Friday, January 30, 2015
We are at the Lost Alaskan RV park in Alpine,
Texas, elevation 4,475 ft. It’s on the
way to Big Bend National Park. A fellow
RVer at one of our seminars recommended this place. It’s nice and in a good location.
At Lake Mineral Wells State Park, I noted the
stunted growth of the vegetation. It
reminded both of us of the vegetation on the Outer Banks of North
Carolina. The brisk, constant wind from
the ocean keeps the growth low. It also
bends all the plants inland.
But at Mineral Wells, the plants weren’t
bent. As we drove through more of that
part of Texas, we realized that the plants didn’t get enough water to grow
tall. Western Texas is an arid area and
there are no tall trees. The farther
west you go, the drier it gets.
We did start to see windmills, usually up on
ridges or plateaus, thousands of them.
Eventually we started seeing oil wells, but while most of the windmills
were turning, many of the oil wells were not pumping.
This picture also shows what the scenery was
like – dried grass as far as the eye could see. If you didn’t see any utility poles, there
weren’t any oil wells. Oil wells need
electricity to pump oil. (I kept looking
for an oil well with solar panels but never spotted one. I did see highway and railroad signs that
were powered by solar panels.)
As we approached Midland, Texas, the windmills
petered out and the oil wells became much more numerous. Midland has been the center of several oil
booms, but was originally just the midpoint of the railroad between Fort Worth
and El Paso. Much of this area was
settled by the railroads in the 1880’s.
There is some farming of cotton and you’ll occasionally see cattle or
horses. But towns and houses are few and
far between. Towns were usually located on
a railroad line where there was a source of water for the steam trains.
We stayed outside Big Spring, Texas, one night
in a small RV Park. When Steve was
looking for places to stay on trip advisor, there were comments like “if you
must stay in West Texas, this place is ok.”
It was.
We reached Alpine last night and drove about 20
miles to Fort Davis, Texas today. This
is an area of active ranching, but we did not see a cow or horse the entire
trip. We did see several cattle loading
areas, with pens and ramps for loading but no cattle. Thanks to my phone and Urban Spoon, we found
a great place for lunch: the Blue Mountain Bistro.
The Bistro is next to the Hotel Limpia and
there is a lovely courtyard between the two:
The table was decorated with fresh rosemary,
which gave off a delicate aroma throughout the meal.
We asked about the soups of the day and the
guest at the next table leaned over and said the tomato basil was the best
she’d ever had. Unfortunately, it
contained cream, so I couldn’t have it, but Steve said it was really good, as
was his Panini. I had the house salad
with chicken, which was well seasoned, with their balsamic vinegar dressing,
very good. We’ll be staying at Ft. Davis
State Park next week, so we’ll be back.
On the way back to the trailer, we stopped at
Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center and Botanical Garden. I bought a walking stick, as I occasionally
have various problems and I’ve seen them recommended. We’ve seen many walking sticks made of native
woods before and they can be expensive.
Since I wasn’t sure how much I’d use one, the $17 price was more in my
range.
It’s made from the bloom stalk of a succulent
shrub, smooth sotol, which I’d call a cactus.
(It’s the tallest one.)
It’s very light weight and sturdy. I can see why the stalks were used for
building. The rest of the plant is also
useful, with the leaves used for mats and baskets, and the trunk eaten by man
and beast.
I used my walking stick as we toured the
botanical garden, where I saw the most beautiful cactus: Queen Victoria Agave:
Just gorgeous!
This is the view from the scenic overlook at
the gardens. We’ll be headed into those
mountains and Big Bend National Park tomorrow.
Take care and keep warm! (It was a bit chilly
here today. It never got over 50.)
Deb
