Richard's Road Trip

[RichardM]

My wife and I had the opportunity to sneak out to Big Bend for a few days, while my in-laws stayed with our daughter.

The Plan:

Leave Houston Thursday after getting Jennifer on the school bus, drive all the way to Study Butte. Dinner at Rio Bravo.
Three nights reserved at the Chisos Mining Company Motel, plus a getaway night at the Outback Oasis Motel in Sanderson.

Friday: Head into the park and up into the Basin. Hike up the Pinnacles, then summit Emory Peak. Then down into Boot Canyon and Colima Trail and back down Laguna Meadows, taking lots of pictures of the pretty panthers and beautiful bears along the way (for Homero, of course). Dinner at the Lodge before heading back to the motel to crash.

Saturday: Top of Burro Mesa Pouroff, Burro Spring, Cattail Falls, plus whatever else we felt like on that side of the park. Dinner at Starlight.

Sunday: Drive up to Closed Canyon and hike it (weather permitting). Visit Dom. A quick trip out to Indian Head. Maybe Grapevine Hills or Lost Mine before heading up to Marathon for dinner at the Gage restaurant. Then on to Sanderson and head back to Houston the next morning.

[RichardM]

The Reality:

We had both been sick the few days leading up to the trip, but seemed to be getting better. About the time we got to Fort Stockton, Susan's cough was getting worse, so we stopped in a pharmacy to pick up some cough medicine. She had also had a crown come loose, but the pharmacy didn't have the glue she was looking for. While I was gassing up the car at the Phillips 66, she went in and asked the clerk if they had any glue. His response was "You mean, like, for sniffing?" Ummmm, no. Next stop: Wal-Mart. Picked up some dental adhesive and we were back on the road.

Ten minutes south of Alpine, Susan started to feel much worse and was having lots of congestion and difficulty breathing. After some discussion of our options and assurances that there was an EMS in Terlingua/Study Butte along with a clinic in Lajitas, we decided to press on. Just before Bee Mountain I saw a nice buck (I assume it was a mule deer) that was only a six pointer, but his rack was about two feet high, covered in velvet. Saw about a dozen tarantulas on the drive down 118 as well. We checked in to the motel and Susan staked her claim to the bathtub. She wasn't up for dinner, so I went and got a $1.50 bag of ice from the Cottonwood General Store. I was hoping to find some Primatene Mist for Susan, but nobody had it in stock. I had the 3 green chicken enchiladas at Rio Bravo. Very good, but a maybe a bit too spicy for my current weakened state. That added some acid reflux to the mix of congestion and coughing. Neither one of us got more than 90 minutes sleep total for the night.

[RichardM]

In the morning, Susan wasn't feeling any better, so it was time to determine our medical treatment options. We packed up the car and headed over to Kathy's Kosmic Kowgirl Kafe for breakfast while waiting for the motel office to open up. I had the John Wayne breakfast burrito and a pear nectar, while Susan just had a cup of hot chocolate. She was having trouble just keeping that down, so she lay down in the car while I ate and talked to the locals. We called John Anderson at the Lajitas Clinic and he talked to Susan for a while, laying out her options. One of the locals suggested Dr. Doug, then was amused when I knew who that was and that maybe he shouldn't be our first choice.

After the motel office opened up, we got a refund for the last two nights, then headed off for the hospital in Alpine. Nice folks at the hospital. They drew some blood and took a chest x-ray and were able to rule out both flu and strep. Best guess was either a bacterial or viral infection that had developed into bronchitis and the beginnings of pneumonia. They gave her an Albuterol breathing treatment, plus a steroid shot and the Mother of all antibiotic shots that was super painful. While having her prescriptions filled, we had a nice lunch at La Trattoria Cafe on Holland. Before leaving town, we toured the Museum of the Big Bend at Sul Ross State. Then we headed back east, spending the night in Ozona before continuing on to Houston on Saturday.

And just for Homero, I'll attach a token photo or two...

[sleepy]

best laid plans, friend.

sorry about the dashed hopes.  hope Susan is feeling better.

glue for sniffing.  that's rich.

[mule ears]

Man after all this time away from the Bend and having to read about everyone else's exploits (and having to deal with their online lunacy) you finally get a chance to get out there and the bottom falls out. Sorry to hear about Susan and glad it wasn't any worse.

Hang in there and thanks for all the great work you do here on the board. 

[dkerr24]

Sorry to hear your trip didn't work out as planned.  I think we've all had trips that pretty much blew up on us.  Mine occurred just a couple of years ago when I was planning on another Grand Canyon backpacking trip.  I made it all the way to the bottom before I couldn't continue any further.  It was a case of the flu.  Took me 2 days to climb back out.

[SA Bill]

What a trip! Sorry it wasn't what you had planned. Hopefully things are getting back to normal by now.
   Bill

[mountaindocdanny]

I feel for you. Back during my care free (read child free) days I had planned to hike with two buddies from Pine Springs to Carlsbad Caverns NP over five days. We dropped off our car and hitched a ride down to Pine Springs. Spent the night in the campground. While two of us slept, the third apparently spent the entire night "kneeling before the porcelain throne". He didn't tell us anything about it until he almost passed out a mile into our trek. Needless to say, we aborted. I hitchhiked back to the caverns to pick up or car and we drove back to Dallas.

[fartymarty]

Man after all this time away from the Bend and having to read about everyone else's exploits (and having to deal with their online lunacy) you finally get a chance to get out there and the bottom falls out. Sorry to hear about Susan and glad it wasn't any worse.

Hang in there and thanks for all the great work you do here on the board. 

DITTO.
I don't think it can be said any better for this situation.  Richard, your friends all feel your pain.  
I hope it makes your next trip all the sweeter.

[Al]

Richard, I can't believe these guys are hijacking your thread! 

But in the spirit of things . . . the time we had hiked across Ernst Basin, the hard way, and my bud came down with the flu, he couldn't move for two days.  Thank goodness we had enough water . . .  then there was the time we were hiking up into the Maderas and I had to double back a carry my poor sick bud's pack to our temporary shelter from the pouring rain long way before achieving our goal . . . 

All too often vacations don't go as planned but DANG you've got to give it a shot! Better luck next time.

Al

[homerboy2u]

  .....but remember,only us who have been there and done that,truly understand you. Just remember my: Rancho Palomas Trip ,and on that time it wasn't even my fault.

 Still thru thick and thin, we move forward in the hopes of there is always tomorrow.

Best of luck, hope you are better by now. Wife and You.

[Roy]

Really bad timing , Richard.
Looks like you and TJ may be jinxed. 

[RichardM]

Really bad timing , Richard.
Looks like you and TJ may be jinxed. 

Hey, at least I know to stay away from chili unless sleeping under the stars, preferably with a nice breeze.

[txhiker]

Hey, I feel your pain.

My weekend didn't go as planned either. We drove from Dallas to Wichita Mountains to find out campground was full, drove to a nearby camp to find out it was also full and there was a marathon and other 5 races over the weekend in the park, so drove the 3 hours to caprock canyons as we were trying to avoid people. Saturday was good but Sunday was raining some and I started getting a fever, and my wife that wasn't feeling to begin with got worse so drove home a day early.

Get better and it'll be for next time.

[TexasAggieHiker]

Sorry to hear it.  Hope she's feeling better.