Day 4.
Sunday April 17th, 2011.
Yesterday’s trip and events allowed us a relatively late start for the day. We all needed sleep. The initial plan was to travel south to the Big Bend National Park. Realistically, this would add several more miles and take up more time than we expected in order to arrive back in Corpus Christi and prepare for work the next morning. Tony then decided to lead us home and suggested a dedicated trip to the Big Bend National Park later in the year, a plan welcomed by all.
So with hotel checkouts completed, prayers said and fuel tanks filled we headed out with Alpine behind us into the cool morning air for our journey home.
The trip home, with the exception of a pair of stubborn female road-hogging truckers, was rather uneventful. We could not help but stop at the Pecos River crossing one more time to experience the majesty of this river again.
We had stopped in at Judge Roy Bean’s courthouse and saloon. Doug wanted to file a complaint against the truckers but unfortunately “The Judge was not in” and no one could tell us for certain when he would be back. We were looking for some justice, this side of the Pecos, in the form of whatever harsh punishment could be meted out to these inconsiderate truckers on our behalf. Nevertheless we visited the Jersey Lily Saloon/Justice of the Peace Courtroom and increased our historical knowledge base about events that surrounded this place in its claim to fame. In the absence of “The Judge” rowdiness in town prevailed! Two boys who had just ridden into town picked a fight with each other. I just happened to capture them on camera! Ha ha.
So after taking in some history of how law came to and began to be administered in the lawless days of The Old West, we followed Terry to his daughters’ family home right by Lake Amistad. This was where his journey with us ended. Three days with his grandkids was greatly anticipated. We all joined for lunch in Del Rio Township and headed out for Corpus several hours later.
Pulling up at the Border Patrol Checkpoint along the way and having gone through the official formalities and routine, two of the guards having learned that I was originally from Ghana, W Africa agreed in principle that the Ghana Football Team of the recently past World Cup Soccer Championship ought really to have won the tournament! Their knowledge of the Ghanaian footballers was impressive. They knew all the team players’ names. More than I can say for myself! They were indeed true soccer fans.
The long ride home came with forced stops to help keep us from falling asleep on the way. A relatively uneventful trip.
I pulled into the driveway at home just after midnight. We had been fifteen hours on the journey that day. We all arrived home safe! After a prayer of thanks it was playtime with the Chihuahua who obviously had missed me so much that we had to romp for a while before going to bed.