Back from Big Bend
Well, we are back after 6 days on the road. We visited my cousin, Le Ella Dean, in Pleasanton, Mike and Judy Garner in Uvalde and former mayors John Harrell (now the city mgr) and Bill McWhorter and long time councilmember Lecho Quiroga in Uvalde (by the way, Lecho was just defeated after serving for 36 years on the council!). On the way back, we spent a night at the Kincaid's on the Rio Grande Ranch between Del Rio and Quemada -- he is the ranch manager for 55,000 acres along the Rio Grande River.
We spent 3 nights in Big Bend and rode our tandem 20 miles into the desert. We hiked one 5 mile hike and then the next day I took a 12 miler to the South Rim overlooking the desert and the Rio Grande River. Nancy was worn out from the bike ride and hike all in one day.
The desert cycle ride was tough, because I had an asthma attack on the first steep incline and I didn't have my inhaler. Nancy told me that I was sure breathing hard going up the hill from the Rio Grande flood plain, but I dismissed her comment with "I always breathe that way when exercising hard." About a mile later when I couldn't recover my breath, I knew that we were in for a hard difficult ride. We made it another 7 miles before I had to turn around and return to the truck. To give you an indication of the grade, we covered 10 miles at about 10 mph climbing, but coming back we were averaging a little below 30 mph. We didn't achieve our goal of 40 miles but we did okay. We try to make this ride because it helps us mentally (and physically) for our 100 miler in Katy in July. My asthma is usually exercise induced, but Wednesday there was something in the air. I usually always have my inhaler when exercising.
Our hiking was less eventful except that it was hot hiking down to the "window" which is the outlet that drains the Chisos Mountains basin. Needless to say, the window was dry -- usually it has a little water. The next day I hiked to the South Rim and it was much cooler -- of course, I was climbing to 6,000 and 7,000 feet so it is supposed to be cool. The wind was blowing hard out of the south and gusting to 35 mph. On the South Rim of the Chisos Mountains overlooking Mexico and the Rio Grande, I couldn't have jumped if I had wanted because the wind was so strong. I ate my lunch on the edge of the South Rim -- well, a good 20 feet from the edge because it is about a 500 foot drop. When I opened my Vienna Sausage can, I needed to drain the water somewhere and I didn't want to do it there where other hikers or campers might gather. So, I crawled over to the edge of the South Rim and held the can out to drain the water. However, the wind shear off the cliff was so strong it blew the water all over me -- it was the same as trying to pour water out of a cup while holding it out of a car window at 50 miles per hour. It was embarrassing and sloppy but fortunately there were no other hikers to laugh at me.
Our vacation was a pleasant break from our everyday routine and enabled us to maintain our connections with friends. In July we are headed to Minnesota for a wedding party for Dolores and then in August to Nashville for an Army reunion and perhaps a little Smokey Mountain hiking and biking.
We spent 3 nights in Big Bend and rode our tandem 20 miles into the desert. We hiked one 5 mile hike and then the next day I took a 12 miler to the South Rim overlooking the desert and the Rio Grande River. Nancy was worn out from the bike ride and hike all in one day.
The desert cycle ride was tough, because I had an asthma attack on the first steep incline and I didn't have my inhaler. Nancy told me that I was sure breathing hard going up the hill from the Rio Grande flood plain, but I dismissed her comment with "I always breathe that way when exercising hard." About a mile later when I couldn't recover my breath, I knew that we were in for a hard difficult ride. We made it another 7 miles before I had to turn around and return to the truck. To give you an indication of the grade, we covered 10 miles at about 10 mph climbing, but coming back we were averaging a little below 30 mph. We didn't achieve our goal of 40 miles but we did okay. We try to make this ride because it helps us mentally (and physically) for our 100 miler in Katy in July. My asthma is usually exercise induced, but Wednesday there was something in the air. I usually always have my inhaler when exercising.
Our hiking was less eventful except that it was hot hiking down to the "window" which is the outlet that drains the Chisos Mountains basin. Needless to say, the window was dry -- usually it has a little water. The next day I hiked to the South Rim and it was much cooler -- of course, I was climbing to 6,000 and 7,000 feet so it is supposed to be cool. The wind was blowing hard out of the south and gusting to 35 mph. On the South Rim of the Chisos Mountains overlooking Mexico and the Rio Grande, I couldn't have jumped if I had wanted because the wind was so strong. I ate my lunch on the edge of the South Rim -- well, a good 20 feet from the edge because it is about a 500 foot drop. When I opened my Vienna Sausage can, I needed to drain the water somewhere and I didn't want to do it there where other hikers or campers might gather. So, I crawled over to the edge of the South Rim and held the can out to drain the water. However, the wind shear off the cliff was so strong it blew the water all over me -- it was the same as trying to pour water out of a cup while holding it out of a car window at 50 miles per hour. It was embarrassing and sloppy but fortunately there were no other hikers to laugh at me.
Our vacation was a pleasant break from our everyday routine and enabled us to maintain our connections with friends. In July we are headed to Minnesota for a wedding party for Dolores and then in August to Nashville for an Army reunion and perhaps a little Smokey Mountain hiking and biking.
Comments