A Week in Texas With Andrew

From the time Andrew booked his flight (a few days before Thanksgiving) I struggled between focusing on the present and enjoying whatever I was up to vs. wishing time would hurry up so Dec. 6th would arrive and bring with it my boy, Andrew. I left my Campsite the Hofmann Winery in Neal, AZ the morning of the 6th to head for El Paso. Trips always take me longer than googlemaps says it will, so I translated the 4.5 hours to 6 to make sure I arrived in plenty of time to pick Andrew up from the airport around 7.

The next day we dilly dallied and got a late start for Big Bend. I tried to get bear spray, but Dick’s only has it online – and so it goes, with so much online shopping I find that store very often don’t have the thing I need in the store. We finally got going with our first planned stop to be in Marfa, an interesting town and a place we could get lunch and groceries. We did that, but didn’t hang around too long as time marched on and we had hoped to get to our campsite before dark. That didn’t happen…once we got to the park we still had about an hour’s drive to the campground. We managed it ok and the tent went up easily. We some snacks, chatted and planned to stay near our campground the next day, then it was off to bed.

Monday was one of those nourishing down days – we had a break from driving after the long drive on Sunday. We hung around the campsite, took some short walks, played cards and a new word game I have, Snatch. We also decided to add another day to our time at Big Bend, giving us three full days to enjoy the park. It felt really good to do whatever we felt like doing. I bought a small propane campfire thingy when I was in Phoenix, but it and the propane tank were heavy and unwieldy to handle with just one strong hand so I enlisted Andrew’s help and we had a table top campfire that night, the first campfire I’d had since I hit the road. We also had the most complete home-cooked meal I’d had since I broke my wrist – I was happy to get back to a good meal rather than whatever was easiest and made the smallest mess to clean up.

On Tuesday we decided to go to Mexico! We took a walk that felt longer than the supposed 1.5 miles it was to get to the border crossing. We had the option of paying to have a boat take us across the Rio Grande or walking through the not quite knee-high water. We were both game to walk the 30 feet or so, so I took off my hikers and socks while Andrew stepped into the water with his on. What the heck? I guess he was more comfortable that way. Once across we paid a man to give us a ride the mile into Boquillas del Carmen…a tiny town catering to tourists with two restaurants and 15 or so vender stands, selling hand-made items – coin purses, tortilla warmers, animal figures made of wire or yarn, jewelry and so on. There were t-shirts, too, my favorite was a single word – Uburro – printed in Uber’s font. Since we only visited this one area we weren’t able to see what other activity, like farming, might take place. Row boats were bringing building supplies across the border and there was construction going on but we didn’t gather information about that.

We enjoyed our visit and had a delicious lunch, leaving Andrew too full to try a goat taco at the other restaurant. We got back in the truck for our return to the river, I doffed my shoes and socks and we walked across, and then waited quite a while to get approved to get through border patrol. The park ranger was friendly and chatted with the group of us waiting, responding to my question about who or what was checking our passports, a machine or a human. He responded “a human” and then pointed out that they could see us and hear everything we were saying. The process was easy but also eerie. It was a simple and routine process, but in the current climate around immigration and border control it was impossible not to think about the bigger picture. The fact that I saw several blimps as I drove from Arizona to Texas and we saw one in the sky on the way to Big Bend heightened the significance of crossing a border and the contrast between our casual experience of it with the dangerous, frightening, and dehumanizing experience so many people face.

On Wednesday we hopped in the van with me being as grateful as ever that Andrew was driving – it was a much-needed reprieve – and headed for the Chisos Basin. As we traveled we were both struck by the diversity of the landscapes; it was as if we were in several different parks. We hiked the Basin Loop offering a nice view of the Window and a close encounter with a tarantula – it was a beautiful reddish brown color and looked like it was made of pipe cleaners.

After our picnic lunch we set off on the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive, destination the Santa Elena Canyon overlook. I’m not usually enthused about a scenic drive…I like to be outside in nature rather than driving through it. This drive was extraordinary, though, with majestic and changing landscapes throughout. We stopped at Mule’s Ears for a gander and again at the canyon…how I wish we’d had more time so we could have hiked the trail to the canyon. The colors, the textures, the drama of the land was breathtaking. On our return trip we stopped to hike near Sotol Vista on the Blue Creek trail that took us past the Homer Wilson Ranch and into an narrow area where the rock walls rose up next to us on either side. We hustled back to the trail head in time to see the sunset, but without any clouds it was pretty but not dramatic. We headed back to camp, happily satisfied with how we’d spent our day and ready for another home-cooked meal in the van.

All of a sudden it was Thursday and we hit the road for a long day of travel, destination San Antonio. After four days without, we both needed a shower. With that done we walked a couple of blocks to the River Walk, enjoying the holiday lights, lively bar scene, boats slow rolling down the river, the live music…it was energizing and exciting, especially after our respite from modernity in nature. Andrew wondered how many people fell into the river each night, as there were places with nothing between the walkway and the water.

We stopped for a drink at a spot with a comedic musician who had a pretty good playlist and jokes in between. I’d call his show gently DEI and addiction-recovery sensitive…he kept it light but made his points. We wandered on and took a seat at an Irish pub where the piano player smashed the keys like he had a vendetta against the piano…I mean that literally. The music was not good, but he was entertaining. I put in a request for anything live (by which I meant energetic) by Springsteen and was sorry I had. He banged the keys harder than ever as he belted out “everybody’s got a hungry heart.” I cringed and was filled with regret at having asked. It was truly painful.

We closed out our night at another Irish bar where we wisely ordered food…we hadn’t eaten much all day. The performer at this joint was more mellow than the other two and he had a long list of a nice range of artists from which we could make requests. Andrew considered requesting All of Me by John Legend, but since I wasn’t familiar thought it best that I hear Legend’s version before a cover. I requested semi-charmed kind of life and loved singing along with others in the bar. Andrew eventually did request All of Me and then I realized I had heard it…it really is a beautiful song and the singer did it justice.

We wandered around a bit in the morning, but with a few stops to make on our way to Austin we were eager to get going. Our first stop was Cavender’s, a country/western clothing and boot store…little did we know it was their very first day of business at this location. Andrew was thinking about getting a cowboy hat at some point and this was supposed to be a research trip. After getting schooled by the sales rep, though, he found one he liked so I got it for him for Christmas. Next up, we finally got to eat at Taco Palenque which a friend of Andrew’s recommended. I loved my fish tacos and Andrew was happy with his food too. We had one more stop – we had to do it! Buc-ees, the massive gas station, variety store, deli and grocery. As my sister-in-law Lynette put it, you could do all your Christmas shopping there! We picked up a few things and finally got serious about getting to Austin…Friday afternoon traffic made that less than pleasant, but we made our way to the hotel on the north side of town.

Saturday, Andrew’s last day with me. It was a fun day but tinged with a bit of sadness that he’d be on a plane in a few hours. We wandered downtown for several hours, walked along Lady Bird Lake, wandered in and out of stores as our fancy was struck, enjoyed Venezuelan food and happened upon a protest outside the state Capitol building demanding the release of Xinachtli, AKA Alvaro Hernandez, who has been imprisoned for nearly 30 years on trumped up charges that seem to be an effort to silence him as a powerful leader and organizer for human rights.

We headed to the airport, hugged at least three times and said our goodbyes.
I was so happy to have had the time to spend with Andrew and it was hard to see him go. While I haven’t felt lonely much in the three months I’ve been on the road, it felt really good to have a companion, sharing our observations, feelings and thoughts, figuring things out together, taking a hike I probably wouldn’t have done alone. I was more relaxed than I am when I’m alone, just knowing I don’t have to deal with everything by myself. What a terrific Christmas present to share the experiences of Texas with him!