It's a small, small world

The night before we left Rio Grande Village we took our computer down to the laundry room (where the Wi-Fi Hotspot was) to do a Skype call with the family.  It's always good to see their faces and catch up while on the road.

It was a hot sticky day, as most had been, and the laundry room was packed with people doing laundry, using their computers and taking the $1.50 coin operated showers.  It was mildly air conditioned in that space so it was a mecca of sorts for many of us.

During the visit they mentioned that the grandparents of one of the kids was traveling to Big Bend also.  It was when they said they had an airstream that my ears perked up.  I had watched one of those circling the campground like a shark looking for the perfect spot to set up.  Could it be?  So, they armed us with the names of the grandparents and we had planned to check them out the next day.

This is when the "bug" hit us.  It attacked Left Brain first and he spent many an hour behind the bathroom door where I could hear the most disgusting sounds emerging.  This was followed by a period of muscle pain, lethargy and headache.  Being the doting wife I am, I went into nurse mode.

I did take a moment to swing past the airstream in question and sure enough, it had Minnesota plates.  But, there was nobody home.  So I ripped out a page of an old Readers Digest and wrote a cryptic note across it, plunked a rock on top of it and let it go at that.

Once we got situated in our new digs we went out exploring the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive.  This is a 32 mile beautiful drive through deserts, canyons, mesas and mountains and is listed in the National Geographic Guide to Scenic Highways and Byways.  They've listed the best 275 drives in the US.  So, we have one of them now.  Only 274 left to go.

The first side expedition we took was to the Sam Nail Ranch, an old homestead and was my favorite place.  There was a shady spot with a bench and if you sat for a while the birds seemed to come from everywhere.  When leaving we passed a couple and I noticed the man was wearing a t-shirt that mentioned Ely MN.  Hmmmm.   I wondered but said nothing.

Our next stop was to check out a scenic overlook and use the bathrooms.  You tend to use these when ever you find them as they are far and few between.  There was a couple sitting in the shade of a tree having their lunch.  It was the guy with the Ely MN t-shirt.  Hmmm.  And the truck had Minnesota license plates.  Okay, now I had to ask.

So I sauntered up to two complete strangers and casually asked if they were Lydia's grandparents.  They were very surprised and said "Yes!".  It seems after leaving my note they had scoured the campground looking for Minnesota license plates to try to find us.

It's really a small small world when you find yourself chatting with a couple you'd only heard about less than 24 hours previously in a place as large as Big Bend.  To give you an idea of the size of this park, consider that it has its own desert and complete mountain range.  You could drop Rhode Island into the park very comfortably.

Now that we'd met we kept running into each other every time we stopped.  They were delightful people and I hope to meet them again someday.  And so it goes with our new life, meeting strangers on the road and developing friendships.

Long Live the Queen of New Friends