The drive into Big Bend was uneventful. The road is 70MPH with almost every turn having a recommended speed sign ranging between 40-60. I learned to ignore the ones above 55 as they “usually” didn’t require slowing, but the 40 was almost always a warning for a sharper turn ahead. We had tried to do some research the night before regarding what we could expect at Big Bend, but we didn’t have any service, so couldn’t do research (or watch a show on Prime Video). As we were driving, Jen was able to check out some of the stats and facts of the park. We were happy to hear that this year, Texan’s spring break ended yesterday (the 24th) so I was pretty confident we’d get a spot at the campground inside the park. We aimed for Chosa Campground as it was the smallest and only one that didn’t allow generators, which sounded good to us. From the entrance gate to the campground was quite a drive in itself displaying not only the varieties of scenery, but also a glimpse at just how large this park was. Once at the campground, we grabbed a registration envelope and drove a loop around the grounds to find an open site. I was shocked to see how full it was, there were only a handful of empty sites, so we pulled into one that looks inviting and got out to stretch our legs. The envelope to pay for the site wanted cash, and all we had was laundry money:
I drove up to the ranger station that was less than a mile away to get the Jr. Ranger packets for the kids and see if they could exchange the coins for bills (coins weren’t allowed in the envelope) or if there was another solution. Sure enough, they accepted cards at the ranger station, so I paid for the site, got the packets, and bought our park sticker. Back at the site, we hid in the shade of a big tree, ate some ice cream cones and had dinner. Yes, in that order!
Jen then worked on the Jr. Ranger packets with the kids and I setup the beds earlier than usual as we had a picnic table which meant we didn’t need to eat inside the van at our table (which turns into our bed).
Amelia, Henry, and I all played soccer as the sun dipped behind the trees and the light dimmed. As we were starting to get ready for bed, the nice ranger lady walked by and asked us if we had seen the Javalinas. We hadn’t, but she pointed us towards them, so off we set about 100 yards. Sure enough, here they came. 5 javalina grazing through the campsite. They got pretty close to us, which normally I wouldn’t have been okay with, but these ones are clearly less “wild” than ones I’ve seen before.
After they grazed by us, we finished our night routines, and tucked in for bed, again without any service, which has the benefit of getting Jen and I more sleep than usual.