In the Beginning

I don’t know if I have mentioned that the first time I attended the annual Terlingua Chili Cook-off was with a guy I used to date (we were no longer dating but remained friends).  A mutual friend called me at work to warn me that he was probably going to be calling me because he had exhausted all his “male acquaintances”.  He had tried to no avail to get them interested in attending this wild gathering in the desert so he was going to try his “female pals”.

I asked our mutual friend where exactly this gathering was and when he said “Ter something” I said, “was it Terlingua?” he was surprised and said, “you know about this place?”  My reply “Of course I know about Terlingua I was there once when I was a freshman at Sul Ross (Sul Ross State University) and always wanted to go back.  Maybe one day I will blog about my first visit there but don’t hold your breath :D

Back to the story… I could not believe my ears; this was just too good to be true.  I think I just hung up on him and dialed my friend, could not take a chance that he could find someone else to accompany him.  It was Friday afternoon around 3:00 p.m. when we left Houston and drove all night.  Have you ever driven in the Big Bend area at night?  It is pitch black. We got to the cook-off around 4:00 a.m. but he could not find his buddies and he came to the conclusion that we were at the “wrong one”.  I did not know that there were now “two cook-offs”.

We finally found the CASI Cook-off where his friends were.  It was about 5:00 a.m. when we parked and this place was huge in comparison to the other event so he decided to wait till sun up to find his buddies and went to sleep. I had drunk a couple of cups of coffee and was wide awake besides with
his god awful snoring, who could sleep?

At 6:00 a.m. he was tired of me trying to wake him so he got up and went to look for his friends. Saturday is the last day of the event and I had such a magnificent time.  I could not believe how in one day I was able to forget all my troubles, dump the stress and enjoy myself to the fullest.  I went hiking along the creek bed, climbed the hill above the dance pavilion, went to sample the chili, took in the entertainment in the afternoon and attended the dance that evening where even though I do not know how to country dance (I 'm a disco duck) I danced till my feet hurt as well as the poor guys who had the misfortune to ask me to dance.

I went from knowing no one to having made the acquaintance of so many wonderful people by the time we left Sunday morning, his friends had became my friends.  I was totally hooked after only having spent one day in the desert and I knew I would be back…but this time by myself in my beloved Terlita (my camping van).