From the Ranch to the Fort

Monday, January 28, 2013

The evening before we left Stillwell Ranch, I kept commenting to Greg that I smelled something like hot electronics. We sniffed around and didn't find anything. In the morning we woke to fog in the distance and dew at the campsite, rare for the desert. The smell was outside and we realized that the damp desert vegetation was producing the same odor, especially the creosote bushes!

Spoke to a few residents before we left. Everyone encouraged us to come back. We probably will next winter. The ranch, the store and RV park may not still be open. The family is selling it because the granddaughter of Hattie Stillwell the original owner, who was running it, has died. The other 3 remaining grand children don't want to or can't run it. Word is that the new eccentric millionaire owner wants to keep things the same. But, who knows?

We traveled through the fog until a bit before Marathon. We missed seeing some of the dramatic geology. Drove through Marathon again and then proceeded back to Alpine. Arriving in Alpine was fun. We already knew our way around town from our previous visit. The Blue Water food store was closed since it was Sunday, so we went to the local grocery store. Between being past lunch time, and excited to have food readily available, we bought too much! Yummy! Fresh vegetables!

Then we wanted to eat at the Mexican restaurant La Casita. First we thought it was closed on Sunday. Then the boy bagging for us at the grocery store told us his family owned it and it was open. Then we got our directions mixed up and couldn't find it. Then we found it and it was closed on Sundays. Obviously the boy was not the sharpest kid in his family! We realized since it was 1:50 pm that we were racing the clock. The restaurants in Alpine close between 2pm and 5pm. We raced over to the Cowboy Grill where we had dined on our last visit, and it was closed on Sundays. Cow Dog was also closed on Sunday. At this point we parked, made wraps and ate them as we drove to Fort Davis.

It was only 21 miles to Fort Davis through scenic mountains, and we are still in the desert, but at this elevation we have trees. The town is smaller than the others we've been to lately, which means tiny. Only the main highway and a parallel street are paved. The cross streets are not. We drove three miles out of town higher into the mountains to Davis Mountains State Park. We picked out a site in a hollow and have trees around us. I'm not sure what they are, but we are enjoying them! No phone service, again, and we have to walk to the Interpretive Center to catch a wifi signal. While Greg was sitting outside at the picnic table before dinner, four mule deer walked past him through our site. Later we noticed the well worn deer trail coming down the slope behind the site.

We fixed a nice dinner, rotisserie chicken and a huge salad! Then we started on the whole Battlestar Gallactica series on DVD that we saw a few years ago. No cable, local tv or wifi to stream, so we are reduced to DVDs, or reading. Beautiful full moon again with the trees casting shadows!