is better than dirty so on we go. Lucy Rose is having a hard time with the truck time. Not sure if it reckons back to her 3 day truck trip from South Carolinas to Massachusetts to be rescued or what .... she shakes for the first hour like she does when we go in the truck to the dump on Saturdays... she wants to go but gets overwhelmed with the sights and smells. Hoping once we camp for 3 days at a time on beaches and have long beach walks she will  calm more. She misses the home freedom. She wants to RUN.

Just sitting on the camper loft bed, Lucy snoring on her lower bunk, We are planning tomorrow about getting across the border. Thereafter there are NO plans... 4 weeks to travel south then north where we will to see Baja. We are allowed to stay 6 months but one month should be fine. On the "way home" in March we hope to hit Anza Borrego desert on our return in March (Spring desert flowers). Mull about AZ and NM then decide how to go home. BUT first the Baja adventure!

2/3 

***On a bluff over the Pacific night 3... low data but have a 1 bar signal so will post text only (I have 45 photos to post but need wifi) so if'n ya'll read this come on back for the featured photos later! *******  The following was written a few days ago to add to the above:

Leaving Texas; Probably the 5 words most spoken over the last 3 weeks were “are we still in Texas? It is big. 

Of the last 5 day/nightsto the border  the most memorable thing that stand out is seeing the ‘Wall” . It seems to shout so many things at once, especially when viewed a mile away but 20 miles long at a time. Then there is driving through a town and the wall is running right down the middle. Something like the Berlin wall feel.

We got up a bit early around 5:30 and were on the road by 6:00. Tecate CA and Tecate, Mexico are worlds apart. Both are small and focused on being a passage point for many agricultural workers. This is tiny compared to Mexicali or Tijuana The crossing is a bizarre experience compared to crossing into Canada. Military on both sides heavily armed. One drives up to an iron fence and is greeted with a man with an assault rifle and full combat gear. We were expecting an inspection of the camper etc but were told to drive through and park and then come back to enter an office to present our visas/passports/vehicle insurance and any other paper requested for dog or vehicles like title, receipts of ownership, registration, license etc. Important to have multiple copies and digital as well in phone as well incase vehicle gets stolen. This is the most laidback place to cross the border. 

As soon as we drove into Tecate, Mexico we were avoiding 18” potholes and very tight driving. We found a store that had an ATM and figured out how to get $150 US in Pesos (2,625) @ 17.5/$1 and rising as one drives south (18.5 2 miles down the road). I had nearly a full tank of diesel (Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel … yup LSD). In Mexico it is called UBA (Ultra Baja Asulfre). The first city we went to was at the end of the Wine route, vineyards the whole way there. Road was good but one needs a new set of rules to learn asap. We came to the city of Ensenada. Bustling would be the kindest word, the ocean looks incredible but is is a no apologies tourist town and in major construction. Passing through 5 miles took a couple hours. Brought back memories of the main route from Paraguay to Brazil: a quasi 2 lane highway with everything from motorcycles, horses, cars, double tractor trailer trucks, walkers, you name it. Along each side is an equally sized dirt roadway with it’s own pattern of traffic in an out of the wall of shops for miles selling what the universe has to offer. 

Suddenly the city is gone and the most incredible rolling mountains of green ( I was not expecting green) …down right stunning. We had our tank of diesel topped off using a tractor trailer fuel station. The gentleman who did the fill was wonderfully polite and helpful. I was concerned about getting the UBA diesel, part of the first day jitters. He made my day. Grocery store for supplies and then headed for our first destination: off on coastal dirt road similar to Big Bend in 4WD and in some places 4WD low but we made it to a bluff above a cove that looks out over the Pacific ocean all the way to Hawaii and Asia. The roar of the ocean was deafening. We set up the camper flipping out that we were where we were in Mexico on our first night (day 31 of the trip). Lucy was thrilled to be out of the ‘peopley’ world and a place to find a good cow pie to role in… a dog’s vacation Valhalla. 

I will say though we were miles from anyone alone on a bluff by the sea in complete darkness, ones imagination starts up…”is that the waves crashing on the rock? Or is it car tires? Car doors shutting?… did I lock the truck, the camper door? All nighttime worries without a thimble of reality. A beautiful place to wake to and so we decided to stay another night and get a few things in order in a relaxed way, fix a few bits, air down the tires, GPS set up (no cell), maps and ideas. But mostly just a day to relax, walks with Lucy, notice the things here, humming birds, plants and peering through binoculars out to sea. We made it to BAJA!  Lucy needed a break. So now we start exploring day by day heading south mainly along the west coast. At a point before the tourist frenzy area of Cabo San Lucas 900 miles away… where, like malls, people we have little in common with enjoy excesses. (ohhhoo that sounds preachy!).Turning north after crossing to the Sea of Cortez, the Gulf of California, and go northward along the coast. Probably 2 weeks south and 2 weeks north or longer.

As we are on limited cell usage, This and all posts on the blog will have to wait until I get to a place (ok, a bar) that has wifi. Hasta mas tarde. Below are shots taken the early evening and night yesterday. Groundhog Day today! And though I hear the waves crash and it is 68º I am absolutely not taking pleasure in knowing the wind chill at this very moment at my home is -40. None whatsoever… really. 

                                                                            First two nights here. 

Still no Wifi to post photos (using tethered iPhone for this written part.

Trying a third time 2/11 and going back to enter photos. (do you remember dial-up?... that modem sound? Well this is similar...I keep looking for the rope start. 

Day 3 (Feb 3) arrived on another bluff looking out on the Pacific. The west coast is dramatic especially with the bluffs down to a rock strewn beach with wild pounding waves that are que estruendoso! all the time. I wear ear plugs at night! This part of the trip is both exciting and a tad nerve wracking as y’all haven’t a clue where you are going and still, being the first few days, one needs to get supplies. Crossing the border there are restrictions so you have to buy things in Mexico. Support the local economy! 

That said I have a modern diesel engine and needing the low sulfur fuel (imported from US) and diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) which is basically sheep piss (uric acid). It is injected into a chamber that has collected soot from the combustion of the lower octane diesel fuel (what we all see as black smoke coming out of a big truck).  When I lived in Paraguay there where clouds of it everywhere. Anyway… this acid mixes with the soot and is ‘regenerated’ (burnt) at high temperatures once every 500 miles or so. This keeps the exhaust very clean. “A green diesel”.  Well ya, but not easy to find here. I filled the 5 gallon tank before crossing and have an extra gallon too. This a silly long explanation but nonetheless (I just love using the word) vital to the drama… So I get my diesel and also six gallons (3, 2 gallon tanks) extra USL diesel stored in a rack I built under the camper overhang. It gives me over a hundred mile reserve. 

Drinking water. We could not find a source for it to refill our 20 gallon tank before crossing the border as the region of southern California was under a boil water restriction due to the heavy rains. Bummer. So we arrived with minimal (5 gallons). There are places in Baja to get bulk purified water but their hoses are not compatible (I brought my hose too) so I have to make an adapter in the next few days (fun watching me with my limited hardware Spanish …I feel so bad for them as I see their pained expressions trying to figure out what the hell this illiterate gringo is saying. I was able to describe a 2 part epoxy and everyone was thrilled! Until the hose adapter is made we have to use plastic water bottles being consumed and discarded and we know where they will end up….right now it’s too painful to describe.

BEER: Having left behind US craft brews and IPA’s, there are wonderful German type lagers… like Bud. I wanted Modelo Negro, a tasty beer. Each time over 4 days I have been thwarted in procuring said beer. Either it is not in this last delivery, señor  or worse I find it but not allowed to buy it due to the time of day. No beer before 10 AM. even I will  not be seen waiting 1 1/2 hours to do so!  Maybe tomorrow!

As I type this we are on another bluff further down the west coast and yes the surf is deafening. Luann is asleep as is Lucy and I am clattering away (they can’t hear me due to the sea)…. night 4. We have left behind, we think, the frenetic pace of the northern roadside economy supporting the vast agricultural enterprises of thousands of greenhouses going on mile after mile growing cherry tomatoes and strawberries. An immense operation. We have just transitioned in the last thirty miles to a desert clime and there is scant human presence between towns. So off the highway 1 on a sandy track toward the sea and boondock camp again. Full moon rising in the east as the sun set into the sea. (and me without my Modelo Negro!) . 

One final note that gave me, Luann and Lucy pleasure today (besides us getting to take a shower) was driving out 6 miles on a flat sand beach at low tide …way out on a point…. and letting Lucy off leash to run back and forth to us separated by a few hundred yards. Her first run in a month. She wanted to knock me down and whip my ass… and I let her do so just a bit! She is having her own cultural shock as US dogs live a very different life than the packs of barrio dogs who sleep in the road and are free to cause havoc. She has had a few melt downs as they surround and jump up on our truck with her going psycho right back.

We are off on day 5 through El Rosario to a place we hope to camp on a remote beach (if we can get in to it) and relax to relieve the travel angst. (hopefully with a MODELO NEGRO!!). stopping at El Rosario for desayjuno at Momma Espinoza’s started a long time ago by a woman who just passed away in 2016 at 109 years old. Plans change (heuristic boots on and all laced up) … off to travel the length of The Valley of Cirios, named for the tree that grows pretty much only within the valley. A tree that can reach 20 meters! and it is mostly a trunk with tiny slim branches sticking out all over its height covered in tiny leaves. It is also call the Boojum Tree taken from the Lewis Carroll’s poem “The Hunting of the Snark”. Some say it looks like a Dr. Seuss tree. Cirios means wax candle as that is its shape. There are Saguaro-type cacti 40 feet tall named Mexican Giant Cactus by the thousands and a tree called Baja Elephant Tree.  The beauty got the best of us and we pulled over to scour the Gaia offline topo-map  for an old road in off the route 1 which has climbed 2000 feet since this morning and is as windy as the California US coastal route 1 (only there are no guardrails or pull off shoulders and the drop offs are nuts. Lo and behold we were delivered onto a sandy track into the boulders and cacti. What a find. Like one of those Hollywood westerns of the perfect southwest desert scene.There are mountain lions, bobcats, mule deer, big horned sheep, fox, snakes and lizards in great abundance (hence the ever ready marine air horn …and a diaper). It looks like a botanical garden, pristine. Another great boondock site.

And so we get the bonus of an early stop to pop up and putter about taking photos, using the Seek app to ID plants, let Lucy sleep on a sand mat in the shade (it is 82º at 3:30). I will have time to get the digital camera on a tripod and set it up to take prolonged exposures of the dark sky hopefully tonight. We are indeed lucky to have the time to stop. Baja California is 900 miles long and the roads make it a slower drive. I hate driving all day and then pulling in around dark…then repeating. Driving a few hours or until it looks good and stopping is a great luxury. We have no major time restrictions for the first time ever. 

I have to mention a few things I have avoided mostly out of a liberal desire to not offend the local culture. But it is the elephant in the room. Trash (“basura”). In the 70’s the throw-away-culture came to the 3rd world brought to you by the big corporations as progress, instead of providing a responsible built in recycling of what has been the most worldwide trashing of global environments. In 1979 in Paraguay they had already been given plastic bags and plastic palm oil containers which could not be reused nor redeemed. Every possible waterway, alley, gutter or street was strewn with plastic. Then came the lata (can) for beer. Until then beer was sold in 22 oz bottles in wooden crates which one brought back (as we used to do) to be washed with caustic soda and reused. There was great pride in my neighbor’s voice as he showed me the new beer can … Look señor, you can drink it then throw it away!” just like in the movies. Within a year most roads were nearly paved in flat cans.

Forty years on all one has to do is travel to 80% of the world’s population and witness the sea of trash choking every inch. Profit without responsibility should not be allowed. If you make money by screwing somebody it is fraud. Why not this? I have painfully framed my photos to avoid the mountains of trash. I did this as I wanted to just show what is naturally pretty here but I would be remiss in not recognizing this calamity. We see trash (litter is too small a word) everywhere. But what slams your senses is when you turn a corner out of town to see the open dumps, mountains that ‘throw-away-produces’ and a mile on either side the wind has enlarged the area to look like it is miles long. Not buried, nor burned and there for 500 years if you are a Bic lighter (great idea huh) 1000 years for a plastic oil can. (They had a display at the Big Bend Nat.,TX of how long this crap lasts). It just makes you sad, embarrassed to be human. We here in the US don’t have to live with it for the most part, but we are mostly responsible for it, and now China too. 

2/7

We traveled south 150 km from the great cacti campsite south of Rosario to Santa Rosalillita. A tiny village on the Pacific which was going to be transformed into a modern shipping facility to accept large ships ferrying trucks/container with goods which would then be driven across the peninsula to the Sea of Cortez and there to the mainland. It was 80% built along with a real road, electric power lines etc. At that point the project was abandoned leaving the village hopes for modernity dashed. It at least has electricity which it did not before. 

Five Km before the village is a gravel road (rocks and holes!) hugging the coast northward through an uninhabited area known as the Seven Sisters. It can be approached from the north but would require an even longer 4WD crawl. It took us 3 1/2 very slow, very rough, very anxious hours to get to this bay where we are camped luckily without anyone else as crazy as we are to get here. 

The Seven Sisters are series of seven right point breaks, which if you are a surfer, would have you drooling. Very big waves, scary crazy big that roar in and whomp the shore (If you were numb enough upstairs to actually wade in, you would be ground into a gooey ball). Currently with an offshore stiff wind making the wave crests curl back over the tops. It was all I could do not to (ok I did) break into Hawaii   5-O theme song (“book’em Dano”)! Actually I spent a good 10 minutes doing that tune with great enthusiasm! 

There are Pelicans, Cormorants, some kind of small, what looks like a diving duck, terns, and maybe a frigate? 

After setting up we were both shattered from the drive, we went about the chores needed to get done before we sat down and couldn’t get up. I took the trash and ‘wag’ bag out, from the day before, and placed them on the ground 10 feet from the camper on the edge of the drop off to the rocks below on the shore, leashed Lucy and took her out for her constitutional, 5 minutes. Luann was inside but with the screen door open. I returned to find the bags shredded and contents scattered…. a wily coyote had been watching for the opportunity and took it. One needs to be diligent ! 

Current plan is to stay here two days then head back (on that bone rattling road) to Santa Rosalillita, then south again into southern Baja ( a different time zone so we lose an hour). As of this moment the idea is for us to go to San Ignacio. Hopefully to stay over 2 nights, Luann goes on a Whale (Grey) watch as they are migrating and me to chill out with Lucy and get this way-behind blog organized and if possible posted. We will have been without cell or civilization for 5 days. Wi-Fi non existent.

  

Birria (goat) Taco

The ultimate Fish Taco (Tony's in Guerro Negro!)

Victory is mine!! Yo Gano!

Luann and Lucy ...sunrise walk on the beach.

Life in a submarine 

The fiction

The truth