It's weird when you travel for this long. You lose track of time completely. I'm sort of used to this phenomena being a teacher during the summer, but being away from home for a month is much more trippy and confusing. Most of the time we have no idea what day of the week it is, let alone the actual date, or how long we've been on the road. Right now it feels like we've been gone eleventy million years if we've been gone a day. The only thing that seems fairly consistent is that on Friday's we eat pizza. Somehow the boys always know when it's Friday.
Another thing, that I know I've talked about in years past but feel is worth mentioning again, is how when you go on vacation, no matter how spectacular the place is, you're still yourself. You don't suddenly become some new amazing person who doesn't need proper food, water, and rest, and you certainly don't lose any of your defining characteristics, like if you're a morning or night person. Or if you fight with your brothers... All. The. Time. Unfortunately for me, this is startling and I have to relearn this fact every year.
For instance I didn't suddenly become a hardy dandelion who sways in the breeze. No, I am still a delicate orchid, requiring precise amounts of and very specific types of all Maslow's lower needs. If I don't get these ingredients for life, I will drop my leaves and my flower will wilt. Too much or too little caffeine, sleep, food, exercise, or water? Watch out, because this orchid gets ugly. At home, I have these things under control. It's much harder on the road, especially with my dietary restrictions. Also, surprise! Lucas didn't suddenly get super fast. At anything, but especially at putting on his shoes, which never seem to be on when we are ready to do something. Nor did he stop wanting to consume screen time during all of his waking hours, or take a sudden shining to his little brother or smiling for pictures, or to touching things with his hands (don't even ask). Marcus didn't suddenly get quiet and reflective about his experiences and he certainly didn't lose his flair for drama. He also didn't start liking board games or stop talking during movies. And Samus. Well Samus is still seeking out swings, getting up in the middle of the night and meandering around, napping all day long, and constantly has earbuds jammed in his ears resulting in random "huh" grunts from the back of the car. Sometimes somebody said something, sometimes not. As for Jason, his directional sense has not improved (although the boys are starting to pick up on how insanely off it actually is) and he still overestimates just how much we are capable of. He is also obsessed with the transmission and engine temperature and is pretty sure we are going to lose our brakes on long down hill stretches. Not that these are things he normally worries about, but I think the worry he normally puts into work has to go somewhere and that place happens to be the car. The point is, we are all still ourselves, with all our flaws, we just happen to be in really cool (but super hot) places. The only thing that does matter is that we are together. That's what these trips are about. Seeing the country together and making ridiculous memories that will last a life time.
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| Lucas doing what he loves the most. |
Big Bend was no exception. We started with a long drive to the actual middle of no where. The landscape was dotted with prickly pear cacti and other strange plant life, but no real trees or shrubs. Additionally, I learned to stop expecting there to be water beneath when we went over bridges, because obviously they were only installed for when it rained, which it seemed had been quite some time. Our stop was Lajitas Texas which is a literal stones throw away from Mexico across the Rio Grande river. We pulled in well after six, set up the camper, ate super fast, and went swimming while we gave the air conditioner time to cool off the camper. Turns out that only happened while we slept.
The next day we spent in and out of the pool, playing ping pong poorly, and sitting in total darkness trying to stay as cool as possible in the record breaking heat. Jason maintained that it was cooler outside, but just saying something over and over, does not make it true.
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| It's actually really dark in the camper. We're just all trying to survive. |
On the second morning we decided to go on a hike to simulate our upcoming Grand Canyon hike and determine whether or not it was still in the cards with the current heat wave. The weather would be similar, sweltering, and we donned full packs as we started hiking before daylight. The Lost Mine Trail in Big Bend National Park was on all accounts, stunning. We saw the sun rise against the rock faces and we had a fair amount of shade for our entire ascent. Starting pre-dawn also meant that we were almost alone on the trail (there was one other couple), at least for the first several hours until everybody else woke up. As we were making our way back down the switch backs near the top of the trail, I stopped chattering mid-sentence to say, "holy crap. Bear." Lumbering up towards us, at what Jason estimated was 6 large cacti away, and paying no attention to the signs saying not to cut through the switchbacks, was a big black bear. The big black bear of Lost Mine Trail (say this in John Candy's voice from The Great Outdoors. It's funnier then.) He stopped occasionally to browse, but was about as interested in us as I am to moving to the desert. Each time I clattered my hiking sticks together he stopped eating and moved a little further up the trail. The rest of the hike was consumed with us recounting how many times we've been in bear country without seeing a bear, and then seeing one in a place that had between just 30 and 40 bears in the entire park. Unreal. We also said, "beets, bears, Battlestar Galactica," a lot, as you do when you see a bear.
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| Jason at the top of Lost Mine Trail. He is forever confusing people with all of his travel t-shirts and conflicting hats. People constantly assume we're from the places on his gear. Now whenever I see people in destination gear, I assume they're not from that place. |
Back at the car we relieved ourselves of our heavy packs and headed for the visitor's center to report the bear sighting and purchase the requisite souvenirs. When the ranger said, "so you think you saw a bear," I replied, "no. We definitely saw a bear." I then wrote what he referred to as a "thorough report." I chose to take this as a compliment.
Trinkets in tow, we decided the day was still young and we would check out the far side of the park and the Rio Grande river. I'm not sure what I expected at the river, but a sluggish, 20 foot wide, muddy creek was not it. Never the less that's what the Rio Grande was where we happened to see it. With our curiosity satisfied we hoped back in the car for the hour long drive back to Lajitas.
Shortly after pulling on to the main road we noticed a border patrol pick up. We joked that our tinted windows and low suspension would probably get us pulled over. And then they did. Well, technically, the border patrol agent said he couldn't read the state on our license plate, but I'm pretty sure it was the former.
As the agent approached the car he asked us how many people were riding along and asked us to roll down the back window. When he caught sight of the boys, they waved, said hi, and then he laughed and told us to have a nice day. A bear and border patrol in one day? These are the memories I'm talking about. Now we were saying, "beets, bears, border patrol." The rest of that incredibly long day saw us at the pool and hiding in the dark some more. Waking up at four in the morning was no joke. Sadly napping in that kind of heat was impossible. There were some surly Munschs in the camper that night. Unfortunately, we had another full day of the unrelenting heat before we moved on to New Mexico, where, you're never going to believe this, they were also experiencing a heat wave.
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