Ok, we’ve seen the Alamo, but anyone who has looked at a map of Texas, will see that, all across the south of the State, there are loads of places called ‘Fort something’  –  Fort Bend, Fort McKavett, Fort Lancaster, Fort Stockton, Fort Davis, Fort Hancock and Fort Bliss, to name just some those along the I – 10 Highway, the main route we followed across Texas.

So, we decided that the next couple of stops would be near to a ‘Fort’ something, so that we could see something more of the history of the area.

But, first we have to get there, so off we go again in the RV on endless miles of road, through interesting, but very similar miles of country – it must have been mind-numbing for those hardy immigrants who made this journey on wagons, doing maybe 30 miles a day and wondering, in this dry place, just where they were going to find next water source!!!!!

Just before reaching our day’s destination, a sharp cry was heard from the driver, the RV brakes came screeching on and the navigator started squealing and shouting “What’s Wrong? What’s Wrong?”, to which the driver pointed a shaky finger out through the RV window at a road sign, which said ‘Sheffield’ on it and said “Are we dreaming?” “Is this trip real?” “How come we have ended up back in England?”

 

Now for our American readers, we have to point out that ‘Sheffield’ is a world-famous city in Yorkshire, just 12 miles north of where our RV couple live and where the best Steel and Cutlery in the World is made!

“There, there, it’s not a dream, they have just copied the name, so don’t worry” said the Navigator, as she stroked the Driver’s head to calm him down.

So, once his nerves had settled and his hands had stopped shaking, we set off with the RV again, still heading West.

Eventually, we arrived at Fort Stockton, about half way between San Antonio and El Paso, where we intended to stay for a couple of days to explore the area.

Pulling onto Fort Stockton RV Park, early in the afternoon on a windy and blistering hot day, we set about setting up camp – well, we parked up the RV, slid the Slides out and switched the AC on and decided that a couple of ‘Shandy’s’ (Beer and Sprite for our US friends) would go down well, as we had had enough driving for one day and would start to explore the Historical Fort Stockton area the next day.

 

Bright and early the next morning (well about 10:00), we set off ‘downtown’ to the Historical District and what is left of the old Historical Fort Stockton, which is about half of it.

On the way there, as we went into the town, is the largest ‘Road Runner’ that there is in the world (at least that is what Fort Stockton tourist information claim) so naturally we stopped for a photo!

Then we saw this one in the Tourist Office – brilliant

 

Anyway, back to the story – Fort Stockton, dates back to the middle of the 1800’s and featured in both the Civil War and the Indian Wars that took place around here, as well as a safe stopping off place for west bound immigrants.

One of its chief claims to fame, is being the home of the ‘Buffalo Soldiers’ for a few years, a regiment of Afro-American soldiers, who made quite a name for themselves in both the American Civil War and the Indian Wars.

After we had left the Old Fort, we drove around the town looking at other interesting places and what should we find, but what is probably, the best, the finest, shop in the world.

It was a ‘Drive Through’, yes that’s right, a ‘Drive Through’ Liquor store.

 

Which had this sign outside as you drove into the store – wow!

By mid-afternoon we were starting to flag, the temperature was climbing and a long cool (No, not cold!) drink was beckoning, so we set off back to the RV and it’s AC cooled interior!

The next morning, we set off again, another 250 miles or so across Texas and as you can see from the photos below, the road was very busy – ha, ha,

We were heading to a State Park, just north of Fort Hancock, called Hueco Tanks State Historic Site and what a treasure it turned out to be.

 

After a rather lengthy signing in process – (they only let a maximum of 60 people per day in), everyone has to watch a (very interesting) ‘Interpretive’ Video, that talks about the history of the place, its importance and its fragility.

It’s a very rocky area, consisting of Granite Hills that were pushed up 34 million years ago, or so the experts say and it has been a valuable source of scarce water for thousands of years, hence attracting generations of Native American Tribes, who have left their mark with Rock Carvings and Paintings – that are just incredible to see!!!!!!!!

Because of its extreme importance, as a watering place, in an otherwise very dry land, it become a place of spiritual significance to the local Native American tribes, including the Kiowa, Mescalero Apache and Tigua tribes, who still inhabited this area and that significance continues to this day.

Early the next day, we set off to explore the area.

As we were on a ‘Self Guided’ tour, there were some of the site that we were not allowed access to, but there was plenty to see without venturing there.

Sadly, several idiots have damaged some of the carvings, by carving their names and dates right across some of them, instead of putting them somewhere else (if they had to do it at all)

It was a blistering hot morning and climbing up and down the granite cliffs certainly made the heart bump and the breath short!!!

See if you can see us in the two photos below!

 

(a clue, one of us is at the top of a mountain and the other one is at the bottom of one, although we did both scrabble up and down the granite until we were both na—, ouch, just had a ‘clip’ – was going to say tired – honest!)

We would certainly recommend anyone in West Texas to visit this place, it is phenomenal.

For the first time, we spotted some real live Road Runners and they are just like we imagined them to be, scooting along the road or across it, legs going 10 to the dozen (very fast)

 

Ok, we admit it, that very large one that we saw at Fort Stockton, was just a statue!

Right, its 5 o’clock somewhere, time for a Whisky, we fancied a Gin, but the bottle we bought a few days ago is empty – expect we must have spilt it – ha, ha.