Day 17 - Big Bend

Saturday - we drove 161 miles today from Ft. Stockton to Terlingua. We're just outside the west entrance to Big Bend National Park after entering the park at the north entrance.





We've driven 2,246 miles since leaving Columbus. Obviously not in a straight line.

We had planned to stop in one of the three campgrounds within the park. Two were under water due to recent flooding of the Rio Grande and our rig was too big to get into the third.


We drove to the Santa Elena Canyon River Overlook after getting set up in the Big Bend RV Park at Terlingua. It was a 14 mile drive at 10 to 25 mph due to road conditions. The gravel road was rough and ran through dry riverbeds. The river is normally 4 ft deep at this point, it was 17 ft today and had been 30 ft within the last few weeks. We saw a coyote.


We had dinner at the Starlight Theater in historic Terlingua. It had been a movie theatre in "the old days". Dinner was outstanding.

The area has very few residents and most are spread all over the desert. We couldn't figure out where all the diners came from.



We're in the Chihuahuan Desert. Here's what we've learned about it:

• It was 95 degrees today
• Gas cost $0.64 per gallon more than in Sonora
• We may see coyotes, snakes, tarantulas, scorpions and bears