That Ain't Fried Chicken/Brown or White Gravy?

   March 18th:  Yep...it was breaded, flat,  deep fried & served on a jumbo+ slice of white bread with white gravy, but they called it fried chicken. Baffled,  I shrugged, applied  A-1 Sauce and ate the  P-turkey out of it while watching south Tex. Halliburton oil workers jawing and forking in the food. Strange, but I've been pondering the relativity of fried chicken a good bit.

   Friday, March 20th, I think. The dates and places are muddled. Any how,

   Uvalde is where I had the head trip diabetes sugar low in the H.E.B.E 's parking lot & where Ann discovered Matthew Foxx vintage vino. That PM we spent the night at Garner St. Pk., 23 miles north. Great spot, but we weren't psyched about hiking & left left Sat., early, & pointed the bow toward Ft. Stockton Good Sam trailer park....a goofy spot out in the barren desert that stays busy 'cause there ain't nothing else available for a 100 mi. in any direction. Reportedly, Good Sam ain't no more and  the place needs a face lift.  When I pushed back the shower curtain the rod and curtain hit the deck and came apart. Oh well...the water was hot & they had either brown or white gravy for your mashed potatoes. I thought this was pretty dandy; the 'tators were good, as were the fresh green beans and BBQed pork with red, Tex. sauce (unlike eastern NC vinegar-based BBQ like I was teethed on.  Who cares, huh?

   Today, March 23rd:  Left Good Sams and beamed down at Hueco Tanks St. Historical Pk. out in the desert in the El Paso, Tex. quadrant. Now....this is a mind boggling site. We just got here and it's late & we're cooking burgers.  More later....     

HUECO TANKS

   Mon. March 24th--We're far off the I.T. grid so this, and the 3/23 posts, won't publish till 3/25.

   Tanks, are western U.S. words for water containment spots-- natural or human made. The Hueco Tanks are indentations in the stone earth's surface--surface pushed up from beneath +-34mil. yrs ago, as magma rose from below and then cooled. These tanks hold rain water, and of course the  flora and fauna flourish in the desert where's there's water. Thus,  Hueco Tanks is little oasis. From hunter-gatherers 10K yrs. ago traveling across the desert in pursuit of game, to curious tourists in goofy trailers, we each have our reasons for for showing up at  Hueco Tanks. Our camper is at about 4800 ft. Today, Ann and I hiked up to the top of the bolder mountain looming behind us, to an elevation of +-58-6000 ft.. It was rough going over huge boulders, but we made it to the top. Descending was the pits. We became muddled & came down a different route, while asking each other several times, "what the hell are we doing this for?"  But once you're up ya gotta come down & we made it.

   And then, there were the pictographs---stone drawings of animals, birds, and large-eyed figures that may represent rain or storm deities. Furthermore, among these pictograph images is the the largest assemblage of painted masks in North America.

   There are a good number of photos of the above that'll be tagged onto this blog (hopefully) when it's published  tomorrow.  Later.....

Pictures from Hueco Tanks

H.E.B.S. & Matthew Foxx

    March 21st:

    H.E.B.S.  is a chain of grocery/wal-mart esque stores across Tex. and Matthew Foxx is their chepo Cabernet Sauvignon --$5 a pop. Having become a tripping space cadet due to low blood sugar, I coasted in to the H.E.B.S parking lot in Uvalve, Tex., ate an orange, got that sugar rush and I was good to go. Meanwhile, Ann was in H.E.B.S. getting some grub & this is when she discovered Matthew Foxx, so the three of us are having a jolly good time tonight in the campgound. More about this below.  

   Backtracking a bit:

   March 19th & 20th Padre Island/ Mustang Island was no great digs:  cool and overcast but we met Linda and Jim from Ontario who proved to be kindred spirits.

   Speaking of Mustangs....no, I didn't "Hump Mustang" as my last blog title suggested. The title was supposed to be:  "Lost in Jasper/Humped to Mustang."

   March 21st first day of spring: 

   

   Did eight hour grueling drive through  southeast Texas flat oil/gas country--bustling economy--most everything oil/gas related; then the rolling Texas hill country began and it redeemed  it all & we beamed down in Garner St. Pk., Tex., and west of San Antonio and it's quiet with a peach sunset and scrub cedars all-around and brown grass and the air is pure and the Frio River skirts nearby and we'll hike around tomorrow and check it, and all that Garner Pk. has to offer and talk to some fraternal trailer'n goobers and pick up some grist. Guy just pulled in  a fifth-wheeler who's from North Dakota--probably heading home from "...what's been an unusually cold southern winter," per the snowbirds we've met. Later....  

   

West of San Antone

Lost in Jasper/Humped Mustang

    March 19, 2014--Yesterday, we got lost in the woods near Jasper but we didn't panic; we picked up the pace and were tight-lipped, but we didn't freak. After 4 or 5 circuitous miles we accidentally wandered into our campground uttering a resounding "whew!" and that was yesterday's peak experience.

   Today, March 19th we struck out from Jasper and headed for Mustang Island, outboard from Corpus Christi on the north end of Padre Island Nat. Seashore. It was a major, 9 hr.  hump including the dissection of Houston (no small task) and  4-500 miles of rather boring Texas, plowed, farm land---I'm talking 4-5K acre farms--- a few pee-willy crossroad towns, beat-up single and double-wides---some occupied--some not--a few got-a-lots and quite a few aint-got-nothings, then there was a ferry ride over to Mustang Island and we ended up next to JIm and Linda from close to Kingston, Ontario, Can., a spot Ann and I visited during a sailboat rendezvous a few years back. Small world. This small world business is a reality. Everywhere we go we meet someone who has a connection --an awareness--of something/someone we know. It just so happens that Jim and Linda had spent the winter in Mexico, north of Mexico City and loved it. Tomorrow we'll find out the specifics about their Mexico winter. Hummm....

More pics of Diaz SP in Jasper Texas