Friday, April 6, 2012

Fort Stockton, TX

Fort Stockton is literally "in the middle of nowhere". The Texas Panhandle is very desolate. You can drive for hours on I-10 without seeing any civilization. It is the center for the area for shopping. As you drive into town there is a large statue of the native bird of the area, The Roadrunner. Wile E Coyote is probably lurking around as well.

There is a Walmart and a Lowe's grocery store as well as farm and ranch supplies. We went into Lowe's and they offered Norma an electric wheel chair which was probably a mistake because now she has two baskets to fill up. One hour and $150 later, we climbed back into the motorhome. We were going to overnight in the Walmart parking lot but it is just too hot! It is 89F inside with the AC running and probably well over 100F outside. We found a Passport America park for $10 per night (plus $2 if you run your AC and another $2 for cable TV), so $14 for the night. It is not much, a large parking lot with hookups, all pull through. There is a shower that I think I am doing to try as soon as I finish this post.

Staying here also gives me another night to soak charge the new batteries so that is a good thing.

Tomorrow night we are going to boondock near El Paso at Norma's favorite steak house. It is about twenty miles east of town and one of the things they offer is free overnight RV parking for guests. Their ulterior motive of course is that you will order an extra couple of glasses of wine from them and not have to drive. Norma will have the rib eye (as usual) and I the swordfish (as usual). It is not a cheap place but the savings in an RV park will make it so.

EDIT: Contessa’s question in the comments sent me to Google and I found out the Panhandle is not where I thought it was! It is actually the northernmost part of Texas bordered by New Mexico and Oklahoma. I always thought it was the westernmost part.

Contessa asked why they called it the Panhandle, Here is the explanation:

“The northernmost area of Texas is called the Panhandle. It is straight and narrow like the handle of a pan with the broader area of the state below it, like the bottom of a pan.”

Map picture

7 comments:

  1. Not to mention all the wine that will be ordered....

    I just have to ask cuz I really don't know, "why do they call it the Texas Panhandle'...bet I know the answer but still....

    I'm thinking that Norma may want to try the Egoscue Clinic I wrote about in my blog today and will again tomorrow. Almost miracle like!

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  2. At the same exit for the steak house, I used to eat at the joint diagonally across from the "truck stop" when I delivered to the El Paso area last year. Great food and not so bad prices.

    If you're driving onward towards Tucson from El Paso, you'll see another roadrunner just west of Las Cruces. As you climb the hill out of Mesilla Valley, look to your left. Should be staring at 'Cruces. It was made of trash from an old city dump. It's underbelly is out of old, white sneakers.

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  3. Just checked a website and it seems that the old bird may or may not be there. Earlier this year, the artist removed it for 'remodeling'.

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  4. Good thing you chose the rv park. Fort Stockton, last I heard, outlawed overnighting at the Walmart.

    You are in my favorite part of the U.S.

    Not everybody's cup of tea; Terlingua, Big Bend, Alpine, Sanderson, Seminole Canyon, Balmorhea. I love the desert.

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  5. We're on our way north on Sunday. See you back home!

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  6. Have stopped (or at least gassed up) at Fort Stockton many times. From there we head north to Capitan (NM>. You will continue to the west.

    In any case we KNOW where you are. Have fun!

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  7. We LOVE Cattleman's ... it is one of our food pilgrimage points.

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