Just a MoJo

What happens when you release two media savvy guys into the heart of the West Texas Desert?

In short, it was a trip of thrilling surprises. During the drive from Waco to Big Bend, we were excited, it made the long drive seem like a drive across town.

When we got to the national park, it was full, no kidding, all of the camp sites were taken! We had two choices, load up our gear and hike off into the unfamiliar desert or hop back into the car, go over some mountains to Big Bend Ranch, State Park.

Andy and I typically fly by the seat of our pants when it comes to things like this, but randomly hiking in the desert seemed like a good way to get killed by a Javelina or a mountain lion. Off to Big Bend Ranch we went.

We selected a camp site about 50 feet from Mexico and set out to cross the Rio Grande. Apparently, randomly crossing into Mexico is not legal, nor did the stepping stones provide us a pathway into Mexico.

After making fishing spears and spending several hours trying to impale our dinner, we gave up and hungrily returned to camp and made Fajitas.

After Fajitas we decided we would join those around us and make a fire. bear Grylls makes it seem a lot easier than it was! After an hour or striking our knives on flints, a few sparks but no fire.

Having marginal success with fire building, we turned to dessert, pudding cups. However, during the middle of my chocolate cup, severe wind arose and a dust storm blew over the ridge above us and covered us in a film of desert sand.

Seasoned Campers will tell you that the only thing to do is to climb into your tent and wait the storm out. So, into our tents we went. Andy had yet to rig his rainfly so his cleanliness was no match for the fierce dust storm. My tent, yellow one above, is not aerodynamic in the least. As I sat in my tent, I was beaten by the sides of my tent, each one taking its turn throwing itself at me, my tent went from 10 square feet to about one in seconds.

Waiting for the storm to subside, my sleep deficit caught up with me.

When I Awoke the next morning, I poked my head out of the tent, Andy’s tent had collapsed on him during the night, after helping him sort out the situation, I got up and and took in my surroundings:

That, my friends is nature! Mexico is on the left, and the Glorious US of A is on the right.

After another day of hiking, practicing survival skills, Andy and I set off for Alpine, Texas. Home of Penny’s Diner. And then, Mustang Island, by way of San Antonio.