Sandman's Journal

What a magical tour I've had already, and yesterday I had another peak experience. I spent the first part of the day hiking trails in Big Bend Park, where I saw a fat coiled diamondback, a large brown centipede, bighorn sheep, and a spiky lizard that looked like a deflated blowfish.

As evening approached, I walked to the Big Bend Hot Springs, observing ancient pictographs and petroglyphs along the way. Yellow rock nettles, ocotillo, and prickly pear flowers pleased my eyes and nose; pyrrhuloxia, cactus wrens, and bullfrogs thrilled my ears; the balmy desert wind soothed my burnt skin. Soaking in the 105 F. water, I imagined myself in an Egyptian oasis three thousand years ago. America's landscape is truly multi-textured.

The Springs spill directly into the Rio Grande. I lay on a flat rock underneath the flow, with one leg dangling into the river, and let the agua caliente cascade over me. (Had 'em to myself, contrary to image.) I must've stayed there three hours, watching the arc of the three-quarter moon. Towards midnight, I swam naked to Mexico's shimmery shore, just to say I did--unless it's illegal to do that, in which case I didn't.