One of the things we adventurous travels like to share with each other is our favorite destinations. Whether it be a restaurant, Hot springs, National, State or local Park or designated protected wilderness, one thing is consistent, the attraction we feel is the nourishment we receive deep within our souls from these wild places. The natural beauty we encounter along the way is what drives our passions to seek out such hideaways. Having said that, we whom share these special locations on social media, travel books or blogs risk being ridicule and in the case of a well kept secret location favored by the locals, have received death threats for exposing their paradise! So far on our journey I’ve not crossed that imaginary line resulting in such extreme death threats. I however have been scolded by some for sharing certain places. I get it! I too have my own private places in nature I’ll never share with anyone except for the wild creatures that inhabit it. Big Bend National Park is one such place that has been repeatedly recommended by many of our fellow travelers. I’m happy to report that this place is definitely worth placing on your bucket list. Within our short five days stay, we only scratched the surface of experiencing what this park has to offer. The Park has over 800,000 acers to explore and is bordered with Mexico by the Rio Grande River. Elevation near the river is 1,800 feet and climbs to nearly 8,000 feet in the Chrisos Mountains. A wide array of ecosystems includes massive canyons, forested mountains and vast desert expanses. We found the Hot Springs near the Lanford Ruins to be a great finish after a day of hiking. Don’t forget to bring your swim suit, this is a free public hot spring with pretty good trail access and because of that can get very busy. If you’re into dispersed camping or boondocking as it is often referred as, Big Bend has many reservable remote sites in the back country, but you need a 4×4 camper rig to access most of them. Rosie our campervan unfortunately is not a four-wheel drive, but as luck would have it, we snagged the last remaining boondocking site with accessibility for a non 4×4 vehicle. It was a ruff road to access our camp, but it was short, and Rosie handled it with ease. Just before Josie and I headed out for a hike, parked near us in the visitor center parking lot was a 4×4 truck all decked out for a backcountry adventure with a large black container what looked to be a large car top carrier mounted on a sturdy rack straddling the bed of this gnarly looking off road truck. On the back-passenger window was a sticker that read something like, “This is a tent” with an arrow pointing back toward the large black container. Standing next to this off-road toy was a young couple also preparing for a hike. I knew what the black container was, a roof mounted tent system I’ve admired on other vehicles during our travels. I asked the young man if the sticker was placed there so he wouldn’t have to keep explaining to others what it is. Quite the contrary. The sticker is there to help educate people while driving down the road or sitting in a parking lot. And in my case, inquire about it. I commented to the young couple that I knew what it was and that’s when he told me that it’s his creation. Nick Mazzanti is a product design engineer, owner and Chief Adventure Officer of Roam Adventure Co. His wife Kat introduced herself and very enthusiastically informed me that she does the marketing and promotion for their company. I didn’t ask, but I bet it was her idea to put “This is a Tent” sticker on the window, brilliant and creative! Together they informed me that they started up their company because they wanted to assist others to more comfortably experience and explore Natures back country. Although I was initially attracted to them because of their gnarly and quality looking setup ,I was inspired to share their story in my blog because of their enthusiasm, passion and courage to take the necessary steps to physically manifest their dream life.
Nature's G.A.S. Station 