12-02 Campout at RGV

BREAKFAST Wayne cooks up the bacon while Mary empties the coffee filter in preparation for another batch. That's Mev in the center.

LOVE THOSE GLASSES A closeup shot of Mev's outrageous sunglasses. Look! You can see me.

WAYNE THE COOK From the looks of it, he and Mev are deep in conversation. Either that, or it's just too early.

CAMPSITE 98 A general overall shot of the campsite, showing the three blue tents and Mary's new BMW motorcycle.

MARY AT WORK Mary gets the eggs ready. No, we didn't have wine for breakfast. The bottles were just tabletop dressing at this point. The short, squat bottle is the Sotol I brought, which is a Tequila-type drink.

SHAMED INTO IT I omitted the pucker-faced photo. She says she doesn't take a good picture, But I keep telling her she's wrong. The yellow rope behind her is to warn tall types of the low-hanging branch.

LYNNE POSING IN FRONT OF THE RIG Funnily enough, the first time I met Lynne was here at Big Bend during a photo workshop in 1986, and here we are again. The Universe is a wondrous place. The Mercedes-Benz RV's name is Benzi, while the little Smart Car tow vehicle's name is Smarty. How about those matching paint schemes?

THE RV CREW Lynne, Greg, and Jerry in a group hug. I had so much fun visiting with these guys I completely forgot to take pictures of them except at the very end. I'm still mad about that. What a fun group!

THE GANG The major players in this little traveling menagerie -- Wayne, Mary, Greg, Lynne, Jerry, and Mev. They all met up in San Angelo, where Greg and Jerry live, and traveled to Ft Davis and the Big Bend area together as one big happy family. I was so glad they invited me to join them at the tail end. Being Spring Break, I had to work.

DOUG GETS IN I managed to get in one of the pictures, anyway. Hey, it was their trip.

MEV AND MARY IN THE CHISOS This was Mev's first visit to Big Bend, so we just had to take her up into the Chisos Basin and show her around. It's the jewel in the crown.

THE WINDOW VIEW TRAIL Although there is an actual Window Trail up here, this is by far the best view through The Window, the V-shaped notch behind Mary and Mev. It's a great place to view a sunset.

MEV AND THE WINDOW It's her first visit here, after all. Why not?

BACK AT RIO GRANDE VILLAGE This is the beaver pond on the nature trail, a great place to view birdlife or to just sit. Mev fell in love with this place.

THE HAPPY CAMPER Mev in her beloved Sierra Designs Meteor Light CD tent. It's essentially like mine, only the pole arrangement was computer-designed (hence the CD) to relieve the stress of the two corner poles. They're great tents, CD or no CD.

THE HAPPY CAMPER - TAKE 2 I finally got my flash to go off, not that she needed it.

RELAXING IN CAMP See, Mary was right! She has to work at it, though.

PACKING UP Well, all good things must come to and end, and so it is with our little campout. Even though this is the last night, packing has begun.

THE LAST SUPPER Mev dishes out the red beans and rice, while the smoked sausage awaits its turn .

TARPS A-FLYIN' And here we are on Sunday morning, with Mev helping to tarp up Wayne's truck.

HEADING HOME Wayne and crew on their way out of the park, with the Hannold Hills off in the near distance. That large rounded mountain out there in the background is Dagger Mountain.