Travel Update 20



We started out the week in Norman, OK and got to catch up with Kathleen's old Peace Corps friend, Jessica. Kathleen hadn't seen her since they left Guinea, so it was a great, overdue, reunion. She generously offered us a place to park and take showers at her mother's house as well, which was great.

From there we took off and headed south. We stopped by a little town called Medicine Park in Oklahoma, on recommendation from Jessica's mother. It is a cute little town with the claim to fame of being Oklahoma's first cobblestone community. It was a bit touristy, but super cute.

 

Shortly after Medicine Park, we drove into the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, where we saw our first bison! The park was created to help preserve the bison, the elk and the Texas longhorn cows. Bison were almost entirely extinct in North America, only about 550 left before Yellowstone and this preservation were made. They shipped in 15 bison from the New York zoo to start this herd, which took off and is now thriving. Elk also had to be reintroduced from further north, having been hunted out of the area in the early 1900s. The longhorn were added later and are there to be protected as a herd of historical significance. The preserve also gave us some scenic views.




We drove a ways further before settling in for the night at a beautiful reservoir that had free camping by it.


We mostly drove through West Texas quickly; there just isn't much there. It's miles and mile of flat, dry land with the occasional ranch here and there. We made a quick stop in Midland and Odessa, mostly out of curiosity for the town of Friday Night Lights, but weren't enticed to stay long.

Our last night before Big Bend National Park was a roadside picnic area about 30 miles north of the park. This picnic area had a few picnic tables and fire pits, but most importantly a lovely backyard.


The rest of the week was spent in Big Bend National Park. Check out our posts of the three main areas of the park we visited: Chisos Basin, the Rio Grande, and the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive (Coming soon...). Here's a small teaser of the scenery of Big Bend.

 


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