Touring with Fleetwood "Mac": West to Texas

Wow, it has been a while. I thought I should write down some things about our trip across the Southern states before I forgot where we had been on this trip. When I left off last time, we were near St. Augustine. For the most part, we just blew across the South until we got to Texas. I had been down in the South a couple times before and to be totally honest, was not really impressed. It is unfortunate that when it comes to scenic wonders and national parks, the South kind of got the shaft. While the swampy cypress groves are impressive in their sheer expansiveness, that can only last for an hour or two until it all starts looking the same. It is also how amazing how economically repressed the area looks and has probably been that way since the civil war. It is not just the style of the homes, but the care of those homes by their owners. We stopped in a non-descript campground in Defuniak Springs, Florida that was barely hanging on and we seemed to be the only visitors besides the long-termers.

Our next stop was at a campground just to the west of Lafayette, Louisiana at the Frog City RV Park in Dunos. While it was the typical grassy lot with paved drives, they did have very well kept facilities and eight individual shower rooms. The people were incredibly friendly. The lady at the check-in commented "I knew yall weren't from around here 'cause you don't talk funny like us." Turns out she was actually from Michigan.We asked about restaurants in the area and they gave us some great recommendation for local food. The one thing that the Lafayette area is known for is their great cajun cuisine ... lots of crayfish dishes, etoufee (a heavy gravy usually with shrimp or fish on top of rice) and fried alligator bites. I've tried alligator before years ago in Florida and had a friend of a friend that had a permit to take one wild alligator. That alligator I remember being somewhat chewy, with a texture like shark and a little bit fishy. The alligator we had in Lafayette, was likely farm-raised and except for the high price for this novelty food, you could also pass it off for chicken.

Next we blasted through Houston and headed for San Antonio where we stayed for three days. We of course had to see the Alamo and as most people mention it is not nearly as large as you thought it would be. However, inside is a model of the original compound and what remains is just the main building of a much larger walled complex that probably covered a couple acres.

Of course another one of the features that San Antonio is known for is the unique riverwalk which is a largely manmade canal with restaurants and shops all along it. Tour barges go up and down the narrow canal and most of the restaurants have seating right on the edge of the canal. I'm sure this has provided a huge economic boost to downtown businesses and I wonder why other cities haven't tried to emulate this?

We stayed at a campground on the south side of San Antonio down a dusty road called Hidden Valley RV park. I would probably only stay there for a night while passing through. Strangely they have lots of space, but all the RVs are packed in together on one side of the campground. The wi-fi didn't work and while the camp host was very friendly, her only comment about the wi-fi was that another camper a couple days ago also had the same problem. No mention of actually fixing it. Also, the "shower" is actually the bathroom in a mobile home trailer converted to a "clubhouse" a pretty far walk from the campground area.

San Antonio is very divided economically and culturally. The south side is predominantly a Mexican-American community with small stucco homes packed into tight neighborhoods, with ubiquitous grafiti, while the north side is big box americana with large cookie cutter houses in large developments and malls with all the brand name stores. We did check out Freetail Brewing on the north side that had some tasty brews on tap (thumps up for La Muerta). On the south side, everyone shops at the huge HEB grocery store and the Mexican influence was obvious with fresh made in store tortillas and a meat market with stacks of huge roasts that rivaled all other grocery meat counters I have ever seen.

As we headed west from San Antonio on our way to Big Bend National Park it quickly becomes more desolate with town far between. Pulling our trailer, we only get maybe 150 miles between fill-ups so it became critical to plan our gas stops. In between there is nothing but miles of small hills covered with prickly pear and brushy mesquite and ocotillo. As we neared Big Bend the environment slowly changed as we entered the Chihuahuan Desert area, we started to see a wider variety of cactuses and the area was actually much greener and we started to see more wildlife. Whoever drew the Wiley Coyote and Roadrunner cartoons must have been to this area as we saw lots of roadrunners running into the bushes and each night were heard coyotes howling. With the towering mesas and hills you wondered if an anvil were going to suddenly drop from the sky. We stayed just outside the park on the north side at a place called Stillwell's. Given how remote this area is, Stillwell's is an oasis. They have a small convenience store (with ice cream!) and maybe a dozen or so full hook-up RV sites under the prickly-pear covered bluffs with a nice view of the mesas to the east. (Great wi-fi too!) There is a small museum onsite with information about Hallie Stillwell, Grand Dame of West Texas who was an early settler to the area and passed away in 1997 at 99 years. In her early days, it was the time of PanchoVilla and bandits were a constant threat, but even worse was the environmental conditions with periods of extreme drought and unrelenting summer heat that made cattle ranching a challenge.

Stillwell's Ranch Store

Big Bend National Park is a remote corner of the US that is largely unknown to most people. Here the Rio Grande river winds through slot canyons, dodging slow tarantulas on the road is a necessity, the higher elevations are cooler and have Douglas firs trees, black bears and mountain lions. The park rangers turn a blind eye to Mexicans coming across the border and setting up small "illegal" displays of locally made arts and crafts. (Note - this is not the "official" park service stance, but what we observed while there.) Not long ago, before 2011, there was an open border crossing to the small Mexican town of Boquillas del Carmen and going across to a couple small restaurants, buying locally made crafts or going on a donkey ride was all part of the "Big Bend Experience." When the border closed after 9/11 the sole livelihood for the town was pretty much decimated. Unofficially, park service personnel have sympathy for the town and so while buying crafts is illegal, it continues even today. Most of what we saw were just small craft displays of beaded scorpions or walking sticks with an "on your honor" jar for cash and a cardboard sign with prices. While we were there, a Mexican on horseback was collecting cash from his displays and at one area Jesus the singing Mexican would do a song for tips. Because both sides of the border are so remote and the difficulty of transporting anything across miles and miles of desert to populated areas so great, the Mexican drug cartels that occupy many areas of the US/Mexico border have left Big Bend alone. Aside from the natural beauty of the area, Big Bend has a vibrant history of bandits, illegal border trade and ranching that has gone through boom and bust cycles. Remnants of these ranches and the area history can be seen today; I think we will be back here again.