Page 51 - TO THE DESERT...

March 1, 2005

We've headed to West Texas. Spent a few nights in Junction, which is located at about the geographical center of the Lone Star State. A nice town on the banks of the West Llano River, where Donna captured a catfish and I caught some sunfish. Alas, rains kept us in the unit during most of the visit. The locals said that rain has been more frequent than normal this winter. At a truck stop near Junction, we saw this sign:

Free Showers, Truck Service, Good Food, Pretty (Old) Waitresses

Also, on the way to Junction we viewed a herd of elk. These were probably farm elk for hunting purposes, I am guessing. From Junction, we went to Fort Stockton, which was listed in America's Most Charming Towns & Villages. The day we were there must have been an off day for charm. The museum, that charged $3 a head, wasn't all that much. The Hancock museum puts them to shame. However, they did have their own historic building to work out of, and you have to cover the costs. Fort Stockton does have the largest statue of a Roadrunner, if you are into roadrunner statues.

As you travel west from Junction, the geography changes to more desert and rocky mesas in the distance. Some of these mesas are covered with the power generating windmills ... hundreds of them. The literature here says that the winds can get very strong here, with little warning. Don't leave your awnings or TV antennas up when you leave the RV parks. We have a bunch of computer work to do today before head down to the Big Bend National Park area. For all of you in the snow back east, you drive carefully and stay home if you can.

BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH, OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT ...

March 7, 2005
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Well, we made it to Alpine after Fort Stockton. And on March first, we had a terrible blow out. No, not on the RV, but on my laptop computer. Fortunately, we were able to recover the files before it went completely. Unfortunately, we are stuck in El Paso for a week now, arranging for repairs/replacements through Apple. El Paso is the only town around here with an authorized Apple service location. Also on March first, I had a filling fall out. Not a great day. The weather was nice, but it came in like a lion in another way.

But we did get to spend a full day at Big Bend National Park, which is a wonderful place. We'll post some pictures when we get the computer problems sorted out. Easy to take pictures there. Every bend in the road is a photo opportunity. And the hiking trail into the Santa Elana Canyon is a very special place. Just watch your step. 'Texans doon believe in no stinkin' guard rails'. The pictures will be worth thousands of words. And on one 14 mile stretch of bad park road/washed out gullies, we did find that the 4-wheel drive was again an excellent investment.

Santa Elana Canyon, where the Rio Grande goes through the rocks	5 miles of bad road and an hour's hike later, in the Canyon (muddy Rio on left)

Springtime in Big Ben - Okay, there are flowers, but not everywhere!	Sorry guys, but Big Ben is TOO BIG to fit into the camera lens - a tiny slice here

Alpine is a great little town. Much better than Fort Stockton. It's a college town up in the mini-Texas mountains. Ed Whitbred advised us to go look at the Marfa Mystery lights, that are in this area, so we did. They have a viewing area out in the middle of nowhere, and they say you have about a 15% chance of seeing them just after sunset. Well, we saw them. I guess it was them. They kept going on and off way off on the horizon. The Marfa lights are listed on the 100 most famous UFO mystery locations in America. Well, we could have been a little disappointed. I mean, no electrical system shutdowns, no weird noises, no abductions, no anal probes ... just, lights. But the real mystery is that no one can figure out what makes them light up. Smoking the local loco weed could have enhanced the light show, but we just don't know our desert plants yet. (NOTE: Donna is sure that the lights are the reflections off mica filled rocks ... I just don't know and would like to believe it's the aliens.)

Also drove around the Fort Davis area, and visited the Old Fort Davis National Historic Site (US Dept of Interior). This was one of the major forts along the main drag going west that the US Calvary was always riding out of to save the settlers from Indians or Mexicans or Carpetbaggers. Neither one of us are into museums and historic sites all that much, but we both very much enjoyed Old Fort Davis. The little town of Fort Davis was also a great little town. So, thumbs up to Alpine, Big Bend, and Fort Davis.

My recommendation for lunch while on Main Street in Fort Davis	Officers quarters at Ft. Davis ... they DID find a flat spot!

So much for the travelogue.

Interesting thing about these west Texas roadways. Seems there is always a railroad next to the highways that are way out here in the desert, and the rail traffic is almost has heavy as the truck traffic. Someone is running a lot of container cars all over west Texas. Also, these Texans love four-way stops. You can be on a four-lane road, and intersect with another four-lane road, and they just post these stop signs at every corner and let the traffic duke it out. Lastly, the roads to Big Bend are lightly travelled, but 3 out of 4 vehicles on the roadways are RVs. And this is probably a very good time of the year to visit. Finally, with respect to Texas roads, I still find it hard to deal with that sign that says Reduce Speed Ahead ... and when you get there they want you do reduce your speed DOWN to 65. But I guess that's just the Easterners perspective.

By the way, Judge Roy Bean did not hang people. He just took their horse, gun, money and provisions, and told them to leave town and never come back. If they came back, then they would be hanged. That sentence was probably worse than hanging. It's a little rugged out here. Interestingly, we were all along the Rio Grande River at Big Bend, and there is no fence. We saw no border patrols. You could wade back and forth between Mexico and the U.S., and no one would be watching you. But if you are on foot, the trip might be as nasty as the Judge Roy Bean sentence. The Border Patrols around here ... and there are quite a few patrol cars and trucks ... patrol the highways! Wandering too far from a highway could be a big mistake in this part of the country.

But this country is definitely familiar. You have seen it in all the old John Wayne cowboy flicks, and the western films of the 40s and 50s. And even if the film was black and white, it don't matter too much. The area is not all that colorful. But it is beautiful.