Jan 26 - Son Jeff tells me that Luckenbach Texas is in a song Willie Nelson and Waylen Jennings did a few years ago, and he sent us the lyrics to prove it. And that's where we were, on Saturday. Population 3! A store, selling souvenirs, a hall with bench seats, good for about 300, all sold out by the time we called, and not much more there. That's Luckenbach! A guy had his longhorn steer there at the entrance for people to sit on if they wanted their pictures taken. That's Texas! There are a lot of musical happenings here, so it's become quite famous as a place to do your thing if you're a musician. We parked the rig up on a rise, and paid $20 bucks to get in, rather than $30 early birds paid to sit on a bench inside. There were picnic tables around outside the hall, and places where you could buy food and drinks, of course. Terrific pulled pork sandwiches which were enjoyed by we two. And they stocked our favorite beer, Shiner Bock. Life is good with a Shiner.

The bands started at noon, one per hour until 11 that night. Sit at a picnic table, stand outside the hall and look in, whatever. Good blues music, and quite varied. Bands from all over. So it was fun, until we left late afternoon to make our way on down the road. But a neat thing happened while we were there. We sat in the sun at a table with a couple from San Antonio. Spent most of the afternoon with them. Along came four other folks to our table, one of whom was performing as a drummer later that day. Turned out they were all from Waco, the band guy, his friends and the couple we were with. Even stranger, the drummer had worked for our friend's uncle for 30 years. Even stranger still, the lady of the group had been in our friend's grade 6 class. He didn't recognize her, as he hadn't seen her since then, but when she introduced herself, he nearly fell off his seat. He thinks he might even have kissed her when they were in Grade 6, he later told us. Naturally, they all had a lot of catching up to do. Fun to listen to.

That night, we found a campground along route 90 called Cowboy Capital RV Park at Pipe Creek. It was dark when we pulled in, no reservation, and no-one around. An older fellow staying there came along, and helped us find a site, found someone to check us in, and helped us set up in the dark. We introduced our selves. "My names Carol, C-A-R-O-L,, " he said. "Did the kids give you a hard time about your name when you were young?" the old Guidance Counsellor asked. "You bet they did. Got to the point where I sent away for one of those Charles Atlas body-building programs advertised in the comics. And a friend got a t.v., so I watched the fights every Friday and learned a lot. By the time I got to be 18, I decided I didn't need to change my name after all, cause I could look after myself against 90 per cent of them. And", he finished, " people today just have no idea about bullying, what those poor kids go through. They have no idea. I do!" This from a 74 year old. We shook hands a little later, and off he went to his rig.

We Walmarted in border city Del Rio (lots of Mexican folks were there doing their shopping). We don't like Walmart, but their stores are good for travellers, as the prices are good, and everything you need can be found.there. On to Seminole Canyon State Park.  Great campsite, up on a ridge, stars a million in the sky. We just happened to get there before a guided tour was about to set off, so we joined, and down into the canyon we went, to see a whole series of ancient pictographs, They've been there for thousands of years, painted by natives who remain unknown even today. Very interesting to see the images, up on rock walls under overhangs, where the native people could escape the elements and live in protected shelter on the ledges. The longer you stared at the walls, the more images you saw. Images sort of materialized, and were of shapes that are still being interpreted today for meaning. Our guides, a couple from San Antonio, do these tours for a fun retirement project. Great couple. They spent at least 15 minutes with us afterwards giving us hints about what to do in Big Bend National Park.

Yesterday, we did a 7 mile hike, out along the canyon walls of the Pecos River, to where it empties into the Rio Grande. Desert terrain all the way, and some fine views. There's a site across the Pecos that also contains cave drawings, which we could see with binocs and the big lens. We walked along the Rio Grande for a bit, then back to the trailhead on a rather boring road. But a good walk not spoiled.

Today, 5 hours to get to Big Bend. Stopped for a bite in a nice little gas bar/restaurant. (Gas $2,35 per gallon, as opp $1.59 most of the way along through Texas. Remote towns are expensive.) Two guys were chatting with the owner. "Got to do jury duty this time?", asked the owner of one of the guys, a big guy with a black moustache. "Don't know. Not goin' to get my mail." His friend said, "Didn't they fine you for not showing up the last two times?" "Yep, 75 bucks both times. I don't want to do it. Let them find someone else who's interested." "Yeah, but next time, they said they're going to come and get you and throw you in jail if you don't show up." His friend just shrugged, as if to say, 'let 'em come'..

After they left, we asked the owner if it was common for people around here (Marathon, Texas) to get called. "It is", he said, "because there are not many people. They call 100 at a time to get 12 selected, so we get called up a lot. Good for me when I worked for the government, 'cause I got regular pay, and also got money for going to the jury duty. Double pay for me." Friendly man, place clean as a whistle, and good Mexican fare for lunch.

To get to where we are now, in a little camp outside the thriving town of Terlingua, we saw beautiful, big, empty, rugged, desert terrain. If you have agoraphobia, don't come here. But it's truly grand. We drove through Big Bend Park, and it is truly stunning...mountains, badlands, arroyos, gulches, draws, strange yet beautiful in places. We'll drive back in for the next two or three days to hike the trails. Hope it warms up, as there is snow forecast north of here. We should be okay, as we're just far enough south. Stay tuned.