A friend and I spent one brief night at Jomomma's in July of'24 before we climbed Emory peak in the morning. We were just plugging in a camper van because the nights were too warm to get good rest. July is"off-season" in Terlingua, and of the 5 or so RV places I called, Elena is the only one that called me back in a reasonable amount of time. The park was great, a limited number of spaces marked out by rocks and cactus. It wasn't one of those places that's just a big asphalt parking lot, or one of those places that just a dirt-scape either. Has true Terlingua character; which makes sense as Elena is 3rd generation Terlingua. The park is named after her grandmother"Jo", the original owner of the property. Clearly marked out spots, good desert landscaping, more than dark enough to see the stars, more than quiet enough to feel the presence of the desert and get a good nights sleep. All of this despite being very accessible from the main drag and not needing a 4x4 to arrive in one piece. Elena was warm, friendly, helpful, funny, and I quickly felt like I had a friend in town and knew that she was on the phone for whatever reason.
The rest of this is going to feel like a legend, but I promise it's true...
Two months later, my family(wife and 2 kids) and I had been in Big Bend STATE Park and were headed back through Terlingua on our way back home to the Permian basin. We came through town and then turned North to Alpine for about 3-5 miles when we had a blow out.... after business hours, on a Saturday, in Terlingua. My spare had even stopped holding air... do you see how screwed I was? I had been under the vehicle cursing myself for having neglected my"spare" situation, I'd already sweated through my clothes, and I was in denial about how much trouble I was really in when I started hearing another female voice beside my wife's. I climbed out, slumped in the shade of my van, then decided to try and at least remain a decent human being and introduced myself to the lady who'd stopped to help. I was flustered by the situation and was slow to catch on, so I asked"what do you do here in Terlingua?" she said"I run Jomomma's RV park" and I replied"Oh! i stayed there a couple months ago" she smiled a friendly grin and said emphatically"$*!*, I already know!"
She got out no less that 6 different tools from her truck trying to help us jerry-rig ourselves mobile again, she called her friends for help and ideas, she insisted that we keep a jack-part that she had but didn't need, she kept us laughing, and keeping optimistic about a way forward, and consorted with the other Terlingua residents who stopped to try and find a way for us to get out of this mess. She tried to call the only tire-guy in town and didn't get an answer. In the end, we loaded both my spare and my blown out rim into her truck and she and I headed to the home of the guy who ran the only tire business in town.
By this time, it was every bit of 8pm. Elena knocked on his door, entered his home, persuaded him to fix us up, spent probably 20 minutes helping him get ready to go, and even looked through his used tire inventory for what we needed. We talked about life, Terlingua in the past, Terlingua in the present, the state of the world, and what we believed in. We talked about the RV park, it's future and it's challenges. When the work was through, the tire man(so many props to Diego's Tire Repair Terlingua TX!) didn't take anything but cash and I didn't have enough on me; Elena offered to pay him and let me pay her back via Venmo. wow.
After she returned me to our family carriage, she hung around until we got the tire on and saw that it was holding enough air for the journey. All told, Elena spent 2.5 hours with my little family that Saturday night...no exaggeration, I just confirmed it with my google maps timeline. We were completely"up a creek" with two anxious young children, and I HAD to be at work the next morning. Elena saved our bacon at a time when I still don't know what"plan b" would have been. And she did it all with a smile and seemingly enjoying herself as she helped us. I had no idea I had a friend in Terlingua, but now I have no doubt...my family and I have a good friend in Terlingua, and I recommend that you make her acquaintance.
