Alpine & Big Bend: 11/14-21/2013

After Camp Wood, Bonnie Henri and I pulled to West Texas as our last stop in Texas.  We visited this part of the world back during Christmas, 2011, although in a differen RV (see previous post).


Alpine is a great town, and home to Sul Ross State University.  Alpine is special to Bonnie as she attended college and worked at Sul Ross.  We found the upstairs apartment where she lived during her college days.  If memory serves, my Dad Si Northcutt also attended Sul Ross for a time.  We visited the Museum of the Big Bend which has some excellent exhibits about the history of this region.  It also housed a traveling exhibit of some of the artwork of the famous western artist Frederick Remington.  We enjoyed our tour immensely.

For this stay, we were at the Lost Alaskan RV Park in Alpine.   This is a very nice independent park, great shower/laundry facilities, helpful staff, and great views of the rugged mountainous terrain. West Texas has beautiful skies, so the clouds at sunrise and sunset are generally spectactular.

Our Site at the Lost Alaskan

View of the Mountains

Sunset and the Twin Peaks

Lots of big-eared Mule Deer around

November in Alpine is beautiful.  The sumac and the cottonwood along Lympia creek toward Foert Davis, were full of color.  The scenic loop from Alpine to Fort Davis on SH118, then onto the McDonald Observatory, then back toward Ft Davis on SH 166 is a beautiful drive and one not to be missed.

Beautiful Color in West Texas

One evening, we went back to Fort Davis to attend an evening presentation staged by the "Friends of Fort Davis."  This was an exellent presentation, generally held in the evening each year in November near the full moon, and this year's presentation depicted a typical night on the old post during it's heyday and simulated an event during the 1880's in which Lieutenant Henry Flipper, the first black graduate of West Point, made his celebrated "Flipper's Ride" during the campaign against Indian Chief Victorio.  This presentation was done by docents in full period costume, with only kerosene lamps to light our way as we made our way around the post to see the various scenes of frontier post life presented by the Friends of Fort Davis.  

It was a georgeous night, and Bonnie took this beautiful picture as we started the presentation.  

Full Moon over Fort Davis

And, since no trip is complete without a trip to the Big Bend National Park, Bonnie, Henri and I drove down to the park, taking a short detour to the "ghost town" of Terlingua. Not really a ghost town any more, as many hardy, independent souls have moved into Terlingua.  Since I forgot to fill the pickup with diesel before leaving Alpine, I was surprised by how expensive it was in Terlingua.  However, it could have been twice as expensive and I still would have bought it; it beats walking back to Alpine.

 Once we made it to the National Park entrance, we were disappointed to learn that the NPS would not let pets on the hiking trails.  The ranger said it was for Henri's protection as there were reports of agressive predators in the park.  So we satisfied ourselves by taking a driving tour of the Chisos Basin.  Henri was able to nap under his SpongeBob blanket, so he was cool with it as well.

The "Window"

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Alpine and were ready to try to get another state sticker on our RV map, and leave Texas.  The weather forecast predicted cold and freezing rain/sleet/snow in Alpine so we headed for New Mexico trying to stay out of the cold weather.  We hear from friends in Alpine that the cold did indeed arrive bringing ice and sleet.

Here's a screen print of the weather temperatures as we were leaving Alpine and heading for New Mexico and Arizona.  The blue pin is Alpine, and the green dots are our next destination.  We barely made it.

Next up, New Mexico, and then Arizona where we'll stay for a little while watching the weather before heading up the West Coast to visit Kelly, Tammi and Devon in Oregon.  

Till next time.