2018-01-30 Weds - Kerville TX to Big Bend National Park

One of the nicer Super 8 motels last night in Kerrville TX. Conti breakfast was one of the better ones (eggs, sausage, etc) and even the waffle maker made waffles in the shape of Texas. Maybe there is a Vermont waffle maker??
The motels have been pretty cheap ($40 or so) probably due to the off season and we splurged in Galveston (bathroom the size of a ball room and doormen..) so we are thinking this trip is pretty inexpensive.
The Prius C gets 50 mpg so gas has been cheap, and gas prices are now down around $1.89 everywhere. The Prius is our Natural Park Assault Vehicle and it seems very comfy to ride in.

I am starting to wonder if my aching back is due to sitting in the car day after day so I'll hold judgment on the comfy Prius thing for now.
Today's goal was Big Bend National Park. We needed around 400 miles to get there since it is pretty far west of Kerrville (Jimmy Rogers lived there BTW) and also it is tucked way down in a pocket on the Mexican border so you need to go 150 miles down off the interstate.
So long day in the car with a nice national park for a prize.

The 2 hours or so before we got to the park is basically a desert with no cell service. The army actually tested camels out down here at one point.
We hit the friendly (and now getting paid) park ranger around 4pm. Got in free thanks to the Senior pass (getting old has its perks) and hit the visitor center where a nice lady gave us the overview. We still had to drive 35 miles or so inside the park to get to our bungalow.
This park is huge and it fully envelops an old volcanic mountain whose top blew off a gazillion years ago (apologies to any geologists out there). We checked in and the place ended up being about half full. Temperature was around 50 so very pleasant. Spectacular landscape.

We are up above 5000 ft so it is pretty green with maple trees and pines since there is more water up high. The sun sets at 6:30 so we decided to do a hike for an hour or so and come back to catch the sunset.
People are very chatty here and I made two new friends (Georgia & New Zealand) while waiting for a perfect light picture.
And sure enough the sun slid under the clouds and past the horizon to light up the rocks for a nice picture.
Then dinner at the only place here (there is no town). We sat at the bar and made new friends from Michigan, everyone talking about how cold it was back home. Turns out these folks knew a couple women that Deb knows from VBT. Small world.
Then back to the bungalow (I call it that because this place has the 60's feel, cement retro looking rooms spread around the site).
They also pride themselves on how dark it is here being so far away from any cities and they have lighting that keeps everything lit below but no above. So we really noticed how dark it was outside when we went to bed.
Another great day on the road..