Fort Davis TX to Big Bend Ranch State Park

Sunday November 8, 2009

We had a rather leisurely, busy and late start to the day. Jane managed to wake up a little after 7:00 to snap a photo of the almost sunrise out the hotel door. We made it to breakfast and then began the tasks of repacking the Sprinter. When you camp with limited space everything has its’ place or you have chaos. Well we had taken out the things we needed for two days of hotel living and now they had to go back in their places AND we still had all the laundry drying in the back of the Sprinter. About half was completely dry and got put away as well as everything from the hotel stay. We checked out and left the hotel about 10:00.

We started south to Alpine a town of almost 5,000 on route 118. We hoped we hoped to find a grocery store and if we were very lucky somewhere to buy the fuses we needed for the phone and GPS chargers. The drive was only 26 miles and was through high mountains, cattle ranches, and beautiful grasslands. Alpine was a large town by the standards of Fort Davis and Van Horn – our last two small towns. The GPS said the nearest Wal-Mart was 90+ miles in El Paso. We found a nice grocery where Jane got everything on her list…until she reached the check-out and was told she could not purchase the wine until noon – it was 11:30. So we would make a trip back to the grocery after touring town and eating a picnic lunch. We also found of all things a Radio Shack – yeah – they would have the fuses…but they did not open until 1:00! We drove around town, got some gas, and drove back to the grocery – Jane went in to get the wine and had to wait in a line of 4 people at each check-out waiting to purchase wine or beer! The stroke of noon the cashier checked each of us out. To the right of the grocery was the Baptist Church just getting out and to the left the Presbyterian Church. Across the street was the Radio Shack and a Christmas Shop with a Nativity Scene in front of their establishment! All in all it was an interesting scene.

Liquor & Grocery Store and Baptist Church

We parked in the lot of the Radio Shack, ate a picnic lunch, read the local paper and waited until 1 PM so Ben could go in and buy the fuses.

We left Alpine headed to Marfa and then on to Presidio which sits on the border with Mexico. We had just read in the paper that Governor Perry has written a complaint letter to Homeland Secretary Nepalitano regarding the new practice of the Border Patrol sending a bus load of 90 illegals from the Tucson area to Presidio each day and returning them to Mexico. So we were unsure what to expect in Presidio.

First – Marfa – another small town with its’ claim to fame being the Hotel Paisano which was headquarters for the movie Giant. It was a small but very attractive hotel which Jane photographed. The restaurant is “ Jett’s Grill”.

"Giant" Hotel in Marfa

Just past Marfa was a huge Border Patrol station that was stopping every vehicle coming north. We have our passports with us – not planning to go across the border but we had been told having them helped you quickly get through these stops by the Border Patrol.

We then began driving directly south to Presidio with our plan to stop at the Big Bend Ranch State Park or continue on to Terlingua or Lajitas which ever worked out best. The terrain was more desert like, little grass and more cactus. There were more mountains and they seemed higher. At one point we saw in the distance 5 tiers of mountains. There were ranches but few cattle. We were following the River Road TX 170 and it did not take us into the center of Presidio where the international bridge was located. We were less than impressed with what we saw of the town. We stopped at TX Historic Location – Fort Leaton. This was a large adobe structure that had been used since the 1850’s. We watched a film that was shot by Hollywood film makers of Pancho Villa and his raids. We found we were already in the Big Bend Ranch State Park and received information about camp sites along the River Road. After much deliberation we decided to spend one night here and then the next night in a RV Park in Laijitas. The site we selected is on the banks of the Rio Grande, has a bathroom but no electricity.

We drove the 15 miles along the River Road to the Arenosa Campsite – very desolate country. There are mountains on both sides of us, a roller coaster road, and the Rio Grande to our immediate south – not as wide as the Holston River near Riverfront Restaurant in Kingsport.

Terrain in Southwest TX


First View of Rio Grande near Presideo

This did surprise at least Jane as she expected a larger river. We arrived and took lots of photos of the cactus and in particular the ocotillo cactus that is bright yellow with its green leaves turned for fall. We are the only people at this site.

Ocotillo Cactus in Fall Glory

Ben sees some folks camped on the other side of the Rio Grande but they are far enough away we really can’t hear or see them at all. The Mexican side of the river is not a park but is something similar with preserved land. This is about as remote as you can get.

Remote Campsite along Rio Grande

We had a good dinner of chicken, pasta and Italian sauce….pretty good for the wilderness. When we arrived the temperature was 86 but it is now pitch black and the temperature is a comfortable 70. We can expect it to get down to the 50’s tonight according to the rangers.

Fort Davis TX

Saturday November 7, 2009

Sunrise at Indian Lodge

We started the day with breakfast at the Black Bear Restaurant…Ben had biscuits and gravy and Jane had a breakfast burrito…both were good and the coffee was great! Then we were off for an exciting morning at the Fort Davis Laundromat! Along the way we stopped to view and photograph the cottonwood trees along the river. They were a brilliant yellow.

The ranger at hotel check-in had told me the water pressure was poor in Ft. Davis so we were expecting it to take a little while to do the laundry. One of the washers seemed to fill and wash in fairly good time; but the other one took forever..at least an hour for the rinse cycle to slowly fill. There were 3 guys doing their laundry – no one else for the 2 ½ hours we were there. Maybe laundry is a guy thing in TX. Then the dryers took quite a while too so we decided to hang most of the clothes in the Sprinter since we would not be sleeping in it tonight and the humidity should dry things in quick order. I just had to take a photo since it did look strange with more than a weeks’ worth of clothes hung in the back.

Laundry in Van

After the laundry was done we stopped at the Fort Davis National Historic Site to view the parade grounds, commanders home, enlisted barracks, and were on our way to the hospital when we realized it was 1:15 and we had to be at MacDonald Observatory at 2:00 for the Solar Program. This was one of the forts staffed post civil war with the Buffalo Soldiers. The role was to protect the road from Santa Fe to El Paso and on to California. We hurried back to the Sprinter, ate cheese and crackers and some other snacks on the drive to the Observatory – 17 miles up a mountain.

Fort Davis National Military Park - Officers Quarters (note flags at half staff due to killings at Fort Hood)

We made it in time and enjoyed a video and actual solar viewing through a telescope. I heard so much that I never knew about the sun. Then we toured two different telescopes – the first a 107 inch was of the traditional type with the rotating dome roof that opens.

107 Inch Traditional Telescope

The second was a much more recent invention (1999). It has multiple small triangular mirrors that function together as one large mirror (as in the other scope) – a parabolic reflector – the angles of each mirror are controlled by a computer. They used many non-traditional construction techniques which have since been copied worldwide. The cost was $20 million as opposed to over $100 million for the more traditional type telescope. The University of Texas (known here as UT) partnered with several other universities in the US and Germany to build this telescope.

Second large telescope

View from Observatory looking back towards Fort Davis

They have 3 large and multiple smaller telescopes here and it is one of the top observatories in the country due to its location as well as equipment. All in all this was a great experience.

We left the observatory; drove back to Indian Lodge (13 miles) enjoying the beautiful views. We had a rest, some dinner, and headed back at 7:30 for the Star Party. This was a very different presentation and event. The observatory has an outside amphitheater that seats hundreds. We were about 200+ tonight but they have 1000+ in the tourist season. We saw all the constellations that were visible tonight, Jupiter, and a pass of the space station. The presenter had a laser pointer that was strong enough to point out the constellations! After this program we had the opportunity to look through 5 different telescopes to see various stars. We saw Jupiter and its’ 4 moons, the Andromeda Galaxy, M-11 which was an old star breaking up and M-25 a star that was just forming(or maybe it was the other way around) anyway they were fascinating. The number of stars in the sky was awesome (I am trying to think of a descriptor and can't come up with one). The temperature was 58 when we left. We did not get cold but wearing fleece, a wind jacket and ski hat made the difference because there was quite a wind. We were up near 5800 feet so found it strange that it was more than 10 degrees colder back at Indian Lodge!

All in all it was a great day. We need to include a wildlife report – so far we have seen 4 deer and 2 javelina. We saw the deer this morning as we were photographing the beautiful yellow cottonwood trees and the javelina yesterday right here by the Indian Lodge. We are still waiting for the mountain lions and bears!

Guadalupe National Park to Fort Davis TX

Friday, November 6, 2009

The wind flapped our TN flag all night long. We had been afraid the temperature might be in the 40’s and without the heater we would be cold – but it was 60 in the Sprinter when we woke up this morning. The wind was fairly strong and required a wind jacket when out early. This location is on Mountain Time but we just stayed on Central since we would be back in Central Time zone by mid day today. The sun was bright and there was a clear blue sky. We left after eating breakfast for three short hikes in the park before we headed south.
Campsite at Guadalupe Mountains National Park

The first hike we took was from the visitor center to the Butterfield Stage Ruins – this was the precursor of the Pony Express. The stage ran from St. Louis to San Francisco with several stops along the way – this being one of them. We photographed some of the desert plants and the mountain peaks.
Guadalupe Mountains

The second hike was at McKettrick Canyon. This was along a small stream that ran through McKettrick Canyon. The hike was much longer than we could take today but Jane was hoping to reach the stream so we could see the maple trees that supposedly grow along the stream. We hiked about half a mile and had not come to the stream so we turned around and headed back. We did see some of the red sumac and yellow walnuts that we had been seeing along the road. Even without seeing the stream the hike allowed us to experience beautiful weather and views.



Fall Color

Our third venture turned out not to be a hike but a small historic home – a ranch house that was occupied until the 1970’s by families who were working the ranch. They raised lamas and sheep and took the wool 60 miles south to Van Horn. They had kept the farm as it had been in the 30’s and had photographs of the history of the area from the late 1800’s until the park was formed in the 1980’s.

Our exploring of the park over we headed south to Van Horn TX. There was not much to Van Horn. We ate a picnic lunch under a tree in the parking lot of a out-of-business Pizza Hut. We then visited a Dollar General Store – the main business in town -and purchased bandana handkerchiefs and some saline nose spray. Humidity of 20% is hard on the nasal passages and Ben realized he left his handkerchiefs wherever he left his socks!!! Shopping over, we headed south towards Fort Davis where we hoped the Indian Lodge would have room for us Friday and Saturday instead of Saturday and Sunday.

The terrain during the morning was very stark – the high rocky mountains above the flats with scrub plants. The ranches were large as it took lots of acres for each steer to graze. Most of the ranches seemed to be for cattle and some horses. After we crossed I 10 the mountains were not as high and the ground had much more grass. The cattle herds were larger. We left the main road and went across about 10 miles of farm road – but it was of good quality – to join up with the road into Fort Davis.

We arrived in Fort Davis and drove through town to the State Park – we negotiated a change in the reservations and unpacked. Jane was going to wash clothes in town but we decided to just do nothing….a rest, catching up on internet and reading travel brochures took up the couple hours until supper time. Tomorrow we explore the town, wash, and go to the Observatory.

The Indian Lodge was built by the CCC and about half is original with the other half built to resemble the original portion. There are all kinds of nooks and passageways and a very welcoming lobby. We thought we might use the internet in the lobby but it works in our room as well. The dining room was simple but served excellent food. We had chicken fried steak that was great along with veggies, soup, salad. Then it was back to the room for some TV and catching up on the blog.

Indian Lodge

Signs on all doors at Indian Lodge say mountain lions have been seen in the park – If I see one I hope I am in the van!

Carlsbad NM to Guadalupe Mountains Natl Park

Thursday November 5

Temperature in the Sprinter was in 60’s with our heater coming on occasionally during the night – the outside temperature was 43. We were very comfortable and by the time we had coffee and were ready to get outside it was in the high 50’s. We left this park which was really very nice – had Wifi (weak signal), a coupon for a free movie, lots of play equipment for children, a track to race small pedal cycles, and I think I mentioned the swimming pool. We topped off the gas tank as there were no gas stations until we get back to the Interstate at Van Horn tomorrow. It was only about 20 miles to Carlsbad Caverns National Park and the traffic was light. The highway was being turned into a 4 lane with Obama Stimulus money. I am sure the traffic is much heavier in the summer but right now the extra lanes seem unnecessary.


Landscape around Carlsbad Caverns National Park

The drive from the highway up to the National Park was through stark canyons with prickly pear cactus, yucca plants, and a very pretty yellow tree which we later identified as little walnut. The road wound around the canyons and climbed up to reach the crest where the visitor center was built. The area became a national park in the early 1930’s. We got the information from a ranger and selected the 1.3 mile Big Room Tour and an audio tour to accompany us. If Ben wants another tour, he will go back after lunch. There was an elevator that took us down 750 feet in a little over a minute. Then a blacktop walkway with hand rails led us the entire way. There was quite a bit of up and down walking but most was fairly level. Everything that people go underground in caves to see was here – stalagmites and stalactites as well as draperies, popcorn, columns, pools, and breakdown. The ceilings were large and vaulted in most areas. The information said one of the large rooms would hold 4 football fields. The lighting had been done very well to show off the various formations.









All Photos in Carlsbad Caverns National Park

Ben (the cave explorer) was very impressed and so was Jane (the rather skeptical but willing to give it a chance participant). There were many locations where the stalagmites and stalactites joined to form columns and this is evidently not seen everywhere. We saw only a small part of the cave as there were 5 more guided tours into other areas of the upper and lower levels. We saw parts of both the upper and lower levels. Ben says there were many passages going in every way from the large rooms. We were in the cave from about 9:30 until a little before noon. We ate a picnic,and after looking out over the vistas; began our decent back down to the main road.

We drove the 55 miles south to Guadalupe Mountains National Park and toured the Visitor Center. The campground here had spots so we located a site, paid the $4 to stay and sat down in the sunshine to do absolutely nothing! Jane finished her Mary Higgins Clark book and started the Nevada Barr book written about Carlsbad Caverns. Ben took a short nap. The humidity is 20% which causes some strange feelings in the head! There are several short hikes we will take tomorrow before we leave for a 60+ mile drive back to Van Horn and the interstate. We have reservations at Indian Lodge in Fort Davis for Saturday and Sunday nights so we are not certain how far we will go Friday – also depends on how long we hike. This area is known for having the best tree color in the area and we are here at the peak. There seem to be red and yellow trees that will really stand out among the stark tans of the mountains and the green cactus and scrub plants.


Example of Walnut Color

This is a remote 40 unit campsite but is nearly full and the rangers tell us it always fills on the weekends. There are nice bathrooms but no electricity. Our generator gives us power for the refrigerator and lights but nothing else if we want coffee so – cooking on the gas stove was in order. We had a good dinner and by 6:30 it was pitch black. We will hope to go out and look at the stars in a little while.
The only attraction for this remote national park is the hiking and scenery. It seems most of the folks camping here are into hiking in a big way. One hike we will take tomorrow is to the remains of a pre-pony express station.

Abilene TX to Carlsbad NM

Wednesday 3 November

We started out the day driving away from Abilene KOA about 9 AM and began a new book on CD – David Baldacchi’s First Family. The miles clicked by as we drove dead west along I 20. Remarkably we had good cell service all day until we left the Interstate. Jane checked in with her Mom who was getting ready for the first Lady Vol’s ball game this week.

We stopped for a picnic lunch before arriving at the Permian Basin Petroleum Museum in Midland. The terrain today was mostly flat with some rolling hills – all covered with low brush, prickly pear cactus and occasion trees. Off and on there was a mesa with the same vegetation. There were also occasionally wind farms as far as the eye could see – we could count 20 to 30 wind turbines in rows and were unable to count how many rows. We were surprised by the cotton fields – there were many and they were in the process of picking so we observed several picking machines and saw some already loaded and packed into bales. There were also numerous oil wells along the road – sometimes a lone pump and then an area with them as far as the eye could see. The Midland and Odessa area in particular had numerous mechanical and drill support businesses. We observed no signs of a depressed energy business in this area.


Wind Turbines and Cotton Fields

The Petroleum Museum was very interesting – we spent about 2 hours there viewing various exhibits on old and new oil drilling technology as well as lessons on how the oil was formed. They had commissioned Tom Lovell to paint a series of 14 paintings depicting history of the area with emphasis of course on the oil industry. They were outstanding. Outside the museum was a collection of oil derricks and other equipment. All in all it was a great and enjoyable learning experience.



Oil Derrick and Walking Beam Pump at Petroleum Museum

We then headed to Odessa where we hoped to visit the Presidential Museum that included information on the United States, Republic of Texas, and the Confederacy Presidency (it has collections of campaign buttons, and much more) and included the first home of George HW Bush. Well, we saw the home of the Bushes; but the museum was closed with only a sign on the door.

First Home of President George H W Bush

We did get to visit and view on the University of Texas of the Permian Basin Campus a replica of Stonehenge. The horizontal dimensions are correct and the vertical dimensions are at 70% of the original. It was constructed from 20,000 lb limestone slabs from a nearby quarry.

Jane at Stonehenge Replica

We then started west again having decided to continue on to Carlsbad instead of stopping at the Monahan Sands State Park as we had planned. GPS Lady said it was 125 miles and it was 3:30…however we were going to gain an hour since Carlsbad is on Mountain Time. Shortly after giving us this vital information GPS Lady began giving us low battery readings. Even when we connected her directly; she kept getting lower and lower in volume. Finally we turned her off and returned to our tried and true - Jane reading the map for directions to Carlsbad. We turned north off of I 20 on 285 and cross 80+ miles of very desolate country. Two tiny crossroads with no businesses and we finally crossed into New Mexico and finally arrived in Carlsbad.

Desolate Country on way to Carlsbad

We turned down the road that would lead to the National Park in the morning and about 5:30 just as it was getting dark we arrived at Carlsbad RV Park and Campground. Our plan had been to drive up to the park just for a day so Jane had gathered no information …just like the old days before internet – go and see what you can find!!! This is a nice park – even has an indoor swimming pool. The internet signal is rather weak which may be due to lots of users. I may be able to post this blog but am fairly sure I will not be able post photos. Next time we have good internet I will upload some more photos.

Note – if driving and using a GPS you may want to have a spare fuse for the charger – that was what was wrong with the GPS. We have tried replacing it with the one in the cell phone charger – maybe it will work tomorrow and maybe not…we should be able to buy replacements when we come to a truck stop when we get back to the interstate…lesson learned – carry a spare!

Tomorrow we explore Carlsbad Caverns. Ben probably more so than Jane!

Dallas TX and on to Abilene TX

November 3 Tuesday

We got up and broke down camp to leave for Dallas by 8:30. We had three destinations – the Kennedy Assassination Site, The Galleria, and the National Boy Scout Museum… well GPS Lady led us to all three! It was not her fault that there was no parking at the Galleria for a 9 foot high Sprinter…so we only experienced 2 of the 3!

It took about an hour to drive to Dallas from our campground. The skyline was outstanding and some of the curtain wall skyscrapers were just beautiful. We found parking very near the assassination site and walked around to view the grassy knoll and the motorcade route. The 6th and 7th floors of the Texas Book Depository have been turned into a museum of video and photos from the time of the assassination. For our generation, the assassination is one of those events - everyone can tell you exactly where they were and what they were doing when Kennedy was shot. The museum was very well done and remarkably included information on many of the various solutions to who shot Kennedy. The corner window where the shots were fired and where the gun was found are as they were then. Numerous photos and recordings tell the story very well but they allowed no photos to be taken.

Grassy Knoll and Texas Book Depository

We then drove to the Galleria – Jane really wanted to visit Nieman Marcus but alas after driving around for some time we decided we would have to walk too far from anywhere we could get the Sprinter a spot…so we drove on to the Scout Museum which was in nearby Irving.

The highlight of the Scout Museum was 40 of the 52 original Norman Rockwell paintings of scouts. We were able to photograph all 40 that are on display. They have to rotate the paintings as they only have room to display 40 at a time. There were numerous rooms of very interesting historical displays in this museum.


Ben and Jane at Scout Museum


Ben Tries out his Aim

After our touring we headed out of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, heading west.

We were planning to drive until about 4:30 and that ended up with us in Abilene. With a population of 120,000 Abilene seems small after three days in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. We stopped at a grocery for a few things and found a nice site at a KOA campground that has electricity and internet and cable TV – everything we need for a connected evening. We can catch up on election results, watch NCIS, and catch up on email. Jane is way behind on the blog and will hope to get all the narrative posted and some photos. We had a great dinner tonight – the leftover steak, potatoes, and Ben’s pecan pie from Saltgrass. Along with salad from the grocery we stretched the great meal from last night into 2 meals!

Tomorrow we head further west – through Midland/Odessa and on to Carlsbad Caverns and Guadalupe Mountains National Parks. The tree colors were good in the Guadalupe Mountains the week before we left home - hope they still are. We may be without internet again for a few days…. Weather is great – in the high 70’s to low 80’s daytime and 50’s at night.

Fort Worth TX

November 2, Monday

We awoke to a beautiful blue sky day with temperatures in the 70’s. We read through all the tourist pamphlets and selected where we would spend today and tomorrow…today we will go to the Sundance Square Area of downtown Fort Worth and to the historic Stock Yards area. If there is time we will go to the Cultural District as they have numerous very nice museums – however many are closed on Monday. The day will end with a steak dinner since we are in “Cow Town”. Tomorrow we will visit the Boy Scout Museum in Irving, the Galleria Mall, and the Kennedy Assassination site in downtown Dallas. There are so many things but two days is all we can manage and after two days of walking in cities we will be ready to hit the road!

GPS Lady guided us to the Stockyards and we walked around after finding a parking place – their parking is very organized. Lots of lots and all spots have a number – there are large boards and you roll up dollars and put in slots for each space….There was a cattle drive down the main street at 11:30 so we watched that before heading to Billy Bob’s Texas for lunch.

The Cattle Drive

Now we know the time to visit a honky-tonk is at night; but that is not when we are here – so the next best thing is lunch! We had a delicious brisket sandwich and onion rings. Jane was really not expecting much in the way of good food at such a place but it was very tender and had excellent flavor.

Neon at Billy Bob's

The police in this area are ride horseback.

We looked at western clothes, jewelry, and toured the Livestock Exchange and peeked in the Rodeo Coliseum. The buildings were well restored but I would say the tourist traffic was light. The weather was absolutely beautiful and in the high 70’s. Short sleeves were comfortable.

We headed with GPS Lady’s directions to the Sundance Square area of downtown Fort Worth. The most impressive thing to us about this city was the sharp contrast and combination of the old and new architecture. There were stunning glass skyscrapers and right beside them restored buildings dating back to the turn of the century.

Varied Architecture

The city was bustling with traffic and people. A free trolley (Molly) made a circuit of the area every 15 minutes. We rode it around and then walked and looked in shops in a 3-4 block area. Lots of great western wear, art, and jewelry. When Jane's back had had all the walking it could take for the day we headed back to camp for a short rest before heading out to find the steak dinner.

GPS Lady helped us locate one of the top rated steakhouses in the area only 6.7 miles from our camp – so we are headed to Saltgrass Steak House in Arlington. Wow – good job GPS Lady! Great salads, super good steaks and Ben brought home a huge piece of pecan pie with ice cream! We cleaned our plates (if you count what we put in the take home box!); but we did not do as well as the guy at the next table – he literally chewed on the bone of his t-bone steak in the restaurant – I had never seen that before! Note to self - eat in another Saltgrass Steak House if the situation presents!!!

We made it back to camp and hooked up electricity etc in the dark.


Campsite at Holiday Park

We are enjoying another peaceful evening here at Holiday Park. The moon is full and the moonlight and lights from homes across the lake are beautiful.

Tatum TX to Fort Worth TX

November 1 Sunday

It was a very quiet night with no sounds at all other than an occasional truck on the road nearby. We finally saw one person outside one of the units camped down the way.

Campsite at Emerald Glen

We got away from the campground in Tatum about 9:00 and enjoyed a ride through the Texas backcountry as Lady GPS guided us through several small towns on our way to Nacogdoches. We arrived at 10:30 and were not entirely surprised to find the only thing in town open was the Wal-Mart! I had hoped the Visitor Center would be open but no – locked up not open until 1 on Sundays. We used our pamphlet to guide us around town as well as the historical signs on many of the buildings. This is the oldest town in TX and the El Camino Real came through here so much of early TX history was influenced by the people in this town.


Ben at El Camino Real Signage

There were numerous gift shops, antique shops and restaurants in the old downtown area. We enjoyed a nice walk around town and took photos of historic buildings. After our downtown walking tour we headed to the Wal-Mart to buy 4 things – one of which was socks for Ben. He can’t imagine where he left his socks but not one pair made it into the sprinter! We then headed out of town on our trip west to the Dallas Fort Worth area. We picked out a US Army Corp of Engineers park which was south of Fort Worth but fairly close in. The park we picked was under water when we called but Holiday Park was open. That storm that crossed through this part of the country two days ago really left a lot of water behind. We stopped at a nice roadside park for lunch and then continued on anxious for the ending of our 9 disc murder mystery we have been listening to since TN!

The land is rolling hills and green pastures with huge cattle herds. There are many large ranches and small towns along the way. We were on TX roads until about 60 miles east of Fort Worth we entered I 20. The quality of the TX roads impressed us. The urban sprawl extends at least 30 miles out from Dallas central. Somewhere southeast of Dallas the terrain changed – it is still rolling hills but the grass changed to a more brown/reddish grass and there are fewer trees. We passed the Dallas city limit sign and could barely see the skyline in the distance. I-20 stayed about 20 miles south of the main city area but was very built up with malls, huge churches, homes etc.

We drove to what we thought was our campground and it was the Holiday Park Day Use area; however the staff directed us down the road about 5 miles to the campground. Lake Benbrook is huge with homes built all around it on the hillsides – right outside the entrance to this Corp Engineers Park is an exclusive gated community with million dollar homes. They have outstanding views. We have a very nice site one row back from the water, and fairly close to the bath house. We walked down to the water edge and could see how far out of its banks the water was and still is. A number of the campsites are not accessible right now.


High Water at Holiday Park

Supper, photo editing, and reading filled the evening along with watching TV – Ben finally had true super success with his homemade from the internet HD antenna! We selected from 36 channels – well about half were in Spanish but it was still quite a selection with perfect reception.
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Moundville Alabama to Tatum Texas

October 31 Saturday (450 miles)

We woke up to 48 degree temperatures – quite a drop from the 81 yesterday afternoon. We had rain off and on all night but I love the sound of the rain on the metal roof of the Sprinter. A quick breakfast and run through of the checklist and we were on our way west at 8:15.

We found our way back to I 59 and followed it to I 20 in Meridian Mississippi. We crossed both the Black Warrior River and Tenn-Tom Bigbee waterways – both have locks and are navigable. We were surprised by the lack of crops as we had expected to see cotton, corn, etc. There were mostly cattle and catfish farms where we traveled in Alabama.

Cypress Trees along Tenn Tom Bigby Waterway

After a short stop at the Mississippi Visitor center we continued west across the state through Jackson. We stopped as planned at the Vicksburg National Battlefield for a national parks passport stamp and to view the areas noted in Michner’s Texas. We saw the introductory video and walked through the Jewish Cemetery to see the lunette defended by the Second Texas Regiment during the battle of Vicksburg. We did not take the 14 mile drive since we had done it on a previous visit. The weather was sunny and warm – a huge difference from early morning. We ate a snack lunch as we drove today since we really wanted to get across Louisiana before stopping for the night.


Cannons at Vicksburg

Both Mississippi and Louisiana got lots of rain during the storms that crossed the area yesterday – water was standing in most of the fields and along the roadsides. Across both states there were fields of cotton, numerous cattle, and even a few oil wells. A quick stop at the Louisiana visitor center gave us a map to follow across the state. We had crossed Louisiana on I 20 before, but I remembered nothing about it…Shreveport surprised us with its huge casinos. The Louisiana State Fair was in progress and the crowd was massive. We passed on through and crossed into Texas.

After searching through our campground materials we selected the Emerald Glen RV Park in Tatum which was about 40 miles south towards Nacogdoches where we hope to learn about the early history of this part of Texas. We are about 30 miles south of Longview – really barely into Texas when you consider the size of this state.
The campground is out in the middle of cattle farms and is very rural. Probably 60 sites – there may be 15 travel units here and most of them look like they are fairly permanent – but we have seen no one at any of the sites. The owners told us on the phone to select a site and leave money in a box. It has great wireless and we are
able to watch recent TV shows on Hulu.com. There is a nice pool, great laundry and restrooms. We expect a quiet night after all the excitement last night it will be welcome.

Kingsport to Moundville Alabama

October 30 Friday (416 miles)

We rolled out of the driveway at 8:15. Our goal was 8:00 so we almost made it! The trees along I81 were very colorful and we noticed significantly more traffic than usual due to the closing of I 40 from Asheville to Knoxville when the rock slide occurred this past weekend.



The miles clicked by as we listened to a mystery on CD. Jane had not been through Knoxville on I 40 since the construction in downtown was completed…very nice. As we passed through GA south of Chattanooga we noticed the kudzu was still alive and growing and the trees were less colored….they had not had frost yet. We stopped at the Alabama Welcome center for lunch and Ben was remembering when he and George Stevenson came through here on the way to respond to a hurricane for the Red Cross. He remembered all the welcome and rest were closed for the hurricane.

We passed through Birmingham on the Interstate with no problems and set the GPS to find the Moundville Archeological Park south of Tuscaloosa where we had planned to stop for the night. The time also changed so we were able to see the video and a few of their items before the welcome center closed at 4:00. The museum was closed for repairs and we were sorry not to see all their relics. We drove around the area with 20 Indian Mounds which were quite impressive. The tallest one was 60 feet (82 steps) high- nothing compared to the ruins in Mexico but it was still a climb. The Mississipian Indians lived here for hundreds of years and about 800 years ago just disappeared. There was a village here and several others surrounding with a total of over 10,000 Indians who were roughly contemporaries with the Anznazi in Chaco and San Juan River area. Staying here and in Chaco gives you the opportunity to live in the exact locations of the villages. This location is preserved and managed by the University of Alabama. The campground is nice – not large but had water, electric and nice restrooms. It is certainly worth the $12 fee.


We were setting up camp when the guy across the road came over concerned about the tornado warnings…We had been surprised by the 81 degree temperatures this afternoon but had not been listening to the radio. It was also very windy – all signs that should have alerted us to severe weather. I got out my Red Cross radio with weather – cranked it by hand since it dawned on me what the electric cord was I had taken OUT of my computer case – "saying what in the world is this for???" Well it was for the radio…but it uses batteries and the hand crank too so it is always Red Cross ready!

We found the weather alerts but then had to get out the map to find out what county we were in!! It turned out the storms coming through were just to the north of us…but they were all along the MS/AL state line to the north. The temperatures behind the wind were going to be in the 50’s….a 30 degree change!

We had rain – nothing severe. Ben was able to get the local TV station with weather with his homemade HD antenna. We bought a small TV for viewing DVD’s and TV when we could get it and it is a little snowy but sound is good and it is very watchable. Supper over, we have settled down to a quiet evening – Jane writing the blog and downloading photos and Ben watching TV. So far we have not found anything we left at home. Hope it rains tonight – and the weather map shows rain in Meridan Mississippi – about 60 miles west of us…. We will see.