The Thirteen-Day Texas Tour and Where Everything Changed

March 12-24, 2020

We thoroughly enjoyed our tour through Texas! The first night, we stayed at a winery in Anahuac, about 45 minutes east of Houston. Our campsite was a Harvest Host location. As we mentioned before, a Harvest Host is a local business that will let you camp on their land with the understanding you will patronize their place of business. The winery owner, Jim, was a nice and most interesting man. Upon arrival, he welcomed us and led us to our parking space, which happened to be almost ¼ of a mile behind us. He said we would have to back the camper up the road and assured us we all had plenty of time and that it would be good experience for Craig. 😳 Craig put the truck in reverse and Jim rode along beside Craig in a golf cart, the entire distance telling him how he was doing just fine. As soon as we got settled in, Jim opened the winery for us and two other couples that were lodging there. We enjoyed the wine tasting, and the alligator egg rolls his wife made for us. He was quite a character and told interesting stories, including the story of Neil Diamond, the singer, giving him the home he has now after he lost everything to Hurricane Ike, in 2008. It seems Neil developed a soft spot for Houston some fifty years ago. Neil flew into Houston to do a show, but realized he had no credit card. When Neil told the car rental clerk he didn't have a way to pay, she recognized him and said, "Well, Mr. Diamond, We'll be happy to let you use one of our fine cars, and to welcome you to the great state of Texas." Neil Diamond said he never forgot that act of "pure kindness and warmth". In 2008, Neil happened to be back in Texas right after Hurricane Ike, and heard of the extensive damage to the Houston area. He went and visited the area for himself, and decided to give back to the city that had shown him kindness years before. And that’s how Jim and 13 other families in the area received new homes from Neil Diamond.

 That evening, we went to our camper and realized Jim's power connections didn't work very well. We had no power, which also meant no air conditioning. After opening all the windows and getting settled into bed, we heard what sounded like choirs of mosquitoes singing all around us. We turned the lights back on to find about 30 mosquitoes on the ceiling, walls, and all around our bed. We killed mosquitoes with wet washcloths until we thought it was safe to lay back down and try to rest. Our blinds banged on the windows in the breeze, and dogs barked nearby all night long, and we could still hear the buzz of one lone and lucky mosquito around our heads. Lying there awake during the night, I couldn't help but wonder if the power issue was somehow Neil Diamond's fault. 

 Our next stop was in San Antonio. We went to see the town, not realizing it was St. Patrick's Day weekend. We understand traditionally there is a huge celebration on the Riverwalk in each year for this event, but the parade had been canceled. To us, it looked like an average day, with many in town, but not especially crowded. It was while we were in San Antonio that things began to change quickly with virus recommendations, closures, and press conferences from leadership throughout the country. We also learned a toilet paper craze had started a few days ago. The Riverwalk in San Antonio was our last day around people as the situation continued to change rapidly. 

 Next, we traveled to the city of Del Rio. Along the way, saw signs near prisons that said not to pick up hitchhikers-they may be escaping inmates. We also went through a few border control stops while in Texas. Signs about immigrants and prisoners posted everywhere were unusual to us, and we found ourselves looking in the bushes along the highway for folks running or hiding! Our RV Park in Del Rio was six miles from the border of Mexico. It was also six miles from Walmart.😉 We went and got a few things we needed, and saw many empty shelves. We were thankful we didn't need much. 

After leaving Del Rio, we continued heading west. We crossed over the Pecos River via the Pecos River High Bridge. The Pecos River feeds into the Rio Grande. Not knowing what a beautiful bridge we were approaching, we passed the designated overlook area, so we pulled the camper over on the other side of the bridge—the side where it is fenced off and you are not actually supposed to observe. We quickly took many beautiful pictures. We are enjoying having the opportunity to ride along and discover new things we never knew we cared about.

We stayed in Alpine, Texas, for one night and then headed toward the neat little town of Terlingua (population 58!) right outside of Big Bend National Park. Our RV site was in the Study-Butte/Terlingua area. We enjoyed so much spending time in Big Bend. This was our first chance to enjoy nature and to be in big wide-open spaces. We hiked The 4.5-mile Window Trail and then took a bumpy dirt road six miles to the Balancing Rock hike. Since Clay was not allowed in the National Park, we came home and took him for a walk near our campsite. There we found an abandoned Oldsmobile, Airstream camper, and a couch out in the middle of a desert-like area. It was a great photography opportunity. We enjoyed it so much; Study Butte was so peaceful. I never wanted to leave. It has been one of my favorite places so far. After a few days there, we heard the county officials had a meeting, and the residents voted that due to the virus, all the tourists should go home! Everyone needed to be out of the RV parks by noon on Monday.  We had been officially voted off the island!  At sundown the next day, we went back to the abandoned car with Craig's drone and camera. While we were walking, we met the 75-year-old owner of the nearby Rock Store. He told us how his health has declined the last couple of years but said he was still in pretty good shape, and then proceeded to show us how high he could kick his legs in the air. That was amusing. He also told us not to rush off because the rumor was the sheriff said it would be a lot of work to enforce the evacuation and had requested town officials meet again and reconsider. The store owner offered to let us stay behind his rock store if we needed a place to go. We thanked him, bought a cactus, and continued our walk. 

Craig decided that since we were in a remote area with few city lights, he would try his first attempt at astrophotography. He planned to drive back into Big Bend National Park for the photos, where it was darker still. It was amazing to me how dark it would get at night, just at the RV park. He has a phone app that helps find the Milky Way and the constellations. Before he went to Big Bend, we laid on the ground in the blackness, and looked up at the sky with his phone app, seeing where the named stars were. That didn't last long, though, because we heard what sounded like a dog coming toward us, so we jumped up real fast. Craig took some beautiful pictures that night in the park. 

Another new thing we've experienced in Texas is windstorms! We had no idea! Two of the evenings in Study-Butte, the wind got up to around 25 miles an hour. The first night the winds ripped one of the awnings that protect the top of our camper slide-out. After talking to a local, we learned this is a regular thing. 

Upon being exiled out of Turlinguia and ready to see more of the wild west, we headed to Fort Stockton—another Texas treasure rich in history. Our RV site in Fort Stockton had a swimming pool, and it was 85 degrees there, so we enjoyed a private pool day, as no one else was around the entire day. And we are constantly amazed at how much you can learn and see while almost nothing is open. 

We came to Fort Stockton to give ourselves a little more time to see what would happen with the virus recommendations and future closings of parks and such. We felt if we could continue to hike and be in the outdoors, we would stay on the road, but if national and state parks, RV parks, and other businesses closed, perhaps we should head home. After watching the news and talking to our kids, we've decided to continue our journey for the time being. 

We have several remote locations in our plans, and even though most restaurants, museums, and other attractions have closed, we are finding traveling to be extremely easy. We have not had issues with heavy traffic and are having no trouble getting last-minute reservations at RV parks, which affords us flexibility. In many of the remote places we go, we have the mountains and hiking trails all to ourselves. Also, social-distancing is being practiced in the most remote areas; when hikers see on-coming hikers, one will stand off the path until the other hiker passes. Since isolation seems to be the best thing we can be doing, we feel very fortunate to be on this trip during this time. We have been sheltered from many things and have had the opportunity to isolate ourselves, yet stay busy and see beautiful places. We wish you were all with us...in your own camper...and then we could all hike this beautiful country together....6 feet apart. Stay safe and stay strong! We love you all! 

At the winery in Anahuac, we didn’t understand exactly what Jim does with this bottle of Vietnamese snake wine that contains a cobra with some other snake in the cobra’s mouth. He might have said he uses it to raise the alcohol content in some of his other wines. We’re not sure, but one thing we are sure of…Yikes and Yuck!

Anahuac is where we unexpectedly had no power. We played cards by the lantern Rob and Angela brought us when they came to see in us in Orlando. Good friends always bring light into your life—sometimes when you need it the very most. ❤

A building on the Riverwalk housed some of the floats for the St. Patrick’s Day parade. They were still in storage; the parade had been canceled.

The Riverwalk was completed in 1941, but by the 1950s the Riverwalk had gained a reputation for seediness. In an effort to return the Riverwalk to its former glory, city officials hired engineers from Disneyland to help revitalize the area. Their efforts included adding shops and restaurants at the basement levels of buildings along the Riverwalk. Since that time, the Riverwalk has thrived as a go-to place for tourists and locals alike.

One of the iconic scenes of San Antonio’s Riverwalk, but the reduced crowd was not the scene anyone would have expected a few months ago.

The Arneson River Theater on the Riverwalk. Many events and shows are held here, but its biggest claim to fame seems to be a scene in Miss Congeniality, with Sandra Bullock.

We had been forewarned that visiting The Alamo can be a little underwhelming after hearing “Remember the Alamo!” all your life. Although not a ton to see, it was rewarding to have a reminder of the meaning and context of the phrase and to see the monument that symbolizes perseverance to the very end.

The commander of the Texas army against Mexican forces wrote, "I shall never surrender or retreat…I am determined to sustain as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country". After fighting for 13 days, 3,000 Mexican soldiers defeated the 182 Texan soldiers, which included Davy Crockett, at the Alamo Mission. For Texans, the Battle of the Alamo became a symbol of their heroic resistance and struggle for independence, which they later won. The battle cry of "Remember the Alamo" became popular during the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848. Fight 'til the very end!!

One day we toured San Antonio by bicycle. Pictured in the background is the Tower Life Building, built in 1929. The first six floors of the building housed the very first Sears & Roebuck department store.

On our bike tour, we discovered this fun and colorful outdoor place—The Friendly Spot that played country music in the front and Mexican music in the back courtyard.

We stopped at Rosario’s for Mexican food and when I went to the restroom, I was faced with a moral dilemma. Don’t worry—in the end, I did the right thing. 😊

We happened to drive by Mission San Jose Catholic Church on our way back home. This mission was founded in 1720, two years after The Alamo. There are five missions in San Antonio. These outposts (missions) were established by Catholic religious orders to spread Christianity among the local natives. San Jose Mission was not completed until 1782 but became “the most beautiful church along the entire frontier of New Spain”.

Once in Del Rio, TX we took a short drive to check out the area and found ourselves at Amistad National Recreational Area. This body of water is a beautiful blue and feeds into the Rio Grande, which defines the border of Mexico and the United States. Amistad, Spanish for friendship, referred to the close relationship and shared history between Ciudad Acuña, the city on the Mexico side and Del Rio on the Texas/US side.

Our isolated and remote little RV campground boasted having a bird sanctuary. We went there but did not see one bird. We assume this is where you hide and wait for the birds to come. It didn’t work.

While in Del Rio, more and more areas were calling for full isolation. One of the campers posted this photo on our campsite Facebook page. People are getting very clever. 😆

They would not have provided this nifty ladder over the fence if they really meant it. We were on our way to see the Pecos River High Bridge and the water below!

The Pecos River begins in New Mexico and travels about 900 miles before meeting the Rio Grande. We pulled the camper to the side of the road and got out to explore. We took so many good pictures here.

Judge Roy Bean has quite a colorful past as the “Law West of the Pecos”. This is his saloon that also served as his courthouse. He named it The Jersey Lilly after a current day movie star that he was obsessed with, Lilly Langtry. It is highly questioned to this day if he was ever officially more than an overzealous notary public. Maybe it was easy to be a big fish in a small pond here; as of 2016, the town of Langtry still only had a population of 12.

At the Lost Alaskan RV park, I saw two girls walking two critters on leashes. They were not dogs—or cats. I took a video that we’ve included below and later ran out to ask them what they had. It was a crab-eating raccoon and a coatimundi. We included a video of our visit with them.

They also had this baby crab-eating raccoon.

This is the town of Terlingua. In the late 1800s, the town was discovered as a place to mine mercury. This caused an influx of miners to the area, that it drew a population of 2,000 and by 1900 there were four mining companies in the area. After resources in the area had been depleted around the 1940s, the mining companies had filed for bankruptcy and the miners began to trickle out. By the end of WWII, it was a true ghost town.

In the 1960s, the town of Terlingua had an influx of hippies. The tale is they all came because they heard there was no work here. 😀 Terlingua became famous for its annual chili cook-off and in 1967 was deemed the "Chili Capitol of the World" by the Chili Appreciation Society.

The Window Trail at Big Bend National Park was a 5- mile hike to this abrupt trail end. The elevation is almost 1000 feet.

Craig got closer to the big drop off than I did. 😲

The same day we hiked the Window Trail, we drove down a ridiculous six-mile bumpy dirt road and hiked about a mile on this trail to see Balancing Rock.

This is Balancing Rock. You’re welcome…and you didn’t even have to break a sweat. 😊

Santa Elena Canyon in Big Bend National Park. In this photo, Mexico is on the left side of the canyon and the canyon on the right is the United States. The Rio Grande that runs in between is the international boundary line.

I enjoy taking pictures of Craig taking pictures. 🖤

In Big Bend National Park we spotted these unusual ashy mounds with lava rock. We never noticed until now that Clay is the same color as a lava rock.

It’s believed the lava rock and ash are between 32 and 38 million years old! Walking around in that area felt sort of like being on another planet.

I had to chuckle at a kid in the RV park trying to make some money running a “Rock Stor”. “5 [dollars] ore below. OPeN”… 🌺 I didn’t see anyone around; I think it was a self-service stor.

Terlingua was really a peaceful place. The sunsets every single night were so beautiful!

One of Craig’s first nighttime pictures, taken in Big Bend National Park.

If you’ve seen our Instagram pages, you may have seen all the car pictures we took, but we wanted to share another. We discovered it out in a field while on a walk one evening.

The sunsets were lovely in Fort Stockton as well.

Fort Stockton’s history is rich and we thoroughly enjoyed the town’s Driving Tour of historical sites and our walking tour around the (closed) visitor’s center. Having one of the largest sources of spring water in Texas, this town became the largest city between San Diego and St. Louis in the mid-1850s to early 1900s. So much history here and so little time…One interesting tidbit though, Fort Stockton was the headquarters of the first Buffalo Soldiers. These two regiments of cavalry were composed by an Act of Congress to increase peace in the United States after the Civil War. The 9th and 10th regiments were composed of “colored men” that would help to control the attacks of the Comanche and Apache Indians. The Indians actually gave the regiments their name, and the Buffalo Soldiers wore it as a badge of honor as the Native Americans considered the buffalo to have noble attributes such as strength and stamina.

Fort Stockton is where we first were introduced to real Roadrunners. They are the cutest things—preferring to run rather than fly. Its always fun to see them. They can run up to 20 miles an hour.