Y'all are in Texas now!

We left Las Cruces Wednesday morning in the drizzling rain, and we were darn happy to leave. Originally I had thought we could go right from there to San Antonio....I forgot that Texas is a friggin BIG state. So we revamped our itinerary to get about 1/2 way and settled on Davis Mountain State Park in Fort Davis as a stopping point Wednesday.

Shortly after leaving Las Cruces, we stopped at a Campers World to pick up a few items that we have lost, broken or forgotten! And shortly after that, we were welcomed into Texas. El Paso, specifically. Which, as it turns out, sits RIGHT on the Mexican border. We are driving down I-10 and I see this neighborhood that is literally a shanty town. I remark to Jeff "Wow, that is so bad it looks just like a Mexican slum". To which he replies...

"It is!"  Sure enough, we were gazing upon a lovely border town.

We figured at this point we would see even more Border Patrol than we had in the last month. Not necessarily. We did have a few helicopters over-head and one stop right in the middle of I-10.

All they did was ask us if we had any "body" in the RV. Nope, just a cat. Okay, go ahead....

We arrived at Davis Mountain State park about 3. The park is 4 miles outside of Fort Davis, which I thought, would be a town of some size. It was quite chilly but we received a hearty welcome from the office gals with about a thousand "Y'all's" thrown in. As in...Where y'all from? How long y'all stayin? Do y'all have any pets? Is it just the 2 of y'all? Etc...Etc... Nice park though. Surrounded by Mountains and plenty of wildlife promised (as in "Y'all will see lots of wildlife now!").

We got settled in and went for a quick bike ride up to the Indian Lodge in the park. Saw our first wildlife....2 deer! Really hoping to see some Javelina here. They're so cute...don't y'all agree?

Thursday was still quite chilly and mostly cloudy so we went into "town" and toured Fort Davis. It actually was pretty darn cool (the fort, and the temp). The local schoolkids were there having an outing so volunteers were dressed in period costumes and they even fired a cannon...twice! The history and the remains of the buildings (circa 1870's) was super interesting and the surrounding mountains were, of course, stunning.

After nearly two hours at the fort we went further into town...downtown I guess you would say. They did have a grocery, a hat shop (cowboy), a post office, a pretty decent "whole foods" store, and a drugstore/soda fountain. We had to go there for just a little bite to eat and were surprised by not only how good it was but how authentic it was.

This was a small town Texas style soda fountain at it's best. Complete with a huge Christmas tree decorated with Cowboy Santa's and lariats and a string of cowboy hats entwined with garland from one end of the store to the other. Best find in town, that's for sure! Drove back to the park and did the "skyline drive" which was scenic but we were sure glad we didn't have the BP behind us.

Looking down on the campground

Since we had a late bite to eat we decided to take in a hike on the "Montezuma Quail Viewing Trail". It's about 4 p.m. and the trail is shown to be a 1.5 mile loop. Well, we took alittle detour and ended up, as it turns out, on this trail...

We didn't know we were on a hazardous trail (well, actually, we did know it was hazardous just by the hiking conditions), as the trail was marked at the END...not at the point where we had picked it up on the mountain side. Let's just say it was an adventure and we were really lucky to both make it down in one piece, nothing broken! The end of the trail is where Javelina are reported to visit nightly but not that night. Boo!

However, I was sitting outside that night and a heard a noise next to me. Just the faintest little rustle. I was a bit freaked out by the dark, the quiet and the potential animals so I was equipped with a flashlight which I whipped out and on with amazing speed. Sitting on a rock, about 10 feet to my right, is a beautiful Gray Fox, who then shoots me a nasty look and prances off under the BP and into the dark, dark woods.

Friday came in cold and wet so we drove down the road to the McDonald Observatory. Pert of the University of Austin, it houses the third largest telescope in the US. There were 7 in our tour group and we had a great, and extremely knowledgeable, tour guide, Mark. I honestly have never been too interested in astronomy, but Mark changed all that. We left with a ton of new knowledge and a few books as well.

Got home and made my husband his fav dinner, Chicken Fried Steak, and hit the rack about 9 p.m.

Saturday was again, very cold (45) and very gloomy and, frankly, I just didn't feel so hot. Or maybe I was just cold. Or maybe just tired. At any rate, I did get into town to do laundry in the morning and then proceeded to lay around and watch TV the remainder of the day. I think Jeff was just fine with this as he indulged in a lazy day as well. We did pick away at a few chores during the course of the day and late afternoon even had a visitor for happy hour...

First one deer, then the other, walked pretty much right up to the BP. Jeff was speaking quietly to them and I went to get some lettuce to toss out for a snack.

She looked at Jeff like...are you kidding me? Lettuce? So we got a few apples and cut them up for the finicky buggers. One was happy with that option, the other just walked away.

Munch Munch Munch



We were ready to get on the road by 9 this morning and we knew it would be one of our longer days on the road as San Antonio is 400 miles from Fort Davis and we actually were going to be staying in New Braunfels, which is an additional 15 miles WEST of San Antonio. But, a good day to drive as, once again, it was cloudy and cold. Just as Jeff walked to the truck to pull it around, what does he see...

Little bugger just comes jogging out of the creek bed behind our campsite and noses around the site next to us. No hurry, no fear. I am practically dancing around (as I mentioned before, we really wanted to see one of these Javelinas...don't call them pigs).

They are really adorable. And as much as I know they are a nuscense and can be highly dangerous, especially to small animals and small dogs (I'd change my tune if one ever messed with my dog-nephew, Finley), I just can't help but like them. I guess I have been known to like a lot of despicable creatures.
Anyway, after ooohing and awwwing, we left by 9 and arrived at Hilltop RV Resort in New Braunfels by 4. Still cloudy, but, oh so much warmer! It was mid 60's on arrival. After 4 days of 40's....feels pretty good. Settled in, dinner ate and grocery shopping done by 8 p.m. We will be here until Thursday, at which time we head south for ten days in Aransas Pass. Until then we will tour San Antonio at least one day and Austin another. BB needs an oil change and Jeff has some laundry to do (Xena had an accident on the way here!).  Praying for sun and warmth...