Jiffy and I left Sonora yesterday morning and traveled south to Big Bend National Park. I was so surprised to find the terrain very similar to the mountains near Captain Jack's Stronghold in Northern California, near where I used to live. We saw at least 14 species of birds, including two that I haven't yet identified. The highlight was to see a real live honest-to-goodness Greater Road Runner. I heard a lot more birds than I actually saw. I also saw a doe coming onto the road in the middle of one of the sharp turns; I was in time to stop, but not in time to get the camera aimed. Those Chisos Mountains, (the only entire mountain range enclosed in a National Park) are extremely rugged, but have the mostly barren look of the high desert, again similar to the Stukel Mountains at home. Our evening stopping place was at Alpine, called that because they are high in the Texas Alps, one of the brochures informed me. On the way, I stopped at Cowshead Ranch to deliver greetings from Bill to a friend he went to high school with in Copper, Texas. The man and his ranch were very interesting. He is totally a cowboy in his looks and manner, complete with jeans and cowboy boots and an old fashioned courtesy toward a lady. He has rebuilt smaller scale facsimilies of all the typical buildings in a cowtown of the 1800's. He told me several stories about the way he came to build them, especially the church, which looks authentic with a real bell and 4 pews. Right next door to the church is the saloon, with an outhouse between the two. (I'm pretty sure it was a make believe outhouse...) The man had lived the hard life of a cowboy, drinking and drifting, until he came to the Lord. Now he is settled and has some of his family around him. While we talked and he took me to see his town, he carried a new puppy, that looked like a cross between a border terrier and a dachund. What an interesting Divine Appointment!
Today was a travel day, from Alpine to El Paso. I passed the time on the road through the desert, now becoming rather monotonous, listening to a book on cd's, lent to me by my friend Mary. It is hilarious! Thanks, Mary.