Still in Texas

My car is in Odessa, TX for at least a week, so I might as well see what is around here. I found Stonehenge in Odessa. At the university, they have built a replica of THE Stonehenge. I have never been to Stonehenge, or any part of England, so I thought this was cool. The Stonehenge in England took thousands of years to build, while the one in Texas took 6 weeks. Can you imagine how patient we would have been back then? How many times have you or your friends said, "They started this project 3 months ago. I don't understand why it is taking so long." I liked walking into the middle of the structure, and I liked the fact that no one else was there.



In Odessa, TX, I also visited the Presidents' Museum. It was interesting, like looking into the lives of famous people. There were paintings, plates, vases and bobble-head dolls of the presidents through the years, pictures of their wives (no husbands yet), and newspapers from the times.  I forgot that Lincoln coined the phrase, "You can fool some of the people all of the time,...." At one point in my life, I think I knew all the presidents' names, but not now. I went through the museum saying to myself, "He was a president???" At one point in the display, they said that John Quincy was the only son of a previous president. They need to update their display. I probably should have told them. And the other son....is from Texas!!

 

I saw George, Barbara and "little George's" first house - modest. I visited an art museum, where I thoroughly enjoyed a photography exhibit of views along the Seine. I thought it captured the "essence" of Paris. Of course, people who have been to Paris more recently may totally disagree. I also liked one exhibit of paintings, and the garden sculpture garden. In the outskirts of Odessa I visited a meteor crater and the museum attached. Actually 2 meteors fell here; one was huge, and the other not so much. They excavated the site, and discovered quite a bit of information. This happened when there were prehistoric mammals roaming. One thing they uncovered was a tusk from a prehistoric elephant.

 

Then I went to Pecos, TX, which sounded like a fun town. This was the home of the very first rodeo. On a July 4th weekend when all the cowboys from nearby ranches were in town, they were bragging about how well they could bring down a cow or something, and VOILA!!!! a contest was arranged. From that time forward there has been a rodeo on that weekend in Pecos, and it was duplicated throughout the country.

One of the things I like about town museums, is that you see what towns consider important, and what unique things have happened in that town. In Pecos, the museum is in a building housing an original saloon where 2 men were shot. Plaques are on the floor where each man died, and a bullet hole is marked on the wall. Up the stairs leading to the bedrooms are pictures of the Golden Girls. They also feature saddles, hats, etc. from local cowboys and cowgirls through the years.

From Pecos, I went to Guadalupe National Park and stayed the night there. A number of people said to me they HEARD it was a great park to visit. Beautiful of course, in the mountains, with great rock formations. I arrived in a cold wind, and woke up to freezing rain and ice packed on my rig. I felt sorry for myself until I heard it was 17 degrees at home. And once more, I am THANKFUL!!!!

Big Bend and Stillwell's

 
I'm still in Texas, and am tempted to stay another week or more at Stillwell's. They (the campground and ranch) host a trail ride, starting this weekend. People from all over bring their horses and some wagons. The Stillwells hire a gourmet camp cook. There's music, and dancing, and all have a great time. I'd be more tempted if I would actually do the trail ride, but I don't have my horse with me.

 

 

I couldn't remember if I had been to Big Bend when working around the country with Penelope. My nephew said "Go." A couple guys I met in Bandera said, "Don't bother." But, I'm here, and loving it. I spent Saturday going through the park. I hiked out on some short trails, visited the hot springs, saw some deep and beautiful canyons. I also saw some pictographs, drawn by the native people 3,000+ years ago. One of the most interesting things was finding a number of mortar holes, which the native peoples used to grind their grains, flowers, etc. for food, paints, or ?? Some were deep, some shallow. Different holes must have been used for different purposes.

Sunday I went to the Superbowl party at the campground. Oh well!

 

 

Monday, I went on a jeep tour. Last week, the owner of a ranch next door to the Stillwells, tested a jeep tour with some people from the Stillwell Camground, and decided they'd try it out. So, lucky me, I had the opportunity to go on the second tour. This was through the owners land, climbing up the mountains, and visiting his house, and his parents' house. What a trip! I was also lucky enough to be able to sit on the high back seat of the jeep the whole time. We saw the remnants of an operation where they would extract the wax from candelilla plants. They also had built a dam in the hills to secure enough water for the operation. This product is used in gum, lip balm and ?? We saw a couple sink holes which were quite large. One was discovered when a CAT backhoe or ??? started sinking. The spot had been a dry lake, which would hold the water very well, but no more. The guys were joking about going down there and discovering another Carlsbad Caverns. I didn't see any bats, but it was early.

We passed by caves in the rocks used by native peoples 3000 - 9000 years ago. We saw a balancing rock which was amazing. How much longer will it remain? Who knows. We also saw some deer, and quail. We probably would have seen more wildlife, but it is so, so dry.

The owner of this ranch put in a well years ago (1700 ft deep), and pumps water to different places on the ranch. The horses he keeps, and the wildlife, drink from the troughs around the ranch. The current drought has lasted 4-5 years. His main income is from hunters who pay a pretty penny to stay and hunt on his property. With this drought, there wouldn't be anything to hunt, if he didn't provide water. Even so, this hunting season, I think he said there was only one deer shot. It is sad, to think of the continuing damage there will be, if the drought continues. I offered to do a rain dance, but they said, "Please don't."

It's a hard life in these parts: hauling water miles for a ranch or ??? At this point if you didn't have a well 1500' or more, you would have moved. A number of the people I have just met are from old Texas pioneer stock, and try anything to keep the ranch going.

And the views!!!! Waking up in the morning on the top of a mountain, with a view down into the canyon, is pretty good. I've always liked the wetter climates better than the dryer climates, but the Rio Grande has made some pretty country out here.

So, I didn't stay for the trail ride, and started off through Big Bend to camp one night on the other side to do 2 more things in the park. But I had another important lesson to learn, and it was expensive. I burned out the engine of my tow vehicle. There were actually pieces of a crankshaft and piston on the road. I towed it to the Ford dealer in Odessa. They'll have it about a week, and have told me what I receive back will be as good as new. Ah well, it could have been worse!!

Still on the Border

 I arrived in Del Rio, TX on Sunday. Nice place! It sits on the border, with Acuna being the city on the Mexican side. It neighbors Amistad Lake, which is a great bass fishing lake, with over 50 major tournaments a year. Monday I visited the Amistad Dam, built where Amistad Lake and the Rio Grande merge, between US and Mexico. I then drove to the Pecos River. There I had some beautiful views of the river and the limestone canyon.

I also went to the Seminole Canyon, which contains pictographs 3500 years old. I arrived on a day when they didn't have any tours into the canyon, so I only saw pictures and drawings of the stone art. The State Park facility had tremendous pictorial displays and dioramas of the environment 10,000 years, 5,000 years and 3,000 years ago, as well as more recent times, shown through pictures. They also had some pictures honoring the last Seminole Negro Indian Scouts. They now have reunions of descendants of this group.

 


I stopped in Langtry to check out Judge Roy Bean's Saloon, Courthouse and Opera House. Justice west of the Pecos, was at the whim of Judge Roy Bean. The legend may have grown bigger than the man, but there is a lot of fun in the legend, and the man. "But Judge, the bill was $1.35. I gave him a $20 gold coin. He owes me." Judge: "I fine you $18.65 for disturbing the peace. Now, get out of this town and don't come back." The Courthouse was in his saloon. The Opera House was in his home. The saloon and the town were named after Lillie Langtry, an opera singer, for whom he also built the "Opera House."  Langtry finally did visit the town, but months after Roy Bean's death. One of his children made a presentation to her. I'm going to have to find the movie "Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean", starring Paul Newman (rrrrrhhh, or meow, meow).

 Next was a long strip without gas stations. At one point, I knew I'd be looking for gas pretty soon, and asked Gypsy (GPS) how close we were to gas. She said over 50 miles, and I thought, "hmmmmmm," but luckily she was wrong. At the gas station I mentioned to the owner that I was getting worried. She said this seemed to be the longest stretch in Texas without gas ( and warnings). There had been flash flooding and a number of businesses had closed. Now, this part of Texas is extremely dry.

I stayed overnight in Marathon, TX, which was a fun little town. They advertise the town as Marathon, where there is nothing "to do." They have a webcam, so you can see that nothing is being done. And they have a nice upscale restaurant and bar, a great breakfast and lunch place, and a fantastic train, which runs all night across the little street from the campground.