Big Bend, Thanksgiving week 2010

[Renrag]

When I travel, I make it a point to roll the driver's side window down all the way whenever I step out to take a picture. Sometimes I leave the key in the ignition and sometimes I don't, but whichever the case I don't want to find myself locked-out at the side of the road in the relative middle of nowhere..

John

A 10mm wrench will take the hinges off the back window and allow access to the cab. Ask me how I know.

I'm not asking you to quit making comments, but I am saying your pictures damn near tell the story themselves. Bravo.

mikE(fellow midwesterner with desert lust)

 

[NIVEK_TURK]

My dad is from a big town for that area called Alpine it's in between Marathon and Marfa. That area out there is just beautiful. I spent the summer of 03 out there all through the park. Did the river tour from Lajitas down to Sanalina canyon,thats when the river had water in it.

 

[JamesDowning]

When I travel, I make it a point to roll the driver's side window down all the way whenever I step out to take a picture. Sometimes I leave the key in the ignition and sometimes I don't, but whichever the case I don't want to find myself locked-out at the side of the road in the relative middle of nowhere..

You should hide a spare key under the body of the jeep - then you won't need to worry anymore!

 

[Mr. Leary]

I roll the wondow down as well. Been there done that whole locking out business.

You should hide a spare key under the body of the jeep - then you won't need to worry anymore!

Tried that on my truck... bounced off somewhere in west Texas.

 

[scarysharkface]

Thanks guys. Alpine is a nice place! I need to investigate the spare key thing. I have a history of locking myself out, very far from home..

John

 

[old1959]

Thanks

Thank you so much for posting all the pictures. I now live in Washington state but come from Texas and your pictures bring back a lot of memories. I used to go to Big Bend at least once a year in late October or early November for dual sport riding; the area doesn't have much in the way of single track trails but sure has a lot of dirt roads and the views are out of this world. Once again thanks.

 

[scarysharkface]

Thanks! I've got more pics to post when I've got a few minutes of down time..

 

[scarysharkface]

Gotta love cowboy country..

Years ago I had a small one of these in a planter on the deck. I vividly recall needing a tire tool to pry it free from my bare leg after a chance encounter..

I saw enough of this throughout my day that I was beginning to wonder just how much more lay ahead. And it was still early..

I actually laid down in the ditch to get this shot..

Jeep turned over 44444 at this stop. I didn't realize it until I pulled away and the odo turned over to 44445, otherwise I would have taken a pic..

John

 

[scarysharkface]

It strikes me whenever I travel just how difficult it must have been to get to places like this on a horse or in a wagon.. Or on foot..

Fantastically quiet..

John

 

[scarysharkface]

Looking at the photographs it all has a strong "sameness" to it..

And even while there, in each separate moment alone, there was a certain "sameness" to it all..

Yet there was an even stronger sense of the beauty and simplicity of change from mile to mile, even moment to moment in a single place.. I can't explain it, or the strong pull it exerts on the soul.. I suppose it just needs to be experienced..

Dust is a way of life here..

John

 

[scarysharkface]

Love it..

One really cool thing about this time of year is that the light is usually pretty good. High-Noon Summer light is awful, but late November the sun's low enough all day that the shadows are nice and flattering to almost any subject..

The more it stays the same, the more it changes..

John

 

[scarysharkface]

After considerable miles of this, I fire up the GPS to have a look-see. I've got plenty of water and food (and fuel, and secondary transportation if needed) and no worries about spending the night out here, should it come to that, but I'm curious..

I guess I'm pretty close to the highway..

Confirmation comes with peeling paint..

And an ominous warning..

But otherwise it's pretty much status quo..

These are posted every quarter mile or so..

Approaching within 5 or 10 miles of the highway the road changes back and forth between pavement and gravel.. Nice view..

Another train as I pop out onto the highway, just North of the Border Patrol inspection station and 20-some miles South of Alamagordo, New Mexico..

Lunch on this Thanksgiving Day is a French Dip at Arby's and a phone call to a friend on the other side of the mountains.. There's weather in between us and he's dealing with the impending loss of a sibling to cancer, so I plan to not drop in on him today. It's great to talk to Dave though, and I hope it's given him a few minutes break from the troubles of the day..

John

 

[scarysharkface]

I figure I'll head North and see more places I've never seen..

The sun gets lower and the temperatures drop..

Traffic is light and I trade places with a tractor-trailer a few times as we negotiate the hills and valleys.. There are a few deer along the road and it's really just kind of a nice way to spend an evening..

Soon it is dark and we reach Tucumcari. While my trucker companion takes the on-ramp, I stop for fuel and turkey dinner at Subway.. Another hour or two or three and I pass through Texas into Oklahoma..

John

 

[scarysharkface]

My phone says it's 13 degrees when I wake up at a picnic table pullout in Oklahoma..

Inexplicably, my windshield is still filthy.. Sorry..

Breakfast is at a small town somewhere beyond Liberal, Kansas. I want bacon, eggs and toast. The waitress won't simply allow me to order it. Instead, I must walk with her to the front of the restaurant and read it out loud to her from the menu board posted on the wall. Weird. There are a few couples and a family in the room, and someone from each group is wearing Kansas State apparel. The TV is on CBS (off-air out of Wichita), which I haven't seen in forever, and there is light discussion about city-folk as I generally try to keep my head down and enjoy my plate of tasty grease. It's warmed up to 14 degrees by the time I get back to the Jeep..

I point the Jeep toward Dodge City and am promptly terrified to nearly be rear-ended by a Dodge minivan full of people at 70-ish mph. They hang back about 3 feet from my bumper and for the life of me I never did see the lady driving look up from her steering wheel for several long minutes. Finally I slowed down enough for her to pass me (I'd like to think my turn signal may have helped her decide). As she passed, I could see she was reading a sale flyer on the steering wheel. No doubt they were headed to town for some Black Friday deals in Dodge City..

I didn't take a single picture of what might as well be called Tourist Town. I did stop at a historic plaque turnout just East of town though, near the airport..

East, now, mostly..

And North a bit too..

John

 

[scarysharkface]

One of my sisters, Margaret, lives in Abilene, Kansas.. I ring her up and she's home. I stop in and she's decided to bake some bread for me. She can't eat bread due to some significant food allergies, so I hope this doesn't kill her as I tell her I'm not staying long enough for it to finish baking..

We have a nice visit and end up talking for quite a while. The bread is baked and we hug goodbye. I'm off to Manhattan while there's still some light, to take some scouting photos for my daughter..

Lots of stone and glass.. Nice..

And trees.. The greenspace is nice..

Some fuel and some miles later, a few minutes of shut-eye at an exit somewhere West of Topeka and I'm somewhat refreshed..

John