The pictures...

The pictures......

A couple of shady characters explore the desert of southwest Texas.

There is no denying of the stark desert beauty....a phrase that would fit well on a documentary!

While geocaching I decided to dare the mountain to shift!

A combination of Native American cave paintings and modern grafitti, that is if you cansider 1902 modern.

Watch out! That dino egg might hatch!

A view to remember.....

See clouds....click camera...

A typee in the middle of nowhere.....definite photo op!

Cemetaries are a personal passion.......

A stereotypical cactus.....among many various sorts.

The Chiso Mountains shrouded in clouds.

The Rio Grande brings shades of green to both sides of the border.

Close-up with camera is safer than close-up with hands!

This picture is a personal favorite....I couldn't paint a prettier blue!

Erosion formed a perfectly smooth bowl....drip by drip...year by year....

An example of the trails I'll probably avoid in the future!

Hiding behind two canopies, our trailer is one of hundreds in this temporary city near the ghost town of Terlingua, Texas.

The reason for the trip.

Accident...

I'm typing this with one hand. Fairly soon my parents will be here to take me to the orthopedic surgeon. It seems that when you fly without an airplane you are doomed to crash land, especially when are thrown off the back of an ATV. Fortunately, all I broke was one wrist....badly. I've quite a few bruises too and my neck was slightly sprained. I landed about a third of the way down a ravine while my friend the driver landed at the bottom after rolling several times with the ATV. He broke his hand and has some cuts and scrapes. We are very lucky our injuries weren't worse. We had to walk out of this mountainous desert area at least a third of a mile before we got a ride to the medics station. We were at the Terlingua International Chili Cookoff. The ambulance ride took over 1 1/2 hours to the nearest hospital in Alpine where we were seen by a nurse practioner.

More on the cookoff later....and pictures!