Friend...How Long Has It Been...

[SA Bill]

...since you had a great 'ol trip to Big Bend?       Well...that's too long!!!!

In my case that's the gospel truth! I was thinking about my upcoming trip and realized I couldn't say for certain when I was last in BB. That's just not right! I try to make it out there twice each year...spring and fall. So not knowing my last visit is unusual. So I pulled out the trip reports and calendars to do some research. Turns out it's been almost 2 years since my last trip! Other than a 4 year stretch 10 years ago where I couldn't go due to family matters, I've been to BB at least once every year. since 1976. Now it's been 2 years and I need to get back out there!

 In October of 2009 fartymarty and I hooked up for a successful Casa Grande climb as well as a great hike out to Randell's Overlook. That's the last time I was in BB. In April and September of last year (2010) I went to GUMO to hike the El Capitan Overlook trail and to hike up Guadalupe peak. GUMO trips replaced BB trips last year. I was all set to return to BB in April of this year but had to ditch the trip because of too many things going on with a new house and moving into said house. Needless to say, that left me completely bummed.

Soooo....I'm bound and determined to get back to BB this fall!  I have reservations for my favorite Basin campsite starting right after Thanksgiving. This will be my first trip out since the campground refresh. Might take some getting used to since I've been driving the same roads the same ways in that campground since 1976. We'll see how it goes. What other changes have occured in the last two years?

Anyway...no real point to this post...just thinking "out loud".  For you regular BB visitors, what's the longest stretch you've had without a trip? Just curious,
    Bill

[Homer67]

It hasn't been very long since our last trip, but I have been pining away this hot summer, these hot days not really going by fast enough. 

The beginning of this year felt like a frenzy of trips: camping in the nice biting cold of moonless January nights out on Marufo Vega, then a quick blast up Mariscal then out Cross Canyon (not to the river, though) only to be assaulted by a LONG bike ride around the mountain back to Talley at February's end, and finally ten days in the dry desert taking my girl up Blue Creek and later discovering primitive roadside camping in April. It felt like I was somehow cheating when I walked the few feet to the truck and cracked open a cold one.

Now October cannot get here soon enough!  But there will not be much opportunity for personal challenge as the next trip will be introducing a good bit of familia to The Garden.  So bring on the rain! Will familia experience the instant attraction I felt when I first found myself here? We shall see, but it WILL be a great trip!

[SA Bill]

You are like the Energizer Bunny qs!!
   Bill

[Terlingua50337]

QS......     Bite Me!  Terlingua 50337! some of us still gotta work to make our West Texas pennies.