Back in the Land of Fightin' Blue Hens

I am writing this as we are settling in for the night in Frederick, Maryland after a great visit with Dylan yesterday and today. It was strange and yet completely normal to be back at U-Del, walking Main Street once again and enjoying a beer and free popcorn at the Deer Park Inn.

It was funny checking in to the Super 8 on Main Street once again - the same hotel we've stayed at many,  many times over the past 8 years as we visited the boys during both their undergraduate and now (Dylan's) graduate years.  After checking in and getting cleaned up, we me Dylan for an early dinner in Wilmington at the Iron Hill Brewery, then drove over to his new apartment in Claymont (not to far from Wilmington) for a visit.

Dylan and Andre at Iron Hill Brew Pub

This morning we met up again around lunch time and walked around the campus, enjoying the sunny day and reminiscing about the first times we walked the campus with him on a college tour back when he was a teenager. We did a few laps up and down Main Street to choose a restaurant for lunch, and ultimately decided on California Tortilla for some burritos and fajitas.

After lunch Dylan took us back to his lab and showed us around his work bench, describing some of his current work and the implements and gadgets he uses in his day to day research work.  This poster was up in the hallway next to the lab he works in. It was a poster he put together for a conference presentation that describes in detail (and in science-speak) the crux of the work that he is doing for his PhD.

 

It was great seeing what Dylan does on a daily basis, even though I don't comprehend much of it at a deep scientific level.  We said goodbye around 3:30 and headed out of Delaware, making our way slowly west out towards Pittsburgh, PA where we will be visiting Nick over the weekend.

 

A few hours into the ride we got off the main road in search of reasonably priced gas (using our much-valued Gas Buddy app) and drove by this sign...

 

 

Yes, that does say FREE MAGIC HAT. Obviously we stopped and they really were doing a promotion from 5-6 featuring free bottles of Vermont-brewed Magic Hat. No Gimmicks.  They also had flat breads half price and cheap appetizers so we settled in for a bit of relaxation and a break from the road. You just never know what good things await when you step out your door....

My Turn for an Update (Laura)

Okay - I've definitely been negligent in updating the blog in the two weeks since we left Big Bend, so I'll try to update you on my take of what's been happening of late. As Andre has indicated in his recent entries, it has been a series of adjustments back to our pre-Big Bend state.  Sitting for extended periods of time while driving, the relentless humidity, figuring out how to continue healthy eating habits while traveling with limited refrigeration/freezer space. But those things gradually resolved themselves as one day rolled into the next and we re-adjusted to life "van-style".

Leaving Big Bend on Sunday

Included in this adjustment period was a memorable evening that I believe was the hottest night of my life! I don't mean hot-"cool", I mean hot HOT.  Ironically, after spending 3-4 months in the desert in 100+ temps on a regular basis, I have never been so warm as during the seven or eight days after leaving the park.  One night early on was particularly brutal; the hottest night in the van that I can recall. I kid you not - the temperature at midnight was 97 degrees. Yes, I said midnight.  It was an eye opener. I didn't realize it could actually be that hot that late.

We both spent most of the night trying to fall off to sleep, listening to train whistles and hoping for the slightest of breeze to waft through the windows on an evening that was thick, sweaty and stubborn.  By about 5am the temp had only dropped to 90 degrees. The steamy humid weather stayed with us all the way through Texas and into Louisiana as well. Then the rains came - strange adaptation after months in the desert. I am happy to report, though, that today it is sunny and 80 degrees in the Carolinas. Perfect!

A few highlights from the past two weeks:

We enjoyed a stop in Fredericksburg, TX where we walked around the small town that was originally settled by German immigrants and still had a strong German presence including many German Restaurants, Bier Gardens, etc. It was also home to the National Museum of the Pacific War.  We strolled the streets and through many of the outside exhibits at the Pacific War Museum, including an interesting exhibit about the various U.S. Presidents and their roles in the war either through military service or their governmental role during the war years.

Next we enjoyed a fantastic, albeit unorthodox lunch, at Rustlin Rob's, the kind of gourmet food stores with unlimited sampling of hundreds of their own (and others') products including mustard's, jellies, dried meats, salsas, fudge, pickles, hot sauces, cheeses and basically anything you might want to dip a pretzel or a cracker in or on. The store was huge and a full of people making their way from room to room trying every kind of gourmet food on earth. What started as just a quick pop in, ended up being lunch, because we were completely full when we left!

 

 

 

On our way out of Texas we also stopped to check out the University of Texas at Austin. Although we had decided against doing any real sight-seeing in Austin (we decided to save that for another trip) we did take a break from driving for a few hours and got off the highway to walk around the  UT campus.

 

 

We left Texas and crossed into Louisiana in the rain, making one fun stop outside of New Orleans, returning to the Abita Brewery to do a tour and tasting, as we had also done on our way to Texas back in April. We ended up re-tracing a number of our stops on the way back to Florida including a night in Biloxi, Mississippi, time on the beach in Gulf Shores & Orange, Alabama, and retracing some of our steps in Tallahassee and also in Gainesville, FL.

 

Beer Sampler at Momo's in Tallahassee, Florida

 

We arrived in the Tampa on Sunday morning and enjoyed a visit with my sister Kathy and her family before heading to Mom's in New Port Richey to visit and prepare for my job interview scheduled for 4pm on Monday. The interview was for a seasonal accounting supervisor position with PwC. It was strange putting on a suit and heels after being away from corporate life for 6 months but I must have done okay because within an hour of leaving the interview, I got a call offering me the job! I will start on November 4th and likely work through their busy season ending in February. It fits in well with our plan to work a few months over the winter in a warm place before heading off to hike the Appalachian Trail in the spring.

 

After leaving Mom's we headed over to Daytona Beach and then Jacksonville for the Budweiser Brewery tour. We spent an evening in Savannah, Georgia then headed to Myrtle Beach for a night before making our way west in South Carolina to the Spartanburg area to visit my brother and sister in-law. We had a great visit and spent the night then headed to Asheville North Carolina where we are tonight. Whew!! That was a lot to remember. 

 

 

Still shaking my head – and thinking of questions (Andre)

 As we pulled into Charleston, SC this morning, I turned to Laura and said the following: “Can you believe all these cars? They’re all going so fast! What about all these stores?” And more of the same. Seems we still are re-adjusting to life beyond the desert.

Which raises a question Laura and I have been discussing of late – and actually one of the questions we left RI and our former professional loves with: Can you go back ‘home’? Can you ever go back?

It’s a great question, one I have long thought of, and one we continue to ponder ………

Thoughts from Being on the Road Again (Andre)

After sitting in one place (Big Bend and West Texas) you will forgive us some random thoughts as we re-enter the world beyond Big Bend.

Rain – once you have been away from rain, it is amazing to see how much and how often it can occur. In the 9 days we have been out of the desert, it has rained parts of each day! That would be a cause for major celebration in drought-weary West Texas.

Water – as we were heading west, just outside of Houston, we started to notice road signs that identified rivers, creeks, streams only to look and see nothing but dry river beds. This certainly was the norm for all of West Texas. Back east, there is gratuitous amounts of water everywhere – rivers, ponds, lakes, puddles, flooded culverts on the side of the road, etc.

Humidity – we have been running each morning back east. To say the least, the humidity and sweat makes it seem like you are running in water, not on dry land. There was humidity in the desert, 10-15%. Now the norm is 60-80% until of course it goes to 100% when it starts to rain.

Stores, plazas, malls, and more – we have written about how you literally could not spend money in the Big Bend area as there was nowhere to spend it. Yes, there was a gas station. A general store. A few restaurants or cafes. But these were all 30 plus miles away. To the uninitiated or newly re-initiated, it is shocking how many fast food places, department stores, malls, plazas, etc. It seems really odd once you have been away from the onslaught!

Texas Wave – this was a new one for us. While driving, we learned that in West Texas, as drivers cross paths, they wave at each other. Sometimes it is a full wave, sometimes lifting a few fingers from the steering wheel, sometimes a salute. Whichever way it is done, it is a standard practice on the long and mostly deserted roads. That does not happen back east, at least not that we have noticed.

Different lifestyles – one of the things we went in search of were answers or possible answers to some questions that we had wondered for some time. One such question was do people live significantly different lives in different parts of the country. We still continue to ponder this, but at this point have an answer of yes and no based on our experiences being from the Northeast and spending the last 3.5 months in West Texas. At the big level, people in both places have routines, some work, some don’t, some have families, some don’t, but beyond these big picture commonalities, there do appear to be differences. Life seemed slower and more laid back in the desert. Possessions did not appear as important there either.

Daily life and culture was certainly influenced by Mexican culture, likely in a way that Irish, Italian, French and other cultures impacted Northeast culture. The rural nature of the world in West Texas kept people more isolated than in the Northeast, both isolated from each other and also isolated from the goings on in the larger country and world. There certainly are many more, but we went with a question, is life different in different places despite the modern America we live in, and for now we think the answer is a pretty clear yes. But we certainly will continue to explore this and other questions.

 

We Survived! (Andre)

 

Well, here we sit in a McDonald’s in Fredericksburg, Texas. We arrived in Fredericksburg last evening after an 8 hour drive in the van – the longest we had been in the van in a long time! It was an odd day as we knew we were leaving Big Bend and the desert, isolated, rural life we had known and become quite accustomed to for the last 3.5 months. It was a bit of a whirlwind finishing packing, saying goodbye, leaving the park, and re-entering a very different life and lifestyle.

There are lots of cars out here! And lots of people! And lots of buildings and stores! And lots of other stuff! We spent most of the last several months hanging around with cactus, bears, jackrabbits, javelinas, desert rainstorms, ocotillos, and the like. Of course we will adjust and be ‘just fine’ – great G Love song by the way. But excuse us if for the moment our heads are still spinning a bit!

Onto the East and who know what’s next!

Last Goodbye on Sunday, August 11th

Preparing to Leave Big Bend



 

Well. This is it. It's almost time to go.

I apologize that we haven't posted in more than a week. It's been a busy time starting to think about turning the page on Big Bend and looking toward our next adventures. This past week on our days off we concentrated our efforts on getting ready to leave West Texas. Our last scheduled work day was to be on Monday the 12^th and our plan was to do a final cleaning of the apartment, pack the last few items in the van, turn in our keys & uniforms and head out of the park some time on Tuesday the 13th.

Toward that end, we spent much of the past week paring down our belongings once again to “van size”, making needed van repairs and adjustments, giving the van a thorough cleaning inside and out, and transferring some of the items we can do without for the next few days back out to the van. 

Andre took care of washing the exterior after we finished cleaning the inside

Cleaning out more pack-rat nesting materials from the air conditioning unit!

In addition, we’ve consciously spent the last two weeks “eating down” the contents of our refrigerator and freezer. Andre has been cooking like crazy to ensure that nothing in the freezer goes to waste and we’ve been strategically planning our meals- which has been kind of fun. We've also shared some great meals with friends over the last few weeks, and sampled some great home brews from another friend in the park. To say the least, we have eaten well!. 

Angie Dean's fabulous Spanakopita and stuffed peppers

 



Gifts of home brew from a friend in the park (with his own labels)

On Friday, which is usually our project day, we were asked to spend time in the visitor center transitioning the new volunteer couple who will be replacing us. They had been training the past few days with Ranger Rob and were ready to go it alone for the first time. We were asked to be there during the opening and closing of the visitor center to assist if they ran into any problems. In the in-between hours,  we drove around the park doing an abbreviated goodbye tour, seeing some favorite spots for the last time. We spent a few hours hiking up the Lost Mine Trail and taking in the beautiful views from the top, then drove out to the Rio Grande and Santa Elena Canyon to see it one last time.

 

When we got back to the visitor center, the schedule for the next two weeks had been posted and we learned that we would not be needed to work on Sunday and Monday. So we are taking off tomorrow!

We will spend this evening having a last dinner out at the Starlight Theatre with Rob and Angie Dean who have become very good friends of ours over the last few months and then we will wrap everything up and head out of the park tomorrow. We will be both sad and happy to go. We’ve had a wonderful time here – but we miss our friends and family – and the East Coast – very much and are looking forward to van travel again and circling back with the many people and places that are meaningful to us.

We’ll see you on the other side….

A Fine Occurrence (Andre)

We have had many amazing times in Big Bend and the West Texas area, as you may have been reading. We consider ourselves quite lucky to essentially have ‘moved in’ here for the past 3 plus months. We have hiked, driven, explored, eaten, drank, made friends, worked, and many other things that will fill our thoughts as drive away in a week or so.

Just another fine and unexpected occurrence happened to us this week!

The Starlight Theater in the Terlingua Ghost Town, about 30 minutes from the park, is a local bar, restaurant, and social gathering place of some note. We go usually weekly and there is always great food, drink, and live music. If you don’t like the music inside, then head out to the front porch which kind of serves as the town square. And out on the porch are lots of people, great sights, views, conversations, reunions, and random musicians playing in various pairings as the night goes on.

We got a call from our friends, Rob and Angie Dean, that Butch Hancock would be playing at the Starlight this Tuesday. Butch Hancock is a legend in the Texas country/western/rock music scene. He is currently part of a Texas ‘supergroup’ the Flatlanders. And he has a house in the ghost town. We understand he plays at the Starlight every month or so.

Well, as has been our case, we were lucky. He had been out of town for the summer and had yet to play the Starlight, until this week. As you will see from the pictures below, it was a great night of music and living the Terlingua life.

Uh Clem opened for Butch Hancock. Uh is a notable local who plays the Starlight quite often and also lives in town. Butch and his son, Rory, later joined, as did other local musicians on the bongo and mandolin. We will indeed miss such nights! 

 

 



Rory Hancock (left), Butch Hancock (center) and Uh-Clem (right)



Butch (solo)

 

Enter local bongo player 

 

Tuesday is also "$1 Taco night"