Mar 25th to 27th - Big Bend to Deming NM

Mar 25th - Wed - to Big Bend Ntl Park
About a 4 hour drive today to Stillwell Ranch RV park just outside Big Bend park. Lots of desert, not as many cows as I expected, possibly because of the drought in Texas. We were told a couple of times about higher gas prices in Marathon but passed barely accessible service stations in Fort Stockton and didn’t stop there. Mistake! Diesel was $2.39 in Ft Stockton and $3.09 in Marathon!
A group of people were sitting on the front porch of the office when we drove up in Stillwell RV park. The owner suggested that since we were so close to the sites we might as well pick one, set up and come see her when we were done. We weren’t sure how long we would stay so she opened a “charge account” for us and told us to pay when we left. We could also put items from the small store and gift shop on our tab.
As well as our air card not working, now our phones are not working either. The store has “unofficial” wifi available if you sit on the front porch which I used to post my blog. Then I discovered that I could get the signal in our rig as we are near the office.
Terry set up our satellite and we tried to help a neighbor get his going by finding coordinates for him. At 7 there was a music program in the museum. Our immediate neighbors (a couple) sang and played guitars very well. The guy that we helped with his satellite also joined them in a few songs. It was his birthday and someone had baked a cake so we got to enjoy that as well.

Mar 26th - Thurs - Big Bend Ntl Park
Spent the day in the park today. Packed a lunch and headed out just after 9. It is 34 miles from the RV park to the main headquarters in the park - a lot more desert and some interesting mountains. From there we went to the Chisos Basin which is, as the name says, a basin in the midst of large mountains. There is a view through “The Window” to the flat land beyond the mountains. Next a drive to Santa Helena right on the Rio Grande River on the south side of the park. We stopped at several view points and took short walks but nothing very long or ambitious. The Santa Helena river joins the Rio Grande in a canyon with very high, sheer limestone walls. We were going to return by a different road but after driving about a mile of a 12 mile gravel road we decided to turn around and spare ourselves and the truck all the bumps and dust.
We stopped at a viewpoint to have our late lunch and returned to the park. Including the short lunch break, from Santa Helena to the RV park took nearly 2 hours - it is a very large park.
The only blooming plants that we saw were lots of yuccas and ocotillos and blue bonnets along the road.
Our wifi signal disappeared this evening as another large unit parked beside us and blocked it.

Mar 27th - Fri - to Deming NM
We decided last night that we would leave today rather than spend another day in the park as the weather is supposed to get quite cool. We also decided to head for the Phoenix area rather than explore more of New Mexico. Northern NM is expecting very cold weather and snow and we have been in the southern part of the state. We are in search of warm weather, preferably without wind. Deming is about half way so we are at the Low Hi RV park for the night.
We put in a long day of driving today. About 7 hours elapsed with only a few short stops. We spoke briefly at a rest area with a couple from New York and they were going to drive until they got out of Texas!
Hwy 90 from Marathon until it meets I10 east of El Paso is a very good road. Hit lots of traffic in El Paso.
We saw a huge (probably a couple of miles long) orchard of some kind - maybe pecans? - along the highway and then many more orchards of the same kind but not as large. Forgot to ask at the RV office what they were.
It did indeed cool down today. Quite a change from 80’s yesterday to 50’s today. Terry has been sneezing and has a constantly runny nose - I think it is some type of allergy rather than a cold. He has not had allergies in the past but may be developing some. I fed him some Claratin and made an early dinner as we did not stop for lunch. Spent quite a bit of time on emails, now the blog and will post it and then get to relax with a book for a while.