Leaving Austin, we headed across US 290 toward Fort Stockton where we planned to turn south toward Big Bend National Park. On the way we spotted LBJ's boyhood home and decided it was a good time to stop for lunch. LBJ, for those of you who are historically challenged, was president of the US sometime after Kennedy and before Nixon. He had big ears. As I learned here at the LBJ Visitor Center by studying photos of him taken at a young age, he was born with them. Below on the right are photos of Johnson's boyhood home. On the left is our campsite at the Fort Stockton KOA. We try to stay at state or national parks or forests and avoid big RV parks like this, but sometimes you have no choice. This was a good one, though.

Big Bend National Park, Texas

At Fort Stockton, we got off the Interstate and headed south on US 385 toward Big Bend which takes its name from what the Rio Grande does in that area: it makes a big bend. The park includes miles of 4WD roads with "primitive" campsites every few miles. We stopped at the ranger station and signed up for two-night stay. First at Pine Canyon at a higher elevation and next at a spot down on the Rio Grande. Here are some photos of our adventure.

L to R: Lorri in the dirt road near our first spot. You can see the van in the background. Middle: our chairs and the view. The desert flowers were blooming. Right: rabbit sighting. We didn't spot any jackalopes.

The van handled admirably on the back-country roads.

Just a sampling of the desert blooms. Can you name them?

Second campsite at Big Bend

"Primitive" camping means there are no water, sewer or electric hookups where you camp. That doesn't mean you have to suffer. Our van has a fridge that runs off an auxiliary battery, so there's always a cold beer handy and ice for martini making. It has a two-burner stove that runs on propane, so we can always fire up a gourmet dinner (or we could if we knew how). It has a "Porta-Potti" for doing what bears do in the woods and it has fresh water and a "gray" water holding tank for doing dishes and minor cleanup. We also carry extra water and a solar shower which heats water by sunlight and can be hung from a tree. That's me on the right enjoying a warm shower. On the left is our campsite. The next two are my afternoon vantage point overlooking the Rio Grande, Texas on my side, Mexico on the other. Like George Washington did many years ago, I threw a stone from the US across the mighty Rio Grande onto Mexican soil and I didn't tell a lie about it.

The next day we headed west along the Rio Grande and spent the night at Big Bend Ranch State Park at another site near the river.

The river actually carved the gorge behind Lorri on the left. In the middle is a view of the river from the river road, Texas Rte. 170, and on the right is our campsite. The next day we left Texas and spent a night in a motel in Las Cruces, NM. We drove 1,275 miles in Texas on our way back to SD. Texas is big.