Thoughts on The Border

There’s lots of talk lately about construction near Big Bend National Park in Texas. It’s on the Rio Grande, which is the border with Mexico. This is a wild and remote area, with hundreds of miles of desert in either direction. There’s a Mexican National Park on the other side of the river, and it’s huge as well.

There are not many towns, and the towns that exist usually have fewer than 1000 people. There’s almost no phone signal at all, no internet, and very few people. It’s a desert. You could walk across the river, wading through the water, and reach the other side easily. Even so, hardly anyone who does not live there does that. There’s no place to go once you cross.

Immigration is a complicated issue; I’m not an open-borders person at all. But this are of desert is pristine for the most part. It should be left alone. There’s no need for any walls or fences. There are a few border patrol agents there already, and they can keep track of the few roads there just fine.

A few years ago, we went to Big Bend National Park. The vast emptiness of it struck me. I’ve been to a lot of places, and it's really counterintuitive, but it remains one of my favorite places.

I wrote several stories on Medium at that time. I’m putting them on my site, and you can access them here under the travel section.