Drive to Fredericksburg, Texas

Fort Stockton to Fredericksburg was a 256-mile journey. We headed east along I-10, stopped at Junction for diesel, then continued along to route 290 to the Fredericksburg RV Park.
We heard from so many folks over the years about Fredericksburg that it was a mandatory stop on the way. Driving through the town to the RV park, you could tell by the names that Germans had settled here. The old downtown is quaint, with pretty buildings. The main attraction, however, is the National Museum of the Pacific War. Since Fredericksburg is the boyhood hometown of Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, the museum is also referred to as the Nimitz Museum.

Here is what I saw from the passenger seat along I-10 today:

 

We arrived at the RV Park, set up, had a quick cup of tea, and walked into town to the museum.

Halloween at the Fredericksburg RV Park

The museum is huge but we spent a couple of hours going through the exhibits before closing time at 5PM. It was overwhelming! There is so much more to see that we will be coming back on our return trip this way. 

National Museum of the Pacific War

Exploring Fort Stockton

Today we traveled 172 miles from Lajitas to Fort Stockton. Our final destination is of course New Braunfels to continue with the fun at the ACA Heritage Rally. Between Lajitas and New Braunfels we will make two overnight stops along the way, the first being in Fort Stockton. 
The route out of Lajitas took us through a section of Big Bend National Park, making it a scenic drive. We were able to enjoy the park with its diverse topography just a little longer.

Beyond the park, route 385 continued across more desert terrain, heading north towards I-10. 

Eventually we began seeing entrances to ranches and cattle. I did wonder whether the poor beasts enjoyed munching on desert scrub. 

The road to the RV park took us through Fort Stockton where we passed their icon, Paisano Pete:

roadrunner Texas style

Once we were all set up at the RV park, we headed into town to investigate what Fort Stockton was all about. We ended up spending a pleasant few hours in the historic old town learning about the origins and development of the town. 
It was like going back in time to what once was the real Wild West during the time of Indian raids, US cavalry and infantry, and fortune seekers. 
Fort Stockton is a good example of frontier life with its related hardships, dangers, and individualized frontier system of justice.

There is good detailed history available at these links:
Fort Stockton
and
Wikipedia article

Basically the story behind Fort Stockton centers around water, which is a necessity for survival in the desert. There is a spring, named Comanche by the early Mexican settlers, and one of the largest artesian spring systems in Texas. 

at the Fort Visitor Center and the
few original remaining buildings

The route known as the Comanche War Trail came right through the town, and each September, beginning in the late 18th century, during full moon - and which became known to those subject to attack as the Comanche Moon - large numbers of raiders from as far away as the Southern Plains would stop at the spring before continuing into Mexico for their raiding and plunder. They would then stop at the spring again on their homeward journey. 
Then in 1848, after the US-Mexican war and the promise by the US to protect Mexico from Indian raiders, Congress directed the army to place a line of forts along the southwestern frontier to protect the San Antonio-El Paso road, as well as to halt Indian raids into Mexico. 
When it came to protecting land in west Texas, water had great strategic value. Trails were established from one water source to the next.  It was a natural choice for the army to establish forts where there were water sources. And so this site with Comanche Spring became Fort Stockton. 
This route with its fortifications was also a route used by gold seekers making their way to California. They would arrive in San Antonio from ports in the Gulf of Mexico, then make their way west along what was called the Military Road.
The forts protected the water source now denied to the Indian raiders, and also protected travelers making their way across the country. 

We visited the Annie Riggs Museum, which is the original adobe structure hotel that Annie Riggs operated. 
Each of the rooms was set up with collections of period artifacts and furnishings depicting different historical aspects of Fort Stockton's development. 

in the parlor with Annie's piano, watching a video about Annie
and her family history

wide porches and high ceilings kept
rooms cool before air-conditioning

One of the more colorful stories from the era concerned a feud between Annie's husband and the controversial sheriff who was killed while emptying his desk after losing re-election. To this day, no one knows who killed the sheriff, though rumor has it that several businessmen organized and orchestrated the sheriff's demise. His desk with his blood stains is on display in one of the rooms of the hotel.
I had more fun looking at the various old sewing machines, some of which were brands I had not heard of.

I sewed on a New Home in the 80's and 90's

If you dig far enough in the soils in the area, there are riches to be unearthed. One is a large 20,000-year-old Colombian mammoth tusk found by Frank Warnock. He has since unearthed many more fossils. 

the mammoth tusk in a display cabinet

The other more lucrative discovery was oil. In 1926, after 11 years of digging, the Yates A-1 well blew in, covering the hillside with oil. And so began the oil boom in Pecos County.

The layout of the old town is very efficient. All the important buildings are located around a central town park. The county courthouse flanks one side, and on the opposite end stands St Joseph's Catholic Church. The adobe structure was completed in 1877. Numerous additions were made since then but the original adobe structure remains.

the town park with its band stand, reminding me of The Music Man

And across on the other side of the park is the county jail. 

the Pecos County Jail, now a museum

Exploring Big Bend National Park

We spent two days exploring Big Bend National Park. We were here 15 years ago. Someone asked me if much had changed! I'm sure it hasn't.  
On this visit, I was struck by the vastness, the grandeur, and the striking variation in topography and landscape. It seemed to fit the Texan image. 

I noticed that the ocotillo were abundant and very healthy-looking. Most were green, their tall branches reminding me of fuzzy pipe cleaners. These plants remain dormant much of the year but leaf out within 24-48 hours of rainfall. There must have been sufficient rain and moisture for the ocotillo to be so green.

sotol

I learned about the sotol succulent with its tall stalk produced each spring that bears flowers. Sotol was an important source of materials used for basket making. The stalks were used to make temporary shelters, porches, roofs, corrals and walking sticks. Because the stalks are so straight they were also used as a lance and spear. Other parts of the plant were used as food. Young flower stalks and the seeds were eaten. The heart of the plant was cooked in stone-lined pits for several days.  When the sap is fermented it produces an alcoholic beverage called by the same name, sotol.

Driving along the different routes through the park, we saw several tarantulas crossing the road, and a few roadrunners scurrying into the bushes. It reminded me that it was here in Big Bend that I saw my first roadrunner at the Rio Grande Village campground where we were staying back then. 
And as we have come to learn, even though we may have explored a national park previously, there is always more to discover and learn on a return visit. The more times you visit, the more you see, and notice. At different times of the year the park looks a little different too.
Big Bend NP lies in a remote part of southwest Texas, spanning over 801,000 acres. The Rio Grande River forms the park's southern international border with Mexico. The name Big Bend comes from the U-turn bend that the river makes as seen on the National Park Service map below:

We drove the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive to the dramatic Santa Elena gap with its 1,500-foot towering canyon walls to see the Rio Grande River. The gap is a sight to behold. 

the gap is the Santa Elena canyon from a distance

view into the Santa Elena canyon from the overlook a couple of miles away

We parked and walked the trail to the river. The scene was spectacular with the opaque green river snaking its way out of the gap between the massive canyon walls. 
We crossed a small running stream to the banks on the opposite side, looking for a way to the trail that leads into the canyon.

The trail lead us up a groomed path to an overlook. It was pretty breathtaking and spectacular.

view across the Rio Grande River looking out of the canyon into the park

view into the canyon 

we and Alpine friend Ramona in the canyon

steam engine similar to a toy one
Michael  once had

At Castolon we stopped at the Visitor Center which had unfortunately just closed for the season. However there were reader boards which explained that in 1922 businessman Wayne Cartledge began growing cotton in these river-bottom fields. He also introduced steam and gasoline-powered irrigation pumps, the remnants of which are left behind as a reminder of the booming commercial venture that ended by 1942 with the falling prices and mounting costs of cotton. When Michael was a little boy, he had a toy working steam engine that looked very similar to this one here in the photo. Who knew that he would find the real thing in a remote area in Big Bend National Park!

Big Bend NP lies in the Chihuahuan Desert yet is one of the most diverse areas due to the geologic processes that have been constantly changing the land for over 500 million years. Eons ago, this area was once an ocean. In effect, we were driving along the bottom of an ancient seabed along some roads. Millions of years later plate tectonics, upthrusts and rifts, volcanic activity, and erosion occurring during different eras created the varied landscape that we see today. The result is a collection of fascinating dramatic rock formations throughout the park, from the lowest point at 1,850 feet along the river to the highest point at 7,825 feet at Emory Peak in the Chisos Mountains. 
The Chisos range is a volcanic remnant, extending for 20 miles, thus making Big Bend National Park the only area in the US with an entire mountain range within its borders. It is also the southern most mountain range on the US mainland. The Chisos are an ecological island marooned by altitude. Although they appear to be treeless, the Chisos' higher slopes are forested with oak, pine, and juniper. 

Chisos Mountains, an entire range within the boundaries of Big Bend NP

We drove the road to Chisos Basin marveling at the rock formations. And as we climbed in elevation, the topography changed and looked greener with the appearance of trees, bushes and grasses, in stark contrast to the desert terrain just a few miles away.

I especially enjoyed the large chunky rock formations with their interesting shapes. The rocks glowed in the sinking afternoon sun.

We took a short walk along a trail to take in the view from the gap in the mountains which is known as The Window.

view through the "window" in the Chisos range into the park

This is what the gap known as the Window looks like from the other side - 

looking into the "window" in the Chisos range

Another interesting formation we went to see is known as Mule Ears Peaks. 

hiking along a dry wash into the canyon to see the pouroff

Michael  almost inconspicuous
at the base of the canyon

We did a short hike to see the Burro Mesa Pouroff. It turned out to be a high cliff that after heavy rain becomes a gushing flash flood waterfall. 
It's too difficult to comprehend the force with which the water would flow over this massive and high precipice. 

the enormous rocks make one feel tiny like an ant 

the landscape that holds fossils - imagine the ones that have
 yet to be discovered....

There is one change since we were last here. In January this year, a brand new Fossil Exhibit was opened. We went to see that too and learned that not only did dinosaurs roam here once upon a time but significant discoveries of mammal fossils were also made here. 

the new fossil exhibit

In 1900, one of the most well-known dinosaur hunters of all time, Barnum Brown, discovered Tyrannosaurus rex in Montana. Then forty years later, he and his field-assistant, R.T. Bird, came to what is now Big Bend. They drove an old Ford deliverywagon into sections of the park that would challenge our Jeep today! They explored many areas of the park and collected a number of fossils. Some of the more significant finds include skull parts of the giant alligator Deinosuchus, a skull of the armored dinosaur Edmontonia, and the skull and limb bones of the large duck-billed hadrosaur called Kritosaurus.

Gazing out to the landscape that preserved all these bones, I could only wonder how on earth one would know where to begin looking for fossils, and how it must surely be a matter of luck to even discover one. 

Here are more scenes from this park with its remarkable variance in topography and plants -

I noticed several delicate flowers in some areas. Against the green and brown palette of the desert landscape their color stood out.

ocotillo with their fuzzy pipe-cleaner stalks

Ancient volcanic activity left a section called Tuff Canyon with this unusual topography.