This trip to Big Bend has been the most relaxing and enjoyable trip that I’ve ever had here. So relaxing, in fact, that I have not even attempted to write my usual daily blog entries. It is a small revelation for me, because (I have to admit) this is the first year that I’ve been able to fully enjoy being disconnected from the business of running Airstream Life instead of worrying about it. Finally, the business is reaching a level of maturity where I can go away and not fear a dozen “urgent” phone messages and a flood of bad-news emails upon my return.

On prior trips to Big Bend and other great places, the experience has been tainted by business concerns which have lurked in the back of my mind. It’s a shame to walk through a beautiful place and not see it because of worries about some concern back at home or work, and sadly a large number of our excursions have been afflicted by that. It is one of the risks of traveling while working (as opposed to being retired or on a leave of absence). Since in my case there isn’t any near-term solution to having to work, I resolved last year to resolve the problems that have been the cause of many a blighted trip, and at last I am approaching that goal, which is a great relief.

Of course, not all problems can be resolved simply. I had to choose to not worry about those things that I can’t control ““ something that is easier said than done. While we are out of touch, a thousand awful things could happen and I could come back in touch with the world on Monday to discover them, but of course the trick is to not let those worries invade the mind.

In this, I have been mostly successful. We have hiked at length, eaten heartily, and slept well. We have learned, and taken photos, and laughed and relaxed. In this age of instant communications, the outside world still has trouble penetrating the eastern edge of Big Bend National Park, at Rio Grande Village, where we’ve spent the last four nights.

It was a long scenic drive down TX 118 to Study Butte ( “Stoody Bee-yoot”) and into the western entrance to the park. Along the way, Ft Davis National Historic Site made a good mid-day stop, where we renewed our annual national park pass and Emma earned yet another Junior Ranger badge. I think at this point she has thirty or so, but we’ve lost count. They make a great contribution to home schooling.

The snowbirds have fled the southwest, so we had no trouble showing up at the only full-hookup campsites in Big Bend, at Rio Grande Village, and obtaining two sites for ourselves and our friends. It was 95 scorching degrees at 6 p.m. and the temperature hardly dropped after sunset. But the next day it was cooler and on the second night a cold front came through and dropped the temperatures into the 70s, making for perfect outdoor conditions. Being desert, it hardly ever rains here, and the air is comfortably dry for hiking.

The “trailer village” at Rio Grande Village is not particularly attractive, in that it is a basic asphalt parking lot with close spaces, but it is in the middle of a large green oasis of cottonwood trees and Bermuda grass that is carried over from a pre-existing 1920s ranch. Large natural springs all along the Rio Grande and an extensive irrigation system still serve to flood the grassy areas, and the Park Service has chosen to maintain that historical environment rather than let the area return to native desert. Huge turkey vultures rest in the trees above us, and in the early evening they give us a show by soaring close by.

Adam and Susan have been encouraging hikes and long talks daily. We did not come to Big Bend with any particular agenda, but it has turned into a series of hikes every day, which we all like. Talk goes well with rhythmic hiking over miles of terrain, and so we have managed to cover a lot of ground both philosophically and literally in the past few days.

Our first hike was an easy warm-up to Boquillas Canyon. This is 2.8 miles roundtrip. We went to go see our friend Victor Valdez, who is becoming somewhat famous as the “singing Mexican” and spokesman for the little town of Boquillas del Carmen, across the river in Mexico. (You can see him on YouTube.) On many days, Victor can be found with his friends on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande, waiting for tourists to come by. The town of Boquillas used to sustain itself as a tourist destination, but since 2002 the free access by Americans across the river to Boquillas has been prohibited, with the result that the people of Boquillas have to sustain themselves by selling trinkets to tourists (contrary to US law) by wading across the Rio Grande, and by soliciting donations.

In Boquillas Canyon there is a steep sand hill which everyone except me climbed (I stayed below with the backpacks and to take photos), and Adam had a nice time tumbling down it.

Our afternoon hike, under a hot sun, was the Canyon Rim hike that overlooks the Rio Grande. This one is six miles roundtrip, but at the turnaround point we were able to pause at the riverside hot springs, and to take in the petroglyphs and pictographs nearby.

Hiking for hours in the desert is enough to feel justified that you’ve done enough for one day, so we retired to the Airstreams for the evening and only ventured out again for a brief ukulele lesson. Adam bought Susan a nice concert uke last week in Tucson, and she was eager to pick up a few initial pointers. It’s a lot of fun to be able to share the uke with other people, and Susan is a very quick learner.

Hiking in the desert for hours on a hot day is also enough to drain a Camelbak drinking reservoir, I found. The Camelbak I brought holds a hefty 100 ounces of fluid, and Emma and I drained it completely in the course of our two hikes, plus an additional 20 ounce bottle of water, and then much more once we were back at the Airstream. Out here the general rule of thumb is one gallon of water (128 ounces) per person per day, when hiking, and I can tell you that when the temperatures exceed 90 degrees, that’s no exaggeration.

We did the same the next day, too. A midnight wind rose up and dropped the temperatures by 20 degrees (and forced me up in the middle of the night to take in the awning). This made things very comfortable down in Rio Grande Village, but a bit chilly up in the Chisos Mountains in the middle of the park. Susan, Adam, and I decided to take a hike down “The Window” trail in the Chisos, while Eleanor and Emma hung back to relax and work on Emma’s Junior Ranger program. In the Chisos at 5,400 feet, the temperature was a mere 43 degrees when we started hiking, quite a difference from the 95 degrees we had experienced just 48 hours prior.

That hike added 5.2 miles to our total. The Window is probably the most popular and famous hike in the entire park, because it is relatively easy and the view at the end is spectacular. We finished in time to have lunch at the Chisos Mountain Lodge, which features spectacular views and is (surprisingly) reasonably priced for lunch.

At this point I was thinking we might be done with hiking, but in a place like Big Bend you just have to go for a hike if you want to see the diversity and beauty of the park. So a couple of hours later we re-grouped with E&E and drove out on a rough backcountry road to make the short hike to Ernst Tinaja. This hike is another favorite, with the highlights being a natural watering hole (tinaja) in a dry cascade, and incredible fossils just a short distance further up the wash. It’s a short hike, about two miles roundtrip.

At this point I realized that we weren’t going to be back to Big Bend for a long time, possibly years, and I wanted to get the most out of it, so when Susan suggested a bike ride before dinner, I was ready to go. Less than a mile from the trailer village is the national park service’s campground (a nice spot, no hookups, but with fresh water and a dump station, $14), and “¦ you guessed it, another hike. This time we just hiked a piece of it, to get a look at the beautiful pink limestone cliffs in the late afternoon sun and the little town of Boquillas across the river.

In the evenings we’ve been watching a program on DVD called “Life in the Undergrowth,” which is an educational series about insects and other little critters. It’s fascinating, and the best part is that Emma doesn’t know it’s educational. All day long, on hikes (looking at fossils and geology), doing her Junior Ranger program, and then even watching TV, we are home schooling and it’s completely painless. National parks are a great place to learn about the natural world.

Sunday I was actually a little resistant in the morning, but since everyone else was gung-ho, we launched out to do the second-most popular hike in the park: Lost Mine Trail. This hike, also in the Chisos at high elevation, was probably the most beautiful we’ve done, and that’s saying quite a bit. I can see why it is popular. It’s a moderately steep hike most of the way, 4.8 miles roundtrip, and peaks out close to 7,000 feet. The views along the entire trail are fabulous, and the top view is worth twice the hike.

At this point we are done hiking. Actually, I think we’d all be up for another one but we are having trouble finding more good hikes on this side of the park that are under ten miles. We could move to the other end of the park for a few days, but time is pressing and we need to plan the rest of the trip to Florida.

We did a little of that this evening, after lunch at the Lodge again, and another fun uke lesson at the campground. Our next deadline is May 1 in Orlando, and there is much we want to do before then, so we will launch on Monday morning. Our next stops will be along I-10, then in the Hill Country west of Austin, then in Austin itself, then the New Orleans area.