Day 4 - Of Big Bend

Our hotel reminded us this morning that we were is Texas! We didn't waffle between whether or not to eat breakfast. 

The rest of Texas also consistency reminded where we were: lots of tex-mex restaurants, Cowboy Churches (idk) and oil jacks. No Alamo, though. 

Despite seeing hundreds of these rigs dotting the countryside, we also saw oodles of windmills. 

After heading west on the freeway through much of the state, google told us to take a 90 degree turn south on a very straight road towards Mexico. As we got further south, we saw more and more white border patrol pickup trucks and passed through a checkpoint where severs cameras took pictures of our car/license plate/totally innocent facial expressions. 

As we neared Big Bend National Park, the terrain started popping up with hills and mountains, and as our path took us through the chihuahua desert, many plants spread out that adapted to the climate. We favored the prickly pear... probably because it is edible. 

The Big Bend visitors centers had closed by the time we arrived at 6pm; summer is their slow season (wut. Why??! Oh right this is a desert). Fortunately many campsites remained available and we found a nice perch in the Chisos Basin. We cooked dinner and enjoyed the evening of minimalism (though we would've enjoyed some olympics...). There is something oddly relaxing in observing the severity and scarcity of the desert. It's like a reminder life can not only survive without excess, but do it beautifully.