50 Nut Factory

     We started the day with breakfast at the Fort Davis Drug store and hotel.  A neat old place still looks like an old soda fountain shop.
    A little nippy today, we bundled up and headed North out of town to see the scenery.   Nice highway, we have been impressed with Texas's roadside rest and  picnic areas they seem to be plentiful and when possible blend in with the surroundings.  We seen some fences made out of rocks and were told that rock was more plentiful than wood  Can you imagine the labor involved.
       We had found out there was a Star gazing party at the observatory on Friday and decided to stick around to observe it.  With the extra days planned we decided to see if we could improve our lodging situation.   On the ride North we had seen a little more modern motel.  We stopped and negotiated a price for extra days.  Larger computer table, better internet, more room, and you couldn't slide a breakfast bar under the door.  We were set, made the move to our new digs.

    Worked on the blog had lunch at the Mexican restaurant next door.   We see a lot of old wood stoves, (almost said wooden stove, they wouldn't last long would they?)  I'm guessing they only need something to take the chill off.  Not like up North where heat is necessary for survival.
     Back at the new room now, and patting ourselves on the back.  Are we ever savvy travelers now.   A little later we turned on the TV, nice large flat screen, no picture.  Phone call to front desk, she had to wait until her husband came home.  Clue:  May be coming from India.  When he returned he gave us the key to one on the other side, it seems when he was replacing water heaters he may have cut thru the TV cable.  Started to move to the new room, thought I better try the TV, same problem.  Evidently it wiped out cable to all the rooms on that end.  Next room, tested TV before any thing got moved.  Works good, now move everything to this room, pull camper over-by hand.   Four rooms in one day,  I take back the savvy travelers comment.           
    We wandered around town.  I noticed the Davis Mountains Nut factory,  I knew I had seen them advertised some where so we went into look around.   Dave was behind the counter and he shared how he and his brother were building the business.     We sampled some of the different flavored pecans, we were unable to narrow it down to one so we purchased two flavors.  Here is a link to their site, http://www.allpecans.com/   I never know exactly how it starts but some how the conversation got around to, "you rode to Texas on a trike?"  That gets Ruthie started and pretty soon we are offering to give rides.  I've seen it a thousand times.  It so happens that his wife Debbie loves to ride cycles but had a bad experience on two wheels. ( I know how that goes, have some scars to show for it.)  He asked if we were serious about giving a ride.  We said we were, gave him a card and left.    We purchased some valentines cards next door for the grand children. ( I know, a little late.)
     Later that day we received a call From David and arrangements were made to stop by his house the next day and give Debbie a ride for their wedding anniversary on Valentines day, how romantic.
    We finished the day with pizza next to a live tree.  We stopped at the grocery store I thought was a motel to pick up some supplies.  Picked up some roses for Ruthie, (can't pass up a chance to build up some points.) the hotel didn't have a vase so we made use of our  motorcycle drink cup.
     Valentines day,  We presented the motel lady with two roses, see we aren't bad people.
     In the afternoon we carried a rose over to David and Debbie's.  Since David had arranged it for Debbie she got the first ride.   She didn't care where we went as long as she got to ride.  We went west toward the Davis Mountains and she told me of some new pricy homes.   We decided to head that way and check them out.    

My normal query to riders is to tell me when they are half way bored so the ride back is still enjoyable.  I don't think that would work with Debbie, she does like to ride.  On the hill overlooking the new homes I noticed a long white structure in the distance, looked like a mission to me.  Debbie didn't know what it was so we headed over to check it out.   You have to understand that it was clear across the other side of the mountain,  we headed that way and for much of the ride it we were not able to see our destination.

After several dead ends and trips to the wrong peak we finally found it.  From the outside it stilled looked like a mission.  There were two men sitting by the entrance and Debbie recognized one of them from her work in town.  After a short introduction he invited us to go inside the walls and look around.  We found out it was the Santa Cruz ranch and a family had started building it years before.  After the father and one of the brothers passed away the remaining brother continues to build on weekends.  It is a series of cement walled mazes with archways, crosses, a chapel and several dwellings all connected by random paths and walls.  Very interesting. 
 

Now it was Davids turn, he directed me to the Davis Mountains state park as I drove he pointed out areas he has visited many times while growing up in the area.  It was nice to have someone who knew the area as a guide.  As we were going up the skyline drive I said that looked like a natural bridge on the cliff above us.  He said he had never seen it.  After we toured the top of the mountain and were on our way down I stopped where I had noticed the rock formation.  It's amazing what you see when you are on a cycle with nothing to obscure your view.  Now he will have something to point out to Debbie.   It had been a great afternoon, we had met  two more wonderful people, hopefully they enjoyed it as much as we did.
    Remember today is a special day and I'm still determined to build up points.  David had told me that there was a very nice restaurant at at the main park lodge.  Ruthie and I headed for it.  The Black Bear restaurant certainly had atmosphere. When I called they said reservations were required however it looked like they were happy we were there.  There was no choice tonight, it was the lovers dinner with lovers desert bar.  $40.00 (I had to ask, nope, it was a piece, oh well it was a special evening and heaven knows Ruthie deserves it.)   I should have known if it says bisque or glaze it is going to be expensive.

Happy Valentines Day Ruthie! 

49 Blue Bells

Feb 12 Tuesday,
From Stillwell"s we headed back
into Big Bend one more time.  The terrain in the west end of the park was quite different and reminded us a little of the Bad lands of South Dakota.  We were anxious to put on some miles so we only stopped in Terlingua long enough to do a quick look around and read about the Chisos mine.   Ruthie had some interest in the cemetery and spent some time reading the markers.  Some of them date back to the early 1900's and are victims from the dangerous working conditions of the mercury mines. 

Mission, White smoke, could be the new Pope?

      We spent even less time at the Ghost town, we had heard stories about the reputation of some of the squatters that lived there and we didn't want to take any extra time.  We passed a wealthy resort and golf course, no sense stopping there.  It was the Lajitas Resort, information later told of a wealthy telecom individual building the $100 million resort $95,000 memberships and $900 a night for a two bedroom suite.  I guess we were correct in not stopping.  Nice looking place though.  Wonder if they made it thru the bankruptcy hearing.  I don't have the same sad feeling when I see wealthy entities trying to accumulate more money like I do when I see a for sale sign where someone is struggling to survive.    

 At the edge of the Big Bend Ranch we stumbled onto the Contrabando movie set.  Many western movies have been filmed here with the Rio Grande River and Mexico as a back drop.  Kind of fun roaming in and around the fake buildings, Mel Tillis, Roy Clark, James Garner, Sissy Spacek, Sam Shepard, we were in good company.
     Once we passed the movie set the terrain started to change,  we were following the path of the Rio Grande again so the road had a lot more curves in it.  The rock hill to our right was very rugged.   Define rugged:  A solid wall of rock!

    At one point we seen a cable stretching across the river to Mexico, we turned around and seen it had a basket that appeared to us like it could carry a person to the other side.  On the other side it disappeared into a hole in the rock cliff.   Later at a breakfast stop we asked some border patrol men having breakfast about the transfer.  They told us it belonged to The International boundary water group to measure the river flow rate  when it is to dangerous to go gather water samples.

     This is the stretch that (forum)  George had told us about the Terlingua/Presidio road.  Another good call,  lots of curves, hill, and amazing scenery. 

     When we reached Presidio we headed North on 67,   we talked to some people that had stopped in Marfa overnight to see the mystery lights, didn't see any, glad we went on.  It was starting to get cooler. ( I know, we had been warned)

    



We seen a few blue bells and other wild flowers along the side of the road.  . Here, a self portrait with the blue bells.  Good job Ruthie!  If the temperature hadn't have been dropping so quickly I could have pulled over, I'm sure I at least slowed down. 
As we were approaching Fort Davis we seen huge green houses along the road they looked to cover as much ground as a football stadium.  They seemed out of place in the middle of this rocky desert land.  They were for growing tomatoes.
     So many of these southern towns regardless of the size have a large beautiful court house and town square.  There must have been a competition back then. 

    We drove around the square and then started checking out places to stay,  Ruthie was pretty chilled by now.  Among other more notable things Fort Davis will probably remain in our memory for lodging challenges.  Later I found out that one of the places I was trying to call was a grocery store.   In our search for moderately priced lodging we checked a couple of the historic downtown hotels, evidently they didn't realize it was the off season and chose empty rooms over price adjustments.  We drove into one that looked like it should be okay,  rang the doorbell a couple of times and was getting on the trike to drive on.  A gentleman ( first impression) came out of a nearby camper.  Getting a bad vibe here, "what do your rooms go for?"  After the answer ( had already made a decision before I asked the question, but was trying to be polite.)  I said, "thank you, we are going to look around a little."  "you mean you dragged me away from supper and now your not even going to look at a room?"  "That's right."  as we drove off, this could have got ugly.   We live by Wabasha, famous for Grumpy Old Men.  I think we said something like "Grumpy old fart" as we drove off.  I apologize.   Around the corner was a reasonable motel.  I moved Ruthie and the luggage inside, she was going to turn up the heat while I went to pick us up something to eat.  We were almost to tired to really enjoy it, at least we were warm again.   Tomorrow we explore!

48 Happy Trails!

    Tuesday February 12th  Today is our 10th day at Stillwell's What happened to two days and we are gone?  I'm so glad we are flexible, think of all the memories we would have missed.   This will be more of a picture post,  less talking and they all said "Amen."
    So first a quiz, what is your caption for the picture below?  Could be Isometrics 101?  maybe I wish my electric cord was longer.  I never park in the right spot to suit her, oh sure a foot to the left, no problem if it's a couch!   I'm doing my part, going green, no electric slides for me.

 

     The last one was close.  The electric slide didn't work well and he had to lift and push while his wife hit the switch.

 As soon as we were awake we started tearing down and packing for the ride.   We are always excited to be on the trike on our way to new adventures.  Eldon had said we could still change our mind. 

     As we were stowing our things away.  A team and wagon pulled up it was Jeanne from the trail ride.  .  Neat lady, she displays two flags when she travels, the one on the left is the Marine flag.  ( Son-in-law Bill would be proud, he always gives me grief about the Navy) she lost her husband in Vietnam and has nothing but praise for the way the Corps helped her with raising and educating their three children.   "Ooh-rah!
      She took us for a ride around the campground and down to the strip.  Jack and Jake pulled the wagon easily, when she went into a turn I was surprised to hear her use a verbal command.     Of course I'm not around a team every day, but I don't think I have heard anyone use spoken words to direct animals since I was on the farm with my parents. Gee is the cue to turn right and Haw indicates a left turn, use that next time you go to oxen training class and you will impress the rest of the students
    Here you get a view from inside the wagon with the other team coming toward us.   That is Juanita and her team, I believe Jack and Jill.  She received a blow to her head one morning that would put most of us out of commission, but there she is back in the drivers seat.  Notice the rear view mirror. 
     I give these ladies a lot of credit, it's a lot more work to hook up a team than throw a saddle on a riding horse.  We were almost back to our home ( tiny camper) when she said "here you train horses, take em home."  and handed me the reins.  Having spent my youth driving my fathers and neighbors teams for field work and on the threshing crew, I have to admit this felt like someone had handed me something very precious to them.  What an honor, It was exciting knowing the power at the end of those reins.  Thank you Jeanne! 

Kay & Ethelene

 

String and Thelma Lou!

     She left to join the rest of the trail riders for the photo op in front of the Store. 
   We took pictures of the riders and then I ran ( yes ran) to get in front of them to take a few more shots. 











      I believe this is the 26th year for the Trail ride.  The trail boss is Peggie, what an undertaking.  Everyone calls her Red Horse I went immediately to her sorrel horse, nope, then her red hair, nope, It was because her husband works for Mobil oil the one with the flying red horse for their logo, she said "that red horse has been supporting this red horse ( referring to her self) for many years.   In the picture she is the one leading them down the road, safe travels Red Horse.

Thelma Lou? and ??????

Their was one twilight moment that I can't explain.  ( I guess that's why they call it a twilight moment.)  I didn't realize until I was choosing and editing the pictures for this post that I have a picture of  Thelma Lou?  with no string on board.  Can't figure it out,  I thought it was maybe one of those things where he is invisible in pictures,  or you can't capture his spirit,  maybe he is actually riding her but the camera didn't capture his image?  I think I will stop thinking about it!   Can you solve this mystery?  

      During this stay we have logged over 500 miles just wandering in and around Big Bend.  The end button is where Stillwell's is located.  If you want an interactive click  Map    
   

     I don't know what happened, at the beginning I said less talking didn't I.  I apologize.
     Loaded, the camper hooked to the trike we said a couple of more good-byes, our neighbor Janet came over and gave us a couple of Russell Stover chocolate treats for the road and we were on the road again.   This has been a wonderful stop, we leave with a permanent place in our soul's for the people, Stillwell's and Big Bend.

47 BBQ and Dance

 Now Sally's turn in the queen seat, the least I could do.  A quick ride and then get ready for the BBQ and dance with the trail riders.. The crew had been working all day with preparations.  They had gathered all the picnic tables and carried them up by the museum.  Covered with white table clothes, looked pretty fancy. 


      We noticed String at the BBQ and stopped to say hi.   Funny, I thought he seemed taller this morning.  Must have been the hat, or maybe the guitar?   Maybe I will get a western hat.

     New neighbors arrived from Canada, Dan and Lise returned back from the Big Bend park just in time to get in the food line.  They both ride their own sport bike and have a campground in Cantley Quebec.  Will have to try and make it there sometime. 

     A bonfire by Paradise Acres gave us a chance to start some of our goodbys.   We had reached a decision to leave the next day after the trailriders gathered in front of the store for a group picture.  We had been getting some advice about our route, Eldon and Paul mentioned that the path we had chose would be cold, both Fort Davis and New Mexico. 
   In addition when bidding Eldon goodby he mentioned that we didn't have to leave, that we could change our minds, their was nothing making us go and tires can go flat.   Lots of reasons, we already felt bad enough.  We had grown very fond of the people, the land and the Stillwell park.  It would be hard enough to pull out tomorrow.





     Looks like rain, don't we wish.  

    Sorry, my mistake,  I guess String was sitting down.  I'm glad he's on my side. 

   

    I guess fair is fair, since I mentioned someone's illegal rock collection I had better fess up myself.  I broke one of the posted rules, not the Equine liability warning, Not the hiring of illegal aliens posted in the strore.   Not even a violatioon of the three minute shower rule.  I tried to follow the rules, I had nothing to gain, I didn't plan it.  It was a complete accident, 

                                            I apologize!

      Sleep well, tomorrow we hit the road my friend!

46 "T" for Texas

     Another beautiful morning at the Stillwells, see I can change.  Tried to be quiet as I left the camper, Ruthie says that's impossible I invariably trip, drop, or knock something over.   I headed for the "strip,"  for the last few days the trail riders have been arriving.  If we were still on our "mayberry" theme this would be the episode when the traveling carnival came to town.  The characters would be endless.  Men and women from all over Texas and beyond.  Bringing their four legged companions.   The living quarters were as varied as on the RV side of the park with the exception of horse trailers, a lot of them were one unit.

   This mule was evidently having some separation anxiety issues.  Tied to his home he was raising quite a ruckus, braying, pawing, kicking the trailer.  Kind of funny until I seen he was rearing and pawing the trailer and got his hoof caught in the window opening, could have been a tragedy.  Went over and told a man his mule was in danger.  "Not my mule, a couple of women tied him and drove off."  I couldn't let him get injured so I walked over and modified his behavior until his owner returned.   They were surprised saying that he is always so good and has never caused any problems.  Kind of like children,  acts up when your away. 

     Seen Keith coming back from his morning walk,  look at the scenery, little different then walking on a treadmill watching a TV.   Good for you Kieth. 

     By this time Ruthie was up and checking my usual haunts looking for me.  We stopped by the office to get a breakfast sandwich and have a cup of coffee.  I don't remember if I smelled chocolate or if Barbie tole me she had been baking brownies all day.  I mistakenly thought they were for the pot luck with the trail riders tonight. Major disappointment. 
  Eleven o'clock time for gospel music with Eldon and Ann, can't get enough of them.   Nice session and finish up with "Happy Trails" always smile and think of my two oldest grand daughters and the time they asked me to download some of my music they had chosen to their mp3 players.  I thought I was doing a good thing when I included Roy and Dale's Happy Trails.  I think Briana said "Gram-pa are you trying to get us killed."  evidently it isn't socially acceptable in high school.. I'm just thinking maybe little Aryia will appreciate it in 15 years.

   Time for a quick bite.   Not to much as we have the potluck with the trail riders tonight and at this point I still thought "the brownies".   Took a picture of my lunch for two reasons,(sorry I started without you.) we had never seen watermelon radishes before.  And maybe it will give you some idea why Karen invited us over for dinner.  
     The potluck was held in Hallies museum and we got to see a few of the trail riders we had met in the morning.   Afterwards the riders retired to a bonfire at the end of the strip.  Because of the fire danger the fire was in a pit and surrounded by sheet metal strips.   There was a couple of the riders with guitars and the group had a nice singalong going on.   Later the group started thinning as riders headed to bed anticipating a hard ride in the morning.    They sang "T" for Texas of course, the end of that verse is and T is for Thelma who made a fool out of me.  One of the guitar players added that "T" was also for his mule Thelma Lou.    They kept asking for requests and when no one responded I suggested that they sing one of the wall songs. (shut up Vern) "What wall songs"   "Four walls, Hello walls and Up against the wall"  To late I had said it.  Unfortunately they picked up on the last title and worked their way thru it.

February 11, Monday

  We decided to take a hike and climb the hill across from the campground, even though it isn't very steep it is still a chore with the rocky ground, cactus scrub bushes and thorns.  Here it looks like she is holding her own but it didn't take long for the masked man to leave her in the dust.  Nice try Ruthie, maybe if she would have taken her hands out of her pockets she would have stood a chance.   Maybe next time we come here. Did I say that out loud?

 This is an example of goat head thorns, the kind that were puncturing the bicycle tires. And the ground, can you imagine taking a wagon across this land.  Hallie said there are two kinds of people, if you look at the ground you will hate it, if you are the kind of folk that look up, you will love it.
     We climbed the hill past the point where the Stllwell 4L brand is laid out with white rocks on the hillside. 
  
   We took pictures of the RV park, as you can see our little camper on the left is pretty small when compared with the big RV's. 

    We headed off the hill in the direction of the strip stopping to visit with some of the riders.  We ran into a tall rider that we recognized as one of the entertainers from the bonfire last night.  We seen Thelma Lou in the temporary corral behind him.  We found out he was Tommy Lee but we could call him String.  At one time he had worked for one of the Stillwell's.   I made the mistake of asking if he was retired?  "I must be I'm old and I don't have a public job." 

The strip  

    Here you go, plant a garden here!  Put a fence around it and put your children's swing set up.  A little intimidating isn't it. 
    We had met some wonderful people from Kansas,  we were lucky enough to catch them visiting in front of their camper..
From left to right we have Mary, Paul, Ruthie, Doug (standing) and Rochelle. Fun people, Paul is a serious rock hound, every since at age three his mother made him feel special when he brought home a rock he had found.   We could learn a lesson here.  Mary has many hobbies including sewing and quilting which accompany her on these vacations.

     Doug and Rochelle love to explore Big Bend and are serious hikers.   I wonder if we will every see any of them after we leave. 
     It was at this point that Mary surprised Ruthie with a gift of two beautiful scarves.  How did we get so lucky?

 While we were visiting Dene came by and asked us if we would like to take a jeep tour?   Of course!  Moments later we were climbing into the jeep.  Ruthie and Sally took the first ride in the balcony.   Dene takes tourist on jeep tours and one of the stops is Lynn's ranch, a couple of interesting points, at least to us.

  
    Water is so scarce and precious here Lynn has been running plastic pipe on his ranch at this time he has approximately 26 miles of pipe.  When Lynn turns off the main road onto his driveway, he now has fourteen miles of rough rock road to his house.   A hard life, but I hear the home and view are beautiful. 

    Dene pointed out a guzzler to that ranchers use to try and catch what little rainfall there is and make it available to livestock.  The large sheets of metal funnel the water into a tank.  The livestock then press on the on demand valve to access water. 

  Besides tours and predator control Dene also checks on ranches when the owners are absent.  Here we are riding high.
     We could have rode for ever, what a treat.  Thank you, Dene and Sally!

45 Marathon Dance

     February 9th

  Ruthie started giving trike rides this morning, you should know by now not to get her on the subject of family, travel or trikes.   Your going to be there awhile.  I believe she gave eleven rides that day.  I was able to give a couple myself, one was to Ann, my thank you for the wonderful entertainment.  

Barbie!

     With the dance planned for this evening we were making plans to attend.  It had been mentioned that sometimes there is transportation available to ride to Marathon.   Not wanting to intrude we tried to hang back and see if there would be room for us.  If not we had made plans to ride the trike in and either try and find a place to stay or drive back slowly to avoid a meeting with the prairie night life.  The wind was starting to pick up ( I didn't say start, there is always wind.) and we knew we were going to be in for a ride.  A short while before departure time we got a welcome surprise.

Richard

       We had seen Dene around the park and store but never really met him until last night.  It seems Dene also a Minnesota resident, had found the area many years ago.  He also has been returning year after year and his love of the land coupled with his desire to aid the ranching community has led him to help the local ranching community by doing predator control.  He also gives jeep tours to Lynn's ranch.  Dene and Sally were now offering to take Ruthie and I to the dance.     They assured us that we were not intruding and asked us to meet them at Dene's trailer, you can't miss it.  It is the only one with the decorated cactus

Burning bush?  Nope Dene's Cactus!

.     On the 40 mile ride to Marathon we seen a sight that made us very grateful for the ride.  Coming across the prairie from the west was a fast moving wall of dust.  We were driving parallel to the storm and were clear of it's path before it reached the highway.      I wonder how the campers would fair.  Dene comes down every winter because of his construction job and Sally had now joined him for a visit.  Nice people, they live in the Duluth area.   We arrived at the community center early enough to get a table    Dene had brought a cooler with beverages and we used it to save a table.  It seemed this was the accepted practice.   Other Stillwell residents joined us including two couples from Dene and Sally's home area,  a donation to the community center got you into the dance and  a wonderful catfish dinner.   They held a ive auction to benefit the community center 

     The community support was reassuring,  there were more tickets sold for the dinner then the entire population of Marathon.    The support continued into the auction, items sold with no thought to actual value and many of the winners did something I had never seen before.  Swirling a hand above their head they indicated to the auction staff that they were re-donating the item and to resell it.   In order to do our part our table formed a bidding coalition and purchased an item.  Big spenders,  a whole table to buy a basket full of treats and candies.   It seemed to be appreciated.  Two things will stick in my memory from the dance.  Prior to the dance everyone stood with their hands or hats over their hearts and sang the National Anthem.

  Then after the first dance Della, Lynn's wife made her way to the stage and made an announcement.   "In Marathon the gentlemen show their respect for the ladies by removing their hats when we dance,"  then she added.  "If you can't remember I'm sure their will be a big cowboy that will help you remember."  I was happy my cap was on the table. 
    The entertainment for the evening was recording stars Justin Trevino and Amber Digby.   I have to admit I wasn't  familiar with their work.  The music was great and since then I have heard both of them on the XM station's now that I'm familiar with their names.  Celebrations are few in this ranching country and the distance is great.  As a result they wasted no time,  every one started dancing when the first song started.  The dancers move counter clockwise, children dance in the center. It was great. 
When I was very young my parents would attend dances at the Amory in Rochester Mn, I was told that within a short time of the band's start I would fall asleep and be placed in the seat of an Army jeep in front of the stage for the remainder of the evening..  Maybe that's where I learned to love music. 

60+ years later another little cowboy enjoying the dance!

We danced until late and were happy we had a ride home.   We seen deer on the way home.  When we were dropped off we seen the storm's damage.   The awning had been tore off our little home and the dressing area lifted in the air.  The result was our belongings were upside down and strewn around.  It took a while to get things straightened up enough to go to bed.   We were grateful to our neighbors for re-stakeing our camper.   Another wonderful day!