7. This must be Texas

It was a long uneventful drive from Tucson, through a small section of New Mexico, past El Paso and on to San Antonio. The terrain consisted mostly of dry desert, sand, sage and lots of rocks. Long wide valleys were interrupted by low mountain chains . . . and the scene repeated itself over and over. It made us appreciate the great distances and vastness of this part of the country. Very few Starbucks.

We spent one night about 20 mi. west of El Paso and had a terrific front window view of the quiet desert, a few birds and a jackrabbit or two (see photo). The campground hostess knew nothing about the area, but we stumbled onto a very good Mexican dinner at a local truck stop restaurant.

We spent our first Texas night in Fort Stockton, a small windy dusty town. The campground hostess said we were lucky to get the last spot because Fort Stockton is a “boom town.” Apparently, the town was nearly dead until gas prices started to rise. Now, it’s once again cost effective to pump oil from lots of old oil wells in the area. So, all the rentals, motels and campgrounds are full of oil workers, the economy is healthy and there are three columns of oil-worker jobs in the local newspaper. Go figure. I guess we can feel good that we're contributing to the booming economy of places like Fort Stockton.

About a half hour short of San Antonio, we found the nice little historical village of Comfort . . . a perfect name for a quiet laid-back town full of old buildings, history and interesting shops. We walked around the downtown and stopped for refreshments at the oldest continually active soda fountain in the whole country. It has been operating for more than 100 years in a building that was built in 1854. It was here that Ron experienced the worst hot fudge sundae he had ever consumed. Can’t have everything. Bonnie's root beer float was no prize winner either.

We settled into Stone Creek RV Park, about 20 min. north of San Antonio, for a five night stay. “Festival” began yesterday. It’s a 10-day event that brings about 3.5 million visitors to the city each spring. There’s a lot to see and do and we can’t possibly do it all, but we hope to have some interesting photos in our next blog. So, stay tuned.