Captain Shepard's Inn Marathon

We went to Fort Davis, established in 1854. It is one of the nations best preseved frontier forts. We stopped at a snake place to see snakes. Mamaw did not come in. We went shopping. After that, we went to Marfia again and we saw more lights this time. The nights are darker here so I can see a lot more stars then back in Zanesville. I even saw the Milky Way!

... with stories of his multiple trips on the bike up to Alaska and back. It's amazing how many of these adventure riders I've been seeing in this part of the country. I think the "Long Way Round/Down" shows with Ewan McGregor have really lit a fire in the biking crowd (as Ryan and Kim sigh in envy ; ). I also met a great guy from Toronto, Canada named Paul MacKay. He drove down in a diesel powered Westy! These are rare as ...

... to ¼ mile and must have been blowing ½ a mile into the air. What a drive! Along the way, we observed: · Highway speed posted at 80 mph · Where there's grass - there are huge ranches, with lots of windmills that have water tanks at their base. The tanks are 50 ft in diameter · Where there is no grass, the sand has piled up around every shrub and willow. About half of the trunk is buried in sand and deep gouges are prevalent in between. · Fuzzy stuff on the highway spaced ...

... bar and restaurant to ask one of the waitresses about the rooms. We did and she promptly produced a list of all of their rooms - room number, description and price. There was quite a selection, so she suggested that we make a note of the numbers we were interested in and go up and take a look: "all of the rooms are unlocked, the keys are on the beds, so feel free to wander about and see what takes your fancy". So that is what we did. We were very nearly ...

... We stayed there for a couple of days then headed down to Big Bend. There is only one campground there with full hook-ups but no wi-fi or cable. We are soo spoiled. We got there early enough to get a spot. Big Bend is HUGE with climates ranging from desert heat to alpine cool. Our campsite at Rio Grande Village is considered the desert. That would explain the 110 degree daytime and 85 degree night time temperatures. Boy ...

... 20 dollar entrance fee and continued about half an hour to the visitor's center. Here, we sat down with a very nice ranger who told us our options for camping in the High Chisos Mountains and helped us pick sites where we would spend the next three nights. We spent the next hour or so packing our backpacks, choosing our meals, and deciding what gear to take and what to leave behind. Because New Year's is the busiest time at the park, we did ...

... to the travels, we have another State Park in our sights, Balmoreagh, It has a the Largest spring fed swimming pool in the USA 1 million gallons of water an hour flow into it at a constant 72-76 degrees f. Yaaay, we can have a swim at last, the water was great, heaps of fish swimming around us, warm water, Phil diving off the high board and Emily jumping too. the hardest part was getting out into ...

... Antonio - the closest 'civilization'. One's reward for driving to such a remote destination? Incredible hikes & views in this park combining the Rio Grande River set amidst mid-sized mountains overlooking Mexico. These pictures from the Windows (about 5 miles with 2000 ...

OK this place makes the last place look like Vegas. I am sitting in back of a grocery mart on a milk carton, plugged into an outlet that I share with the ice machine as the cats walk by looking at me with a puzzled stare. Now this is NOWHERE! But we're doing great and having lots of fun. We actually took a short excursion yesterday and went to Big Bend National Park, absolutely ...

... and Texan, and incredibly warm and inviting. I wish we had spent our rest day here instead of Fort Davis. By now we have settled into a fairly common routine. Our days begin early - usually around 6 a.m. - with breakfast served in the hotel lounge or parking lot, depending on the weather and availability of space. Some hotels provide a continental breakfast, and Michelle, our chef, will often supplement that with eggs or a steaming kettle of hot cereal ...