January 19, 2005; Big Bend National Park, Texas

I was now about 200 miles from Big Bend. A cloud had decided to squat on west Texas overnight, but with in an hour the fog cleared, and the sun was on my shoulders again. I stopped in Fort Stockton to get enough food for three bike lunches and a head band flashlight. Both of which I would serve me very well in the next 24 hours.

With the mountains of Big Bend finally looking down on me, I stopped to take a look at the park map. Seemed to me that there were easily four times as many unpaved roads than paved roads. I took the first one I happened upon. It was a round trip of 12 miles. In that 12 miles I learned that I need not subject myself to any further unpaved roads at Big Bend. However I did learn a lot; adding to my education of The First 5000 Miles.

After that little adventure was over I pulled over to take a look at a fossil exhibit, only to return to a bike that would not start. Confusion and panic joined the party as I checked and rechecked: kill switch, ignition switch, clutch. Nothing. Not even any lights on the dash. Probably a dead battery. Could have been worse though. It could have died when I shut it off at the end of the six mile unpaved road 45 minutes previous.

Dusk was upon me and I had two choices: make camp in the parking lot, or hoof it to the closed Ranger Station or a campground a couple of miles away. With my camping gear and a bag full of food I hit the road on foot (which I later discovered was the wrong thing to do). I didn't get half a mile when I flagged down a passing car. I asked for a ride to the Ranger Station and the couple in the car agreed. Dan and Allison were employees of the park, and two really nice people to boot. They went out of their way to get me to a campground a half mile away from the Ranger Station. And we played "name that band" with their new satellite radio.

The campsite was up in the mountains. From what I could vaguely see of it, the scenery was gorgeous. The forecast called for temperatures just around freezing that night. I had done the frosty sleeping bag thing and was very glad to have my tent and sleeping pad. Tomorrow I would tackle the bike situation, but not until after a good ten hour sleep.