Rainbow Rally at the River: Day 1

Memorial Day Weekend found us attending our first Aluminum Under the Rainbow rally at Tom Sawyer’s RV Park in West Memphis. Sponsored by the Friends of Dorothy camping group, it’s the only official rally of GLBT Airstreamers in the nation. A couple of cultural references may be helpful here: “Friend of Dorothy” is a slang…

Enchanted Forest, Magic Lake

We spent the weekend at Caddo Lake State Park, where we celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Heart of Texas Camping Unit of the Wally Byam Caravan Club International. The park was an enchanting, magical place, made even better by good company, lively conversation, and a memorable early-morning boat trip amid Spanish moss-draped Cyprus trees.…

Five Nights in February

The mild February weather drew us to Loyd Park, our favorite local campsite, for two consecutive February weekends. Weekend One included an extra night and a day, thanks to the Presidents Day holiday, as well as a very special Valentine’s surf-and-turf dinner. Weekend Two was dedicated to cleaning Cloud 9 of many months of accumulated…

Christmas in Cleburne

We traveled a little more than an hour to Cleburne State Park for our Heart of Texas Camping (HOTC) Unit’s annual holiday camp-out. Although relatively small – a little more than 500 acres – the park surrounds a 116-acre spring-fed lake. The area’s dense woods and clear water springs made it a popular hunting area,…

Big Bend: Day 4

Thanksgiving Day found us wandering around Big Bend Ranch State Park, the largest state park in Texas, with more than 300,000 acres of pristine desert wilderness. Adjacent to Big Bend National Park, the state park is similar to its national counterpart in desert ecosystem and topography, but different in its use of the land. The…

Big Bend: Day 3

Because we wanted to stay close to base camp for Day 3 of our Big Bend adventure, we made our way to the Terlingua Ghost Town, in search of an authentic Chihuahuan lunch and expansive views of the Chisos Mountains. We weren’t disappointed. The Terlingua Ghost Town is all that remains of a once-thriving mining…

Big Bend: Day 2

Our second day took us from the Chisos Mountains in the heart of Big Bend National Park to the park’s easternmost point at Boquillas Canyon. The Chisos are distinguished, in part, by being the only mountain range in the U.S. completely contained within the boundaries of a national park. The route through the mountains to…

Big Bend: Day 1

After Jon spent more than two hours tying up loose ends at work, we were finally ready to set out for Big Bend National Park. Our Day 1 destination: Mule Ears, Castolon and Santa Elena Canyon — among the park’s most iconic sites. First, we stopped for lunch at Rio Bravo, a Terlingua cafe that…

Third Time’s A Charm

We hadn’t planned on visiting Big Bend National Park when we set our 2015 travel calendar. But we also hadn’t planned on Jon attending the world’s largest gathering of radiologists just two days after Thanksgiving. The Radiological Society of North America will hold its annual meeting in Chicago from November 29-December 4, and Jon was asked to attend so…