TK Scores THE Ride ~ Porsche 911 Twin Turbo 991.2; Meanwhile Wine 15Apr25

Sure it's tax day but he doesn't seem to care... he believes this hard asset will appreciate anyway. MLC finally won a bid on a Porsche 911 after months of auctions/attempts/rejections, and the like... this is the ultimate fun car. He got a '17 model 991.2 with twin turbos, new tires, full bra, just 17K miles from one owner, 3 yr Porsche bumper to bumper warranty, in pristine condition. It goes so fast so fast, and tracks on rails... amazing. The interior is gorgeous but we now know it will carry golf clubs in the front seat. I received her while Matt was at work ~ he had it shipped via covered flatbed from Danbury, CT.

Matt's a definite tech bro as code jock and 911 owner. He's groping for an appropriate esoteric software reference to use as a vanity plate. True the insurance premium prices and Denver County sales tax & registration costs have begun to land but what's not to like. Matt even now has the summer race car driver haircut to boot.

He's all in, and now wants me in too ~ daily I get naturally aspirated Boxter S offers from across the US. Hmmm. Returning from Texas and concerts it was fun to be invited to the American Wine Society's new Pike's Peak chapter's inaugural event by our great friends Scott & Peggy. Ok, they got us tix after other chapter members took ill. Bummer for them but bully for us. So... we're sipping red wine above the blood and thunder; glad to be back.

Rolling To Roswell, NM ~ Bottomless Lakes State Park 13Apr25-14Apr25

It's gonna be a short drive to Roswell today but we've never been and I set up some meetings with the aliens. We said goodbye to the Guadalupe Mtns NP and our campsite there and hit the back roads of New Mexico to wend our way to the Bottomless Lakes State Park and our full hookup campsite there, near Roswell. They grow nuts (pistachios & pecans mainly) around here. We quickly setup camp in a nice improved site and immediately ran the air conditioner, because we could.

Our afternoon was meant for the alien meetup and other stuff in Roswell 12 miles away. We crossed the Pecos River along which we camped 10 days ago in northern New Mexico... it was much wider but less vigorous down here. We did tour the alien museum in Roswell ~ it was full of exhibits about the confusing crash and subsequent information & disinformation. Pretty good with lots of interviews of folks involved. We then hit the local brewery, Black Cock, for a beer and tastes. Well, the food truck was closed this day and all Black Cock Brewing themselves made was cider... it was continuing the disinformation marketing notions we thought. We had an IPA and split, but not before getting a restaurant recommendation. Roswell seems cool with tons of Mexican places ~ we went to one nearby and a very good but very filling meal (no pics). Finally we toured the free and good Roswell Artists In Residency (Rair). They ask artists to come, supporting them during the stay, and make stuff and then display it at the gallery. It was a cool notion and a number of pieces were good.

It was soon enough the next morning when we packed up and said "see ya" to Bottomless Lakes St Pk. It'd be a long drive back to COS and we wanted to get over Raton Pass before some pending precipitation. We managed that and a number of gas stops on our way back home.

Almost our entire camping trip around west Texas and through New Mexico was completely awesome. While we likely won't go back to Big Bend or Guadalupe, we really enjoyed them and enjoyed the camping aspect with each other for 10 days. It is also nice to be back home.

McKittrick Canyon Hike ~ Desert To Resort 12Apr25

We did encounter a tour group on our McKittrick Canyon jaunt... a bunch of folks on a Rhodes Scholar tour featuring guided events around west TX and NM. They were nice, as were their guides, but we mostly stayed ahead of them all morning. We were basically near the Visitor Center when the gate opened at 8am to avoid the heat of the day. The hike was less strenuous than others recently but fantastic as to the change of scene and vegetation along the way. We crossed a wash often up to the higher parts of the canyon ~ it was alway white. We did find flowing water had surfaced on occasion and took advantage to wet our hats.

It got cooler with more shade from cliffs and trees as we entered the canyon proper. Texas madrone trees abound as did agave of all sorts. Ultimately we encountered not only juniper pines but large ponderosa pines as in our own back yard in COS.

We saw the Pratt Cabin ~ a wealthy guy had some nice grounds built 3 miles into the canyon. The "cabin" could be in a exclusive neighborhood today ~ very nice. He had pumped water from a nearby spring and entertained there. That's also why the initial trail was more like a road as it was initially cut to get guests to his getaway spot. It was beautiful; he chose wisely. We rested a bit and enjoyed our apples. The tour group caught up to us there and we continued on.

We next arrived at a grotto of sorts where there was an actively dripping cave. NPS had also built a number of picnic benches from indigenous rocks. It was a nice turnaround for us as we spoke to a backpacker coming down from his night on McKittrick Ridge who said the next 2 miles and 2Kft elevation were tough.

We left the grotto for our trundle back to the trailhead and encountered the heartier part of the tour group who'd been led on to the grotto too. As we emerged toward the visitor center I again thought the view to the desert below was familiar of our time in the Sonoran Desert.

We took it easy in the PM and used the Pine Springs cell coverage and wifi to download some TV shows for the evening. Tomorrow we head to Roswell.

Heading To Guadalupe Mtns Nation Park ~ And Smith Spring Hike 11Apr25

We packed up the Rio Grande Village campsite and headed north to the Guadalupe Mtns NP for our second leg of hiking Texas. Bye bye Big Bend. Not too bad a drive on 75-80mph TX roads required ~4hrs. Along the way we saw dust devils, a tethered weather station, and approached the rock outcrops of the Guadalupes with anticipation. We arrived mid-day with few in the the "campground" (that would soon change) so set up easily on an asphalt slab. At least we're on the end of the row near "forest," and would finally be allowed to use the generator (thought the drive up had charged everything nicely.

Smith Spring & Frijole Ranch Hike... We went to the visitor center and had cell service and even wifi inside. We discussed our hiking plan with the ranger and understood the temps were high here too and we should hike early, but not too early as the gate to the road we wanted to take opens only at 8AM ~ and there is confusion as no devices we had knew we were in MDT again, rather than CDT ~ fortunately we knew reality and updated our devices manually. We also chose not to do the very popular Guadalupe Pk hike, the highest point in Texas ~ and boy it was very crowded on Saturday morning in the neighborhood. We did a quick leg-loosener before dinner Fri night called Smith Spring Trail and Frijole Ranch. Frijole Ranch was at the trailhead and featured a 6 gal/hr spring and remnants of a recent family settlement. The hike was great as we climbed again into a canyon with a spring fed stream, from desert to less-so, and the fauna changed across the incline.

We chose hot dogs on the grill with chili, jalapeños, onions, and spicy mustard as a rare treat.

Pine Canyon Hike & Dinosaur Exhibit ~ 200ft High Waterfall 10Apr25

We headed out 7 miles on 4WD Glenn Springs Rd, to the Pine Canyon trailhead. Crusher Too was fine for the travel but we crossed many dry washes that if filled would make the road dicey. Today we hiked into the Chisos Mtns from the outside, rather than from the basin. 

Pine Canyon trail was offered an awesome hike up about 1Kft over ~2.5mi from high desert floor to a gorgeous canyon filled with Ponderosa and juniper and culminating in a 200ft waterfall. The trail actually led right toward Lost Mine Pk, to which we'd basically climbed yesterday from the other side!

The Mexican juniper here is different than ours in CO & AZ... it's droopy. There are lots of other pines here too like those above and the 1st one we saw on the saw up.

The canyon became tighter and more rugged as we climbed into it. We didn't see water till right at the end as is careened over the sheer rock face of a cliff onto the rhyolite rock debris below. We did scramble up to get our faces in the drops. 

On the way down the canyon we did notice a fire in Mexico and noted that even at the TH here we were 3Kft above the 1Kft elevation of the Rio Grande, and our campsite. I frankly thought this was the coolest hike we did in BBNP though Kala thought that was Lost Mine... many fewer people here (just 2 other cars in the lot) and reminds me of hiking the Chiracahuas near Tuscon... a sky island like the Chisos ~ from desert to alpine.

We downed some Gatorade and headed out to the Fossil Discovery Exhibit north of Panther Junction. It too was a blast. It was getting hot and it was an outside exhibit but well worth the trip. We learned that Big Bend is the largest and most prolific place in the US to find dinosaur fossils ~ we did not know that. Kala is shown with another bird brain (heh heh), which is a skeleton of fossils of the largest flying living being ever (it's bones are hollow).

After a great day in BB we headed back at camp we made tasty skottle fajitas.