We've also added some more pics to our photo album.
This week is mostly a travel week. Monday and Tuesday we put on over 1000 kms crossing over into West Texas. Staying off the freeway on Monday we went back up into the hill country west of Austin. Oh yeah, we did a return trip to Lockhart to check out the BBQ at Kruez Meat Market. Recall we did Smitty's in Lockhart a week or so earlier. Much the same great bbq. Liked the sausage and atmosphere at Smitty's better though. Kruez did have a god sense of humour with a separate entrance to the dining area for vegetarians ..... I have a feeling no one uses it. Kreuz also had the most extensive pit area of any of the joints we visited; maybe 7 or 8 huge brick-lined metal pits, each about the size of a Honda Fit. cows tremble.
The flowers are still amazing. Not so many Blue Bonnets, maybe we were a bit further south. Stayed Monday in the KOA in Kerrville. It was 91+ degrees out. When we checked in I asked if the pool was open. Buddy says yes, but it's cold. I asked him if there were ice bergs in it... he laughed and said no... I laughed and said then it isn't cold!!! Anyway, we get the wee trailer set up then head to the pool. Cold? HA... couldn't even raise a goose bump. Very nice and refreshing though. Another guy walks by and I tell him the water's great. He says "nope, it's too cold".
Tuesday was a full on freeway day on the way to Marfa. In Fort Stockton (which offers nothing) the temp goes to 3 digits. By the time we got to the RV park in Alpine about 65 miles south of Fort Stockton, the temp reading is 99. Again, when we check in I ask if the pool is open. They tell us that it's too cold... they don't open the pool until the end of May! SAY WHAT? As Robin Williams said in the movie Good Morning Vietnam... "... it's hot; damn hot; were you born on the sun?; it's hotter than a snake's ass in a wagon rut..." AND IT WAS!!!
Alpine was a very pleasant surprise. It is a university town at a high-ish elevation (maybe 4000ft), lots of interesting buildings and trendy little shops. Bought a small jackalope for my Christmas village (will keep the recently acquired armadillo company) which is quickly turning into the Crazy Christmas Village.
Anyway, Tuesday night we went out to the "official" viewing site for the infamous mysterious Marfa lights. We don't know if we saw any but when we explained to a couple of folks what we did see, they say that we saw some of the Marfa lights. If so, cool! In any event it was a fantastic night to sit out, in the desert, under a clear sky. The stars were out in full force even if the Marfa lights weren't. The viewing centre was built by the family of the first white cowboy to write about seeing the Marfa lights. It is a beautiful structure with a viewing area overlooking the desert - a great tribute to that cowboy.
Wednesday we took it easy and spent several hours in the artsy town of Marfa. We also enjoyed a culinary moment - lunch at the Food Shark. It had a mention in a recent NY Times piece on Marfa. The food was excellent, but you needed patience. They are serving good food out of a trailer - took about an hour to get our lunch (but the people watching was superb). We did not take the 4+ hour tour of the Chinati Institute galleries. Marfa is basically a town that was purchased by a fellow to provide a permanent home for large installation art pieces by selected artists. Seeing 24 large (albeit carefully constructed) aluminum boxes artfully arranged in an airplane hangar does not fill me with an appreciation for the artist's vision ..... rather, makes me think he had a lot of time (and aluminum) on his hands - maybe he couldn't draw noses so he turned to the skills learned in shop class; and then had the good fortune to snooker someone into buying (and preserving!!) the entire thing. At any rate, Marfa is designed for the rich art collector who buzzes in on a jet from somewhere else .... not for the poor Calgarian who thinks the emperor has no clothes. There was one piece of art we did enjoy .... and it was actually out of town by the highway .... at least it has a note of humour.
Wednesday afternoon our stopover point for the night was Van Horn, Texas. One reason we chose it was because the KOA had a pool that was "open all year". When we got there the pool is not open. Buddy says it hasn't opened this year because they are trying to get it painted. Kris commented that she didn't notice anyone trying very hard... the pool was empty, dry and very paintable. What was the temperature at the time? See above re: snakes asses in wagon ruts!!!
Thursday was another driving day as we headed north into New Mexico. Destination for the day: Roswell. The desert north of Van Horn is absolutely beautiful. Very little traffic on the highway and stunning scenery.
The highway goes through the Guadalupe Forest National Park. The visitor center is very well done showing the immense diversity of habitats. The park is not large in square miles, but rises through several climate zones so you can stand in the Chihuaua desert at the Visitor Centre and look up to see Douglas Firs on the sides of the mountains. Most of the park is aimed at hikers so we just visited the center and admired the scenery from the road as we went. They have vey good displays of the wildlife found in the park - including the 4 kinds of venomous snakes. We goose stepped back to the car carefully staying on the sidewalk.
Finished up the day in Roswell. Once again the pool was not available .... sensing a pattern here.
In Roswell, we visited the UFO Museum and Research Center.... wait what's that.... aaaaaaaagh...we're being beamed up...
... back in the wee trailer on earth. No recollection of what happened during the abduction. In Las Vegas the saying is "What plays in Vegas, stays in Vegas!". In Roswell it goes "What plays in Roswell, didn't happen!".
We were going to head north out of Roswell to get to Albuquerque but heard about a severe weather warning north and east of Roswell. Travel not advised, so we headed west instead. Ran into the mother of all hail storms. Not huge stones but a real downpour.
We stopped for lunch and a rest in the historic town of Lincoln (Billy the Kid fame). Chatted with some other folks who had the roof vent in their RV smashed by the hail and had a lot of hail and water inside. We dodged a hail bullet on that one; only damage we could see were some small tears in our spare tire cover.
Ended the week with a 3 day stopover in Albuquerque. This was a bit of a homecoming for us. One of our favorite places is the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. On one of our very first holidays together we visited the center in 1976 shortly after it opened. In fact they were still working on some of the fantastic murals in the center courtyard at the time we visited way back then. Those murals are still there. What a great place.
We continue to be haunted by jackalopes. A postcard purchased in Albuquerque informed us that they can also be called antelabbits and sing at night with an erie, human-like voice. Is truth stranger than fiction?
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