Our Road Trips

7/8/16 7/4-9/16

After two pretty laid back days, watching all of the shenanigans going on in Jim Hogg Park, the time arrived for our participation in something we have wanted to do for a long time, Willie Nelson's 4th of July Picnic at the 360 Amphitheater in Austin. We were prepared for a long day and the heat, but we had seats very close to the stage and so we waited until about 1230 pm to head to the venue, about 40 miles away. We were also expecting a traffic nightmare, which never arrived, we drove straight to our reserved parking spot across the street. We were in the venue within a 1/2 hour, listening to Ray Wylie Hubbard, wonderful start to our day. After that set, a line started forming for the main venue. We waited in the shade for it to start moving, and joined in and found our seat about 15 minutes before the entertainment started: Margo Price, Lee Ann Womack & Kris Kristofferson. Leon Russell was scheduled next, but his bus broke down, highly unlikely anyone was going to fix it on the 4th weekend. So we waited out his set time in the shade again. Jamey Johnson & Alison Krauss were up next...great set. Then they set up for Brantley Gilbert, shut off the lights and put on a 1/2 hour fireworks display, nice, but not the best ever. Neither was Brantley Gilbert, didn't fit in with the rest of the bands at all. Old country all day and then Rock & Roll...just didn't match. Thankfully, in our opinion, the set was only about 45 mins and then Willie was on. They played about 90 mins of lots of old classics, beginning & ending with Whiskey River. At 83, he won't be doing this forever, so we are thoroughly glad we went. We were there roughly 10 hours, heard 7 different sets for $85 plus a few beers & parking and we could bring our own water...fun day for a fair price. The drive home went well, no waiting in line, easy-peasy. We got home about 13 hours after we left, great time. We had spent 14 nights camped in Georgetown, 2 of those days we spent in Dallas. The first afternoon we were in Dallas, we wanted to see where JFK was assassinated, so we parked immediately east of the building where Oswald waited for the motorcade and right next to the infamous 'grassy knoll'. Last night, about 4 blocks away, 11 Dallas police were gunned down by an assassin...we drove through the very intersection where this happened just 2 weeks earlier...hard to believe. But we had a wonderful time in the Austin area, most of which was covered in prior posts. It won't be summer when we come back, but we enjoyed the area, lots to see & do...thanks, Austin & Georgetown.

The next morning, we packed up early and headed west. It turned into a very long day, 413 miles of Texas back roads, rough Interstate 10, and State Highways. 9+ hours on the road...we were both pretty whipped, as even Barb took a 2 hour turn behind the wheel. We arrived at Alpine, TX at 630 at night, office was closed but our site was assigned. Needless to say, both of us were ready for a cold one. We got parked and hooked up and relaxed until bed time. We had seen a big section of Texas.

The next morning we had decided to re-activate a Verizon phone we hadn't used since 2014, what a hassle. They had reassigned the number, which was the start of the fun. But, after over 2 hours of back & forth with Verizon, we got it fired up so we have a phone if our Sprint phone shows no service, like it did in Alpine. We headed south in the car about noon, stopped for a sub to take with and headed toward Big Bend National Park, 100 miles south. We arrived at about 330, thinking the cloud cover may make it cooler..wrong! But we went to the Panther Junction Park Headquarters, got some info, watched a 20 min movie about the park and headed to the east end of the park. As we rode along, we were watching the temp gauge of the motor, the temp outside and the scenery. The first thing I noticed was the lack of wildlife...hiding from the heat. The temp outside kept rising, and rising. By the time we reached the Boquillos Canyon overlook at the very east end of the park, we were both pretty amazed...122 F, and of course there is no shade in the desert...and a 15 mph breeze makes it seem like you are in a blast furnace. We headed back west through the park and headed back north on a different route but with the same destination. Barb had found a list of the restaurants in Alpine, so I spent the next 40 mins or so teasing her about the fine restaurants in Alpine. Some were closed already or would be soon, 3 took cash only (really?) and others just didn't sound like much (Guzzi Up & Bubbie's Holy Smoke) so we settled on the Century Bar & Grill, stopped in and had a couple of cold ones...it was just nice to sit in a nice cool place. They quit serving food at 845 (I dunno) so we headed back to the camper to get some rest. Another day was waiting.

The next morning, we got a much earlier start and drove the 100 miles south on the same road we came home on yesterday...amazing how the landscape changes appearance from the opposite direction and with different sun exposure. We arrived at the west entrance about 930 and drove east to the Chisos Basin Rd., which leads south and up into the Chisos Basin, at the base of the Chisos Mountains, which are the highest point in the park, a very cool ride. Once at the top, there is a lodge and a visitors center and the only place to get food in the park. So we got some lunch and headed back north. By the time we turned back south on the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive, the outside temp was again over 100, but we drove on to the Castolen Visitor's Center (which was closed) and then the last 8 miles to the Santa Elena Canyon Overlook, the end of the last paved road in the park, it was 112. So we had covered every paved road and seen some amazing sights. So we started our trek back. But we had been told about this beautiful scenic road west of the park that follows the Rio Grande for 50 miles. We decided to give it a go, as we likely won't be back here anytime soon. So for the next 90 mins we were on a roller coaster road that followed the river to Presidio, TX, the only crossing of the Rio Grande between El Paso &Del Rio, a very long ways, so it is a busy crossing. There are LOTS of Border Patrol police everywhere. We got stopped twice, once each day, but I guess we don't look like drug mules or smuggling illegals so they let us go both times. We never crossed into Mexico, but they stop every car, we were told, that is their job. Never mind that the cliffs on both sides of the Rio Grande are 1500' tall, I guess they try to make sure nobody is stupid enough to try. We got back at 730 at night after a stop at the Marfa Lights phenomenon, a series of lights that appear over the desert on clear nights south of US 90 that no one has been able to explain...they have been appearing since the 1880s...pretty weird, but we saw nothing, but it wasn't dark, or clear either. So we had spent a day & a half driving every paved road between Presidio & Langtry...if you look that up, you will see that is a huge piece of Texas. We had also driven US 90 from Van Horn to San Antonio in 2001, 460 miles of not too much. It has been an amazing 2 days.

This morning, Barbara caught up the laundry while I did some stuff on the motor home getting ready to head back north to I-10 and a couple of days at Balmorhea State Park before heading west again. The trip to Balmorhea was only 2 hours or so, we had earned that after all of the hours we drove since we left Georgetown. It has been an amazing week and we think we have seen more of Texas than people who have lived here their whole life. It is an amazing state, can't quite figure out why people want to be here though., but that is a story for another day.

We got up early, had some coffee and headed out, with the intention of taking a scenic circle drive that had been recommended to us. It starts & ends at Ft Davis, about 35 miles south of our camper and is supposed to last about an hour or 2. So we drove to Ft Davis, got some gas and stopped at Ft Davis National Historic Park, an old army base that was built before the Civil War to help people survive the trek across Texas on their way to California during the 1849 gold rush, via a road from San Antonio to El Paso. Then after the Civil War, it was abandoned for about 4 years and then re-built and used again until 1891. There is a lot of history there and it was an interesting 90 mins, Then we started our circle tour, made it about 10 miles and stopped at Ft Davis State Park, and went and had lunch at the Indian Lodge, built in 1935. Then it was to the top of Skyline Drive, which overlooks the whole park and the adjacent valley. On the road again, and the next stop was McDonald Observatory (at 6640' elevation) and a 2.5 hour tour of the varying telescopes. They took us to the 102" telescope and we spent about 45 mins getting a real feel for how big that is. Then we went to the 433" mirror telescope, which is one of the largest optical telescopes in the world. I did, however, leave with more questions than when we arrived. But it was a fun 2.5 hours. Then we proceeded with our loop, but it started raining. Scenic rides aren't too scenic in the rain. We made it back to Ft Davis just as the rain stopped, so we drove around their very old County Court House (1900) and stopped and had an ice cream cone...it has been a fun day, not quite what we expected, but an interesting day.

We are back at the camper, nice to relax & watch some TV. Tomorrow, we are headed west again with Las Cruces, NM our destination. We will be at Leasburg Dam State Park and camped on the water again. We will be back in Texas on the way back east in October for a couple of nights, but our 27 days have been an interesting time.

Steve & Barb Larson