Last night in Texas

We are spending the night at Daingerfield State Park in Daingerfield, in northeast Texas.  It's got tall pines, on a pretty lake. Here is the view from our campsite.

Just up the road, we fueled up in Big Sandy, TX.  (Read closely, Bears fans.)

Back to civilization

We went hiking yesterday in the national park.  We hiked a nice long way, but only a moderate slope, up a mountain in the Chisos Mountains in the center of the park.  It's completely different up in the Chisos.  There are pine trees, and other plants reflective of the greater rainfall which occurs there.

This is the part of the park known to have black bears and mountain lions.  However, at a ranger program last night, we learned that the numbers of each are way down due to the persistent drought.  They did receive a lot of rain last month, and hope the food chain will rebound.

We both saw several roadrunners in the park. I saw an interesting duck that I haven't been able to identify.  It had a black head and gray back.  Our campground had a golden-fronted woodpecker making the rounds.  Picture from wikipedia:

Today we drove out to "civilization" in Del Rio, TX.  We made a resupply run to the Super Wal-Mart here.
:)   It is still part of the Big Bend region, and the Chihauhan Desert.  But it's populated and there is phone service.  It's laundry night for Terry again.  :(

On the way we stopped for lunch at Langtry, the place of the famous Judge Roy Bean .  The whole drive from Marathon to Del Rio is monitored by the Border Patrol.  At the museum I asked about the gravel roads that are maintained in great shape along the fences.  See what looks like sand to the right of the highway here.  It is a nice gravel road.  Turns out, the Border Patrol runs a drag over them every day.  In fact we saw one being done.  They use data from sensors out in the ranch land to see where to go look for illegals.  They look for footprints in the freshly-groomed gravel roads as part of their search.

Big Bend National Park

We are burning daylight, pilgrim, so I need to type short and sweet here.  We  have some hiking to do.
Right now we are at the campground store at Rio Grande Village, the campground at the east end of the park.  They have wifi.  :)

Here is a look down on our campground.  That is the Rio Grande on the left, and Mexico beyond it.

At various places in the park, Mexican entrepreneurs sneak (sort of) across and set up little honor jar trinket stands.  However, they do keep a close eye on them from somewhere in the brush, because they come out and greet you (and check to be sure you are paying).   

They come from this vilage across the river.  Notice the horseman down by the shore on the other side.  He may be one of the vendors, or maybe not, I don't know.  I bought a walking stick and our guy rode up on a burro.  He spoke reasonable English and was a nice guy.   Yes, it's a little disconcerting at first, but it's harmless.  We are all conditioned to think the worst.  The park and/or border people could stop this in a minute if they thought it was an issue, but they don't.  They do put up signs warning us not to buy stuff.  CYA for them.

The park is home to some defunct ranches.  At this one, the windmill still pumps water onto the ground, making for an oasis.

One of the most popular sights is the Santa Elena Canyon.  Mexico on the left, USA on the right.

Notice again how small the river is.  This is just a few hundred yards downstream from the canyon.  It's about 15 feet across.

Here is another shot of the village, known here as Boquillas Del Carmen.  The mountains in the back are the Sierras Carmen.  Our guy said the village name is not the same over there, but I forgot what he said it was.

So you want to downsize?

You can buy small acreage down here in the range of $200-250 per acre.  Probably a little more if you want to be on the grid.  So people buy 20 acres for $4000, and put some sort of rolling home on it.  That is the simplest living, and all you have to do is pay the property taxes of maybe $5 an acre.  You supply the water, electricity, sewage handling, etc.  Then as you can swing it, you step up to add solar and wind power, a tin shed carport to collect rainwater, a septic field of some sort, etc.  There are no zoning restrictions.    Many of these ventures seem to involve starting out with an old school bus.

 Then add from there:

 Wonder what happened to this dream?

Here is the latest thing.  You and I might call it a garden shed, but here it is a mountain cabin.  These are completely unfinished.  Just 2x4's inside.

The price tags on those two, from left to right respectively:

Or, you can just live on a sofa:

Big Bend Ranch State Park

By the time this is published Monday, we will be getting ready to pull up stakes and tow into the national park.  We have great wifi here at BJs RV Park, but there will not be much of that in the park except at the general stores.   Still I hope to put up something from inside the park.

We took a drive to the west from Terlingua.  First you encounter the "town" of Lajitas, which was bought up by a rich guy with a dream of making a first class resort and spa.  Now it is all new buildings, a fancy golf course, and fake old shops.  It's pretty goofy in its setting.

The state park is mostly just rugged mountains for hiking, and there is some ranching going on in it too.  I can't see how it is much good for ranching though.  There is nothing resembling grass.  Just little woody shrubs and cacti.  Although, maybe the ranch land we were observing was already grazed and was in a state of rest and recovery.  I would not be shocked to find they can only do one "animal unit" (mother and calf) per 100 acres.  A normal grassy ranch could be 10 times that.   Anyone living out there is a long way from anything.

Here is a shot of the Rio-not-so-Grande River.  You could walk across it just about anywhere here.

We took a short hike up this canyon, known as Closed Canyon.   It goes all the way down to the river, but we didn't go that far.  It's about as easy a hike as you could ever find.

One thing missing around here has been any sign of spring.  There were a few bluebells blooming though, and a nice sprinkle of yellow once in a while.  Desert Marigolds.

Terlingua Ghost Town

Terlingua is an unusual place.  It's known for a ghost town, but it's more than that.  It's a haven for people getting away from it all.  Hippies (the modern variety), doomsday preppers, corporate dropouts, and those who just want to live a very simple life for any other reason.  Sunday I hope to get out to grab some photos of some of the dwellings along the highway.  But first, let's check out the ghost town.   Let's start with some website info:

http://ghosttowntexas.com/
The gathering place is the general store.

The ghost town is not deserted.  Various buildings have been rehabbed as either homes or businesses.
Wikipedia summary of the town

The general store photos show the porch loaded with tourists.  But the two times we've been there, it has been locals hanging out.  Around sunset they get together to drink beer and play guitars.  Yesterday afternoon it was a group of young-twenty-somethings and their dogs.  Fitting into the modern hippie mold I mentioned above.  We were going to eat at the Starlight Restaurant, but after looking at the menu we took a pass.  We were not in that frame of mind, so we headed out down the dark road to the Long Draw for some good pizza.

There is quite a little music scene here too.  Last night a good act was playing at the Starlight, the other night the Long Draw was the place to be, and so on.

Our first day, we did wander around the ghost town a bit.  We snapped a photo or two; here is the best of the lot:

We had lunch in the ghost town at a little place called La Posada Milagro.  Terry had their chili, and I had a breakfast plate.  Plus homemade deserts.  It was all DELICIOUS.

View from the top

Before we left Davis Mountains state park, we drove up the park's Skyline Drive to the top of one of the peaks.  Our family members will know that Terry is afraid of heights.  I told her I'd go by myself, but she decided to go.  Seeing this at the start didn't help her.

The road itself and the various rest room and overlook buildings were all built by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Depression.  Actually I think the entire park was developed at that time.  Here are some photos from the top.  The photos always seem to flatten out the elevation changes, and I don't know what to do about it.  You'll have to take my word that it is a long way down.

View down on our campground.  Our site is marked by the arrow.

I realized we had not taken a shot together!  My little camera can't hardly stand on it's own on a table so we used Terry's.  I thought the wind was going to blow it off the tail of the truck.

Great day in Ft. Davis TX

Yesterday was another great day.

You've probably noticed I seemed obsessed with writing about internet connectivity.  Well, yes.  It's just that we take it for granted.  We have a phone and iPad which have 3G and 4G/LTE cellular data capability, respectively.   And they have wifi too, of course.  As do our two ebook readers and my laptop.  Plus, if the iPad gets a Verizon data signal, it can be turned into a wifi hotspot to feed the other devices.  Or, my phone can receive a Verizon signal, and be tethered to my laptop, getting the laptop onto the net.  Or, if the laptop can pick up a wifi connection, it (laptop) can be turned into a wifi hotspot for the other things.

You following all that?  LOL.  On this trip so far we have had to do each of the above!  Right now, the laptop can connect to the park's wifi signal, but the iPad and other gizmos can't find it.  Meaning the laptop has better wifi hardware, I suppose.  So ANYWAY, I turned the laptop into a hotspot and now Terry can use her iPad too.  When it comes to paying bills, filing, and such, Terry is a control freak.  No doubt about it.  If you look up backups for backups, Terry's picture is there.  If she can't keep an eye on our electronic bill paying, she gets very nervous.  When her hands start to quiver, I figure I better find a way to get connected.
:-)

When we came into the park the first time to browse for a site, we had the iPad turned on and kept checking to see if there was wifi and/or Verizon.  We found a nice site right up the hill from and overlooking a park interpretive center building.  And the building has public wifi.  So with the laptop connected, and turned into a network, Terry is hammering away at her bill monitoring and paying passion.  Let's not even talk about her problems with her email on the iPad.  Suffice to say we had to make an emergency run for ice cream yesterday:

Texans like to brag about Blue Bell ice cream.  Let me tell you, it's all true.  This soda fountain is in an old hotel on the main street of Ft. Davis.  The town has a very nice authentic main street.  Not a re-creation of something from the 1800's, but a legitimately-preserved old resort/tourist feel.  In the local paper we read they are up in arms about Family Dollar wanting to come to town.  I can see why it would be a concern.

What about the Davis Mountains, you ask?  Well, let's check out the photos from our campground:

We are camped at right about a mile high in elevation.  The first day I felt a little off, which I think was altitude sickness.  We have both noticed more aches and pains, which I assume are also due to altitude?

Last night we drove 13 miles up the mountain to the McDonald Observatory for a star gazing event.  Our great luck with weather kept on.  It was virtually cloudless, and moon-less.  You probably couldn't ask for a better view of the sky.  They gave a presentation using a very cool laser light (like a flashlight) that looked like it was pointing to infinity.  The speaker used it to outline the constellations and gave a bit of the Greek mythology attributed to them.  He readily admitted that you had to stretch your imagination a lot to actually see the figures ascribed to the star groups.

At the end, we lined up to view 5 different fixed telescopes, looking at the remains of a supernova, at Jupiter, and, oh, I can't remember, a bunch of stars.  :)  We both enjoyed it but sort of felt once is enough, we wouldn't need to go to another observatory and do the same thing again.  Heck, even at our campground, the night sky is spectacular.  The Milky Way is so obvious to see, it's like cheating.  As the song says,

The stars at night

Are big and bright

Deep in the heart

of Texas

Whew, that's enough for one report.   I have some photos of critters to put up, but they can wait till morning.

The middle of nowhere

Tonight we are in Oasis State Park near Portales, New Mexico.  It is in the windy high plains.  Elevation 4000 ft.

Today we left Las Cruces on US 70 headed NE towards Alamagordo, Ruidoso, Roswell, and Portales.  We had hoped to make Amarillo, but we spent an hour at the White Sands, and another hour for our brunch at a Denny's.  Every time I go to a Denny's, I swear it is the last time.

Once we cleared the Organ Mountains east of Las Cruces, this was the scenery around the White Sands Missle Range.  The snow-capped peak is near Cloudcraft:

The White Sands are something to see.  The sand is gypsum, washed out of the mountain rock.

Up by Ruidoso, we traveled through the mountains.  The pass was about 7700 feet, but the driving was pretty easy.  There was snow in the shade in peoples' yards, probably from the night before.  This should be Capitan Peak, about 10,000 feet.  Or it's Sierra Blanca, about 12,000 feet.

Once out of the mountains, the hills eventually give way to somewhat grassy high plains/desert, with cattle, horses, and tumbleweeds.   Towns are scarce and barely alive, so be sure to keep an eye on the map and fuel gauge.
BTW, Terry was driving when this photo was snapped!

We are one of only 3 or 4 campers in the state park.  It's the same land as the photo above, but with a few trees.  Nothing to block the wind, but we are parked heading into it so it shouldn't rock us too much tonight.
Tomorrow we expect to sleep somewhere in Oklahoma.

Las Cruces again

Wednesday we drove from Tucson to Las Cruces along I-10.  The scenery changes often, although it is all desert.  We snapped a couple of representative photos along the way.  The first is a rest area in a beautiful location.

And here is where we stopped to make sandwiches, let the dog stretch her legs in the sun, and buy some heavily-advertised jerky.

Here in Las Cruces we are staying in a plain RV park in town.  Nothing photogenic here.  After checking the weather and consulting the magic eight ball, we have decided to just head for home from here.  We plan to leave Sunday morning, stopping for nights around Amarillo, central Oklahoma, central Missouri, and home on Wednesday.