My daughter Miranda is off work on Thursday and for something to do, her partner Beth suggests going downtown to an area with lots of artistic murals. They seem to know that I'm a mural and street art junkie. We ride to a downtown area where there is a parking lot underneath an overpass with supports that are covered with murals. We then go a few blocks away to another area with many music clubs and stores covered with murals and street art. It’s very artistic, but somewhat decadent, my favorite type.
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| Triston and Miranda |
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| Triston, Beth and Miranda |
Back at the house, we start to watch the highly rated Oppenheimer documentary on TV, but everyone seems to loose interest, it’s a very serious true story with a difficult plot and difficult to follow. At about 10 PM everyone is ready for bed, I say my goodbye to Miranda as she will be leaving at 5 AM on Friday morning for her next train assignment. It's been too short of a visit, but they live close enough and this Cowboy poetry gathering could easily become an annual event for me.
It’s now Friday and my priority is to visit my cousin Ronald (Ronnie) Everett who sadly is under hospice care at his house in San Antonio. I had texted his wife Janet about coming to visit during the day and received a quick reply that it would be great. They had moved to San Antonio from New Jersey a few years earlier as Ronnie was starting to have issues and they bought a house in a nice gated community with their daughter. The idea is that she will be able to take care of them in the future. Ron is ten years older than me, which is something of concern to me, time is now longer on my side !
I have the morning to myself so I head to downtown San Antonio to visit the Briscoe Western Art Museum. As I am waiting for the museum to open, I enjoy the sights along the canal adjacent to the museum.
The museum had great exhibits but it wasn't as large as expected. Afterwards I roam around several central downtown blocks adjacent to the scenic canal taking photos. San Antonio has a very attractive downtown with lots to see and do. I stop at a delicatessen for lunch which claimed to be the oldest restaurant on the Canal. It was really crowded, I ordered a basic burger, not such a good choice, the Deli was wasted on me !
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| The Canal adjacent to the Art Museum area is beautiful |
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| The canal boats are a major attraction here |
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| The indigenous Indian culture was extremely artistic |
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| The museums main focus is on indigenous people, hispanic exploration and culture |
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| A very decorative saddle |
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| Scenes of Spanish gauchos and cattle |
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| Comanchero dress |
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| Festive times gave way to conflict |
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| Clash of civilizations |
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| It seems to be the way of our human race |
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| There are such places but they are disappearing |
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| Or understand |
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| Beautiful wagon wheel |
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| Beautiful old stagecoach but it had to be a miserable ride |
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| Love the shadow in the photo |
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| Loved the Casa Rio sign |
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| Several large murals |
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| The outside fire escape is crazy |
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| Historic Church |
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| Street view |
I leave downtown in early afternoon for the trip across town to visit my cousin. He is about 10 years older than me, is the oldest of my remaining cousins and always was the main one to keep the family together. He was also always a very enthusiastic, positive minded, quick witted, talkative person who you would not expect to end up this way. I had been told that he may not recognize me, so I was pretty apprehensive about seeing him, but felt like it was something I had to do.
I was greeted at the door by his wife Janet who took me in to see him, she told him who I was and he really stared into my face as if he might sort of recognize me but there was no response. As Janet, the daytime nurse and I stood in the room talking, he eventually looked over at me and said “sit down”. The nurse then took a photo us standing next to him in bed. The nurse commented that Ronnie and I have considerable physical resemblance which sort of surprised me. I now wish I had taken a photo of him, but it felt awkward doing it at the moment.
After a while Janet, who is still very sharp (more so than me) and I drift to the living room where we go over the various Everett family news, deaths and births. I am very embarrassed that I haven’t been following the Everett family issues for decades since leaving NJ to live the RV lifestyle. I am not even aware of a few of the deaths over the years. Ronnie used to be the one who got the word out to others, but is unable to do it now and the the family has spread out far and wide making this very difficult. Ron and Janet's daughter then arrived who I hadn’t seen in decades and she had that same friendly, articulate manner of her Dad and Janet, it was nice to see. It was a great visit, so happy that it worked out.
After another Walmart night, I depart in the morning heading west on I-10 stopping by chance at Comfort, Texas which turned out to be great. After Comfort I continue to stop at various towns along the route, something that I love doing and most people don't quite understand.
Comfort, Texas:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort,_Texas
I found an historic Main Street lined with many beautiful stone buildings from the mid to late 1800’s. This town was founded by a very liberal group of Germans, known as the "Freethinkers", who were also obviously skilled stone masons. There are many nice shops, cafes, antique stores, a bakery and a museum; Definitely one of the nicest small towns and I had no clue that it even existed, I just happened upon it totally by accident. Obviously others knew as many people were on the streets by noon time.
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| Beautiful local stone buildings |
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| Attractive cafe and bike rental |
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| Hotel lobby |
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| More freethinkers are needed these days ? |
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| The rock mason walked 15 miles to the job each week for a year ? |
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| This Coffee / Bakery and Antique Store was great |
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| Lots to see or buy |
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| Sad to see that the Meet Market was closed |
Junction, Texas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junction,_Texas
I drove through a scenic hilly area to this hillside which prompted a photo stop and then over a long steel bridge over the Llano River and then into downtown Junction, Texas. It's a small downtown with the old Texan Theater standing out from several small small stores and businesses.
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| Colorful rocks |
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| Bridge over the Llano River |
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| Junction street scene in 1928 |
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| The Texan Theater |
Sonora, Texas:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonora,_Texas
In mid afternoon, I stop in Sonora, TX which has an attractive small downtown with an impressive Court House which I remember from previous trips. It’s Saturday but no one is on the downtown streets, all the shops and businesses are closed and there is almost no vehicle traffic, it’s kind of spooky ? Oh, I’m wrong, there is one business open, the waxing salon, as getting waxed is an essential service ? I couldn’t even find a bar in Sonora, they don’t deserve to have such a pretty name, so I moved on.
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| The Courthouse is beautiful |
Ozona, Texas
My last stop for the day was Ozona, Texas where I stayed overnight in the Chamber of Commerce visitor center parking lot. It's quiet and free, I like it ! I'm up early on Sunday morning, get coffee at a nearby tacky convenance store, then roam around the downtown area taking photos. I've taken most of these photos before, but things have changed, mostly for the worse it appears. The Crockett County Courthouse and the Davy Crockett statue remain sights to see. The once beautiful Ozona Hotel has deteriorated even further since my last visit, the hotel sign in the front has fallen over and sadly the building may be beyond restoration unless a very wealthy person appears. Actually everything in the downtown looks to be deteriorating, the old auto parts store / general store with its beautiful architecture is in sad condition and the general store is now for sale.
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| The beautiful facade of the old auto parts store |
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| The Ozona National Bank |
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| A sad sign |
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| The Crockett County Courthouse |
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| The Hotel Ozona |
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| 75% off the entire store |
On leaving Ozona, I continue on I-10 west admiring the beautiful limestone geology in the numerous road cuts. The geology that created this in southwestern Texas is remarkable. I couldn’t help but steal a couple of nice rocks that appear to have partial fossils in them, don’t tell anybody. I am also admiring the beautiful Sotol and yucca plants along the roadways.
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| Fossils in the Limestone rock |
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| Beautiful spring flowers in real time |
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| An iconic view along the I-10 service road |
I stop at an abandoned gas station off I-10 that is covered with graffiti that most would call disgusting, but I somehow enjoy the decadence of it all. Behind the building is an old camper and pickup truck totally destroyed, another alternative form of street art. I pick up a few pieces that I may use for some weird sculpture piece that exists in my mind.
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| Texas oil money |
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| Another variation of that theme |
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| The upper art is actually attractive |
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| It has a certain beauty ? |
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| The Pecos River must be nearby ? |
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| I wonder what happened here ? |
Fort Stockton, Texas:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Stockton,_Texas
My next stop is Fort Stockton, TX, a town I’ve passed through several times. I was really interested in seeing the Comanche Motel again, which at one time, was the most attractive Indian themed motels around. The last time passing through It was closed and in very rough shape and I was hoping that someone would have saved it. I kept driving around in circles looking for it unsuccessfully until I realized that I actually had driven right past the site, but it's now just an empty dirt lot, the motel being totally gone. I hope that someone at least saved an old signs or something, but that's doubtful. I’m not happy with Fort Stockton, the Comanche Motel should have been saved, should have been on the Historic register ! Fort Stockton is also trashing it’s original core downtown area, it’s very sad, the once beautiful old downtown is mostly abandoned now, slowly falling apart while the new business area with its cheap strip mall architecture is taking its place. We don’t treasure the past, when things get old, we just abandon them, tear them down, then put up a boring box in their place and then in another 20 years or so, bulldoze it down, then move to another area and start over again. That's my rant for the day !
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| Those legends are fading away |
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| Boarded up windows |
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| Remnants of beauty show |
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| Beautiful Bank with homeless man out front |
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| Pioneer Building |
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| Frida Kahlo art remains vibrant |
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| Van Gogh starry night will always inspire |
I leave Fort Stockton and enter a long stretch of open range with the Apache Mountains off in the distance. The town of Kent is next, actually a ghost town according to Wikipedia, with an interesting large wooden building, now closed. This is where I-10 intersects with route 118 which I took on Feb 14th when traveling to Alpine, Texas.
Van Horn, Texas:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Horn,_Texas
My final stop for the day is Van Horn, Texas which I also passed through on Feb 14th taking a look inside the impressive Hotel El Capitan. I drive through town looking for a restaurant, but It’s Sunday and only one steak house and a truck stop restaurant seems open. It’s another sad decaying town. I spent the night a few miles away at the I-10 highway rest stop which was clean and decent.
It's an early 5 AM start on Monday to get ahead of the El Paso, Texas rush hour traffic. I’m not used to driving in the dark and especially at 75 MPH for 110 miles on I-10. It was mostly big rigs, light traffic, but really dark and hard to see. I made a Pilot Truck stop entering El Paso for coffee, not such a good idea as getting back on I-10 then involved a traffic backup getting back onto the highway. The ride through El Paso at the start of rush hour is expected to be crazy and it was, but I just stayed in a center lane and maintained a sensible speed as the crazy rush to get to work crowd raced around me.
Entering New Mexico I stopped at a road side rest area for a break. It appeared to be newly redone with picnic tables under shelters, beautiful landscaping, toilet facilities and a nature trail. Several small RV’s were parked who appeared to have overnighted there. New Mexico allows you a single 24 hour period as a rest stop here as does Texas, but it’s not to be used as a campsite.
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| A real park like setting |
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| Very nice |
Lordsburg, New Mexico:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lordsburg,_New_Mexico
I’m now in a driving straight home frame of mind with very few stops. I do make an exit in Lordsburg, NM for a pass through the ghost town looking Main Street. It’s very sad, there is a Truck Stop on each end of the downtown, like bookends, with the rest of the former motels, gas stations, stores and restaurants vacant and closed. I stop at the county museum for a few minutes to check out the farm equipment and Wind Mill out front, it's a good museum, I've been there before and I'm kind of surprised that it is still open.
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| That's a big one ! |
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| That Tractor has a beautiful patina |
I make another exit in Deming, NM just for fuel, get right back on the I-10 for a few miles, then exit onto a service road for a few photos of the beautiful Yuccas growing along the railroad tracks.
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| Soapstone Yuccas are beautiful |
Steins Ghost Town:
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/nm-steins/
I also make a quick stop at the ghost town of Steins, AZ always looking to see if it has reopened, sorry to say there is no indication that it will ever reopen, it’s just slowly rotting away.
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| Even the sign is fading |
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| No nothing allowed |
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| Nice view |
My final stop was a truck stop at Willcox, AZ just to get an ice cream, stretch my legs and relax for a few minutes. Wilcox has a very nice downtown with the great singing cowboy Rex Allen Museum and a great old Railroad Depot, if you haven’t been there, you should check it out.
I pull into home base at about 4 PM on March 26th, it’s been one of my longest day rides, about 2,000 miles total on this trip, now time for some rest. It was a great adventure !
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