Here we are on day 63, nine weeks into the trip! The festivities for the day involved a drive from Alpine, Texas to San Antonio. Since it was a driving day, there is not a whole lot to report. Before leaving Alpine, we made a quick visit to the Museum of the Big Bend. For such a small museum (that is housed at the campus of the Sol Russ State University), it had some interesting exhibits about the history of the area. It was also hosting a nice art exhibit featuring the paintings of 20th century painters, several from Texas.

Sawtooth, Winter Sunrise by Louisa McElwain

Black bears live in parts of Big Bend. Due to “increased bear activity,” certain parts of the national park were closed. Here, Billy poses with a nice (stuffed) specimen.

Color of Day by Kim Mackey

On the road, we made one exciting stop at Stonehenge II, a sculpture installation in Ingram. In addition to a complete Stonehenge, the artist also made two Easter Island replica sculptures that watch over the grounds. It was like getting to visit England and the Pacific Islands without all the flying (sort of)!

Stonehenge II awash in golden hour light.

We take our culture very seriously, as shown here.

Enlarge if you dare!

There was a lake on the property, so we took a short walk to check it out. We weren’t prepared for what was waiting for us. Apparently, it’s boxelder bug season in this part of the country. Tree trunks were covered in millions of the insects and the ground crawled with them. Bill watched one fall off a trunk and land on a pile of its friends. They scattered, making audible crawling sounds as they scattered. It was pretty disturbing, even for an insect dork like me. Deciding it was time to go, we headed back to the car…and San Antonio.

We arrived safely and are looking forward to “remembering the Alamo” and checking out the famous River Walk. Then we will forage for Thanksgiving dinner, Texas-style.