Leslie and David's Wanderings: 30 March 2023 Star Mesa

With our last day in Big Bend, we decided to drive down Ranch Road 170 to the “Big Hill” to check on DOM. We set out in the late afternoon enjoying the drive along the river. We turned off just before the Big Bend State Park Visitor Center and followed the dirt road. Relying on our memories, we worked our way back to Star Mesa where we had gotten married a bit over 10 years ago. The mesa seemed a bit more rundown and obviously had not been used for a while. But it brought a flood of wonderful memories of our friends an family, many of who are no longer with us, and our special day. After wandering around and taking pictures, we drove back out to FM170 and continued west. We passed the Lonesome Dove movie set and then drove up the “Big Hill” to the parking area at the top. We worked our way around the backside of the rock outcropping on a trail that has gotten significantly rougher since our last visit. Sure enough, the DOM was still there (from the movie Fandango) in all its glory. The trail has severely eroded since our last visit and was a bit treacherous considering how far one would fall to the river below. This location also brought back memories of being on the point with Dad and Veronica and friends over the years. We then headed back toward Terlingua. We got in contact with Rick and decided to meet at the Taqueria in the ghost town for dinner. We stopped in early to make sure it was open, then ran up to the Trading Company to pick up some beer to go with dinner. We met Rick at the restaurant and ordered dinner. Only then did we find out our Niece and her family were just up the road at the Starlite Theater having dinner! Big surprise for us, so after finishing dinner with Rick, we ran up to the Starlite and visited with Lauren, Bryan and the girls as they ate dinner. We then took Olivia and Avery next door to the Trading Company to do some shopping. The girls had to touch and feel everything within reach, which kept us jumping to prevent them from breaking something (Olivia ended up breaking a snow globe anyway) expensive. But it was fun to see their fascination with the rocks and furs in the store. Shortly after we said good night to them since we needed to get back to finish prepping for tomorrows drive. We ran up to the ONLY gas station in the area to fill up only to find they were out of Diesel! After our drive down 170, we did not have enough fuel to make it to Alpine towing the Wanderer.