BBNP part 1 The Universe laughs

 Saturday, 1/16/21, The temperatures at the Ranch have recently been in the low 20s, so I decided to fill Enzo’s water in the morning, also because my motorhome furnace is over 16 years old, has never needed any repairs, I decided to play it safe and winterize the Moho. I  set the furnace at 45 degrees, had an early lunch, brought in the slides and hit the road just after noon. I made a quick stop at the grocery store to pick up some fresh produce. I planned a very short driving day, so I spent the night at Sunset Reef Campground, which is a free campground just south of Whites City, NM. The campground was previously a drill site. Rather than rehabilitate it back to the original desert, a number of private companies and government agencies joined forces to create an eleven site campground, complete with a SST pit toilet and covered picnic tables. I hope this idea gains traction and more abandoned drill sites end up like this. 

Sunday, I hit the road at 6am, and drove through oil country. This part of the permian basin is oil and gas mecca. Both sides of the road were dotted with drill rigs, pump jacks, storage tanks, processing plants, pumping stations, pipe lines and man camps. Travel was slow due to the numerous road construction one lane road closures. As I headed further south, the road construction ceased, the evidence of petroleum exploration decreased, creosote bushes began to dominate the landscape and the mountains of west Texas came into view. 

There is something that is relaxing about the desert mountains of West Texas. The roads run through the flat basins, and one can see for miles, since Creosote bushes only grow to 3-4 feet in height there is nothing to block your view.

I past through the North entrance station of Big Bend National Park around 1pm, and reached Cottonwood Campground around 2:15pm. The park road to the campground circles around the southern side of the Chisos Mountains and offers some incredible views of the high peaks, as well as panoramic views further west and south. The Big Bend National Park is mostly undeveloped, with only a few paved roads. Its vast expanse, larger than the state of Rhode Island, can’t be appreciated unless you spend a week or more here.

                                                         The Mule Ears

                                                Cottonwood Campground

I settled into my nice level site, with unshaded, southern exposure, a picnic table, large metal bear box, of course here it’s really a Javelina box. The reservation site listed Cottonwood Campground as a dry camp, so I was very surprised to see non-potable water faucets space along the campground road as well as a free reverse osmosis water fill station in the campground. 

                                         The Rio Grande River with Mexico on the left

The campground is on the banks on the Rio Grande River. The river is only about 30 feet wide and a couple of feet deep. Mexico is literally a stone’s throw from the campground, no fence, not even a sign, just wilderness.

Monday I headed out after breakfast to hike the Chimneys Trail. It’s basically just an easy walk thought the desert. The trail head is only about 12 miles from camp and after driving 312 miles the previous day, I thought it would be nice not to spend much time driving.

About 2.4 miles from the trail head, the trail reaches the Chimneys, rock pillars which rise from the flat landscape. There are some petroglyphs and ancient rock shelters hidden among them. It only took me an hour to reach the Chimneys, so I decided to continue on the trail for another mile, before having lunch and turning around.

It was only 2 o’clock when I got back to the truck, so I thought I might stop at one of the roadside exhibits on the way back to camp and go for a short desert stroll. The Universe had other plans for me. After a few miles of driving the “Coolant High Temperature” message and icon appeared on my dashboard and the truck went in to “safe driving mode”. I pulled over, check the coolant level, which was fine, read the manual and followed the instructions. Which said to let it idle for a few minutes, if it doesn’t cool down, shut off the engine and let it cool. An hour later, when I started the engine the message was there and the engine was still in safe mode. It said I could drive a short distance. I was four miles from the campground so off I went. I limped along at 10 MPH and made it to camp. 

The next morning, Tuesday, after it sat all night in 50 degree temperatures, and was cold to the touch, the message was still there and the engine was still in safe mode. There is zero cell phone coverage in the campground, no pay phones, but lucky for me the campground host had installed a hard phone line at her site. She let me use her phone to call roadside assistance. I spent an hour on the phone with an agent. She could find Cottonwood Campground on her map program, but her system would not allow here to input it as a location, then the call dropped. By then the host provided me a list of Ford dealers and Wreckers. The nearest Ford dealer is Fort Stockton, TX, 150 miles. 3 hours and $1025 tow away. I scheduled a wrecker to arrive between 9 and 10 am today, Wednesday 1/20/21.  

So here I sit, drinking coffee and waiting for the wrecker, I’ll post this when I get to the Dealer. In the mean time, I’m very grateful for Karen the Campground host, her phone, and the fact that I was able to limp back to camp at 10 mph, rather than be stuck on the side of the road. I’m also extremely grateful, that I wasn’t in a backcountry campsite in Big Bend Ranch State Park, 30 miles from a paved road. It could have been much worse.

More as it happens, stay tuned.