Wheels, Wires, and (not so) Wild Horses

 Welcome to way, way, way down south West Texas!

We made it safely down to Big Bend RV Resort and Adventures in Terlingua after an incredible Thanksgiving weekend stay at Davis Mountains State Park.  We arrived after dark, checked in at the motel front dest, got our site assignment, checked out the site, when back to the front desk to ask for a different site, and then settled in.  When you have a 38' fifth wheel with 3 slides, and a big RAM 3500 truck, you need a the right sized space!

Monday afternoon we had an ATV tour booked with Far Flung Adventures - and talk about easy, it was only 5 minutes from our campsite (and once we were on the ATVs, we actually drove right past our camper to head out east to the mountains).  

Terry, our guide, did an exceptional job at making sure we were safe, had fun, and got to see some really amazing sites!  To keep this post from getting too long, I've got a separate post just for our WHEELS adventure here!

After 3 hours exploring the desert and the mountains on our ATVs, RDB and I took a drive thru town over to the Long Draw Pizza place.  Dine in or carry out, this place was bustling the whole time we were there.  We always manage to find the best pizza places on the way-far-out adventures we have, and Long Draw was no different!

As we turned our truck back towards home, we couldn't help but pull over just a mile or so from Long Draw to stop and take pictures of the sunset.  Ya'll, the vistas here will take your breath away!

Tuesday morning we set an alarm so that we'd have time to get around and make the 25 minute drive over to Lajitas Golf Resort for our Zip-line tour thru Quiet Canyon.  We arrived with plenty of time to get checked in and ask our guide, Lloyd, tons of questions about life in the Big Bend region.  

Come to find out, it was only RDB and me on the tour that morning, so when Lloyd's mom, Christine, arrived (its a family run business!) we ended up with our own private tour out on the WIRES!  You can read all about that over here. 

Tuesday evening we took Terry's suggestion and drove back down the county road to where it ends at the western border of the National Park to watch the sunset over the mountain ranges. 

Now, that map might say 45 minutes, but I think we got there a little faster (and perhaps bumpier!) than that.  Regardless, it was the perfect spot to break out the camping chairs, pop open a bottle of pink champagne and enjoy this incredible moment with each other. 

"To the adventure that is life, and being ok no matter what happens."

Wednesday (is it really Wednesday? Are we sure? Has someone checked a calendar?  I swear, time feels like it's slowed wa-a-a-y down out here!) we took the morning to go hiking a few of the trails in the exterior sections of Big Bend Ranch State Park.  The interior of the park is closed for a drawn hunt this week.  (With only 4% of Texas being public land, it's a great thing that we have state parks where people can take advantage of drawn hunts and not have to pay large hunting lease fees.)

Can I just say WOW  - the hiking out here is truly out of this world!!  

In BBRSP, we hiked Hoodoos....

...and our first slot canyon, Closed Canyon.

As the late afternoon turned to evening, we drove back west again, over to the Lajitas Equestrian Center for a sunset trail ride on a few not-so WILD HORSES.  And guess what? Once again, we were the only people on the excursion, so we had the entire adventure to ourselves! (I'm so glad they didn't cancel on us just because we were the only ones who booked the events.)  You can jump in the saddle with us and ride off into the sunset here. 

And yes, I was just a _little_ giddy to be on horseback again, especially after the last time RDB went on a trail ride with me.

The fun didn't stop just because the sun had gone down. The Big Bend region is an International Dark Sky Reserve, which means that the stargazing out here can be second to none. RDB and I enjoyed our Star Party earlier in the trip several miles north, and decided to go out again later in the evening to see the sky again, this time in the National Park. 

You can see in the above photo, very clearly, the Orion constellation, as well as the Winter Triangle.

Next time, we'll remember to bring the iPhone attachment of the tripod.

Because there will definitely be a next time!  And we'll keep our eyes on the moon phases when we plan that trip so we can have the benefit of totally dark skies.

Thursday afternoon we moseyed over to do a little shopping at the Galeria Chisos, before heading into Big Bend National Park for a drive and evening hike.  We had passed the shop earlier in the week (and I had to pull over to take a picture of the stained glass mountains out front).

We had the chance to chat with Kathy, the proprietor, and learned a bit more about living in this beautiful region.  We have her number and next time we come back, we'd love to take her to dinner and just spend the whole time talking about her experience relocating and living down here.  Not that we're making any plans or anything, but if the Stars Aligned....

If you're looking for unique art, beautiful hand crafted jewelry, or random odds and ends as a souvenir of your trip to the desert, this is your place! (I found a pair of butterfly earrings made from recycled aluminum cans - fun!)

We turned right out of the parking lot and traveled just a few miles to the western entrance of the National Park, paid our entrance fee ($30 for 7 days) and drove on in.  "Splendid Isolation" is exactly what it felt like as we drove the Ross Maxwell scenic drive into the interior; it was utterly beautiful every direction you looked!

If you have only a few hours in the region, I would highly recommend spending them driving this route. The terrain changes so many different times, that it's no wonder the national park is considered geologist's playground. 

There were several hikes along the scenic drive that I would have loved for us to take, but with limited time - and the sun dipping behind the plateau -  I drove us all the way back to the Santa Elena Canyon Trail.  I _thought_ this one was marked as 'easy' but once we got started, and had to hunt for a way to get across the creek _without_ crossing the creek, I realized perhaps it was a bit more than we thought we were in for.

Mexico on the left, the US on the right; the Rio Grande in the middle.

See the tiny little brown sign with the hiker on it? Yep, you're supposed to wade thru the creek to that point to start the hike up the canyon.

Yeah, nope. Not. Happening.

See that really steep well-loved path?  Yeah, that was the 'alternative' entrance.  I walked past it at first, thinking: there is no way I'm going to try to mount that, but came back around in a moment with a "what the hell, why not?" attitude, and up, up, up we went!

And I'm so glad we did - the views from the top of the trail (the _real_ trail, once we got back to it) were outstanding.

I couldn't help but giggle at the conversation RDB and I had as we made it back down the last few yards of slanted, slippery slope:

"It's all downhill from here."
"Don't say it unless you mean it."
"I think it's probably all downhill from here."

And? He was right.  Because Thursday nights lead to Friday mornings, and we were scheduled to pack up and start heading back towards Houston. 

We were at Big Bend RV Resort and Adventures, site #41 (full hook-ups). The RV resort was practically barren the week after Thanksgiving; in fact, pretty much the entire town was.  Seems that we were here perfectly between the holiday crowds, and, from what we understand, there's barely room to turn around at the annual Chili Cook-off weekend the first Saturday of each November.  Not sure that we'd come for that, but we sure are looking forward to coming back again.  And soon.

2022 Texas Miata Roundup

If you've dropped in from the 2022 Miata Roundup (Hiee y'all!) and you're here for the pictures, you can jump over to the featured post and find a link there.  Otherwise, keep reading and relive the Roundup with us!

RDB and I packed up the camper and came across to the Hidden Creek RV Resort in Bryan/College Station Wednesday afternoon to get our 'homebase' settled before the roundup started.  We enjoyed a dinner at The Cookshack.  Holy cow, not only was the meal delicious, but the service was outstanding! (Go read my review by clicking on the restaurant name above.) We drove back home to Houston to drop off the truck and drive back over in Joy (our '21 Blue Steel Mazda MX5 RF). Lemme tell you, it felt like a much shorter trip coming back when you're _not_ hauling a 38' 5th wheel behind you!

Thursday RDB and I had most of the day to ourselves, since check-in with the roundup wasn't till 3pm. We made good use of it, taking advantage of the RoadsideAmerica.com app and finding a few interesting things around Aggieland to check out.

Starting, of course, with the original "like" (better known as the Gig'em hand signal).

I reached out to Bestie, a Texas A&M grad, and sent her a few pictures along the way. RDB said that she's been holding out on us with all the good food we're enjoying over in College Station.  We ate lunch at 3rd on Main, and WOW, talk about another outstanding meal. (And yes, lots of carbs.  I'm all about the comfort food this week #dontjudgeme)

Since lunch was "on Main," and Bryan is the county seat of Brazos County, RDB and I walked the few blocks over to get a picture of the courthouse. "Nothing to write home about," he said when we walked up to it.  If you looked up 'government building' in the dictionary, I'm pretty sure a picture of the Brazos County Courthouse would be there.

From there, we zoomed over to Bottle Cap Alley. I mean, I'm not against a few beers to drown my sorrows, but this just seemed a bit much!

Enough playing around, it was time to go check in. We grabbed our goodie bag, signed up for a Friday and Saturday run, and then went back to the camper to rest for a bit (I hadn't realized how exhausting the last few days have been because of what's going on at work.  Even with a Starbucks pic-me-up before we went to registration, I just didn't have the heart to stick around and socialize Thursday afternoon.)

Friday morning, bright and early, we lined up back at the hotel to join our first run: "Becky's for Lunch and Mail Box Antiques" with MA (he likes to lead a 'spirited' run, and we were here for it!). This ride was also only running on Friday, so the exclusivity of it made it attractive, too. 

RDB downloaded the Ride with GPS app that the Houston Miata Club used to create the routes - pretty cool, that you can see all the twists and turns, the mileage and elevation, and the % of paved roads before you get out there and drive it.

It was a great run with lots of these:

We made it over to Becky's for lunch - quaint little place, where they were ready for us and lunch was quickly served.  RDB got a few moments of drone footage in the parking lot while we lined up, and then we were out on the road again. 

Several more twists and turns (and a bathroom break) later, we pulled all 16 of our cars into the tiny parking lot of Mail Box Antiques. 

It was adorable - we arrived to a handwritten sign welcoming the car club, and then as we were getting ready to leave, the little lady who runs the place stepped out with her basket and gave everyone a "lucky dime" for the rest of our travels.  Seriously, so precious!

And back on the road!

Back at the hotel, we had a short break before the (much shorter) evening runs to dinner.  As we all gathered to line up for the run to Edge General Store, I passed out the QR code stickers for the blog, and snagged a few quick 'in the car' pictures.  I got lots of "oh, this is cool!" from the group. Glad to do it, y'all!

A short drive to dinner, a decent meal, and RDB and I called it an early night - more fun to be had on Saturday!

The pretty pumpkin of an MX5 up there is a rare 30th Anniversary edition.  It was a joy to get to know the various drivers and cars and stories - each one unique and fun and totally interesting!

Saturday morning we picked the HEARTS to Hunstville run (kinda on purpose - it was the latest-leaving run (and we didn't want to wake up super early) and in conversation with Mr Miata Friday night, we were confirmed as the run sweep (Sweep is the last car in line, has a radio to keep the lead runner informed of what's happening behind them, and goes after any 'lost lambs' if someone takes a wrong turn). Our first time sweeping we paired up with JP (who's first time leading was yesterday!), so we'll see how it goes!

The down side to being sweep is that you only run as fast (ahem, slow) as the car in front of you. The up side about being sweep is that you get great video and pics because all 15 cars are in front of you!

The beautiful yellow bird above was a couple in from North Carolina!  We stopped off at 7 Leguas Mexican Grill for lunch - and I think the group might all have been a little tired from hanging out the night before (or tired of me saying "hey! cheese!")

After a quick lunch, we made a few more left-right-right-left turns and arrived at the parking lot of the HEARTS Veterans Museum of Texas. 

From their website: "HEARTS Museum is a one of a kind Museum.  We are not a typical military museum, in fact, we don't consider ourselves a military museum at all.  We are a museum about people.  Particularly the veterans who have served to protect our nation, preserve our freedom, and to secure the freedom of people around the world."

The walls and halls are brimming with pictures of veterans and their stories. We were only there for a short hour, but you could have spent days walking thru reading about the lives of those who protect our freedoms; that there were several veterans in our run group today was not lost on me at all.  Thank you. Thank you so much for your service and sacrifice. 

There were a few displays that really caught my attention (beyond the dobie up there, of course. <3)  A wedding dress, made out of a German parachute for an Italian bride who married an American solider...

...a small display of Snoopy Red Baron paraphernalia...

...and a lot of information about the WWII POW camps across Texas.  I remember how I was startled to discover the historical plaque on one of my solo camping trips out on the backroads near town. 

Back on the road, with a few less cars (two people took off for homebase before we did .... the fast-paced twisties coming up might not have been their "speed") we pointed the heard of cars towards homebase. 

There were six lights we had to go thru once we got back in town - and we should've stopped off for a lottery ticket because we made it "all cars thru the light" SIX TIMES in a row! It was fun to be the sweep on this run and several people from different clubs commented on how well I did, the 'professional' way I communicated, that I was clear and loud... RDB joked that this is how they trick people into sweeping - give them TONS of compliments and they'll want to do it again. (I mean, he's not wrong...)

Back beside host hotel, the Douglass Mazda dealership was having their grand re-opening and invited the club over for an open house with refreshments and to check out the new digs.  Beautifully designed inside, and - smarties that they were - they had two new MX5s on display in the lobby. From what I can tell, owning a Miata is like opening a can of Lays' potato chips - betcha can't have just one! I wouldn't be surprised if those two beauties are sold by the end of the weekend!  (Guess what? We found out at the banquet that evening that a couple joining the round up from Arkansas BOUGHT ONE!!)

RDB retreated to the camper for a few hours to download footage, rest for a bit and blog some - cause there's no way I'd remember all these details if I tried to wait till Sunday night.  Rested, we returned over to the Brazos Center, just half a block from the host hotel, for the evening dinner/banquet. 

The HMC did a great job of securing a place for us to all come together (over 125 people this weekend!) have dinner, celebrate with a punny skit and door prizes, and then dance the evening away to an incredible 10-piece live band! RDB and I genuinely felt like we made new friends and I got called out _again_ for being a good first-time sweep (ok, ok, y'all, I get it! You've got this Sweatheart Sweeper whenever you need now! Positive reinforcement works!) GL, from one of the other clubs, even gave me his door-prize because he wanted to acknowledge again what a great job I did working my first run.  <3 

RDB and I enjoyed the live music, and danced for a bit, then drove back up to the campground for the night. (PS - if you didn't get one of those tiny bundt cakes from Nothing Bundt Cakes, you missed out!!)

What a weekend!!

Sunday morning we slept in (RDB was up till about 2am editing the video from Day 2 (you can find that on this post where I'll have the link for the photos this next week)).  We packed up the camper and went back into downtown Bryan to have brunch at 3rd on Main (yes, it was that good!) before going home to trade out the Miata and drive back over with the truck to hook up the camper and take it home for the week.

We couldn't help but smile as we were passed by one last Miata leaving College Station.  Hope you all made it home safely and we very much look forward to seeing you at club rides and at the next Texas Miata Roundup in 2024!