We left the comfortable surroundings of our beautiful Scottsdale, AZ digs for the last 2 days with some uncertainty and trepidation about today’s journey, and ultimate destination – El Paso, TX.
The drive through AZ was uneventful, but we stumbled onto a way off-the-beaten path (we’re talking dirt road) place that was really cool…Shakespeare Ghost Town in Lourdsburg, NM (pop. 2,665). The Tour-mobile took gravel roads to get to the place where the “streets” were trod by Billy The Kid, John Ringo, Curley Bill, The Clantons and other famous gunslingers.
This remote outpost isn’t a tourist destination. There was no one to be seen for miles…
We read a little about this spooky place with the interesting past, and hightailed it out of there before we got rounded up by a sheriff’s posse. Can’t even fathom how these outlaws found this place to begin with.
The route between Las Cruces, NM and El Paso, TX is called Dairy Row and for good reason.
More than 30,000 cows live in 11 farms located one after the other and trust us, we smelled them long before we even saw them.
Our next stop was Deming, NM (pop. 14,090), where Rorie continued to calm her nerves and satisfy her dairy needs with some medicinal sweets…
Fully reenergized, we completed the last segment of the day’s itinerary and arrived in the border town of El Paso, TX. El Paso is a pretty prosperous city, so it was really startling to see the shacks and crumbling “houses” perched along the bank of the Rio Grand River 50 yards across the small bridge in Juárez, Mexico. It was sad for us to see how simply being born on the wrong side of a bridge sentences someone to a different quality of life.
We freshened up at out hacienda for the night, and headed out in search of some good local BBQ. Oh boy, did we ever find it at the Rib Hut.
Wednesday is “rib night” at the Rib Hut ($2.25 apiece for humungous beef ribs) and lucky for us, it was Wednesday. We were excited to try real Texas BBQ. The vibe in the place was great, the food even better. Bart KNEW it was gonna be his kind of place when he walked in and saw paper towels, Tabasco and jalapeños. Rorie KNEW it was her kind of place because there was a sale on ribs.
People were seated family style and we got a primo space near the fireplace and this wonderful couple, Richard and Leticia.
They were fun and informative about the area, and told us what to order at this joint, which they go to once a week. We enjoyed meeting them as much as we did feasting on our fabulous, heart-healthy meal of ribs, brisket, sidewinder fries and coleslaw. With full bellies, we went “home” and called it a night. The next morning we were greeted by plummeting temps. Time to put away the flip flops, t-shirts and shorts. Ugh!
After packing the car – again – we started what we knew was going to be a long journey to Abilene… and immediately ran into snow.
Bart was nervous because the route we were taking required us to go over some steep mountains and the last thing we needed to hit were icy roads. About 20 miles out of El Paso, in the mountains, we were surprised to come to a Border Patrol Station in the Town of Clint (pop. 941). We rolled to a stop and a member of the border patrol approached the Tour-mobile. He was menacing in his full face ski mask. Bart asked the agent where we were and he said “You’re in hell, and it just froze over”. Hard to know if he was kidding or not but we didn’t hang around long enough to figure it out. After asking if we were U.S. citizens and of course answering “yes”, we moved right along. Glad to know that one little question keeps us safe from terrorists and aliens!
Further ahead we came to Fort Hancock, TX (pop. 1,713), which is a classic example of a place “where there’s no there there”. We did stop at this place, happily not to eat but for a quick fill up at the adjacent gas station. There was a sign on the the station (which we forgot to take a picture of) that said it all, “Open 25/7“. You do the math!
The town of Ft. Hancock is really struggling.
“Outpost” says it all…
With our tank filled, we continued today’s journey. Rorie was quite relaxed…
We passed by, not through, the Texas towns of Van Horn (pop 2,063), Torah (pop. 92) and Pecos (pop. 8,903), Big Spring (pop. 27,291) and Colorado City (pop 4,821) before arriving in Sweetwater, TX (pop. 11,415).
Sweetwater is the home of the annual (and world’s largest) rattlesnake roundup. Rorie wouldn’t get out of the car. The event began in 1958 and is run by the Sweetwater Jaycees. Rorie and I thought of our neighbors the Lakes who are involved with the Longboat Key Kiwanis Club, and wondered whether they might want to organize a snake roundup in their/our Gulf Coast community. We hear it’s a great fundraiser. World Poker Tour legend Doyle Brunson is from Sweetwater…Bart is a big fan.
Enough with our Sweetwater fascination. Onward to Abilene, where we settled in our room and grabbed a bite to eat. During dinner we met an interesting woman from Blanket, TX (pop. 342) with a great life story to tell.
Chyrl Bradfield was raised by her “Mamaw”(Grandmother), who had 11 kids of her own. All the kids in town went to K-12 in the same little schoolhouse. She is part of the McClain Family which holds awesome family reunions each year. As the Welcome to Downtown Blanket sign says, she was what they call “friendly folks”.
Tomorrow’s destination…Vicksburg, MS. Join us!