1969 - Our Excellent Adventure

Our first trip to Big Bend National Park was during Spring Break in April, 1969.  We brought our five children, ages two to seven, in a red Volkswagen Beetle.  The back seat folded down to make a large flat area for the kids.  Layers of unrolled sleeping bags covered the back area.  There was enough room for all of them to sit and play or for all of them to lie down and nap.  We piled luggage 30 inches high on a portable car top carrier. 

We left Houston with a Humble (predecessor to Exxon) credit card and a twenty-dollar bill.  A Humble credit card was good for gasoline purchases only - no tires and no snacks.  Therefore, our luggage included everything we needed for each meal for a week.  The seats in the Beetle were high enough to stack cans of food under them.

The Hennessy Kids - Anne, Margie, Susan, Tom, and Cathy

After driving all night, we arrived in the Basin campground during dawn hours.  Since the campground was full, we kept circling around and around looking for someone to leave.  At the time, we called it “vulturing”.  We were so excited to find people leaving site #44.  Although it had no table or trees, it was big enough for our 9 foot by 20 foot tent.  Today this is one of the last campsites to be filled because it is so plain and barren.  But we still have very fond memories every time we see it. 

We were out every minute hiking and driving the park.  The two year old rode Bob’s shoulders on the hikes.  After coming down from Lost Mine trail the four older kids ran ahead on the last ten yards to the car.  They were so enthusiastic and they kept asking, “Can we climb it again?  Where is another hike?”  Bob was so hot and tired that the best he could do is to give them his “daddy look”.

River Road East near Elephant Tusk

One warm day, we all piled into the Beetle, took off on River Road East, and headed for Castolon.  It was a long, slow (over 10 hours), hot, and fun filled trip.  There was no air conditioning in the Beetle.  We had our little two dollar orange back-road guide and thoroughly enjoyed the adventure.  With Elephant Tusk in the distance, we ran over an eighteen-inch rock.  You could feel it rolling under the Beetle until it reached the back.  It became stuck under the motor and the back wheels lifted off the ground.  So, we piled rocks high enough to put the jack high enough to lift the car off the rock. 
Several miles later, as the temperature rose, we reached a point near the river.  The temptation to take a dip was overwhelming.  We all stripped down to our underwear and waded in.  After just a few minutes, we heard men talking.  There was a group of men fishing from a campsite less than ten yards through the brush. We hurriedly got our clothes back on and took off, thankful for the coolness that we felt.

Back in the Basin, our neighbor, in campsite #43, was a couple of full timers.  We had never heard of that before.  They had an aluminum teardrop shaped trailer.  It was barely tall enough to stand in.  They had been on the road for seven years - from Alaska to Guatemala.  They planted the seed.  For the rest of our life, we knew that we was what we would do someday.

It was early to bed on the night before we left.  It was going to be a long drive.  We had to get home and prepare for work and school.  The sun was still up and we saw the silhouette of a skunk on the tent.  Our heads were about six inches from the tent wall and the skunk was about the same distance outside.  We were terrified that the skunk would spray on our tent, so we just lay there quietly.  After a few minutes, some child started throwing rocks at the skunk.  We were furious. We were terrified.  But the skunk just  meandered off. - no physical damage.

The next morning, we were up and packing.  There were a couple of nearby campers enjoying their coffee while we dropped the tent and loaded all the gear on top of the Beetle.  After everything was done, we all piled in and started the engine.  When we looked around there were about fifteen people standing in their campsites around us applauding.  One of them hollered, “We didn’t think that you would get it all in there”. 

We have come as tent campers about every three years.  This seemed like holy ground to us.  Eventually, this was our first and primary volunteer location.