Sand, Sand everywhere , without a drop of water in sight……
We had about 5 hours to get across to Midland. It was late when we left Fort Worth and our goal on this trip was not to drive through the night, to pull over just as it was getting dark at the latest. There was no need to rush to any place if we didn’t have to. On our way to Midland we passed through a small town called Thurber. The sign said “From Boom Town to Ghost Town”. Of course we had to stop! Pulling off the highway was a little frightening as there was nothing there. A few old buildings and that’s it. So we headed to the one with the sign on it, Thurber Ghost Town Museum. Unfortunately they were closing in 15 minutes by the time we walked through, but they were generous enough to let us walk around as fast as we could.
Come to find out it was an old Coal town, the largest town between Fort Worth and El Paso, owned by a single company, the Texas and Pacific Coal Company. The residents lived in company houses, shopped at company stores, drank at company saloons, attended company schools and worshiped in company owned church buildings. Thurber was the states major coal mine site for 3 decades, supplying coal to the railroad. Business was booming and they added a brick factory, paving hundreds of miles of highways and streets in Texas. It was also one of the first cities in Texas to be totally electrified and one of the few towns in the country to be totally unionized. People traveled from all over the world to work and live here. When the railroad started running on oil it reduced the need for coal. The company changed their name to the Texas Pacific Coal and Oil Company and moved their base to Fort Worth, effectively shutting down the town of Thurber. It was a sad story, the town in the end after the people moved on was dismantled, sold off and burnt down, leaving only a few buildings left. It became a ghost town.
We left feeling sad and disenchanted. This little town, currently showing a population of 3, brought people from all walks of life to where the work was, they built their lives there and then when the work was gone, they just picked up and moved on leaving behind empty buildings to rot away. Driving across our country it is amazing to see little towns, just vacant, deserted due to no work. At one time they were bustling and now they are empty, people moving onto more populas areas, where there were once open fields, now covered with houses side by side, parking lots and stores. It is where the work is, shopping, the lively hood of most people. We become dependent on these places, unable to imagine not having a Walmart within 15 minutes or a gas station with a convenience store or a grocery store. I think the longer I travel with Joe, my pessimistic husband, the more I can see what he has been talking about for years. Where are those small towns where everyone knows everyone, where you buy your produce from your neighbor, where the 4th of July parade consist of all your neighbors watching various live stock being led by children in the 4-H club walk down mainstreet, the school around the corner is the only school in your town and your children can go there, or the local burger joint run by the same family for generations is going strong. These are the places that we are looking for and hopeful that they are still out there.
The highway leading us out to Western Texas was desolate, imagine that. It was getting late and we were all cranky and hungry. We needed a place to lay our heads down but there weren’t to many options. We pulled off into a truck stop to get fuel and park for the night. Once parked we realized we couldn’t get out. We couldn’t back up, not enough room with the car attached and we couldn’t go forward because of the curb, that originally we did not see. To the right had been a pass through to Truck Parking at one time, but they had put up a small stone speed bump to deter everyone. It ended up being our only way out. I swear when Joe told me about that it made my stomach sick. What if we got stuck? What if we tipped sideways? Irrational thoughts I know. But that didn’t stop them from coming. Times like this I wish I had taken pictures showing the predicament we were in. There were a few already and I’m sure we will run into more. Each one still makes me sick to my stomach.
We ended up driving further until we came upon another small truck stop, not one that you would want to leave a welcome mat out, but they had room and we had no problems parking. I made dinner, homemade spaghetti sauce and meatballs (Joe had made it a few days ago and I froze it) with pasta and salad. The camper has a great 3 burner stove, an oven and a convection microwave. Plus a refrigerator and freezer. We plan our menus and go shopping once a week just like at home. We try to cook in as much as possible, if we are at a campground we cook out if we are allowed. And once a week we eat out at a local restaurant to try that areas specialty food. It is amazing the different types of grocery stores we have across our country and how they carry different products dependent on the area we are in. Each grocery store we stop at we collect one of their customer savings plastic cards! Our own souvenir of the area. We had started that last year on our cross country trip to California, so we had a few already, but now we are expanding our collection.
"THIS WOULD BE PERFECT SPOT TO POST PICTURES OF ALL THE DIFFERENT GROCERY STORES WE VISITED, BUT I DIDN'T THINK OF IT UNTIL NOW"
The CAF Airpower Museum located in Midland Texas was our first stop the next morning. This museum was known for its collection of authentic World War II military aviation and the history of the men and women who built, serviced and flew the military aircraft during WWII. It was 100,000 square feet of hands on interactive exhibits. Just up the boys alley. I on the other hand hung out in the camper with Tina while she worked. They spent 3 hours inside and grudgingly left.
Monahans Sandhills State Park was our next stop for the night. They were known for their, you got it, Sandhills, where you could sandsurf down steep, glistening dunes of sand. It was quite the experience.
It made you really miss the ocean! But Gabe loved it and had fun rolling down the sandy dunes. The bathhouses you ask? Well there was no curtain on the showers, so the camper shower got a lot of use!
From the sand hills to the oasis. The next day we traveled to Balmorhea State Park. It was on our way to Fort Davis. The main attraction for Balmorhea is the San Solomon Springs. Located in the desert flatlands of West Texas, the springs flowed into a 2 acre swimming hole, had 2 diving boards and went from 3 ft deep to 25 ft deep. The water temperature was an average 72 degrees! This spring provided water to the Native Americans and Spanish Explorers and soldiers. We couldn’t wait to get in it after spending the previous day surrounded by sand! We spent most of the day in and out of the water, watching a group of boys from a church outing jump off of the high and low diving boards, encouraged by the other boys and their leaders. It was a relaxing family atmosphere, bright sunshine and blue sky.
When was the last time you sat outside to look up at the stars? Without any other lights around? The area that Balmorhea State Park is located in is considered one of the darkest areas in the lower 48 states. It is also home to the McDonald Observatory. There is very little ambient light allowing you the best possible view of the night sky.
Joe.....
Gabe......
Tina....
Gabe found this nest filled with baby birds!
The campground left a lot to be desired, the bath houses had several huge moths inside and outside the door, plus there was a rather large group that was there, apparently having a family reunion, that overtook the bathrooms most of the time. But that was fine, they were having a good time and our camper with the air conditioner running was pretty sound proof! It was all about the sky and the water and we were able to enjoy both.
The past 2 nights were the shortest time we had spent at campgrounds in Texas, usually spending a few days in each place, but there really was no need to do that in this area. There were main things to see right in the campgrounds and that was it. So we were off again to another campground and more sights to see. This next stop wasn’t at a State Park but at a private family run campground, the Lost Alaskan. It was located in Alpine Texas. We picked this campground for location, close to Fort Davis and Marfa. We were going to spend 2 nights here, our last stop in Texas.
View from our campsite of the mountains
Through out Texas it was pretty easy to plan what campground we were staying at. All State Park Campgrounds. But once that was done I had to do a lot of research as to where to stay. You don’t know what you will get sometimes and we drove by a lot of really bad campgrounds through out our trip and some really good ones. The cost matching the description. For this campground and every other one we will be staying at, I will be going online to rvparkreviews.com. They give you reviews of almost every campground in the country. Knock on wood they have never steered us wrong in the past when we have camped and I am trusting they won’t again. It is more important now since we have a bigger camper and need a specific size and electric amps. We also ended up joining Good Sams Club on this trip. There are so many to chose from, Passport America, Family Motor Coach Assoc., RV America, Pilot/Flying J membership, Harvest Host and Good Sams to name a few. They all have an association fee and each one offers you some type of discount on camping and services. We ended up at Camping World with an Air Conditioning issue that needed to be fixed, so joining their club (Good Sams) saved us money on the labor and parts.
Harvest Host is an organization that a friend of ours told us about. Her brother travels in his camper and frequents them quite often. You pay $40.00 a year and you have access to over 450 farms, wineries and vineyards throughout the country were you can stay for free up to 24 hours. You must make a “purchase” or help out at each one of these places that you stay at, whether it be a bottle of wine or at their fruit stand. It is a great way to help local business and stay in some really cool places. We joined and plan on taking advantage of their options once we leave Texas.
One of our stops while staying in Alpine was to go out and visit Marfa. This town was put on the map in the early 1900’s due to some unexplained lights in the night sky. Not in one reoccurring spot, but in different spots in the sky, all over this small town. It has be come such a phenominum that the town even built a special “Viewing” area, with restrooms, information boards, binocular machines to use for free and a low level wall to sit on and watch.
Plus room for campers and trucks to park. These lights are not seen every night and actually only a few times a year. They have been investigated when they do show up. Some have thought that the lights where due to fires, meteors, gases in the atmosphere, but none of those theories have been proven. So the main thought? UFO’s. So we went to check it out. And we waited with about 50 other people right after sunset (this is the time that according to the flyers when the lights start to appear). We waited. And waited. And waited. For over an hour and nothing happened. So we left. And more people showed up as we pulled out. To help sooth our sorrows we drove back to Alpine and to Peggy’s Diner. They were open 24 hours. It was an old time diner, small and narrow. At 1030pm at night there were quite a few people that had the same idea as us.
Fort Davis was located about 30 minutes away. It is another small downtown and in the center of it stands “Fort Davis”, a National Historic Park. This park was occupied before the Civil War and became deserted shortly after. There were several buildings still standing and others that they were refurbishing. You were able to tour some buildings that were staged in that by gone era. Soldier and officer quarters, the hospital, and general store. Gabe did a Jr. Ranger program which led us through out the compound on a “Learning Treasure Hunt”. I highly recommend these programs, they teach you valuable information about our Parks in a fun way. All National Parks, including Historic Sites and even some state parks offer these programs. Gabe does them each time we stop at one, at the end you receive a badge or a patch for that park. He will have collected over 15 of them by the end of this trip. Each booklet will go right into his portfolio under History!
My maiden name!
We left the caboose and headed up for a drive into the mountains towards McDonald Observatory. We didn't end up going to there for a visit, as the cost was a little to much and it would only be worth it at night. But it was a pretty drive with a great view.
There has been one constant through out this trek across Texas. Flies. They have been everywhere. Not sure why, but it has gotten so bad that we can’t really sit out side to eat. I am hoping that when we leave Texas they will not be going with us. The Lost Alaskan RV Park was so far a really good choice. Their bathrooms have been the cleanest that we have seen and the view is beautiful. Joe strung up some lights along our awning and at night we sit outside, swatting flies, and watch the sun set. During the day the temperature went up to the 90s and was hot! Still that dry heat, very little humidity. At night it would get really cool, we were in the foot hills of the mountains so when the sun set it was brisk. Ok, brisk for us Floridians, in the 60’s at night. There was unfortunately no fire ring. Not all places have them. We were spoiled in Texas with being able to have campfires, but here they are in a drought so they don’t have them.
We have been in Texas for 16 days and after going from far east to almost far west, it was time to head north to New Mexico. For one state it had a lot of contrast. From rolling green hills, to desolate plains, to high mountains and a long coast line. We did find that it wasn’t the place for us to settle down and plant roots. Loved the accent (along with the cowboy boots and hats), the open sprawls and the state wide belief of our constitution. But it didn’t make us stop and go “This is it”! So we keep on searching.
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