Texas

Despite a last minute feeble attempt by Wendell to trap us and a lengthy photo session by the others we managed to escape the ever so friendly clutches of Louisiana by 12.30 and by 3pm we had crossed the state line into Texas. We did have second thoughts about leaving a few miles down the road but we stuck to our plans and kept going west. We spent our first night in Texas in a Wal Mart car park in Baytown.

We got on the road in good time and had an easy drive through Houston. Thank goodness as I think that freeway would be horrid at peak times. We decided to spend a couple of days at Palmetto State Park. We could fish here but Marty had no luck and eventually the cold drove him indoors.

We spent Thanksgiving Day in San Antonio. It was a breeze getting into the city and finding a park as the roads were practically deserted. We strolled along the River walk which was really lovely. Most of the shops were shut but the restaurants were doing a roaring trade. One even provided ponchos so you didn’t freeze to death while outside eating. I thought Marty would look cute in one but he declined my offer to wine and dine him. We then wandered our way to the Alamo. I had to ask a Deputy Sheriff which way to go because the signposts just seemed to lead us around in circles. It was quite interesting to hear the history of the Alamo and we did get to see one of Davy Crockett’s muskets. We had a wee bit of trouble finding where we left the camper as we couldn’t agree on where we each thought it was. I ended up asking a couple of blokes at another car park if they knew where we were parked. Was a bit like 40 questions as all I could give them was a few landmarks that I remembered but eventually they worked it out and sent us off in the direction I had been pushing for all along. Poor Marty, he doesn’t do being lost at all well. You would think he would have got used to it by now!!

When we left Abbeville I had jokingly said that we would spend Thanksgiving in a Wal Mart car park and that is exactly what we did but I did cook us a hot chicken dinner to mark the occasion which was rather nice as the temperature had dropped quite considerably.

Next day saw us heading towards Fredericksburg. We stopped at a little town called Comfort to check out a wrecker’s yard as we are still searching for a replacement cover for the air con unit. No luck but the guy had a collection of old bikes, mainly BMW’s but a couple of other weird things as well. One, being a 250cc Simpson with a sidecar. We spent quite a while there yakking and looking at all the bikes. He was a bit of a character.

Eventually made it to Fredericksburg and had a wander around the shops. We found one shop that sold pickles, salsas, sauces etc and had about 7 little tasting rooms. Needless to say we spent quite a bit of time in there and didn’t require lunch when we came out.

We booked ourselves into South Llano St Park for a couple of days as we could fish, hike and bike there. All those plans were scuttled when the weather changed and it became wet and very cold. The temperature dropped to about 39°F and it was about then when Marty went to light our gas heater that he discovered one of the pipes had split so that was the end of that. We had to instigate other means of keeping warm.
Two days of bad weather and no improvement in sight so we hit the road again. I miscalculated the mileage to Fort Stockton so we had to stop at a little no horse town to get some gas. It was $3.45 a gallon. Boy did that hurt so we only put enough in to get us there. A few miles up the road I commented to Marty that it looked like snow clouds up ahead and sure enough we were soon driving in snow. By the time we arrived in Fort Stockton it was a lovely shade of white and bitterly cold. We heard later that this was the heaviest snow fall they have had in years. I thought it was great but Marty didn’t share my enthusiasm and almost went and bought a heater.

Sixty odd miles up the road we were out of the snow and safely installed at Balmorhea State Park. I wanted to stay here because it has the world’s largest spring-fed swimming pool. It has a constant temperature year round of about 74°F so quite swim able year round. The pool was built by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) in about 1938. It is a V shaped pool all lined with limestone ‘with the depth ranging from 3 foot to 25 foot and the water is crystal clear so with goggles on you can see the fish, turtles and odd snake that you are sharing the water with. It was gorgeous but Marty declined to swim with me, so I had the pool all to myself.

We went for a little ride into town to see what there was to see. Nothing as it turned out so we went on out to Lake Balmorhea. We turned off onto a dirt/mud road that led to the lakeside resort. I think an error of judgment was made on the part of the rider as one minute we were upright doing 5 mph, the next the front wheeled had skewed off course and we and the bike were all in a very muddy puddle. No damage done to us or the bike although we all needed a good hosing down when we got back to camp. We have got to stop using the bike as an off road vehicle. It really isn’t designed for it. For the record that is the first time Marty has dropped the bike when I have been pillion in the 32 years we have been together. Maybe he is telling me it’s time for me to get back on my own bike!

About 70 miles south of Balmorhea is a little town called Marfa which had its 30 seconds of fame back in the 1950’s when the movie Giant starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean was filmed there. A must go destination we thought. The busiest place in town was a little pie cart called the Food Shark so naturally we stopped and checked it out. Not bad. Fortified we left to explore the town. Had a look in the Hotel which houses a few of the film props and even more expensive arty farty type shops. Picked up a couple of books in the second hand shop before we decided we’d done all there was to do and headed back to camp making a stop at the snake and reptile museum at Fort Davis on the way.

This is run by a guy struggling to come out of the 60’s. Dressed in a superman camo shirt, bandana and camo pants he really looked the part. The museum itself is a scruffy room filled with cages containing many different species of rattlesnakes, some scorpions, tarantulas and a couple of venomous lizards. I could tell from the moment we set foot in it that Marty didn’t want to pay the $4 entry fee (he hadn’t even wanted to stop but was humoring me again). Too late I’d paid and he was in. Strange how things work out. The guy really knew his onions – or snakes in this case and as we were the only visitors we got a guided tour and we learned heaps about the lifestyles of snakes. One rattler didn’t really like us and whenever we went near his cage he gave us a really good rattle. Didn’t make any attempt to strike though despite my best efforts to make him do so.

It was a good outing, and the roads and scenery were beautiful Nice to have a few hills and corners after days of flat straight motoring.

Another neat thing about Balmorhea St Park is that at night and early in the morning you can hear the coyotes howling. Really makes you feel like you are in cowboy country.

As we continued on our travels we were forced to make a stop in a small town called Pecos as one of the camper’s tyres was about ready to give up the ghost. The size we require is quite hard to come by so we had to visit all three tyre shops before we were able to get a good second hand one. We had them put the spare on the other dual as we thought that was in better nick than the one already on. Ten miles up the road we hear this loud bang and look behind to see pieces of black and a metal object fly across the road. Pulled over and discovered that the tread on the spare had parted company with the tyre taking part of the exhaust system with it and bending a few panels underneath. Marty had to reshuffle the tyres again. Not an easy task on the side of the road with trucks roaring past at over 70mph. We had no further problems and crossed the State Line into New Mexico about 2pm to find that we were now in Mountain Time and had gained an hour so we were still on schedule to visit the Carlsbad Caverns.

So Texas is now behind us. I was disappointed not to have seen a Long Tall Texan. Marty said he saw one and she looked pretty damn good………………..