Wild Hogs,Man!

When I was younger, about the age of my daughter, I read a National Geographic article about a couple of guys who went on a biking road trip in south Texas. They actually started in Arizona on a two lane blacktop that went through El Paso and then followed the Tex-Mex border down through the Big Bend area and then along the river all the way to Brownsville. They spoke of camping out along the way, meeting local folk in small border towns, seeing things they had never seen before and most importantly, the thrill of driving fast on curving, nearly deserted two lane highways. It sounded like a fun adventure then and it does today as I recall it. The problem then was that I was raising a family, trying to be a responsible parent ,husband and provider. AND, I didn't know how to ride a motor. Today I have the time and to some extent, the resources to saddle up for a road trip but I still don't know how to ride a bike.

Some years later I and the "fam" including only my oldest son vacationed in South Texas because our school vacation was in March/April. We drove to Padre Island to be as far south as possible that time of year. It was essentially Spring Break but school kids hadn't discovered the Island as a party spot yet. We Camped in a vacant public campground on the Island, and drove on the beach sand.

When we left we followed that border highway all the way from Brownsville to just short of the Big Bend Area. We ate our meals at local family owned cafes and tried all the home grown chili tacos, burritos and things we never heard of before. Then we angled north toward Alpine Texas where a high school buddy of mine lived. We stayed at a public campground outside of Alpine and that is where my second, youngest son was conceived. 4/2 - 1/2. As we neared Colorado from Amarillo we entered a snow/ ice storm that made our camper so heavy we had to drive in a lower gear just to keep up speed. And that was in a full sized K5 Blazer with a 350 cid v-8 motor. And if thats not right, it ought to be.