Abbey's Road

Unfortunately, I wasn’t in town during the Chili Cook Off, but I did actually get some good food as I ate out 2 nights in a row – a rarity for me. Terlingua is pretty much a ghost town (http://www.texasghosttown.com), but there is actually a small, dare I say thriving, community there. Some people even live there through the summer when temps are regularly 100+. I ate at a place called the Starlight Theatre & Grill, which actually had a pretty good looking menu for being about 80 miles from the nearest town of any size. It is right next to the local museum, gallery and trading co. store and they all share a big, long front porch where the local men seem to hang out every night and drink beer. Terlingua definitely has its local characters. Willie Nelson would fit right in. The Starlight has 2-for-1 burgers and live music on Monday nights, though I didn’t find that out ‘til after I placed my order with the bartender, who’s also the owner. He started out working in Big Bend and after a few years opened the Starlight and then another bar. Another good idea for me, though I’d want someplace a bit cooler in summer. Terlingua is an old mining town so there really are a lot of abandoned, run down houses, but some have been restored so it’s an odd mix of ruins, homes and even a guesthouse. They have a walking tour with some unique signs. I didn’t get the guide to know what I was looking at so I just checked out the signs. They were more interesting.

I did get to take Abbey on a hike finally, but it got hot quick and it was quite a rocky trail up a canyon. Miraculously, though, there was water on the trail. The southwest, including Texas, has been under a severe drought for a while so everything is bone dry. I was shocked when I found out there was water, but even moreso when I found out there is a waterfall, with flowing water of all things, at the end of that trail. Abbey hasn’t hiked a whole lot lately so I didn’t want to push her, especially with the heat, so we only went up a few miles before turning back.
Terlingua Church
Prickly Pear Cactus on Rancherias Canyon Trail

Posted by Ed at 2:13 PM | Permalink

Way down in the southwest corner of Texas right smack up against the Mexican border sits Big Bend NP. It is one of the largest, but least visited national parks in the country. However, this is the time of year to go before it gets unbearably hot so campsites weren’t exactly plentiful. I did manage to find a decent site in a beautiful campground in the Chisos Basin. It’s up in the mountains so it is nice and cool when it gets hot at lower elevations, like down by the river. There was an RV park by the river, but it was full when I arrived. I found out later it looked more like a parking lot so I was happy I didn’t waste my time driving down there the first day. The Chisos Basin has a length limit of 24 ft. so I was lucky to fit in just under the wire. The weather was actually real nice – 40s and 50s at night and 60s and 70s during the day. Unfortunately, most of Texas has been under a severe drought so everything was quite dry and brown. No desert wildflowers this year. The other bad thing was that Abbey couldn’t hike on any trails in the park, but seeing that it was a little warm and there was no water on the trails it was just as well. I arrived in the afternoon so I had just enough time for a hike down a trail right from the campground to a place called “The Window”. It’s the only drainage out of the basin so when it rains there is a raging torrent that cascades several hundred feet out of this narrow opening. As I mentioned it’s been very dry here for quite sometime so there was not even a trickle. Unfortunately, my batteries died so I didn't have any good pictures of the Window, but here is one I took from the trail of Casa Grande which overlooks the campground. On the way back up I heard rustling in the brush ahead of me and I got a little nervous. There are signs everywhere around here warning you of how to react if you see a mountain lion on the trail. The first thing is don’t run! Yea, right! Anyways, I stopped to listen better and decided it was way too much noise for a mountain lion. It was a pack of javelinas instead. I was pretty relieved, but still wondering if they were going to charge me until I noticed that they don’t have tusks or anything. I guess I thought they were more like wild boar. They aren’t even related to pigs, it turns out. The hike ended uneventfully after all.

Since Abbey couldn’t hike with me in the park I tried to get her out as much as possible before and after I went somewhere. On Friday morning I drove down to the eastern end of the park where it meets the Rio Grande. The Boquillas Canyon trail takes you right down to the river, only a mere 30 feet from Mexico. Some Mexicans bring hiking sticks and other trinkets over to the US side to sell and leave them there with a sign and a can for the money. They sit on the other side of the river watching with binoculars to make sure noone takes anything. Before 9/11 they were pretty laid back about Americans going over to the Mexican side to get something to eat or buy junk, but now you can be imprisoned or fined for doing it. So I happily stayed on our side of the river. Besides I’ve heard the Rio Grande is pretty much floating sewage so it didn’t bother me not wading through it. The left bank in this picture is Mexico.
After lunch I hiked to a hot spring up the river a few miles. A big group of young kids got there just after I did so it wasn’t exactly a relaxing soak, but it did feel good on my feet. I met a guy there who needed a ride back to the campground area, so I offered him a lift. He just moved down here from Michigan a week ago and is working in the store up in the Basin. I couldn’t believe he had no car as it is very isolated. He said before he was in Michigan he lived in Hawaii for four years working as a lifeguard and massage therapist. He’s going to work in Big Bend until he gets tired of it and then move on. I could relate to that. He was good “research” for my “career” planning. On Saturday I decided to do a long hike, about 13 miles, up in the basin to the South Rim. It’s a pretty tough trail, and longer than I had done in a while, so I got an early start hoping not to leave Abbey too long. About halfway up to the top I ran into another guy hiking by himself so I joined him ‘til we hit the rim. When he told me he was trying to get by on as little food as possible and wasn’t stopping for lunch, I knew it was time to split up. Besides, the views from my lunch spot were unbeatable. He was an interesting guy, though, who offered me more inspiration for my career search. He said that when he works, he works hard. But he just doesn’t like to be tied down by a steady job. He also seemed to have an amazing talent for getting by on very little money, much like my brother Michael. He likes to travel a lot and usually takes off on a long trip each year around the country, sometimes with his dog, a chocolate lab. So we had a lot to talk about, which made the uphill hiking seem a lot easier. On Sunday, it was time to head out of the NP and towards Big Bend Ranch State Park. There isn’t a lot of hiking there, but at least Abbey could go on the trails. More on that next time.

Posted by Ed at 3:29 PM | Permalink

Stephanie (if you read the Austin update you will know who she is) said on my way west I had to stop and see the Caverns of Sonora in, of course, Sonora, TX. I got there in the late afternoon, but they had one more tour starting about 35 minutes from when I arrived. I thought the $20 price was a bit steep, but the timing allowed me to walk Abbey around for a while and I was in no rush so I decided “What the heck!” One of the endorsements for the caverns said, “Even Texans can’t exaggerate how beautiful it is.” Having lived in Texas for 6 years I knew exactly what they meant. Mary Beth and I always had to apply the “Texas factor” when deciding whether or not to follow a local’s recommendation on some supposedly quaint or charming town in Texas. Back to the subject at hand. The beginning part of the cavern started out pretty inconspicuously and I was starting to have doubts, but I was soon turned around. Not that I’m a cave expert by any stretch of the imagination (though I have been to Inner Space Caverns in Georgetown, TX!), but it had an amazing amount and variety of formations. We were told by our guide that it has one of the foremost collection of helictites (hope I spelled that right) of any cave in the world. Helictites, as opposed to stalactites and stalagmites, grow in directions other than straight up or down. I’ll leave it as an exercise for the reader to find out just how they do this. No matter how they do it, some of them are pretty amazing, including the “butterfly” helictite – see the last picture which was shot with the guide sidelighting it with his flashlight. What the guide called the “Christmas Tree” effect on many of the formations was formed by water splashing on the formations and new crystals forming. I highly recommend this place if you ever find yourself passing through Sonora, which is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, but it is on the way to Big Bend.

The RV park at the Caverns of Sonora were not quite as spectacular, to put it nicely, but the price was right and I didn’t feel like driving 2 more hours to the next town on the map. So we stayed the night and had the place pretty much to ourselves save the caretakers. The next morning it was on to Big Bend.

Posted by Ed at 3:19 PM | Permalink

Mary Beth and I lived in Austin for 6 years up until we left for Germany in ’99 so I was anxious to go back and visit with some old friends. In the 7 years that I’ve been gone it has grown tremendously. There are a lot of parts of Austin I still like, but I don’t think I could live there any more. The traffic has gotten ridiculous and the construction is awful. I stayed with Andrew and Stephanie Lochbaum. I think they were a bit nervous when I said I might stay for 2 weeks, and were probably relieved when it was “only” 10 days. They have 2 huskies so I wasn’t sure how it would work out with Abbey. They were real excited when Abbey first came in the house, and Zoe, the younger one, had to make sure Abbey knew who was boss. After a minor incident on the 2nd day, they actually got fairly friendly, and Zoe tried to get Abbey to play. We even caught them sleeping on the same bed one day. Every time Abbey and I would go out and come back in, Zoe would sniff her up one side and down the other. I’m not quite sure what she was looking for, but she was definitely pretty thorough.

I didn’t end up going out downtown a whole lot. I mostly hung out and visited friends. We did manage to see the Cowboy Junkies at this real cool, intimate theatre which wasn’t there when we were. It reminded me of the good things I liked about Austin – good music, good restaurants, and an eclectic mix of people and places. A favorite Austin bumper sticker is “Keep Austin Weird”. I made it to one of my favorite places, Central Market, but somehow it didn’t feel the same. Maybe it was because it seemed like everything I was looking for was higher prices than I remember. I also made it to the new flagship Whole Foods Market. It is pretty incredible with all kinds of great takeout food, which it didn’t have much of before. If you ever get to Austin, you gotta check it out.

I tried taking Abbey to some of her old stomping grounds – Town Lake, Barton Creek, Turkey Creek – but except for Turkey Creek she really wasn’t that interested. I think it was partly because of the heat in the beginning of the week. Lucky for her it turned colder later in the week and stayed cool and rainy ‘til we left. Turkey Creek Nature Trail is in the city park right near where we used to live. On Monday Abbey and I went to see our old neighbors for dinner so I brought her to the trail beforehand. I’m not sure if she remembered it, but at first I was more excited than she was. After a while she loosened up and seemed to enjoy it. It was dark by the time we got to the Branches so I didn’t get to see our old house. Bill and Valerie said they have put a pool in, but didn’t say much more than that. Of course, they did say it’s not the same without us there;) Their son, Charles, is a junior at UT which is hard to believe since he was about 8 when we first moved there. He used to love to come on walks with us when we took the dogs. Their dog, Ollie, has since passed away, but they just recently got a new cocker spaniel named Bentley. He is very friendly with all dogs, but he had never had a dog in “his” house before so he put up a real stink when we first got there. It took him quite a while to settle down, but he finally resigned himself to the fact that Abbey was sticking around for at least a little while. He got excited again after dinner was over just to make sure she wasn’t getting too comfortable, but he was actually trying to get her to play. I did get some potentially bad news about Abbey on this trip. I took her to Buster’s old vet to get her checked out for a few things and found out she may have Lyme disease. She isn’t showing any symptoms, but 2 tests came back positive and she’s been exposed to dozens of ticks in her life. Hopefully, we can keep it under control somehow. She has already slowed down a lot this year, so I’m not sure how much hiking she’ll do anyways.

Austin was really one of the last stops on my list of places I wanted to go to visit people. It’s kind of the end of my first loop around the country and now the second loop begins. I have some vague plans so far with a few definite stops mapped out, but a lot of it is up in the air. I don’t think I’ll see as many of you this time around but if you ever want to join me somewhere along the way just drop me an email. There are tons of great places to visit around the country.

Posted by Ed at 3:12 PM | Permalink

On the way to New Orleans on Friday I drove along the coast at Gulfport, MS. Going down to the coast from the highway, it didn’t look too bad, but once I got to the water the hurricane damage was very evident. I drove down the coast as far as the road was open, then I headed inland a bit. The damage was the worst along the coast, I’m assuming from the storm surge, but there was still quite a bit even further inland. I didn’t take any pictures. Somehow it didn’t feel right.

I made it to New Orleans right around rush hour and I was surprised at how much traffic there actually was. Hearing so many reports of how depleted the population is I never thought I would see traffic jams. I guess it is partly due to all the relief workers that are still in the city. On my way through I didn’t notice all that much damage. That would change the next day, however. Friday night my cousin, Nancy, and her husband, Johnny, took me out in the French Quarter. The Mardi Gras season was closing in, but Bourbon Street was not that packed. There were crowds, but not what they’d normally be. Of course, the parades didn’t start until the next day and it was still early in the season. After being downtown I did start to notice businesses that hadn’t reopened yet, 5 months after Katrina. Part of this is due to the lack of workers in the city, and the lack of housing for the workers. We went to dinner at the Bourbon St. Seafood House, where Nancy’s son Marcus works. The meal was fantastic – some good Cajun seafood – and Marcus treated us real well. So if you’re looking for a great place to eat in New Orleans…..

I had told them that I wanted to take a “devastation tour” and on Saturday they were happy to oblige since they hadn’t really seen many damaged areas themselves. There were other people out doing the same thing we were so I didn’t feel as bad taking pictures. We went through some neighborhoods that were so bad they hadn’t really started any cleanup except for the streets themselves. We even saw a house that is still in the middle of the road and a car on top of a fence. You can tell the houses where the people are going to renovate because they’ve gutted the insides down to the 2x4’s. But the vast majority of the houses in a number of neighborhoods haven’t been touched since Katrina. The Lower 9th Ward of TV news fame more than lived up to my expectations. It was really sad to see. I really don’t think they should rebuild there. New Orleans is far from dead, however. A lot of the city didn’t sustain much, if any, damage including the Garden District, Audubon Park and the French Quarter. I was surprised to see as many people and as many areas with little or no damage as I did. Then again, there are still major intersections without running traffic lights. It’s hard to say how long it will take to rebound and what the best thing for the city will be. It was an interesting visit and it was also real nice to see Nancy, Johnny and Marcus.

"I think we're gonna have to turn around, Martha"
Slight understatement, perhaps?
Whew, that was a close one.
I think this one needed a little work before Katrina
Not looking good.
Cousin Nancy and her husband, Johnny

Posted by Ed at 2:55 PM | Permalink

In fact, the closest I got to Disney World or any of the other parks around there were the signs on the highway. The reason I stopped there was to see some relatives of mine and of Mary Beth’s, and some old friends. Like a lot of places in the southeast Orlando has been growing like crazy lately. To make matters worse it’s winter which means the snowbirds were there in full force. Traffic, to say the least, was really bad. It didn’t take me long to decide not to go much further south than Orlando. I never would’ve found a place to stay anyways. When I first got there I stayed in the state park at Wekiwa Springs. It wasn’t a bad park and it had over 13 miles of hiking trails. I was thinking that Abbey would want to get out of the RV after driving down there, I thought I’d try and take her out for a walk despite the fact it was sprinkling. She was reluctant from the start and I should’ve known better than to force her, but I did anyways. The hike wasn’t too exciting and she kept stalling most of the way. It didn’t help when I got a little lost, but we were both happy when we got back to the RV.

On Tuesday I went to see Veronica, one of Mary Beth’s cousins on her mom’s side. She had been up to visit us a lot in the last few years so it was nice to spend some time with her. The next day I moved to the RV park where her father stays in Mt. Dora. I think I was the only one under 60 in the place, but that could probably be said for most places in Florida this time of year. Uncle Louis, Mary Beth’s mother’s brother, lives in his trailer all year round – half in Mt. Dora and half wherever his son lives at the time. He loves the mountains, Colorado and hiking so we had a lot to talk about. Unfortunately, his knees are in too bad of shape to be doing any more hiking. He took me out to lunch a number of times saying that he needed a guinea pig to go with him. He likes to try new places but not by himself so he waits ‘til someone comes into town. I was happy to oblige but I think I put on 10 lbs. in the last couple of weeks. Abbey was real comfortable there and in Uncle Louis’ trailer but she didn’t like the thunderstorms that started Friday morning and didn’t finish until Saturday noon. It took her a day or more to get back to her normal semi-neurotic self, as opposed to her very neurotic self.

While in the Orlando area I got down to see my Aunt Jean and her husband David. She’s one of several relatives I haven’t seen since my sister Susan’s wedding. Unfortunately, she has emphysema now, but is not faring too badly at the moment. She and David keep very busy with the Lion’s Club and other volunteer work. I also saw Anne & David Dore and their 2 kids. I went over to their house in Maitland to watch the Super Bowl, which was quite the dud this year. At least I got to talk with them without missing much of anything.

I left Mt. Dora on Tuesday, the 7th, and headed west to the panhandle. Abbey and I found a nice state park called Ochlockonee a little west of Tallahassee. They had some short trails but Abbey again wasn’t interested. So I gave up after a while and left her in the RV while I went for a walk on my own. The next day we stopped for a walk on the beach near Cape San Blas. There were a lot of jellyfish on the beach and Abbey was too curious of them for my liking. Some were the clear kind, which I wasn’t sure were poisonous, but I didn’t want to take any chances. She smelled the first one, tried to lick the second one, and tried biting a 3rd one, which is when I decided not to let her get anywhere near them. I also saw some blue ones, which I was later told were Portuguese Man-of-War. I’m not sure they were, but I’m glad I didn’t let Abbey get them. She then proceeded to put all kinds of things in her mouth including seaweed. After several minutes of this I decided a walk on the beach with her was not all that enjoyable. So we headed back on the road to Pensacola, where my cousin Debbie lives. Her son Hunter still lives at home, but her husband John was out on an international trip. He’s a pilot for Northwest when he’s not golfing (according to Debbie). When I arrived at Debbie’s we tried to let Abbey and her dog, Bonford (he came with that name so she swears she’s not responsible for it) get acquainted but Bonford didn’t like Abbey from the start. He’s a miniature Schnauzer but he wasn’t at all afraid. After he jumped on Abbey a few times Debbie sent him off to a friend’s house for a few days. I felt pretty bad for kicking him out of his own house, but she said he loves going over to this house. Abbey was happy to see him go. I had a real nice time catching up with Debbie on everything that’s gone on with her side of the family since we were little kids. She and her brother were much older when I was growing up so I didn’t remember most of the things she did about their visits with us. I just remember we all thought her brother, David, was really crazy.

I have yet another cousin, Nancy, who lives in Luling, LA, about 30 minutes outside of New Orleans, so on Friday morning Abbey and I were off again.

Uncle Louis
The Dores
Ochlockonee River
Abbey on the Beach

Posted by Ed at 11:52 PM | Permalink