We left Austin yesterday and came to Ft. Stockton, Texas. Of course, we had to come the long way, via the Alamo<\/a> in San Antonio. It was an extra half hour of driving, but well worth the extra time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I lived in Austin for 2 years and had never been to the Alamo before, so I was glad to get the chance. Walking up to it, you would think I would have some very deep thoughts. Maybe of the fleeting nature of life, awe at the bravery of the men, perhaps respect for the few historic buildings that the United States has. Nope. Instead I was thinking of the story of Ozzy Ozbourne urinating on the wall<\/a>. Come on, you can’t tell me that he didn’t know it was the Alamo. The guy knew exactly what he was doing. Same thing with the bat!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anyway, we had a great walk around the Alamo and then got on the road for the 5+ hour drive to Fort Stockton<\/a>. Good times. And that’s why I didn’t post yesterday. It was a long drive!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today we were up fairly early and got on the road to Big Bend<\/a>. As if I didn’t drive enough yesterday! I would recommend an RV trip to Big Bend, or at least spend a few days and know that you will have a drive to and from the park every day. We drove over 150 miles while in the park today, and that doesn’t count the miles that we drove from Ft. Stockton to the Persimmion entrance. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy driving. I especially enjoy driving when it’s as easy as we did today. The challenge today is that we only had a single day to see as much as we could of the park. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In a single day you only get a taste of the beauty that is Big Bend. We stopped at the information station just inside the Persimmion entrance and a very nice Park Ranger wrote some basic instructions on a map for us. She pointed out 3 nice walks and some great scenic points that we could see and do in a single day. It ended up being just perfect. Arrival in park at 11am, departure from park at 5pm, over 15,000 steps made, and many beautiful pictures taken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thank you USA for making the National Park System so incredibly amazing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n