San Antonio--and More from Big Bend Country

With only 150 miles to go today, we took the most time getting there! We stopped for the night yesterday just north of Del Rio, TX, at the Broke Mill RV Park, nice long sites, with around half occupancy. There were lots of empty sites! We are sure last night was the last night without air conditioning for a while, as well! Perhaps not until we reach Maine! We moseyed down the road today, hunting for fuel as we drove through Del Rio--not liking what we found, so continued to look. We finally found a good prospect with separate diesel pumps and was under $4! Well, JUST under:  $3.99/gallon! We stopped at one of the many picnic areas to first change drivers and walk the dogs, then the second one (after fueling the rig) for lunch.

We arrived at Blazing Star early afternoon, checked in and drove to our site only to find that our assigned site was occupied. Mike (and Bitty--she LOVES the jeep!) drove back to the office, returning shortly with really great news! We could take our choice of 3 sites--one of which was a super premium--a great upgrade at no additional cost! We of course took it! They were thanking us for being so understanding...we were VERY happy! We'll post a picture later.

Now for updates on our visit to Big Bend County. Sunday we drove down to Big Bend National Park. We drove through the campground where we had 3 nights reserved, noticing that our site had a huge OLD cottonwood tree wrapped in yellow tape, with branches (LARGE!) missing...! The site was tight, and those branches might have fallen on our coach! We don't know just when the tree lost those branches, but we were happy that circumstances were such that we had to cancel those reservations. We parked and walked to the river. We were surprised at the placidity and stagnation of the river!

However, as you'll see in the above picture, in the monsoons, the river banks do change!  

This picture does show the beauty of Big Bend with the mountains in the background. The river obviously flows where we were standing depending on rains!

As we were walking back to the jeep, we noticed this creature resting under a cottonwood. Lindy zoomed in for this picture. That coyote was just watching us, in the afternoon heat! He wasn't moving from that shade!  

Sunday night we drove to the Texas Highway Department Viewing Station, to see if we could see the Marfa lights, arriving about 9:30 PM. We stayed until 10:30--without seeing any lights. Here is a link to a video on youtube of the marfa lights.  We are not discouraged--we do "believe" in the lights--we just had run out of time to "see" them! 

Monday we drove up to Fort Davis Historical Site, the highest city (town!) in Texas at 5050'. The drive up was enjoyable--we saw three javelinas--rugged country with many ranch entrances along the way. Way back off the road, we could see ranch buildings and homes. The town of Fort Davis is described as a quaint little town with old-fashioned buildings and a historical walking district, helping take the visitor take a step back in time. The Fort completed that time travel, as it is one of the best remaining examples of a frontier military post. From 1854 to 1891, troops stationed at the post protected emigrants, freighters, mail coaches, and travelers on the San Antonio-El Paso Road. From 1867 to 1885 Buffalo Soldiers served at Fort Davis. In addition to routine garrison duties, they rode or walked thousands of miles pursuing the elusive Commanches and Apaches. They contributed notably to the settlement of western Texas and southeastern New Mexico.   

The site illustrates the growth of the fort; from the beginning to what it was like just before it was closed. Many of the buildings, including the post hospital, are restored and partially furnished to their respective time periods. Volunteers are dressed in period-type clothing and present programs and interpret some of the restored and refurnished quarters. This stone structure was a two-story officers' quarters. This stone is similar to that of the old two story barracks found on the old elementary school Bureau of Indian Affairs campus in Fort Wingate, NM, just east of Gallup. We had the best hamburger ever at the Frontier in Fort Davis..Bob and Jo...and we will definitely be back; not just to Fort Davis for further explorations, but to the Big Bend area! 

Enlisted men's barracks and the Parade Ground

We'll be posting about our experiences in San Antonio--stay tuned!

Our travels the last two days:


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Later!

Paws and Friends