How many cactus pictures do you plan to take?

Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas – 7 April, 2006

We left the Big Bend Park two days ago and drove though the mountains on the border along the Rio Grande River to the small border town of Presidio. It had lots of unpaved dusty streets. We see herds of brown and white antelope as we drive. We turn north and end up camped in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park on the Texas/New Mexico border.

A lady with a German accent glares at me and asks if I plan to use my generator. She has been parked in Big Bend next to a man who ran his all day so he could watch TV in air-conditioned comfort. Apparently he felt it was too hot to venture outside. I ask her if her dogs bark and promise not to crank it up. She softens a little and tells me about an Arizona State Park where she has been a Ranger that has much better caverns than Carlsbad.

We took a two hour hike yesterday morning here in the Guadalupe Park. Mrs Phred catches me taking another picture of a cactus and questions my judgment. There aren't many animals or water sources here. The hike to the Guadalupe peak had a 3,000 foot elevation gain. (I'm not ready for one like that yet).

In the afternoon we drive 50 miles north to see Carlsbad Caverns again. The last time we saw them was 1982 on a long camping trip in a van with our twelve year old son and one of his friends. Both of them are lawyers now with children of their own. There are only 300,000 Mexican Free-tail bats left in the cave. A paltry number after seeing the Austin Bridge. I use a tripod for the long exposures in the darkened caverns.

West Texas Dumpster Diving

Terlingua, Texas – 5 April, 2006

It's 5 AM and the Milky Way is a big and bright band extending though the Navigator's triangle (Deneb, Vega and Altair) and into Sagittarius the Teapot in the South. Venus is beginning to rise in the east.

We drove 100 miles further South to explore the western side of the Big Bend National Park. We stopped at a rest area for lunch... it was a nice clean rest area and I saw a fairly clean 55 gallon trash can with a nice new liner and so I peeked inside to see what people had left and saw this little Big Bend Gazette under several beer cans and it was open to a cartoon of George Bush and he was saying I only am accepting questions from reporters who believe in the Easter Bunny and so I fished it out. Wouldn't you?

The Gazette had an article about bird flu. Seems that avian flu was originally non-fatal to the wild bird population in which it originated. Then it was transmitted to domestic fowl, mutated into something lethal and was passed back to the wild birds.

People who are involved in cock-fighting and those who clean chicken coops are at the highest risk. Also, people who belong to the sub-group that drinks duck blood are at high risk. Two of these have died.

As long as you cook your chicken with no pink parts and don't eat runny eggs you should be safe from the poultry vector. A nasopharyngeal swab (though the nose to the back of the throat) will be used to test humans for bird flu.

Life is like a 55 gallon trash barrel: you never know what you're going to get. In the late afternoon we took the motorcycle for a scenic drive in the park. It was 42 miles down to the Rio Grande and a huge cliff at the Mexican border and 42 back.

West of the Pecos

Marathon, Texas - 3 April, 2006

I meet Earl and Dick in the Marathon Campground. Earl is 79 and has ridden his bicycle from Nebraska. He plans to go east to San Antonio and ride back to Nebraska. They claim to have done 10,000 miles in two years.

Earl is fit, tanned and slim. He has ridden 30,000 miles since 1993 in the US, New Zealand and Europe. Earl and Dick (age 63) have an American Cancer Society '2006 Cancer Survivors Ride' flag on their bikes.

They are raising money for the all volunteer Iron County Unit, Michigan Unit of the American Cancer Society.

Earl and Dick set up tents near the pond and hope to see some coyotes and birds tonight. Earl says he has tow ropes and jokingly asks for a tow on our motorcycle.

Victory or Death!

San Antonio, Texas – 2 April, 2006

Back around 1812 the Mexican government was encouraging foreigners to move in to the Texas area and offering them land at 12.5 cents an acre. This was cheap even then. They only had to agree to become Mexican citizens and Roman Catholics.



The vicious and evil General/President Santa Anna didn't like how things were shaping up demographic-wise and he reneged on that deal in the 1830s telling the Texan foreign settlers to vamoose.

The Texicans didn't like that one bit and they made a stand at the Alamo. 'Victory or death!' cried the Texans. There were about 150 Texans and several thousand Mexican soldiers at the Alamo. Santa Anna's surrender offer was rejected by the Texans so Santa Anna had his buglers play an eerie song that meant 'Take no prisoners!'.

After twelve days of cannon bombardment the Mexicans took the Alamo on the 4th assault and killed all the Texans, including Davie Crocket and Sam Bowie.



About 400 Texans later surrendered at Goliad under a promise of humane treatment, but Santa Anna changed his mind about that and had them all shot by firing squads.

At this point, the Texans were really good and pissed off. Three hundred of them caught 1400 Mexican soldiers taking a siesta on the banks of the San Jacinto River and killed 700 and captured the rest. 'Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!', they shouted, as they rained hot lead down on the sleeping troops. Nine Texans were also killed during this battle.

Later the Texans captured Genera Santa Anna and that was the ballgame. I'm not sure whether or not the Texans according him Geneva Convention protections. The fat guy with the microphone glossed that over.



The Republic of Texas was a sovereign nation for about twelve years until they voted to become a state. After a few years Texas went with the Confederacy and was admitted back into the Union after the Civil War.

A Man for All Reasons

San Antonio, Texas – 1 April, 2006

San Antonio is the basic training centre for the Air Force. Downtown hasn't changed much since Mrs Phred and I left in a green British TR4-A in March, 1966. We see a grim-faced Air Force 2nd Lieutenant in dress blue uniform holding a well-dressed young woman by the hand and heading into the courthouse in the town square. They look very young. We decide they are going for a marriage licence and hope they make a good life together and come back in 2046.


The River wanders around downtown in a confusing way. The River Walk district is packed with bars offering umbrella shaded seating. We have a glass of sauvignon blanc and meet two Chicago liberals. They tell us that the current Mayor Daley is as much an embarrassment to Democrats as Bush is to Republicans and tell us stories.


Two Texas Republicans at the next table join in the conversation. One offers us his card. It reads:

Gary Fisher, PhD- 'A Man for all Reasons'
- Uprisings Quelled
- Bridges Destroyed
- Revolutions Started
- Foreign Debts collected
- Coffins Filled
- Bagpipes Tuned
- Saloons Emptied
- Earthquakes Arranged