VAN – CHAPTER VI – TEXAS – Cruising with Gary & Annie

October 21, 2024 from Carlsbad, NM
The drive from Hot Springs, Arkansas to Arlington, Texas was the first of several challenging days of driving in Texas, with way too much traffic. Even though there were several big electronics signs saying, “THE EYES OF TEXAS ARE UPON YOU/DRIVE FRIENDLY,” almost everywhere we went there were lots of construction zones, lane diversions and cement k-rails, together with speeding trucks and some of the craziest drivers we’ve ever experienced anywhere. For all the safe and decent drivers (the majority), there were dozens and dozens who had to go faster than everyone else and chose to weave across from the left lane to the right and back to the left at very high speeds. Others chose to dart across several lanes of traffic to rush to their freeway exit. It was very scary at times, especially when they whipped around the right lane behind us or cut across in front of us. Not fun! We are very grateful we’ve both had a lot of experience driving on urban freeways (mostly in the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas), and we continued to trade driving every 1-1.5 hour shifts, but every drive took much longer than expected and at the end of each day we were both pretty wiped out.

The very good news is that, each stop we made midst these not-so-fun drives, brought us a great deal of pleasure and enjoyment.

Our first Texas stop was in Arlington (a suburb of Fort Worth, southwest of Dallas) where we spent the night with a good friend and organizing colleague whom I’d known since the early 1990’s in Marin County, CA (where I lived for almost 20 years). We had a delightful dinner at a fabulous steak house and a delicious homemade breakfast with her while we caught up with each other since she moved to Arlington (for her mother’s last years) in 2016. Before we left, we drove to the Humane Society of North Texas’ Equine & Livestock Ranch (about 40 minutes south in Joshua, TX) where she works as a volunteer. I loved hearing the stories of each horse and donkey that was there—some surrendered because the owner couldn’t provide care any longer, some abused or in poor shape for other reasons—and the care and training they provide so that as many as possible can and will be adopted. Everyone there is passionate about their work and it was a joy to get a grand tour of this special place and also meet the two “ambassadors” who will not be adopted—the first horse they cared for (below left) and an amazing “Mammoth Donkey” who is one of the few who chose not to come to the fence to greet us and be petted as we visited each pasture. It was really fun!

Our next stop was another KOA campground north of Austin where we stayed for 2 nights. On Saturday, October 12, we joined younger daughter Laurie (who flew in from Connecticut for the weekend), her oldest son Ty, his very sweet girlfriend Kaylie and a dear family friend “Uncle Al” (who all live north of Austin) at Outback Steakhouse. We were there to celebrate Ty for two reasons: (1) He’d just passed his check-ride for his Commercial Pilot’s License 3 days before (aiming to eventually be a commercial airline pilot—he’s been in flight school nearby for 2 years), and (2) he was turning 21 the next day, October 13!! Of course we had to share a “bloomin’ onion” (and even with 6 of us, we couldn’t finish it). Each of us had a great dinner and shared some decadent desserts. We had such a good time and it was so fun to be part of this celebration!

As part of this milestone birthday, Laurie (who rarely drinks) was determined to “do a shot” with her awesome son. They both wanted to make it a 3-generation ritual so I hesitantly agreed to join in. (I don’t drink much either and had never done a shot!) The shot glasses were huge (3x the usual size) so we actually did two swallows instead of just one, with Laurie and I pouring some out before the second round. Gary took photos and a video of this whole escapade and we’re still giggling about it!

The next day everyone else continued with more celebrations while Gary and I finally solved our computer and blog-posting glitches and then rested up for a very fun evening. Older daughter Carolyn had told us the one thing we “had to do” in Austin was “see the bats!” When the Texas Department of Transportation remodeled the Congress Avenue Bridge downtown (in the 1980’s), the newly installed heat expansion joints left deep, narrow crevices between the beams that turned out to be the perfect bat habitat. The crevices protect the bats from predators and provide female bats with an incubator-like setting to raise their young. From early spring until mid-fall, over 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats emerge from the bridge at sunset to feed. Each bat is said to consume 1000 insects per hour, which helps mitigate the city’s bug problem and saves huge amounts of money and damage from pesticides. At any rate, many people view the bats from atop and along the side of the Congress Avenue Bridge, but Gary and I decided to take a Capitol Cruises boat tour hoping to get the best possible view—and we did! After a leisurely hour cruising “Lady Bird Lake” and hearing about the Austin waterfront, we (and many other boats and kayakers) were positioned perfectly, with the sunset beyond, to witness this amazing spectacle.

Red spotlights helped us see the first “scouts” come out. We were told that some of the bats had already left to winter in Mexico, so we weren’t sure if we’d see many…and pretty soon bats were coming out of every crevasse in the bridge. Even the cruise guides were surprised at the show for this late in the season. It was VERY exciting!!! We took several videos to capture it all (for our future enjoyment and yours!). Here’s the best one (click on the image below):

The next day, before leaving for San Antonio, we played tourist a bit in downtown Austin, driving through the campus of The University of Texas (home of the Texas Longhorns, where even the street signs are burnt orange), seeing the State Capitol Building (with construction all around, so hard to photograph) and spending some time in the Bullock Texas State History Museum “to see what makes Texas Texas,” from its earliest roots, through the Mexican Revolution, cattle and oil industries to present. It’s a beautiful museum, with fascinating exhibits and we enjoyed lunch there as well. We really liked Austin!

The final (we hope) chapter of our nightmare Texas freeway driving consumed us for the next 4 hours (usually less than a 2-hour drive) as we made our way from Austin to San Antonio through multiple construction zones, traffic delays and (sadly) more crazy zigzag drivers. We were exceedingly happy to finally land at our Hilton Garden Inn Hotel for 3 nights, less than 2 blocks away from the San Antonio River’s famous River Walk. We didn’t even go out of the hotel the first 24 hours….we just needed to de-stress and rest, so that’s what we did. Whoosh! We discovered the fabulous Landry’s Seafood Restaurant a short walk away and ate there twice. They had the best lobster bisque Gary’s ever eaten and the best alfredo and vegetable pasta I’ve ever had. They also served a remarkable caramel apple bourbon cake. We enjoyed all of this (and more) overlooking the beautiful River Walk.

Having revived considerably, we played tourist most of the next day, taking the 1.5 hour City Trolley tour mid-day to get a sense of the whole city and some of its history. Frankly, it was a bit disappointing because they route had a lot of construction on it and took us through several places that seemed pretty run down. However, we DID see the Alamo (symbol of Texas independence) and enjoyed some of the beautiful buildings both old and new throughout the downtown area, as well as some pretty parks. After some more rest and another yummy dinner, we walked a ways on the winding River Walk as the sun was going down and chose to take a 1-hour guided boat tour. It was a delightful way to experience the entire River Walk at night, with all its nightlife and music. What we liked best of all (other than simply being on the water) was the creative and colorful lighting of the buildings and many of the trees along the way (mostly bald cypress, cottonwoods and sycamores, some of the bald cypress being more than 200 years old). It was so beautiful! What a great way to remember San Antonio as we headed west the next day for Del Rio (where my #2 nephew Bruce was born) and our last stop in Texas, Big Bend National Park, right on the Texas/Mexican border.

We are so glad we chose to travel to Big Bend, which gets its name from the great U-turn the Rio Grande River makes here through southwest Texas, defining the park boundary for 118 miles and the 1200 miles between the United States and Mexico. It’s in a remote part of southwestern Texas and gets about 350,000 visitors a year (about the same as the Grand Canyon gets in a month—4,733,705 visitors in 2023).

The Park is known for its spectacular scenery and its superb walking, hiking, river running, stargazing and birding—over 450 bird species have been seen here with the largest migration occurring in the spring. What impressed us the most was the astonishing variety of rock formations, buttes, spires, striations and colors where vast desert lands (Chihuahuan Desert), mountains (as high as 7,820) and the river (Rio Grande) converge in one place. Because the desert was once an inland sea, fossils abound (from the smallest microbes to dinosaur bones) and the diversity of fauna and flora is fascinating—all amazingly adapting to what appears to be a very barren and harsh environment but is teeming with life despite its average 5-7” of rain each year. There are over 1300 species of plants, including 58 varieties of cactus. We were especially intrigued with the abundance of prickly pear and the yucca-like “sotol” with its tall spikes (below, part of the lily family, we discovered)…early inhabitants roasted its heart for food and used its leaf fibers for rope and sandals.

The only wildlife we saw were roadrunners (which I was hoping to see) and lots and lots of butterflies—some quite large. There are also Mexican black bears (at the higher elevations like the Chisos Mountains—the only mountain range that is completely within a National Park) and javelinas (that “look like a pig and smell like a skunk”), but we didn’t see either of these.

The first day we had a wonderful dinner at the Chisos Mountains Lodge, highly recommended by several travelers and the Panther Junction Visitor Center. The drive up and back was beautiful as we began to sense our touring the next day was going to be quite wonderful. Some of the odd and jagged ridgelines reminded us of those we saw on the Isle of Skye in Scotland in 2023.

Our basic but clean campground was a few miles north of the Park in a small town called Study Butte and adjacent to Teralingua, known for its famous annual chili cook-off. There were several funky eateries and ghost town remnants scattered around, lending itself to a fun vibe. The best place to eat was next to the ghost town called La Posada Milagre, which the locals refer to as Poco Mas.

The next day we drove back to the Park and spent several hours on the beautiful Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive that ended at Santa Elena Canyon, where the Rio Grande has carved an 8 miles long canyon through layers of hard limestone. Rising in the 14,000’ peaks of Colorado, the Rio Grande flows 1885 miles to sea level at the Gulf of Mexico. It is the “life blood” of Big Bend and its surroundings. We only walked to the opening of the Canyon, but we were in awe of its 1500’ high cliffs!

All and all, visiting Big Bend National Park was a fabulous way to end our visit to Texas. The Park is “a land of strong beauty, often savage and always imposing,” where one can find solitude and have an “awe of majesty of this place unlike anywhere else.” Its vastness is remarkable and quite beautiful.