We are still in Texas and were really excited about our day. We were headed to Big Bend National Park which was at least 2 hours away. On our route from Fort Stockton, we drove through Alpine. We decided we had better eat something since we weren't sure what the day was going to bring. Our choices of food in the city of Alpine were McDonald's, Sonic, or Dairy Queen. We opted for McDonald's and ate an early lunch. 
We then drove south to get to Big Bend. The landscape was pretty much the same, some mountains but mostly desert.
National Historic Site #4: Big Bend National Park
We arrived at Panther Junction Visitor Center about 2:00 pm. We knew our time there would be limited so sought the advice of one of the park rangers. She suggested we do two of the three distinct habitats (desert, mountain) because they were of "Don't Miss" caliber. We would get to see a little of the river habitat at Santa Elena Canyon. Since Big Bend is the size of the entire state of Connecticut, each area would require a lot of driving to reach. It
We first went to Chisos Basin which is surrounded by the Chisos Mountains. The mountains looked very different as we drove.
Once we arrived at the visitor center in the Chisos Basin, we decided to hike the short Window View Trail. Mary and Brandt would be very proud of Dean actually hiking. The view from the trail was very beautiful and worth the hike.
We got back in the car and headed back up to the main road and then over to the road that leads to Santa Elena Canyon. On the way, we found the Mule Ears Peak that Robin had talked with her kiddos about. The landscape was different on this road as well.
We finally arrived at Santa Elena Canyon Trail. We again hiked to the bottom to get our first view of the Rio Grande River and the mountains on the Mexican side. There was no worry about needing border patrol to protect against anyone climbing over these extremely tall mountains. Although the river doesn't look high, there are flood gauges throughout the area for when the river does overflowing its banks. It was very hot outside...102 degrees to be exact! Glad we were in the air conditioned car. Dean also captured the dashboard to show how many miles we have traveled since we left home at this point.
We had to drive the 21 miles back up to the main road. It doesn't sound like much mileage but it takes well over an hour to travel on the winding roads. We leave Big Bend National Park and head down to Lajitas, TX which is the beginning of Big Bend Ranch State Park. Les and Arlene had shared with us that the road through this state park followed the Rio Grande River to Presidio, TX. They said it was a very scenic drive which it definitely was. However, what they forgot to tell us is that it is like an "E ticket" ride at Disney World for all of you that remember those days. Talk about a roller coaster. Dean had our van air-born several times, not anticipating the dips in the road (or so he says!).
We were hoping to find food at Presidio, but no such luck. It was now close to 8:00 pm andstill light. The town didn't look like some place you would want to stop in so we decided to keep on traveling. We knew we had at least a 2.5 hour drive to go so we stopped along the deserted road while it was still light and got out the peanut butter and box of crackers. As Dean bit into the first peanut butter cracker sandwich, he realized that the crackers were very stale. Good idea, but still hungry!We continued on and spotted 2 deer crossing the road. By now, it is very dark and we finally reached the road where we could choose to go the Alpine direction or go north and connect with the interstate to go back to our hotel in Fort Stockton. We knew what the eating options were in Alpine, so opted to go north and take a shot for food. There were very few cars on the very winding road. We kept thinking the interstate should be coming. This road was not showing on the navigation system (should have been our first clue).
Once in a while, a car would come and Dean would turn off his bright lights. Well, one of the times, after coming out of a passing lane down a hill, Dean turned down his brights and the headlights coming towards us began flashing red, white, and blue. There was no one else around so Dean knew it was the police for him. So he pulled over and the trooper told him he was going a little too fast (about 10 mph over) and needed to check his license and registration. In a few minutes, he returned and told Dean he was clear and would just give him a warning this time if he slowed down. Of course, Dean quickly agreed and did so. Robin asked the trooper how long it would be until we reached the interstate and he answered about 15-20 minutes if we did the speed limit! Trust us, we did! 
By now it was around 10:30 pm and we hadn't eaten since around 11:00 am. We finally reached the interstate around 11:00 and no food. The first road sign said it was about 35 miles to Fort Stockton and we were on interstate highway. We drove for a little bit and Dean asked how far we had to go. When Robin said about 26 miles, Dean replied, "Oh good! My range gauge on the gas says we can go 28 miles." That would have topped off the day. The next 26 miles were tense, but luckily, our hotel was on the west side of Fort Stockton. We made with 8 miles to spare!
We had a full day! We got to eat yummy Mickey D's for lunch, the parks were beautiful, hiked and got some exercise, saw animals, got to meet a nice trooper, played roulette with gas, and went to bed tired and hungry...what else could we have added into the day? Oh, the total mileage for the day's journey was 490 miles!
