As we departed for Lajitas, Texas we estimated our arrival at the Maverick RV and Resort to be around 2pm. Upon arrival we were greeted by the manager with a friendly smile and eagerness to talk about the area and what it has to offer. Sadly, there will not be any kayaking as the water level was too low which is OK since our main intent was to hike and bike both, Big Bend National Park and Big Bend State Ranch Park.

After getting settled in to our camp we explored the local area a bit. Words of wisdom, "Fill your vehicle before leaving Alpine". Starting price for diesel - $4.00/gal and that was 40 miles away; around the resort was $4.40/gal and inside the park, 2 arms and one leg.

As evening approached, the skies blossomed with the most spectacular view of the heavenly stars. The first thing that came to my mind was, ..."God created the Heavens and the Earth"...and what a creation, indeed. This was so breathtakingly beautful it was hard to go inside - but we all know that in the desert, all the creatures come out at night to hunt and eat. The Maverick RV Park offers night-sky friendly lighting so there is little artifical lighting to interfere with the stars.

The next few days was spent exploring the parks, off-road trails and enjoying the natural beauty that we are so lucky to experience.

Leaving the town of Lajitas, Texas was supposed to be an easy, pack-up and get-out experience. We had preloaded our kayaks, motorcycles and bikes the night before, had everything stored so all we had to do was have a little cereal for breakfast and tighten down the rachet straps and go. Upon doing a light check, I noticed one of the tail lights on the bike trailer wasn't working. What should have been a simple fix ended up taking a hour to find the short. Thanks to the manager of the RV park, we were able to get it rigged until we got to a place that had the right wiring. Once on the road we made good time traveling to Alpine - 80 miles away, also known as the closest place to buy fuel for less than $4.00/gal. We found diesel at a Stripe station for $3.82/gal; as we were filling up, Dan noticed the left, back tire on the RV was going flat...by the time we finished fueling, it was completely exhausted. I asked the cashier at the station where the closest tire repair shop was and she said one was just around the corner. I walked around to the shop but they were unable to help and suggested we call Oasis and they kindly gave us their number to call. When we called, they had a tire but couldn't do a mobile service and the RV needed to be gotten to them. The station attendant said we could drop the rig by the side of their store if we needed to and just as we were trying to figure out our next plan of action, a guy driving by (in a plumbing repair truck) stopped and handed us a can of fix-a-flat and said it would get us to the Oasis, just down the road. We offered to pay him but he refused...his kindness was beyond appreciated; but the odd thing was, he wasn't previously at the station, he had just driven by and apparantly saw our dilemma and went around the block and out of his way to help. We didn't get his name but to me, I call him "Angel". Once we got the tire inflated enough to drive the 3 miles to the Oasis, we were greeted by the owner (another very nice man) who I also wanted to call "Angel" but I had already given that name away. Dan decided to replace not only the original flat tire but also the one the right, front that was wearing on one side and we kept the worn one - just in case. As we were pulling into our next fuel stop in Van Horn (about 60 miles away), we were flagged over and asked if we knew we had a blown tire on the right rear of the RV. Sure enough, the back right tire had a few threads still hanging on the rim. Right across the street was a tire repair shop so we hobbled across the highway for help. The attendant didn't have the size tire we needed so he called around for a tire but no luck; we decided to let him re-mount the original, worn tire that we kept just in case and we hoped it would get us to Carlsbad, NM - another 120 miles away. With all the delays that we encountered in one day, we were still optimistic and agreed that it was best that it all happened on one day instead of something happening every day. We made it to the Guadalupe National Park where we finally got to see El Capitan from the ground. After letting the tires take a break from the desert, road heat, we headed on to Carlsbad RV Park and Campground. To our disappointment, our accomodations were not as indicated in our Good Sam book; it cost a lot more but with the day that we had already had, we sucked it up and set up camp but not without further problems. When we hooked up the electricity, all was working fine - then BAM! Half of the RV went dead. We checked all the breakers and GFI - nothing; we checked the hookup - still nothing, finally, Dan got things back to working but not without having that drained, sucked-out-of-life feeling come across both of us. As it stands, we made it Carlsbad, NM, we are under A/C and tomorrow we have time find two tires to replace the last two original tires (just in case) and to collect the things we need to properly fix the trailer lights and a few other necessities - including beer for Montana.

To keep the memory of our travels through the great southwest of Texas a nice one, we have to share and remind ourselves of the funny and interesting things about our experience around the Lajitas area. As avid bird lovers, we enjoy watching birds no matter where we go and we have an idea about what some of their call sound like. At the RV park we were entertained throughout the day and evening with ravens, vultures, doves, bats, and other flying creatures. What was so funny was when we heard the raven caw we automatically assumed we were hearing the raven; but when we saw that the sound was coming from a dove, it was hilarious. The dove huddled with the large black birds as if they, too were ravens...even as they landed, the dove made the raven's distinct caw; the ravens, however, did not coo as dove normally do but the dove in Lajitas were bi-lingual.

Also interesting on the drive to NM, we were stopped by the border patrol and had the drug dog sniff us while another officer attempted to distract us with idle chit-chat; just a little farther down the road we saw the radar balloon that watches the border, and just laughed because just the day before Dan decided he was going to be an illegial alien and he crossed the Rio Grand into Mexico - before he saw a sign that said WARNING: $5,000 fine fo crossing anywhere other than at an offical entry point. So our big joke was they saw him cross illegally with the flying intell and now they're on to him...I am holding on to the pictures to keep him in line.