Fort Davis, Texas

Since the wind quit we decided to go ahead and stay another day here in Balmorhea (pronounced Balmaray). Since we were staying we thought we should get out and do something. Rod went over to the office/convenience store/gas station and asked about things to do in the area. The lady told him about Fort Davis (you can read more about it by clicking on the link) which is a preserved fort that used to be for protecting the settlers from the Apaches as they were heading out west on the San Antonio to El Paso trail. Amazingly, the trail is still there! The lady at the fort said it would take you eleven months to walk the trail to San Antonio. No thanks. Most of the buildings are gone but several had been restored. You could still see the Officer's quarters, the enlisted men's quarters, the commissary, the hospital and the chapel.

Gatling gun


Enlisted men's' quarters


The Commissary


The trail


The Parade grounds


There was also a large presence of Buffalo Soldiers


After leaving the fort we decided to take the Scenic Loop. We checked out a couple of State Parks to see what kind of camping was available. They were very, very nice parks and it would be nice to stay there in the future.

My friend Mark Hall has this uncanny ability to see all kinds of shapes in the rocks wherever he goes. I can see a million faces in these, I wonder what he sees??


We also found the McDonald Observatory that is operated by the University of Texas-Austin. We weren't able to actually go inside but it would have been cool to see the telescopes. There was a really nice visitor center with a lot of displays about the universe and Astronomy. It was getting late and they were about to close so we headed on home for more Bill's BBQ leftovers.




Finally out of Texas


We left Balmorhea at about 10:30 yesterday and had a short drive of only about 120 miles or so to The Ranch in Lakewood, New Mexico. Yes, after almost four months, we're finally out of Texas. The Ranch is an Escapees Co-op park. What that means (for my non-rv'ing friends) is that people own their own lots here and rent them out when they're not using them. That translates to cheap rates. It's out in the middle of nowhere and the city of Lakewood consists of this RV Park and a Post Office. That's it. We'll be here for a few days exploring the Carlsbad Caverns and the town of Roswell. Stay tuned....