COUNTRY ROAD, TAKE ME HOME

I WOKE BEFORE DAWN to thunder, its hard edges softened by distance. Through the mesh canopy of my tent, I peered north at the clouds strobing like paper lanterns above Punta de la Sierra. From where I lay, near the edge of a bluff overlooking the Rio Grande, I could see Mexico in three directions, not just one.

It was my second night on the legendary River Road, Big Bend National Park’s longest and least-traveled primitive auto trail. Not to be confused with Farm-to-Market Road 170—the paved highway also known as River Road that connects Presidio and Terlingua—this route is a slow-going dirt track demanding a high-clearance vehicle, often four-wheel drive. Roughly parallel to the Rio Grande, River Road appeals to a self-selecting sliver of desert travelers like myself with a desire to drop off the grid and avoid human contact for a few days.

I’d embarked on this trip with two other men—my brother-in-law, Brian Kratz, an imperturbable physical therapist from Austin; and E. Dan Klepper, a Marathon-based photographer and avowed desert rat. It was our intention to spend the better part of four days driving the trail’s entire 52-mile length. Along the way, we’d see whatever the desert offered up.

I suspected this would be my last big trip for a while. The park