West Texas Revisited--An Overview

We ventured to west Texas this year.  We often go to Taos during this time frame, but the two day drive is getting kinda burdensome, so we picked west Texas.  This time of the year is the conference of the Center for Big Bend Studies and that was our primary reason for the trip,  But, seeing an opportunity to take in some scenery of the rugged area and possibly finding some land to acquire we went three days early.
Cat, as usual was riding shotgun.  As long as we can find a motel that will take cats, we choose to haul her along with us for two reasons.  One is that she is entertaining, and second, the cost is usually less than putting her in the local kennel.  In addition, she has told us that she does not like to stay in any kennel where she can hear dogs barking.
We travelled around San Antonio, heading first for Castroville where we stopped at an all time favorite bakery for some pastry and coffee.  Since we left home without breakfast we did not feel guilty.  Then on to Del Rio where we stopped at the Donut Shoppe where we had a bran muffin and coffee. Bran muffin, that's a healthy choice, eh? All these choices were rationalized as good choices.
Next checkpoint was Sanderson where we were interested in the café we always had lunch.  It had closed a few years ago and we see now that it is labelled the Brown Eyed Girl.  We did not stop to check it out because we were still full of donuts and muffins.  But, we will check into that on the way home.
We checked in to the Quality Inn and were assigned Room 116. When one is accustomed to living in quietude of rural Texas, its always a challenge living for 5 days in a motel where there are lots of people noises.  Why people conduct all their business in the hallway outside their door is a mystery. And, then, there are loud televisions as well.

Since the conference is still a few days away, we chose to go to Fort Davis and check out the scenery and the land prospects.  As it turns out, the land prospects are not good because of the unavailability of modest sized acreage.  So we cooled on that aspect of the trip.

The scenery along Hwy 118 is outstanding; rugged mountains, picturesque valleys, few buildings to mar the view.

The cottonwood trees must have been at their peak of color.  Cottonwood trees only grow in moist soils.  Settlers always looked for cottonwoods as a source of drinking water.  They can be very larger trees, with trunks several feet in diameter.  This photo was taken just south of Fort Davis to the west of Hwy

Hotel Olympia is an old hotel and still in business as there are no motel chains to mess things up for them.  The big tree in the front may be an Arizona Cypress, but not sure.  We have inquired but so far have not had a reply from the state forester.

The Fort Davis Library is a very active center for the people of Fort Davis.  There was a class for young people on the day we visited.  The class was for story writing. It was interesting to watch from a distance all those young  minds trying to craft that next sentence.
The library is in an old building that has been restored to serve the new purpose.  On one of the displays, there were a string of photos showing the building in it former use as a mercantile store. So, here is a photo of a photo of the building that now houses the local library

On the way back to Alpine we passed a road that said "Mitre Peak Road" so we did a U-turn and went down this road.  It was paved but very narrow.  After about a 4 miles, we found the end of the paving at a Girl Scout Ranch.  The facility looked deserted.. It made us wonder if the whole scout movement, both boy and girl scout, was abandoning their outdoor activity centers in trade for the digital age.  The 2000 acre boy scout ranch near Wimberley is closed and the land is for sale.  Who knows?
The end of paving is at the Girl Scout Ranch, but the road continues as gravel past Mitre Peak and on to the very end of the road at the Sears Ranch.  Here is their sign and the dramatic stone in the distance.

This location, which is at the end of the Mitre Peak road, is the entrance to the Sears Ranch and thus the public road ends.  It is a mile or so past the Girl Scout camp, the only place on this road.  We are about 5 miles off the highway 118 at this point.

Here is where the cat decided to jump out of the car when the door opened.  She then went under the car and squirreled around in the gravel and dust for about ten minutes, and then calmly came out from under the car and jumped back inside and said "Okay, lets go now".

Here's Mitre Peak from the backside.  The lines are power lines.

We ran into a fellow who had climbed to the top of the peak years ago and apparently lived to tell us about it. Check back for more info on this.

We enjoyed the conference, the best of the show for us was Marty Davis' presentation on historic maps, Sam Cason presentation on late archaic finds, and Bryon Schroeders talk on dating baskets and maize, and atlatls.

On the way home we decided to stay overnight at The Lodge, once known as Rio Diablo, on the shores of Lake Amistad.   It was always an enjoyable stopover and still is.  Cindy is the most welcoming to their Lodge.  Check it out.

Recognizing that this was to be the coldest night of the fall and drizzling rain, we were not surprised to see that we were the only customers at the restaurant at the end of the road, a few miles past The Lodge. The hamburger and chicken burgers were both good.

We made it home in good condition.