Wild west adventures. LA to Big Bend and back.

[Mark Sedenquist]

Stunning photos -- Great report thus far!

[Rick Quinn]

Day 13 cont...

We made our way to our next stop, the Mules ears viewpoint and then to Sotol Vista. The views were amazing and the plants that welcomed the rain added some colour.

I heartily agree with Mark--great pictures! (I'm a sucker for a good sunset). As for the "colour" added by the rain, them things are Bluebonnets, the Texas state flower, and a prominent feature of spring in the R.O.T. (Republic of Texas). Good timing on your part!

Rick

[Southwest Dave]

Thanks guys. Yep we were lucky in that respect, the contrast of colours were really easy on the eye ! It was the first time we had experienced Spring in the USA so a real treat !





Dave.

[Southwest Dave]

Day 14. March 2nd.

It was a bit of a restless night due to the heat, but it turned into another wonderful morning. We are heading to Carlsbad NM for the night and was hoping we may get a late visit in the afternoon to Carlsbad caverns, our only chance as it won't be possible tomorrow because we have a long day on the road. I sat outside with a coffee contemplating the day ahead while watching various birds, including 'Road runners' looking for breakfast and a huge turkey vulture airing his wings. Do I rush about and take a direct route to Carlsbad, in the hope of getting a good run and making it there before the last tour, or take it easy and meander along and take our time. I was feeling relaxed so I decided to take it easy. We had a walk around the campground and part way around the nature trail as the haze cleared on the mountains in the background, it really was a nice setting and so peaceful.

Turkey Vulture.



Click here for this RTA Library Map

As we left the campground I stopped at the dump station to empty the tanks, it's not a glamorous job but it's not that bad at all and I say that as a dad who could never go near a nappy ! I didn't top up with water as we had enough to get us through the day and we had full hook up tonight so no point in adding weight to the RV, the reason I dumped here and didn't wait to do it until hooked up tonight. We then headed to the store and wandered around and ended up buying the 'obligatory' National park T-shirt before hitting the road. It was past Noon already and I was glad we were gaining back an hour with the time zone change as we had to be through the RV park gates by 7pm, or call to make special arrangement for security purposes.

We headed back to Panther Junction and North towards Marathon on US385 across Tornillo flat with the Sierra Del Carmen range in view.



We stopped at Marathon for some much needed fuel but I only got half a tank as the prices were quite high, what with it being one of the closest towns to the park with fuel available. It was then on to Alpine on US90 before heading Northwest on TX118 to Fort Davis, it was a pretty drive through Musquiz canyon. We stopped in a lovely little rest area for lunch before arriving at Fort Davis.



We parked up in Fort Davis and had a nice walk around town enjoying the old stores, the Jeff Davis county courthouse and the State bank.



We walked up Font street where there was a nice church located in front of Hospital canyon and a few quaint properties, one with small Deer feeding on the front lawn.



Of course Fort Davis was named after, wait for it !!......Fort Davis which was listed as a National historic site in 1961 to protect, whats considered to be, one of the best remaining examples of a US army fort.

Fort Davis, protected on 3 flanks by rock walls.


By the entrance is an old railroad carriage that is now Hebert's Caboose Ice cream shop ! Well who could resist?! (Not you Keith anyway ! ;-) ) They had a great selection of flavours and the scoops were huge, it would be rude not to !



Ice cream in hand we took TX17 towards Pecos, the journey started out as pretty hill country scenery before changing dramatically. We first started to see an oil drilling Derrick or two, then a lot more, then refineries and flame vents and the roads were crumbling, the big oil rigs and pick up trucks were kicking up a dust storm and it went from pretty to pretty horrid ! The Permian basin is experiencing an oil boom through Fracking but the infrastructure can't cope with it. There are stories of huge queues at the local stores as workers try and grab some bread and milk before it sells out. 'Man camps' are cropping up everywhere to house the workers and the local town just hasn't got the ability to cope with demand. There were lots of road works and everyone seeming to be rushing here or rushing there, it was run down, dusty and in our eyes, a miserable hell on earth. It's certainly a far cry from the image of oil and Texas portrayed by the Ewing's on that lovely white South Fork ranch in Dallas ! Haha. This went on for miles and miles and we were glad to have finally reached the Carlsbad RV park around 6pm as the light was fading.



We were also glad we had booked in advance as the site was packed. Looking at the dusty Fifth wheeler's with pick up trucks parked by them with tools and welding gear in the back, we realised this was an over spill of workers from the oil fields. We had considered going out for the evening but there was a lot of traffic out on the roads so we decided to stay 'home' and catch up with the folks back home as we had been 'radio silent' for the last 3 days in Big Bend with no WiFi available.

Today's mileage: 306. Total: 2407 miles.

[Mark Sedenquist]

Beautiful road shots.

Mark

[keithg]

Haha Your right Dave. I wouldn't have been able to resist. Hope it was enjoyable as it sounded.

Great adventure and we love the pictures. Love the silhouette one.

Keith

[Southwest Dave]

I knew you would find those two little words Keith ! Ha ha.

The ice cream was great but no picture unfortunately.

Dave.

[Mark Sedenquist]

Day 13. March 1st.

It was time to say goodbye to the Chisos mountains and continue on our adventure!

Somehow, I missed the section of the narrative where you had to turn around at the stream washout. Yeah, that could have been dicey. Nice that the jeepster arrived so you could chat about the options.

Do you remember "Sedenquist's Rule of Serial Consequences" Looks like you didn't pass that ultimate threshold.

Quite the adventure!

Mark

[Southwest Dave]

Do you remember "Sedenquist's Rule of Serial Consequences".

I can honestly say that the 'said' article was at the front of my mind as I recapped the situation, both that same evening and while doing the write up. I actually thought of quoting it and using the "Serial Consequences" as the post title, I now wish I had.

Looks like you didn't pass that ultimate threshold

Nope, but it was almost certainly one step away. (Not sure what I would of done 20 years ago though! )

Dave.

[Mark Sedenquist]

That's what is called wisdom!

You wouldn't believe the number of dumb things I have done off-highway. These days, Megan takes a very dim view of anything approaching what I would routinely tried a few years ago. (I have developed some skill with all of those adventures -- but most of the skill has been in my brain...)