Day 20-21 Monahans Sandhills, Monahans TX / Day 22 - 23 Lost Alaskan, Alpine TX
Day 20
We made some calls to Mooma, Nana & Poppi and Jackie before we left Lost Maples at 11:00. We wasted about an hour at the dump station because nothing would come out. Found out that the dump station at this site was slightly tilted away and that affected the gravity flow. I had to pull the trailer up on some blocks to get the flow going. Finally out of there about 12:00. Today we are heading to Monahan’s Sandhills State Park, still in Texas.
The drive was enjoyable early as we left the Hill Country then everything turned to desert. Around the 98th parallel this change occurs and I think we hit that today. We listened to our audible book “House Next Door” and finished it. What a ridiculous story – don’t waste your time, even if you are driving in a boring desert. We got off I-10 and drove 12 miles out of the way to the town of Iraan to get gas. This place was in the middle of oil country and the only people around were oil drillers. I had to pull the trailer in to the pump, face to face with a Ryder truck. There was no-one in it with the gas pump in the tank pumping away. When the guy came out of the store I apologized for “boxing him in” but he said no problem, you left me enough room but the last faggot that was here was way too close. OUCH! When I went into the restroom it looked and felt liked Sea Bass, from Dumb and Dumber was going to barge in at any moment. Another town we couldn’t get out of there fast enough. As we left Iraan and started up to the Sandhills the landscape was dotted with huge Wind Turbines for as far as you could see. I’m not quite certain how that is environmentally friendly because it sure ruins the natural landscape, but that is another conversation for another day.
We arrived at Monahan’s after closing time – about 4:45. The sites were different than any we have been in before. They were pull throughs with the electric and water on your left and nothing but sand on your right. After my first attempt the trailer door opened right into sand – I had to do some adjusting. A ranger who worked there, Arturo, they call him Mr T, saw my struggles and came over to help. He guided me in such a way that we could walk out of the RV on payment. He then began to fill us in on all the wonders of this place. He certainly loved this area “I’ve grown up in the desert sand” he liked to sand. He told me of one story that after Hurricane Katrina came through the park had received 36 inches of rain. The sand soaked it all up but released it back into the air through the sand at the highest spots. That year the sandhills produced sunflowers by the millions and they would follow the sun, starting in the morning facing east and slowing turning west with the sun. He told us to walk up Mount Everest, the highest point and we did so later taking some fun sunset shots.
After setting up and a hike to Everest we grilled some steaks with sweet potatoes, ate by the firebowl while remi laid in the sand, one of his favorite things to do – he felt like he was back at the beach.
We went to bed early. Quiet and nice and good sleep. Finally.
Day 21
Woke up around 7:30 and had yogurt breakfast. It was cold but manageable. We took the dogs for a walk down the road and up past an old oil rig. We walked out into the sand and let them run loose. Remi’s foot started hurting him: he has always had a problem with running on loose sand for too long and develops a bad limp. We got back to the road and walked them home for a rest.
We got the bikes out and road to visitor center for Wifi as this was yet another site with zero bars. When we walked in the receptionist informed us that she had bad stomach ache and she needed to use bathroom and could we wait? I don’t want to be explicit about how the place smelled, so I tried to do my work outside on a picnic table but the glare of the sun was too much and I had to finish in there. It was grueling.
While at the visitor center and on the bike ride back Gina talked her sister Liz and got updated on everything with Moo at home. Even though it was a short ride it was mostly up hill, against the wind, and the temp had dropped considerably. When we got back to the RV Gina continued her battle with the sand. It was everywhere and couldn’t be avoided or kept out of the RV. The dogs were full of it. I also was starting to battle something with a nasty cough.
GIna cooked some leftover Chili for lunch and prepared the stuffed Porkchops for dinner later. We decided to tape up Remi’s foot and go up into the sandhills. He hated it at first but it did help a little. We went sledding down the sandhills. Remi chased his ball, dug holes and got covered in sand that stayed embedded. Teddy was extremely frisky that day and had a lot of fun too. I think both of them got a taste of home running around in the sand. When we got back I gave Remi another bath as the temperature continued to drop.
Gina cooked Apple, onion, bacon stuffed porkchops with Rosemary roasted potatoes. We ate it inside because it was way to cold outside. We got bundled up, turned the furnace on and jumped in bed with our books. Gina gave me a real sleeping pill that night and the next thing I remember is waking up in the morning with her telling me there is NO WATER!
Day 22
NO WATER! That cant be. I went to the sink, nothing, Toilet – nothing. What in the world is going on – something broke! Dammit! It was really cold too -- 26 degrees. I went outside to look at the water connection to see what might be wrong. Found it! The hose was frozen solid. DUH! I look around at the other RV’s and nobody left there water hose connected. Typical bonehead move by someone from Florida. That wont happen again. Luckily I had another hose. Using some muscle (and a crescent wrench) I got the hose off. It took a few turns of the faucet but it finally loosened and the pressure shot the ice out and we had water shooting from the spicket. I hooked up the new hose and we had water! I felt like I had redeemed myself… but it still was a neophyte/bonehead move to leave the hose out in the first place.
I was feeling pretty rotten, so Gina got out her bag of pills and found some antibiotics and put me on a three day regiment. First pill this morning. She made our go to breakfast – eggs and spinach with toast.
We packed up the RV and headed to the dump station. The grey water valve was frozen shut – I guess the black water is a little tougher to freeze because that flowed out. I gave up and just left the grey water not dumped. I will do that at the next site, which was to be Brantley Lake outside of Carlsbad. I googled the weather when we got out of the park and found out it was predicted to snow there tonight. Gina and I looked at each other and said – No Way! Lets find someplace warm. We found a park in Alpine Texas on the way to Big Bend National Park – The Lost Alaskan RV Park. Several people had told us that Big Bend was a must. I made the call and we were booked and heading to Alpine. I was stoked. It was not going to snow, this park had Wifi and a laundrymat – the jackpot!
The drive was really bad. Nothing to see. Some of the towns we went through were almost 100% boarded up. Really depressing. We stopped in Fort Stockton for gas and groceries then continued down this long and ugly road to Alpine. We arrived at the Lost Alaskan and Bob showed us to the site. It was clean and nice and totally different than what we had been to so far. This was a privately owned park instead of a State Park, Some of the people there were permanent residents and some transients like us. Well we got hooked up and settled in. Gina made a Keto Chicken Parmesan and salad for dinner. For the first night since we left we actually watched a movie on Netflix. I finally worked on the blog with Wifi.
We didn’t escape the cold though, It was expected to get to 26 degrees – again! This time I unplugged the water line so it didn’t freeze. I had a horrible night sleep I think because of the antibiotics – just didn’t feel right - but I stayed clear from those California pills
DAY 23
I woke up feeling bad. Cough and cold. No sleep. We went into the town of Alpine for breakfast to Judys Bread and Breakfast. It was very good. The town was interesting, had a train station that could take you to LA or Orlando, lots of Art, Food Trucks, 100 miles from Big Bend, home of Sul Ross College (who the hell is Sul Ross? Well while reading my book that night I learned he was one of early young Texas Rangers that fought the Comanche and later became Governor of TX). But at the same time the town was also quite depressed. I saw potential, but one guy at the RV park called it the town of broken dreams. People come her thinking it is growing and learn quickly that it will not change. That is the reason he moved here, from all places… Florida. He couldn’t stand the change that Florida went through and said it would not happen here for a long time. Who Knows?
We wanted to really see Big Bend, but I was in need of rest. We went back to RV and I passed out for a couple of hours. Gina did laundry, washed sheets and blankets, bathed dogs, cleaned out the truck and was a busy bee all day. Teddy was acting funny after bath and was having trouble standing. We think he hurt his leg doing one of his flying maneuvers up the steps into RV, where he misses the steps all together and his legs go down between the steps. It hurts to watch that move.
I woke up around 3:00 and I felt much better. I washed the truck in 40 degree weather and froze my ass off. Shouldn’t have done that. At 5:00 we went back into town to have dinner at The Holland Hotel Century Bar and Grill. This was a turn of the century Old western hotel that has been restored. It was quite impressive in the middle of that little town. I had Wahoo (from New Zealand – or so they said) and Gina had a salad.
Back at RV early and in bed reading out books. I am now reading “Empire of the Rising Sun” and Gina is reading “Without a Sound”. We each took a sleeping pill and Slept all night.
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