Sanderson, TX back to Alpine, TX for Medical and Healing, Oct 23

A lot has happen since our last blog update.  We attempted to bike last Monday evening and the pain in her elbow was to much for Ann to think about biking.  The jarring from the road surface was the problem even though the wound appeared to be healing. The Dr. at the clinic had suggested an x-ray would be a good idea to make sure there was no damage to the bone.  Because of the pain, we decided to catch an Amtrak Train from Sanderson (no station there, you just wave your arms and the train stops) back to Alpine which we had passed through a couple of days earlier.  There we were picked up by our guardian angle, Liz, who took us to the local hospital where we had an x-ray taken by a technician who let Bill look at the films.  According to Bill and the technician, everything looked good.  Since the official results would be another day of so, we decided to rent a car and drive to Big Bend National Park, 70 miles away, for some recuperation time.  We had a great time in the park, which is the least visited park in the U.S. because of it's location (far away from everywhere).  It has some incredible scenery and hikes which we took advantage of.  Two of the hikes were along the Rio Grande River, the border between the U.S. and Mexico into the mouths of canyons formed by the river.  It's a beautiful place and we recommend it to anyone traveling this way.  In the meantime, we have stayed in the Casita of Liz's which is next to her house.  Last night we shared it with a young biker who, like us, is traveling the Southern Tier.  It was great to share stories of his adventures and stories.

*We have received the results of the x-ray and everything is normal and healing is coming along quickly.  Hope to begin biking again.  Today we will take the train back to Sanderson and give it a try.

Love to all,  Bill and Ann

 Train depot in Sanderson.  Not even a bench to sit on.  The Amtrak was an hour late, but we were glad to see it when it came.  Depot is considered the 10th most endangered train depot in the US.

 Liz's new Casita in Alpine.  We were the 2nd guests to enjoy the cute place.  We loved it!  Thanks, Liz.

 And here is Liz at her home next door.  She is the most amazing Guardian Angel we have ever met, and we know quite a few.

 Santa Elena Canyon, with the Rio Grande River coming through.  We waded a creek and walked a neat trail on the right/US side of the river, up the canyon.  The left side of the canyon is Mexico.

 Ann is walking up the trail that goes into the canyon.  When we took the photo we did not realize there were such fun clouds in the sky.

 Bill on our Basin Loop hike in the Chisos Basin area of Big Bend National Park. The lodge and restaurant is here, so we celebrated Bill's 67th birthday with a nice lunch.   Below is a photo of the Rio Grande River with the Mexican town of Boquillas in the background with the Sierra Del Carmen mountains in the far back, all on the other side of the river.