Setting the World on Fire

by Amber Rice

I feel incredibly lucky to have my birthday every December 29th, where I can spend it underneath a sky full of so many stars, it's hard to make out the constellations.  To top it off, I get to spend it with the people that make me the happiest.  There's hardly a soul that I know that I have not had a conversation about Big Bend with. 

Anyway, I was trying to remember all of the good times I've had out in the wilderness, of course it's hard to think of just one!  Well, the story I thought of did not happen to or around me; I was asleep at the time, go figure!  Everybody that goes to Big Bend yearly knows that the firework show is one of the best parts of our annual visit.  One year, Kelon Crawford and I were getting way too tired to stay up all the way until twelve o'clock!  (If you'll remember a couple of years ago, Kelon, Chris Jefferies, and I were all racing to stay up the latest.  Kelon and I stayed up 'til the wee hours of the mornin'!)  To make a long story short, while Kelon and I were fast asleep, the 1992 Big Bend group set Mexico on fire.  Standing on the old gathering spot, Fish Camp, one of the many fireworks set off that night landed over the Rio Grande setting the dry brush of Mexico ablaze.  You can imagine my disappointment when I heard that I had missed it!

I hope that that is a short memory spark for all of you Newsletter readers.  When I thought of this story, I had a good laugh; hopefully all of you did too.  -That was my purpose for writing it.

--Amber Rice