Back in Terlingua...the Adventure Starts Again

As I was driving back into Terlingua, I passed by 3 cyclists who were riding up an overpass in almost 100 degree heat. I later found out that the three cyclists were a mother, father, and son who took a year off of work and high school to ride thousands of miles around the country on a birdwatching expedition. They couldn’t leave out Big Bend, being that it boasts more varieties of birds than any other national park. This is also the time year to see them….the rainy season.

Speaking of the rainy season, Ruby, my Volvo, is patiently waiting for me on a muddy road. It'll take a couple of sunny days for the mud to dry out before I could get her home. I tried to beat an approaching storm when visiting my neighbor to pick up a 5 watt light bulb. I got to his house, but when trying to head back after giant raindrops started bombarding the ground, I didn’t get far. As a result, John Wells, my neighbor, had an unexpected house mate for the night as the road out from his house to the highway is unforgiving when it storms. The next morning, I walked the two and half miles out to the highway as the mud clung desperately to my shoes. Soon after I found out that bare feet was easier, John’s neighbor, James Kirk zoomed by on his tractor and lifted me back home.

This ended a week full of adventure which included a concert performance with friends down in an old mine shaft, an impromptu song circle with local celebrity, Butch Hancock, a visit to the almost secret Cattail falls in Big Bend, and a day of pouring a friend's adobe floor.