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Winter trip 2026 - Day 5: Desert

I woke up right at sunrise and had a beautiful view of the beginning of our day.  We decided to hike one of the more popular trails in the park, Lost Mine Trail. We were lucky to get the last open spot in the parking area, but since we had kind of a late start there were lots of people on their way back down.  During the hike we saw a mule deer and this cool Mexican Jay. The trail was 5 miles total, out and back, and about half the time was in the shade. Uphill the whole way, which meant we had some awesome views at the peak. At the top we met a lady who said she was hiking Big Bend for her 70th birthday, and her birthday wish was that everyone she met in the park will still be hiking when they are 70. I'm going to give it my best shot. We stopped for lunch on the way back down, found a perfect shady spot with an excellent breeze and ate shelf stable tamales, which are surprisingly good. After the hike we drove further into the C...
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Winter trip 2026 - Day 4: Made it!

We woke up early, both excited to get on the road since today was our first day at Big Bend.  Made a quick stop at the grocery store just down the road to stock up on a few final things. I'd rate H.E.B. 9/10 as far as grocery stores go.  We had about 5-6 hours of driving today, lots on the same road. Unfortunately, this road had lots of bridge construction so lots of temporary stop lights over areas that were one lane. The two lane parts were pretty rough - Joe says it was like chip and seal with #4 rocks. The last decent sized town before the park is Fort Stockton. We stopped to fill up our water jugs, last minute van maintenance, and another store for some backup sunscreen.  Texas had been pretty flat so far, but we were finally starting to see some hills as the landscaped changed.  Made one last fuel stop in Marathon.  There's fuel in the park, but it's going to be pricey. Stopped and paid our entrance fee, $30 for the week...
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Winter trip 2026 - Day 3: Oklahoma to San Angelo TX

Casino parking lot was a pretty quiet spot to sleep for the night. Barely any road noise. I did wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of a plastic cup blowing across the whole parking lot.  We went back into the casino to use the bathroom before heading out, and against my better judgement I took my $42 winnings from last night and immediately lost it all. Surprising amount of people inside for 8am. We decided to avoid tolls for the rest of the state, and the road we choose took us past lots of cows, a crazy looking high school made of a bunch of round buildings, and what I swear was a pet camel in a backyard.  Once we crossed into Texas we were on an extremely long, extremely boring stretch of highway. Very flat, scrubby little trees, lots of land. Joe pointed out a Catholic Church a block over on on his side of the road and the words "it's abandoned" were barely out of my mouth before he had his turn signal on.  Great stop, and surprising how un-vandalized the...
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Winter trip 2026 - Day 2: Missourah to Lawton, OK

It rained overnight, which is just about the best thing for sleeping. Looked like we were the only ones that spent the night at this CB. Made a quick stop for fuel next door and we were on the road by 8.  Our first stop was in Springfield to see the Largest Fork (by mass, they specified, there must be a taller one out there). As far as forks go, it was pretty damn big.  Crossed into Oklahoma, which appears to just be one big toll road. We aren't even sure what we spent since it's all just pay-by-plate, but at least $40 to get through the state. As we headed into Tulsa, we listened to the first chapter of the book The Outsiders in preparation for our next stop, The Outsiders House Museum. We watched the movie last month without realizing it was going to be on our path.  I should have paid more attention.  It was a neat little museum set in the house from the movie. The book author, SE Hinton, is from Tulsa and she still lives in the area.  They had lo...
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Winter trip 2026 - Day 1: Home to St. Roberts, MO

 After lots of planning and packing and downsizing to get everything to fit in the new van, Planet Express, we hit the road on Friday morning just after 9am. Took 30 to 71 to 70, which Joe says is the boringest road known to man. The next 200 miles of driving weren't much better. Lots of flat and watching the snow gradually melting. Beautiful sunny day.  Made our first real stop just past the Indiana line at Uranus fudge. Worth the stop just for all the goofy signs. Bought a sticker and a fake can of spaghetti-o's to hide our valuables. On the way out we walked through this crazy tunnel and almost fell down.  We covered a lot of miles today, which was our plan. Went through Saint Louis just before the sunset, finally stopped seeing snow  We ended the day in St. Roberts, MO. First stop was the Route 66 Neon Park, which was a neat stop. They had about a dozen neon signs that have been refurbished and donated to the park. Each neon had a sign with it's histo...
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Totals

  We spent around $110/day, which is pretty close to what we were expecting based on past travels.  We did start with groceries and fuel, but will end with some food and maybe some fuel, not a full tank though.   Fuel $517.62 Grocery $432.68 Campsite $390.00 Restaurant $80.00 Stuff $71.98 Tolls $25.50 Firewood $20.00 Park fee $13.00 Laundry $8.00 Van wash $2.50 Trip total $1,561.28
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Last day

We were both up early and ready to get into the park and start a hike.  We decided first that we’d go back to the visitors center, maybe to get better internet or a weather forecast, a map, and also to buy the daily $5 parking fee that just started on the 1st.  We didn’t buy one the day before because we were parked at the campground.  At the exit to the campground we turned left to go back the way we came in, but saw that the gate to enter the park was closed due to weather.  We weren’t sure if they just close it over night or if this was going to be an all day closure.   We saw so many elk out in the fields. More than we could count. They were everywhere and up in the woods too. They have yellow butts, I’ve never noticed that before.  We got to the visitors center before 7:30, and they didn't open until 9. We hung out for a bit and had lunch. I saw some people who had been in the campground with us the night before and asked them if the r...
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