Alpine, Texas

January 16, 2013

Quick stop in the visitor's center parking lot at Seminole Canyon to take advantage of their WiFi and post the last entry and we were off, headed west again. Clear sky and cold winds greeted us. The camper was pushed about and we discovered later that between the elevation changes and the wind, our mpg dropped to less than 13!

Our first stop was Langtry for the Judge Roy Bean museum. Having never seen the movie with Paul Newman, I enjoyed learning about the man who was the only law west of the Pecos. Besides some interesting artifacts, they had the original saloon he owned on whose front porch he held court as Justice of the Peace.

We continued on across West Texas as it became hillier with mesas and buttes, drier, less populated and more desolate. A few small towns here and there, a few small herds of cattle, ranch houses in the distance and few amenities were to be found. We roughly paralleled the railroad tracks as we traveled. Reaching the town of Marathon, the first jumping off point for Big Bend, we decided to continue on to Alpine.

Alpine is at an elevation of over 4,000 feet, so it turned out to be cooler than we expected. A town of about 5,000, it is home to Sul Ross State University, whose most well known alumni is the actor who played Hoss on Bonanza. It has a thriving downtown with shops, galleries and restaurants. We decided it was time to splurge and eat out. After checking in to the Lost Alaskan RV Park we drove the camper to the Cowboy Grill on the outskirts of town for dinner. It was all locals, which we considered a good sign. Bobbie Kay waited on us and we had chicken fried steak and a sirloin. When we returned to the park, we decided not to hook up the water. With temperatures going into the 20's we were told to let the faucets in the camper run slowly all night to keep the water in the hose and connection from freezing. We had been hooked up all night in similar temperatures at Seminole Canyon and didn't think about it being a problem. But, the long term full-timer who checked us in seemed to have a lot more experience than we did, so we decided not to connect for the night.

January 17, 2013

Today's plan was to walk the mile and a half in to town for lunch at the Reata. We started out all bundled up, but even with temperatures in the 40's, the sun in West Texas is so intense that we were quickly too warm. We have had to be careful to remember sunscreen as well! The desert air is crisp and clear. We are still in a dark sky area and it is a treat to wake up during the night and see hundreds of stars twinkling in the skylight.

Reata was a treat! We think that it is named for the ranch in the movie Giant, which was filmed in Marfa, the next town over. We had great Tex-Mex and Greg tried the beer from the Big Bend Brewing Company. Our waitress was excited to tell us she had been to Baltimore and loved it and the seafood. After lunch we walked around the downtown. We looked at the murals, the Holland Hotel that had been restored to it's original 1930's look, visited an independent bookstore and a local artist's cooperative gallery.

We walked back to the RV park and decided it was time to take care of the domestic chores, straightening the camper and doing laundry. When the park has a nice laundry room like this one does, we have to take advantage of it! We had dinner at home tonight followed by watching Lance Armstrong on Oprah. “Biker Boy” husband has to keep up with such things!

Tomorrow on the way out of town, we will stop at the local bike shop, the natural food store, and the Big Bend Museum at the University, and then drive west again to Marfa. Another small town that has attracted artists from all over the world. Should be interesting.