Today we would ride into, and camp in, the park .. .

. . . and were happy to leave Stillman RV and Campground behind. Jo-Ann had checked to see if the trailer on the right had  been for rent last night and the office staff person said . . . ‘Not today’!!!!

G, Nancy, Jim and me in a shot taken by Sue and Jerry. They had stopped at the sign the same time we did and we all took the obligatory photos of each other. When they asked where we were from the G said Wisconsin. Jerry asked me if I was a Packer fan . . . and with my ‘hearing issue’ I thought he said ‘Are you from Pakistan!!!’ We all had a good laugh about that and away we went on our merry ways. We would see Sue and Jerry again in the park in several days later at Chisos Basin.

Nice cloud cover early in the morning provided some relief from the sun . . .

. . . but it didn’t last.

Throughout this wide open area you can see evidence of past violent water/stream/river actions

This has been the scene of many flash floods in the past that caused bridge and road damage. The rain can fall miles away but because of the flat terrain, and the sun-baked soil, not much of the rain soaks into the ground instead it . . . floods . . .

. . . same scene with no flooding

. . . where the water goes.

But water brings life to the desert . . .

. . .and there were flowers . . .

. . . everywhere

. . . some just blooming

and some already finsished.

It is a very interesting landscape . . .

. . . which was explained at a GREAT

archaeological exhibit . . .

. . . area

provided by the Park Service.

. . . the park was home to lots of critters . . .

. . . long extinct . . .

. . . but that have been discovered over the years . . .

. . . and fossils of their remains

. . . were on display

Including these HUGE bird type creatures

with long beaks used to feed . . .

. . . to these guys with large teeth to feed!!!

. . . to these two ‘modern creatures’!!!! It was a GREAT stop!!!

As I rolled away, I ‘discovered’ the ‘badgerous wisconsinous’ fossil on the horizon and claimed it for Wisconsin!!

We biked by some beautiful features as we rolled towards the Rio Grande Campground in Big Bend Park . . .

. . . and had some great discussions that night with Jane regarding the unique formations we saw during the day. Her father had been a geologist so she was a wealth of knowledge!!!

More cati in bloom . . .

. . . and the unique ‘jalapeno’ fruit bearing cactus!!!

As we neared our campground, I could see on my GPS we would be RIGHT on the Rio Grande River with Mexico right across the river (the area in yellow on the map).

A tunnel . . . FUN!!!!

. . . and from the other side we could see green vegetation (the first we had seen all day) growing along the river and Mexico right there. Still no National Guardsman in site. Who will protect us!!!!

We ended up in the group camp where our group was the only one, there was soft ground, some grass, no bugs and the bathroom was only 100 feet away . . .

. . . and Cliff and Jamie made us a nice vegetarian dinner to boot!!!

All of the women seemed to flock to George!!!???? (it may have been because he had worked as a bike mechanic and was very generous with his camp time in ‘fixing and adjusting’ chains, derailleurs and shifters).

Soon it was time for the map meeting. At altitude, the sun is still very intense, even late in the day. Here you can see that instead of the usual ‘circle around the leader map meeting scenario’, the group tonight settled for a more linear setup, around Russ,  in the shade of a large cottonwood tree’s trunk.

Word had spread in the animal kingdom that there were visitors in the group camp and before long the javelina started showing up again working the camp and tree line for goodies . . .

. . .  the collared peccary, are medium-sized animals that look similar to a wild boar. They have mainly short coarse salt and pepper colored hair, short legs, and a pig-like nose. They are evidently one exotic type animal that does not taste like chicken!!!!

Oh, and before long, the roadrunners showed up too. They are nervous birds . . .

. . . that do spend a lot of time ‘running around’ rather than flying.

. . . after dinner I took a walk down to the boat landing on the Rio Grande . . .

. . . 50 feet way was Mexico. A very peaceful, quiet  scene and not a National Guardsman to be seen!!!