Big Bend National Park

Before Big Bend, we stopped at Terlingua, TX, a ghost town. Once it was mined for quicksilver and inhabited over 2000 people, but when the company went bankrupt, everyone left. In the 70’s people started to re- inhabit the still standing structures and it developed into a place of arts, music, and unconventionality. Yeah it was a little weird but Zack felt at ease with his cowboy boots and hat.

Naturally, Zack decided this was going to be a perfect place for another one of his Instagram videos. This one was an original, a story between a good cowboy, bad cowboy, and a stolen horse. Anyway, the film (aka my iPhone video) took place in an extremely run down, haunted, quite dangerous building. The floors are destroyed and unwalkable, the blocks that hold the structure together are crumbled, the temperature is a humid 85° and I have very little patience to deal with this today. I’m waiting for the roof to fall on my head or a rattlesnake to come out and bite my ankles. I’m yelling at him to stop laughing, pull it together, so we can get out of here before people start noticing.

After driving five hours south to Terlingua, we drove another hour east to Big Bend National Park. In the harsh Chihuahuan Desert very little seems to live here. It was 2oclock and we had done some research on crossing the border into Mexico via a $5 rowboat across the Rio Grande River. We wanted to make sure everything was safe so we stopped at the visitors center with a few questions.

We confirmed that yes you can cross for $5 and ride a horse into the town of Boquillas for $8. This sounded too good to be true, too sketchy too be safe, and was right up our alley on expense. We were at all means not in any more danger here, than when we hiked amongst the grizzly bears in Grand Tetons or slept on the side of a road in Southern California.

We arrived at the border patrol office around 2:30, he told us the border closes at 5pm and if we weren’t back by then we would have to stay in Mexico for three days since they would be closed. Zack and I looked at each like okay so we’ll be back by 4 just in case all the horse break their legs, the river dries up and we have to end up walking. It was a breeze getting in, we just walked through a door, hiked about a quarter of a mile to the river bank. This is where a muchacho in a row boat saw us and started paddling.

Then we had an option to ride a donkey, a horse, or sit in the back of a pickup truck to get to the town. Silencio was our guide, he helped us ride the horses, and we even got a home cooked meal from his mama.

Once back on USA soil, we called our parents. Not too pleased with our actions, we assured them we were safe. A quick shower at the campground and we were off to Walmart somewhere closer to San Antonio. It took off 2 hours of the 8 hour drive by going to the Walmart. When we arrived, it was a party. At least 30 other RVs and vans had the same idea. We love when there’s that many because we feel safer, like we are in a pack and no one will bother us. Starving, we ordered a pizza from Domino’s and called it a night. What a day in Texas.