The 'kissing rocks'

Adobe ruins

Adobe ruins near Indian Head Springs with Chisos Mountains in the background.

Welcome to Dizzy-Dick!

Dizzy-Dick has joined, thanks for following!

Coffee

Seems to me the best tasting coffee is when you are 'camping'.

We picked up this awesome little coffee pot at a garage sale for $1. Words great when you don't have any electricity. 

Welcome to Bigfoot!

A fellow part-time-Terlinguan has joined this train wreck. A hearty Texas welcome to Bigfoot.

Thanks for following.

11/23/12

Getting ready to drive the River Road in Big Bend Nat'l Park. West to East.

11/19/2012 - exploring

11/19/2012 - Terlingua Lodge to Lake Ament, thru Dark Canyon, to Study Butte and back. Roughly 50 mile round trip. Hi's in the 80's, lo's in the mid 50's.

11/18/2012

We have a flat tire on the truck…and missing a headlight…and the engine won’t start…has anyone seen the windshield?

11/17/12

11/17/12

It took us about 4 hrs to set up 'camp'. Got everything unloaded and ate lunch, then headed out on some of the back roads with the new (to us) RZR.

This machine is a lot of fun and seems to be made for the west Texas dirt roads. We originally left the half windscreen on, but it caused the dirt to swirl around behind it and coated us in dust. After only 4 miles we looked like we had hiked the Sahara for a week. Completely covered in dust. Another RZR owner (Freddy) suggested that we take the windscreen off and we didn't have any more problems with the dust after that.

And not only did it happen once but twice! A warm Texas welcome to Carrie Hetu! Thanks for following!

11/16/2012

Friday 11/16/2012

Loaded up and on the road for another trip to west Texas. We usually stop twice for fuel and I have yet to find a place that I like to stop. The last stop is always Alpine to top everything off, but we also need to make one middle stop.

This is one of the more popular stops in Junction, Tx, but I've found that it's really hectic, dirty and expensive. Still searching for that elusive fuel stop.

Aerial photos

Here is a shot of the slab, prior to building anything on it. It stayed like this for a couple of years.

Here is a shot of the cabin, with two porch roofs on. You can also see some of the trails that we've cut through our land. We walk these trails quite a bit while we are out there, looking for different rocks and plants to relocate to the cabin.

There's a first for everything!

While most of the first's in the world have already been taken (who was the first to eat an egg that came out of a chickens...well eggs are good, but I don't think I woulda done it).

Modern Day Redneck is the first to be a member/follower of this blog. I am honored. Thanks for stopping by and hitting the button. It's all down hill from here.

Packing

Border Patrol agent dies near BB Nat'l Park

Border Patrol agent dies near Big Bend National Park

By Alberto Tomas Halpern
Big Bend Sentinel

A U.S. Border Patrol agent died near Big Bend National Park on Friday, November 2.

U.S. Border Patrol Agent David R. Delaney, 44, “passed away while performing his duties,” Border Patrol Big Bend Sector spokesman Bill Brooks said in a formal statement.

“An investigation is under way to confirm the agent’s cause of death,” the statement went on.

Delaney was assigned to Border Patrol’s Big Bend Sector and had served in the U.S. Border Patrol for the past decade.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family, friends and colleagues of agent Delaney during this difficult time,” said Brooks on behalf of the U.S. Border Patrol and the Big Bend Sector.

Original story found here:

http://alpinedailyplanet.typepad.com/alpine-daily-planet/2012/11/border-patrol-agent-killed-near-big-bend-national-park.html

RRRZZZRR

Wouldn't this be a blast out on the dirt roads of Terlingua!?!?

Workin' - July 2009

July 2009, we planned a trip out to Terlingua Ranch with a huge load of building supplies. A couple that we are friends with accompanied us to help and see how much we could get built in a week.

We arrived on Saturday, the temps were around 108 degrees! It was disappointing to learn that the restaurant was closed, the pool and bathhouse was closed and we had to drive about 45 minutes to get ice, not exactly what we had planned when we bought our land and planned this work trip. 

Here we are on Saturday afternoon taking the forms off the slab. 

This was where we were on Sunday afternoon. 

It's always exciting to see the walls go up! They seem to go up so fast, then it slows down as the roof, siding and windows start to go on.

By Sunday afternoon we had the 4 stud walls standing. 

July - 2009

I'm starting to think that someone might be building a cabin in the middle of the Chihuahuan desert!

July 2009

July 2009...WTH is going on here?!?

Paddlin' the Rio Grande, November 2007

During this trip we loaded up some canoes, headed down to the Rio Grande and paddled up to Fern Canyon. Ate a nice lunch, did a little hiking and had a great time on the river.

What side is Mexico and what side is Texas?

November 2007

In November of 2007 we took a short trip out to the ranch, set up the Apache tent camper on the slab and spent a few days hiking, camping, canoeing in the Big Bend.

September 2006 - concrete slab

After keeping the slab covered with plastic and soaked with water for 3 days to cure, we uncovered it and there were no cracks!

I was (and still am) very happy with how the slab turned out.

Pano Version

Red and black. 

Sept 13th, 2012

Life and Death in the desert.

Pictographs in the desert 9/13/2012

If you weren't looking for them, you would probably drive right past them. I know we almost did!

Dark Canyon Panoramic 9/13/2012

Ever since I was a kid I've enjoyed panoramic photos. With software these days it's easier and easier to get some really neat panoramic shots.

Here's one I took on Dark Canyon Rd.

Living Rock 9/12/2012

Here is one of my favorite plants in the Chihuahuan desert...a living rock cactus. These are very hard to spot when they are not blooming.

Here is a picture of one that is blooming. 

This last trip back to the cabin I looked and looked for the above living rock that is blooming, either I could not find it again or it has died during this last devastating drought. 

Sunrise 9/12/2012

The sunsets in Terlingua are great, but the sunrises are not far behind.

9/08/2012

Safely arrived at Casita Corazones around 3 PM Saturday,  9/08/2012.

We were pleased to find that the water tanks were completely full!

We had everything unloaded and set-up within a few hours and headed up to the Bad Rabbit Cafe for an awesome grilled steak and a great visit with several of our friends and neighbors.

West bound - 9/07/12

West bound and down, loaded up and truckin',
We're gonna do what they say can't be done.
We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there.
I'm west bound, just watch ol' "Silver" run.

Keep your foot hard on the pedal. Son, never mind them brakes.
Let it all hang out 'cause we got a run to make.
The boys are thirsty in Terlingua and there's beer in Austin
And we'll bring it back no matter what it takes.

Ol' Smokey's got them ears on and he's hot on your trail.
He aint gonna rest 'til you're in jail.
So you got to dodge 'im and you got to duck 'im,
You got to keep that diesel truckin'.
Just put that hammer down and give it hell.

Critters - September 2006

September 2006

Camping, relaxing and exploring in September 2006.

Above is my first attempt at a solar shower. While I really liked the looks of this shower, it didn't work very good, not enough pressure. The 2" pipe held about 15 gallons of water, plenty for Marilynn and I to shower with but it took to long to shower without any pressure. I rigged up a pvc cap with a tire stem and could pressurize the pipe using a bicycle pump, but it was a pain. 

1964 Apache Silver Eagle 'pop-up' camper. 

Pouring concrete - September 2006

So after a couple of days of prep work we called Alpine and scheduled to have the concrete delivered.

They added something to the concrete to keep it from setting up on the 80 mile trip to our cabin. I'm can't remember what it was but it might have been fly ash.

I told the truck driver he could drive anywhere he wanted except for the one sotol that we wanted to keep, he immediately ran over the sotol. (This is right before he ran over the sotol, which you can see in the lower right hand corner.)

It was a fairly cool morning and actually went smoother than I thought it would.

Here's to a good start on our cabin!