Marathon to Big Bend

Last week my brother and I rode motorcycles out to Big Bend National Park. It was an amazing trip. We left Austin on Tuesday and rode down to Kerrville, then out hwy. 39 along the sweetest stretch of road I think I've ever ridden. It was built for motorcycles - sweeping curves and nice rolling hills, no traffic... it was heavenly. On to Del Rio and up 90 to Marathon. It was a long and hot day. The last 60 miles we were riding slowly in the dark and saw lots of deer and buzzards and even a couple of warthogs along the road. We arrived in Marathon about 9PM and checked in to the Motel, then rode over to the Gage Hotel for dinner. We were too late for dinner but we got nachos from the bar and sat outside under a blanket of stars. They were the best nachos ever. Slept well that night.

The next day we packed up, had a French toast breakfast at the Gage, filled our tanks with gas ($4.10/gallon - the first time in my life I've paid that much for a gallon of gas), then headed down the highway to Big Bend. We arrived at Chisos Basin around 11AM and had lunch at the restaraunt there. I had a blackened salmon that was spicy and really good. The trail to the South Rim is about 7 miles and it is a pretty easy hike though uphill all the way and hot. Because it hasn't rained since Thanksgiving 07' it is also very dry and we were packing in all the water we would need for the camp. We left Chisos Basin at noon and arrived at the rim about 4PM. The view from the rim is epic..grand...awesome. Photos cannot convey, sketches do not interpret it well, you just have to be there. The photo my brother took of me sitting there on the edge comes the closest of all the photos we have and it just gives a small glimpse of the view. To expose the entire view somehow minimizes the feeling. There needs to be a context, a scale, a part you can see yourself in. I hung out there for awhile, sketching, photographing, looking at all the plants and flowering cactus. Then it was time to go...