December 20, 2024

We have been in Study Butte for a week now and have enjoyed every minute. The weather has held at 75 degrees daily with lows at night about 45. We do have to turn the heat on early morning and air conditioning in the late afternoon but we can handle that.

We spent a day in Big Bend National Park on Tuesday. It was a 25 mile dirt and rock road within the park that took us 4 hours to complete. We did meet two motorcycles and two trucks on the route coming from the opposite direction.  We ended up backing up for about 1/4 mile and hugging the side of a hill to let the two trucks pass.

 It was a 35 mile drive to the trail and 50 miles after the trail to get back to our campsite.

Yesterday we drove back to Alpine, TX to pick up a prescription for Diane, get the Jeep washed and pick up some groceries. This is a 80 mile trip one-way. We also stopped at the local library so I could download and print out the schematics for the electrical system in the coach. The problems we have had with the coach's electrical system seem to be diminishing.

We talked with the owner (Allison) of the RV Campground yesterday and it was interesting to find out that her and her husband are from South Carolina and purchased the property about 6 years ago after visiting the area during the pandemic, and falling in love with the area. They worked from their RV at the time and were looking at building a home in the area. Instead the land became available and they built this RV Park with about 50 site. They have a total of 45 acres so plenty of room for expansion if they want. They had to drill a well to 750 feet and bring in all the sand and gravel for the park because the natural soil on their land is a type of clay, which is extremely hard to travel over, even when dry. They don't live at the park but rent a straw-bale home that has stood the test of time. Walls are the width of a straw bale and when they cut a hole to install an air conditioner, the straw looked like it had just been placed in there and fresh enough to feed to the cattle.

As I was writing this Allison called to see if Diane and I would like to tag along with her and her mother (Robin) up to Christmas Mountain. Of course I said yes. We headed out, drove 15 miles up Hwy 118 and turned on Ranch Road for another 16 miles to get to the lodge. This area was once owned by Carrol Shelby (Shelby Mustang manufacturer) and consisted of 4500 acres. Shelby also owned 220,00 acres including the ghost town of Terlingua. 

 

We had to stop at the Ranch Lodge to get a key allowing us access to the mountain which is now owned by the Texas University. We also had to initial and sign a document saying we wouldn't go off-trail or leave any garbage. It was 5.5 miles to the top of the mountain and it took a little over and hour to get there. It's just a single lane road wide enough for the Jeep. There is a locked gate at the base of the trail, you lock the gate behind you so that only those in your party are going up and coming down the mountain together. That way you don't have to worry about meeting someone on the road as one of you would have to back up, making it quite dangerous. 

 

The view from the top was magnificent. Heading down the mountain I instructed Allison on how to use 4 wheel low and shift manually in her new jeep Rubicon with the Hellcat 392 engine, its a 90K to 100K Jeep.  We stopped at a bar on the edge of the Ranch property for a couple of beers. The inside of the bar area was about 15 feet square but had a few tables outside where we could sit. It was a most enjoyable afternoon trail riding and exchanging stories over a couple of beers.

We also decorated the RV for Christmas. It too a long time, and apparently difficult, since it took two of us to "git er done".