70 MPH Gusts, Snow, and Greg Hits the Trails

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

The sun is shining brightly, snow is whizzing by horizontally, and it is 45 degrees. Greg walked to the ranger station to sign up for another night and then is hiking up the side of a cliff. I just saw him at the top and switched on the telephoto lens to take his photo. The wind calmed down yesterday evening and was calm all night. Greg walked to the Interpretive Center this morning to get wifi and a weather report and the winds were starting up again when he returned. They are predicted to gust up to 70 mph, so we are sitting tight until tomorrow when the gusts will be down to 30 mph.

Greg just returned from his hike and informed me that we are in good shape down in this hollow with trees breaking the wind. The top of the ridge was wild, and to the north it is very gray and snowy. He decided that after lunch he needs another hike. Not me! Yesterday I had what we called in California “desert fever”. When the Santa Ana winds hit the LA basin, they blow the high desert dust down and many people suffer from congestion and asthma. I am staying in until this passes!

Greg went out again after lunch and hiked back up the ridge and then over to the Indian Lodge. It was built by the CCC during the Depression and is in the midst of major renovations. Unfortunately, the restaurant is closed, or we would have enjoyed it. Greg took a lot of photos at the lodge and during his two windy hikes today, and some of them follow this post.

I stayed behind in the rocking camper. Actually, we have been fortunate. There have been some serious wind gusts, but we are fairly well protected in the hollow. Near dusk, after several hours of high winds, we noticed that even the nearby hills were being hidden by a dusty haze. Greg said it was particularly noticeable in the lower areas from his high viewpoints. We were glad that we decided not to stay at a campsite in town. The dust and winds must have been much worse in the flat areas. I had a quiet afternoon working around the camper and getting ideas for our future travels.

I fixed an African chickpea soup, after burning one of my new pots cooking the chickpeas! Argh! I still have not adjusted to the propane stove. It is nearly impossible to keep a low flame without it going out, so cooking foods tend to use up water faster, hence the burned beans. Anyway, I salvaged enough for the soup, which tasted good on a cold, windy day, and fixed a salad. We continued on with our Battlestar Gallactica marathon!

Tomorrow, Greg wants to get up early and stop in Fort Davis for a big breakfast at the drugstore. Then we will head to Guadalope Mountains National Park and Carlsbad Caverns National Park. There is no campground at the caverns, so we will need to stay in the town of Carlsbad in a private RV park. So, we'll say goodbye to Texas for now, and head to New Mexico!

Fort Davis and Javelinas in the Sun!

Sunday, January 28, 2013

Today started out with a decision to stay two more nights. After checking the weather we discovered that a strong windstorm is on its way. We had planned to drive to Guadalupe Mountains National Park and Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico. The wind storm is hitting them today and arriving here tomorrow, but the wind started here this afternoon. We feel that we are in a somewhat sheltered spot here, so we will hunker down tomorrow and see what things are like on Wednesday. Tomorrow they are predicting wind gusts of 70-80 mph. We don't want to be driving in that!

At midday, we unhooked and drove to town, made some phone calls and decided to finally eat lunch out. We found a Mexican restaurant with a buffet (I have no will power. Ate too much!) and then walked around town. The wind was starting to gust and we had to hold on to our hats. Fort Davis has several nicely restored hotels and a nice main street commercial area of a few blocks. We did notice a fair number of homes and businesses for sale. Greg noticed the signs on the door of the businesses that stated whether or not they allowed you to carry a concealed weapon inside!

We found the old restored drug store, which is mostly just a restaurant, so we sat on the counter stools and I had a Blue Bell Ice Cream cone and Greg had a key lime milkshake made with freshly squeezed key limes. He made the best choice! They were selling bottles of Mexican Coke which is made with cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. I really wanted to take photos of the cowboys eating there, but couldn't sneak any.

We visited the store Javelinas and Hollyhocks. I made Greg go in even though it was a toy store and gift shop. His obsession with javelinas needed to be fed. We hadn't seen any since Rio Grande Village. The shopkeeper wanted to know where we were from and that started a great conversation when she asked, “What made you pick up and leave Maryland and wind up in Fort Davis, Texas?”.

During the conversation we discussed fulltiming, geology, marriage, Alaska, wind and weather and discovered that in the past she had a pet javelina!

We decided to make a quick visit to the Fort Davis National Historic Site. The temperature was dropping and the wind was picking up, so we quickly toured the museum and a few of the soldier's residences. Fort Davis was established along the route from San Antonio to El Paso to protect travelers from Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache raids. After the Civil War, Buffalo Soldiers were stationed here. Some of the buildings have been restored. What surprised me is that it was not a stockaded fort. They rode out from here to areas that we having problems.

We drove back to the campground to a new site that we felt would be better in the wind. Just before we arrived we came across a small pack of javelinas! Greg got to see them in the sunshine, instead of just the moonshine! Since we were still full from our noontime gluttony, we decided that we would have cheese and crackers for dinner. I found and chilled a bottle of champagne left over from New Year's Eve, that had gotten buried in the laundry basket/liquor cabinet on the floor of the shower. (Don't ask...) We toasted life on the road and watched a few more episodes of Battlestar Gallactica.

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!

Go With the Flow

Saturday, January 26, 2013

There was a mix-up and another couple got our seats for the Jeep tour. The only other available Jeep had a flat tire and another one can't be obtained until Monday. We were encouraged to stay until then, but I need to get to a grocery store. We hadn't expected to stay as long as we have in this area where the nearest groceries are an hour north of here. We have also been without phone service for over a week and need to make some calls. We are looking into Skype and Viber which have been recommended by other fulltimers to use when you can't get cell reception, but have wifi.

Greg decided to ride the paved road to La Linda where the bridge still stands for the old crossing over the Rio Grande into Mexico. It is 44 miles round trip and he got a late start due to the Jeep tour mix-up. There isn't anywhere for me to walk or ride, so I would like to move on for that reason, too. I believe we will be back next winter. We have fallen in love with this desolate area. And we are enjoying the warmth! Today's high will be in the 60's, but the intense sun makes it feel warmer.

I had a nice leisurely conversation with the woman from Michigan while she was taking care of the store. Life is slower and simpler here. Left postcards for the parents under the “Mail Rock” in the store. They may go out today or Monday.

I sat outside under the picnic shelter and wrote, then researched our next move. Another cold front is due as we are ready to head north. Greg returned from biking. He didn't make it all the way to the river. He could see a long downhill for the last bit of road and wasn't sure how much farther it would be and how much climbing in addition to the 18 mile climb back to Stillwell. Decided he didn't want the additional climb back up from the river today. We spent time posting many days of blog posts and pictures and then had our Heuvos Rancheros and carrot sticks. We are now down to three carrots and two onions and no tortillas!

At 7:30 we walked over to the museum. It was darker than usual. The overcast sky was obscuring the full moon. But, the strings of Christmas lights on the front of the store and museum brightened things up. Ann and Eldon Whitford, the volunteers from Michigan were playing there. They played an hour of old country western music. Most of the small audience are staying here for the winter and so everyone knew each other. Ann played the bass fiddle and guitar, while Eldon played the guitar. Their voices harmonized well together and Eldon had some guitar skills. The only disconcerting thing was, while the singing was country twangy, the banter in between was upper Midwest!

We came back to the camper and streamed the Fringe finale and ate chocolate. All in all a satisfying evening! Tomorrow we leave for Fort Davis about 100 miles northwest of here in the Davis Mountains. We may stay in the Davis Mountains State Park campground. We have to travel back through Marathon and Alpine, so we will be able to buy groceries in Alpine. Maybe we'll get lunch again at Cow Dog. Yum!

Our Last Day at Rio Grande Village and On to Stillwell Ranch

Friday January 25, 2013

Yesterday morning Greg took off for his third day of biking in Big Bend. He went quite a ways up the Old Ore Road and had an adventure with the gullies and rocks in the 4 wheel drive road. I decided to write a blog post and then ride my bike around the paved roads of the campground. Stopped for a while to watch two road runners. They were very tame and not very concerned with me as long as I kept still. They are interesting to watch as they walk a few steps and raise their long tail and at the same time lift the crest on their heads. Then they drop the tail to the ground and flatten the crest. Then they stretch their necks down and gobble up an insect. Slowly they repeat the motions.

After my ride I finally tackled the window cleaning. Some of the outside windows I couldn't reach from the ground, so I took out screens and reached my arm from the inside to the outside. I still left some strips of dirty window, so Greg worked on them this morning. The desert is so dusty and dry. It took awhile to get the windows looking good.

After lunch we decided it was shower time. We rode our bikes down to the general store. Greg got the $1.50 five minute special and I spent $3 on two sessions. Greg said I was worth it! Seriously, that was the only way I was going to be able to shampoo and condition my hair. I really, really need a haircut and it is two months until my next appointment in Frederick. The dry climate here has turned my hair totally limp.

We rode back through the campground with full hookups and back home. Sat outside in the shade of our picnic table covering and read. Close to sundown we ventured back on the nature trail we had visited the first night. We saw a few coots, two great blue herons, and a large turtle. The amateur photographers were setting up their tripods and long lenses and giving the rest of us dirty looks as we walked across the decking and floating docks. We followed the trail further and instead of going up to the overlook, we took the river trail. As we proceeded down it, Greg spied someone ahead in camouflage clothing. He scooted into the brush farther down the river than where the trail went. As we went along and spied the “Mexican craft stores”, we noticed that the money jars were empty, so I guess he was sneaking over the river to empty them. Farther down the trail we saw horses hoof prints that went right down into the river mud and we remembered the horses we saw on the Mexican side yesterday at Boquillas.

We came back to camp and fixed dinner. I complained that I am running out of eggs and fresh produce. We've stayed in the park longer than we planned. The nearest grocery is at least 60 miles away. After dinner, when it got dark and the amazing moon came out and illuminated everything, we went on a Javelina quest. We saw three grazing on the grass. When Greg shown his flashlight on them, they weren't startled. They just looked up at us with rather expressionless faces.

Today we packed up and left Rio Grande Village. It was easier than usual, because we were not hooked up. All we had to do was stow things on the inside so that they don't fly about as we bounce down the road. Imagine your home on wheels or in earthquake country. Anything loose flies around. Every now and then, less and less, we forget to take something off a counter top, or securely close a cabinet or drawer and we hear a crash on the first turn or big bump. The worst was when the refrigerator door flew open on a sharp turn and jars flew out! We have since remedied that problem by putting tension rod bars across each shelf before we leave. Also, Greg was able to tighten the closure for the door.

We filled up our water tank and dumped our tanks before leaving the campground and headed north and out of the park. We stopped at the visitor's center and met some volunteers from Minnesota. The couple were manning the center for three months. This was their third winter. Their trailer was parked behind the center.

A few miles out of the park we turned east onto a farm road. Five miles in to the Black Gap Wildlife Management Area we came to Stillwell Ranch Store and RV Park. Next door is Hallie's Hall of Fame Museum. We decided to spend two nights here. Hallie Crawford Stillwell came to the Big Bend as a young bride of 18 and lived on this ranch into her 90's. Her husband died young and she managed to live here and raise her children herself. The ranch is over 7,000 acres. The store is being manned by more volunteers, even though it is a private enterprise. The couple we met as we checked in are from Michigan and work in the store and then play cowboy music at the museum on weekends. They have been wintering here for a few years. We met several other fulltimers who are living in the RV park for the winter. Our neighbors living in an Airstream are from Delaware and have been coming here for 15 years.

Greg had a nice conversation with the husband. He said that in the 15 years they have been coming here, he has never seen it this dry. A lot of the desert plants are not dormant, but dead. Greg and I had noticed the same. The sign in the showers asks you to limit the shower to 3 minutes because of the Texas drought. (Actually, they do not charge for the showers and this way you can cut the water on and off to lather and rinse and use less water.)

We spent the afternoon doing chores. We still have no cellphone service. The store was using a satellite phone to contact someone. But, we have wifi at our site, so we are catching up on e-mail. We plugged in ALL the electronics and recharged everything, including the electric toothbrush! Greg worked on his bike under the picnic table shelter. He had to replace his chain. The grit from biking at Big Bend wore it down. It wasn't too terribly hot as long as you stayed in the shade. We had a few clouds and a few sprinkles as a cold? front came through. I got to do laundry and met another volunteer from Minnesota working around the property.

We wound up eating dinner during the concert in the museum, that everyone had made a point of inviting us to. I guess we'll catch it tomorrow. We can stream here, so we watched the latest episode of Downton Abbey. Tomorrow night we hope to stream the Fringe finale.

Tomorrow at 11 am we are supposed to take a 4-6 hour jeep tour, mostly on the ranch. We hadn't connected to the right person by this evening, so hopefully we will get signed on in the morning. It is supposed to be a little cooler and partly cloudy, so it should be pleasant to be in an open Jeep on the desert.

I am now down to some carrots and two onions for produce. When we walked into the store I checked out the coolers and there was a lot of beer. But, I got excited when I spied eggs, so I put them on our tab. They run a tab for you and you pay for your site and anything else when you leave. I needed quarters for the laundry and they pulled out from under the counter, a huge coffee can on steroids filled with quarters! Greg was down to one beer, so he resupplied with Lone Star, a Texas beer. I told Greg that I can put together one more dinner and then we have to leave and find a grocery store!

A View of Boquillas and the Great Javelina Quest

January 24,2013

Well, by golly, the windows didn't get done yesterday! The day was too gorgeous and the sun so warm that after lunch I quit cleaning. I did get every hard surface inside wiped down. The desert dust gets in fast. The wind died down the last two days, but with the windows open during the day, the dust, dirt, sand, and grit were already inside. A fair tradeoff for being here in the warmth.

Actually, yesterday was in the 80's and without wind it was too hot! Sorry, I know you all back East are freezing. Greg took another morning bike ride and went down the River Road East. The paved River Road West we took to arrive at Big Bend. This end is unpaved and travels all across the park to hook up with the paved stretch. He visited the Hot Springs, but couldn't find them. Apparently he didn't walk far enough. We found out later that there is only room for four persons, and no tall weeds to change in. The Mexicans are very close across the river and like to watch the women change! This according to our camp host.

Greg rode down a few trails to primitive camp sites and then came back for lunch. In the afternoon we drove to the water and dump station outside the campground to refill our water tank. We had used it all up, even with careful conservation measures like using the camp bathroom and washing sink, and filling our teapot and pitcher at the outdoor faucet. After filling up the tank, we drove to Boquillas so Greg could show me the overlook and the town across the river. We saw the gate for the new crossing. Still not open, and walked around at the overlook. Once again there were a half dozen “Mexican craft stores” arranged on the rocks. They had additional items, including walking sticks made from the stalks of the desert sotol plant.

Across the river were several horses and a boat pulled up on the shore. Several “caballeros” were talking and laughing. Upriver on the bluff is the town of Boquillas. It consists of maybe two dozen flat roofed houses with a few square windows cut in them. Also, one several story enclosed tower with maybe one window. Greg decided it was their way to spy on the border and keep track of things. Who knows? Obviously, the residents do come across and probably use the boat we saw. We could see “social trails” coming up the cliff from the river. These are narrow, unofficial trails that appear to be used regularly.

On the way back we stopped at the general store to use their WiFi to check e-mail and Facebook. We treated ourselves to ice cream from the box freezer. Had to eat it fast in the heat!

We had an interesting conversation with Royleen our campground host. She and her husband, Royce, have been volunteer hosts in this camp for 14 years. This is their last year. They live here in their RV from October through January. They have a house in Kerrville, Texas. She wears an official park service uniform, with an award pin for 6,000 hours of service, and drives around in a golf cart checking people in and answering questions. We had a great discussion about the local javelinas, the recently sighted coyote that someone probably fed during the race last weekend, so he is coming around, and other assorted wildlife and flood stories.

Greg went looking for javelinas last night and saw them again. He also showed a couple from California and their three dogs where to find them. Such excitement! This pack of javelinas hasn't figured out how to open the food storage boxes. Apparently the last pack had, but they disappeared after the great flood a few years ago. They figured out how to unzip tents with their snouts, and if that didn't work, they just ripped them up. One of them found a food storage box not quite closed and after that, they were able to get in to them. Quite smart for dumb, ugly looking animals!

This is our last day and night here. If it proves to be too cold farther north, we may be back. This camp has a good feel to it. Greg is out on the Old Ore Road on his bike today, and I may ride around on the campground roads for some exercise. And wash some windows!