Big Bend National Park Vacation

Big Bend National Park Vacation

         "You have to let your fear go hon.  We’ll never get there if we can’t cross this bridge.  I can’t carry you, I think you know that, and you’ll have to change the way your mind thinks about these things if we’re to get across.”
         Kathy and I had struggled long and hard to where we were.  It had been a long trek overland to get to this point after our trikes’ drive train broke.  We’d walked for miles across the heated desert.  We were not lost, but we had no idea which direction to go to find the nearest town.  Now we faced a bridge that crossed the Rio Grande somewhere between Albuquerque and Las Cruces.  It was narrow with very low rails, and Kathy’s fear of bridges and man-made objects like this had glued her feet to the road.  But at least the little bit of water we could get from the river, muddy though it was, slaked our thirst, and allowed us to think sanely once again.

         "Kathy?  Hey honey, I have a couple of week’s vacation that I can take now, why don’t we take that vacation we’d talked about for so long?”
         “Jim, you know we can’t afford it, we need all the money we have right now just to make this month’s commitments.”
         "Honey, I’ve not told you this, but I’ve been saving a little on the side each month, we have enough to go, if we control our spending while we’re there.  It’s something we’ve wanted to do for years.  It’s not too hot yet in the panhandle, and the timing is right at work too, so let’s do it!”
         “Can we take the trike then?  I think that would make it even more awesome, and you know the trailer will hold what we need.”
         “But honey, you know the Honda is in better shape, and we’d be more comfortable overall.”
         “I know, but dammit, we bought that just for a trip such as this, it’s in good enough shape, let’s just rough it!”
         I sighed, I knew she was right.  But I’d never taken this long of a trip on a trike; much less tow a trailer; but the trike was in good enough shape to make the trip.  If only we’d known the hardships we’d encounter on this trip.
         Both of us worked hard to eke out a living in today’s world, I worked two jobs to help us have a little extra.  This was used for special things, such as this vacation.  We’d driven three days to get to the Texas Panhandle.  Not a place most people would go; but then, we were a little off the usual block when it came to being like most people.  But our goal was there, and we planned on having a nice time in the Rio Grande Big Bend National Park.
         The next day we packed the small trailer, taking as few essentials as we could.  Kathy had to bring some ‘extra’ clothes in case we went to dinner; especially if we managed to go out for our beloved Green Chile Cheeseburgers.  But something we couldn’t leave behind was my camera.  We are both avid amateur photographers, it went everywhere with us.  Other than that, I took nothing but clothes, and very little when I think of it.  Kathy convinced me that I should go ‘commando’ for this trip since we’d be roughing it all we could, and I couldn’t think of a decent argument otherwise.  The next morning we lashed our collapsible wheeled cooler in place on top of the trailer and climbed on the trike.
         The drive to the Big Bend National Park was long, but not nearly as arduous as I feared it would be.  Once we entered Texas, we’d stop whenever the mood hit us, often out in the middle of nowhere.  The vast expanse of the Texas land was as soothing to us both as a mother’s voice is to a baby.  We didn’t take interstates most of the time once we were in Texas, just to take in the silence of the landscape.  It’s amazing how quiet nature can be when there is no one else around.  About the only sound we heard was our own breathing, the creaking of the engine as it cools, and the chirps of hidden wildlife and insects.
         We’d roughed it on the ride down, stopping when we grew too tired to go on; camping in small campsites, or cheap motels.  But once at the National Park, I had a nice surprise for Kathy.  I’d made reservations for the week at the Chisos Mountain Lodge at the base of the Casa Grande peak.  But before we could get to the lodge, we had to negotiate the Chisos Basin Road; a winding, hilly road that wound between the Chisos Mountains.  The many winding loopbacks, sudden rises and dips in the terrain made me thankful we had brought the trike.  Being in a car, we’d have missed so much of the countryside and the beautiful mountains.
         “Jim, we’re staying here?  Are you sure we can afford this?”
         “Kathy honey, this part is all paid for in advance, all I had to do was tell them the days we’d be here.”
         “How long have you had this planned?”  Her accusing look and incredulous tone told me I’d achieved my goal of surprising her.
         “I’ve planned this for years now, ever since our first conversation about it.  I’ve slowly sent them money, paying additional nights each time.  We are lucky really, the manager has been very understanding, I’ve sent deposits here off and on for three years, keeping track of it all until I’d sent enough for a week’s stay.  My last deposit was a month ago, that’s when I knew we had to make this trip, and I arranged my work schedule at Motorola to allow us to do this.”
         Kathy just looked at me and shook her head, sighing wearily.  But I could see the light in her eyes, and I knew she was secretly pleased.
         We originally planned this trip because Kathy is both a rock hound, and a lover of natural plant life.  I am just a small amateur photographer and writer, and hoped that the solitude of the landscape would inspire me to write a few new poems.  With the few hundred different species of plant life abounding in the park, I knew she’d spend the week exploring and admiring the landscape.  I took about 1000 pictures with my digital camera, uploading them to my laptop each day. After 5 days there, I suggested we drive up to Los Lunas New Mexico to visit my brother and his wife.  Kathy loves Terry and Ruth, but I knew she didn’t want to leave the park early.  After a little coercing, she agreed, and once again we packed up the trailer.
         The drive up through the mountains and into the south Texas flatlands was both exhilarating, and depressing.  Neither of us wanted to leave the park, but we both wanted to see Terry and Ruth again.  We finally made it on to I-10 and headed west to El Paso, then up I-25 to Las Cruces, New Mexico.  We spent a day there taking in the sites and having dinner at a small restaurant I’d been to while on a business trip a couple of years before.  Legend had it that Billy the Kid and Pancho Villa had frequented the place, and judging by the age of the structure, I wouldn’t have doubted it.
         The next morning we headed off to White Sands National Park, then took the back roads north, heading towards my brother’s house in Las Lunas.  But along the way we’d gotten off the state highways and onto small county roads.  Rounding a bend in the road, we ran over a large pothole, and I heard a distinct snap as the drive train broke.  We lost power quickly, and slowed to a stop on a small barely paved road.  There were no houses nearby of course; we were out in the desert countryside of New Mexico.
         I slowly took in our surroundings, then sighed and looked at Kathy.  “We’ll have to walk, there’s no cell phone coverage here, we need to get to a town somewhere, and Los Lunas is still at least an hour north, and a little more east.”
         “Walk?  How far are we going to have to go?”
         I could sense the hesitation in Kathy’s voice, and knew she wasn’t sure we could, or should leave the trike.  But a quick look had shown that the drive chain was broken and would need to be replaced.  We had no tools, so walking appeared to be our only option.  I knew she trusted my sense of direction, and knew we’d find something soon, or so I hoped.
         We took the cooler from the trailer, and I grabbed my camera.  I checked the cooler, and found it empty.
         “Kathy, what happened to the water we had in the cooler?”
         “Oh damn, I forgot!  I used some of them to water some plants at the lodge this week.  I meant to get more, but in all my excursions outside seeing plants, I forgot.”
         I couldn’t be mad at her, I knew how much she loved plants, and knew she was being truthful.
         “Its ok honey, we shouldn’t have to walk far anyway.  Let’s get going.”
         We started walking along the road; Kathy set the pace for us.  I am in better walking shape than she is, and can walk faster, so I let her decide how fast we should walk.  As we walked, my mind drifted to our recent experiences, reminiscing about our week at the National Park.
         “Jim, walk slower please, you know I can’t keep up with you.”
         Her plaintiff plea brought me out of my daydream, and I realized I was almost twenty yards ahead of her.  She was right and I knew it.  She couldn’t walk fast at all, nor should we in the desert heat.  For once, her inability to walk at a fast pace would benefit us.  So I slowed my pace to walk beside her.
         “Jim, you’ve started walking fast again, c’mon honey, you know I can’t go on like this!”
         I sighed, and once again slowed my pace.  Topping a rise, I could see the Rio Grande about three miles away, and our hearts surged.  Our pace quickened, but Kathy couldn’t keep it up for long.  Then our hopes were dashed when we saw that our small road did not cross the river.    But now I could see that north of us was another road, and this one had a bridge.  After another eternity we finally reached the bridge, and it was here that Kathy’s feet refused to get her across.
         “Kathy dear, hold my hand and we’ll get across the river.”
         “Oh God Jim, I’m so scared, I can’t, I just can’t.”
         “Kathy, the key to conquering your fear, is to accept change.  Change your way of thinking; think about all the people and cars that have crossed this bridge safely all these years.  You know that we have to cross this bridge, and you also know that I will not let anything happen to you.”
         Just as I saw her take a step to start across the bridge, a truck lumbered to a stop behind us.
         “Y’all need a ride across?”
         Kathy was the first to reply, but her reply almost knocked me off my feet.
         “Well, we want to walk across, will you wait for us on the other side?  We’ve been walking for a few hours and are really tired.  But I have a fear I need to conquer, and I think I’ve changed enough to do it.

Jim Dorrell
8/3/10

Word Count 1,980 per Microsoft Word