Saddle Up and Move Out

Seems like forever since we were last driving the RV down the road. We had spent most of the previous day cleaning and packing away, it’s amazing what you collect when you are parked up for a while.

We had a wonderful ‘last supper’ with Jerry & Karen and Bob & Yolanda at Paradise Key, we ate large prawns, king crab legs and Mahi Mahi on the veranda over looking the marina, drank Margaritas from the Tiki bar behind us while the sun set over the bay.

When the morning came we said a sad farewell to all our friends and pulled out heading for highway 44 west. There were white caps on the bay and a strong wind as we crossed the bridge into Corpus Christi, then we turned off the cross town express way onto Hwy 44 and into unfamiliar territory. We passed through Alice, where the farmland meets the railroad, the trees were showing their bright green spring foliage and the sides of the road had carpets of pink evening primroses. Further on the perfume from the creamy yellow catkin like flowers of the Black Brush was heavy in the air, a honey sweet smell, a cross between Mimosa and Jasmine. Yellow & peach, and white & pink poppies brightened up the sometimes winter dreary scrub and the occasional huge white flower spike of the giant Yucca pushed its head above the level of the surrounding vegetation.

Highway 44 took us through Freer where each year they host a famous rattle snake roundup. After turning north on hwy 83 we saw Harris Hawks on a road kill by the side of the road and Caracara’s sitting on the fence waiting for their turn, and further on a Scissor tailed Flycatcher, the bird book we had bought at the wildlife park was proving very useful. After Eagle Pass we followed the Rio Grande valley, North West, where they grow pecans in neat orchards. We arrived in Del Rio a little before 5pm and pulled into Buzzards Roost RV Park, our stop for 2 nights.

Claret Cup Catus, very apt we thought.

The next day we took the motorbike to Langtry a tiny settlement of maybe 10 houses, some falling down, but famous for the court of Judge Roy Bean, the Law west of the Pecos. He ran the Jersey Lily saloon which doubled as the courthouse and billiard hall. He named it after his idol Lillie Langtry the English actress, she finally accepted his invitation to visit “her” town in 1904 unfortunately the Judge died a few months before she arrived. Railroad historians claim Langtry was named for one of their construction foremen but nobody told Miss Langtry that. The visitors centre and cactus garden made a pleasant stop and we learned the names of many of the plants we had seen on our journey the day before.

The next day we headed west again on hwy 90, there wasn’t much between Del Rio and Sanderson except for the Border Patrol Station where we had to show our passports and visas. We decided to stop at Sanderson, the Cactus Capital of Texas, we thought we would have a lazy afternoon, wrong! First the water heater sprung a leak when we turned the water pump on, turned out a pipe had come off and it flooded the compartment. Then we couldn’t get the electricity to connect properly, the adaptor from 50 amps to 30amp kept arcing and so the power was intermittent, after fiddling with it for ages we decided to do without power for the evening. However, after firing up the generator we discovered it was the display board inside that was playing up, finally after some more fiddling it sorted it self out and power was restored. Another item on the job list for the warranty work. We had a walk around town, turns out there isn’t much in Sanderson either, even the bar was closed. In the evening a severe thunderstorm was forecast, thankfully it passed east of us but we did get a spectacular lighting show.

Crossing the Pecos River.

On the way to Alpine, the hills gave way to open grassland and cattle ranches, then another range of mountains came into view and Alpine nestled in the middle. The railroad runs right through the middle of town and the main street, Holland Avenue runs alongside. We turned north on Hwy 118 to find the Lost Alaskan RV Park and passed by the impressive buildings of Sul Ross State University which houses the Museum of the Big Bend. After settling in we took the motorbike into town to look around and found the Edelweiss Brewery a micro brewery located inside the historic Holland Hotel, after sampling 4 of their home brewed ales we decided Black Gold was the best.

The next morning we saddled up and headed north on 118 to Fort Davis, a National Historic Site, originally built in 1854 it was abandoned in 1861 following the outbreak of the American Civil War. Few of the original structures remained when the Ninth U.S. Cavalry reoccupied Fort Davis in June 1867 and the building of a new post began just east of the original site. In it’s heydays of the 1870’s & 80’s it had more than 100 structures, quarters for more than 400 soldiers & horses and protected the San Antonio – El Paso road from Apaches, Kiowas and Comanches. As a result of the army’s efforts to consolidate its frontier garrisons Fort Davis was ordered abandoned in 1891 having “outlived it usefulness”.


The town of Fort Davis still remains and is thriving, we had lunch at the oldest inn in the state and then completed the scenic loop via Marfa back to Alpine.