Travels with Bentley: Monday, February 17, 2020 - Phone Calls, Visit to Fort Stockton, Running into Friends, and More Cloudy Skies.

Monday, February 17, 2020 - Phone Calls, Visit to Fort Stockton, Running into Friends, and More Cloudy Skies.

I love early mornings - getting up to the quiet, having time to think without any interruptions from the sounds that ultimately seem to invade the day, taking the time to drink and enjoy my coffee and looking forward to another wonderful day.

My neck feels pretty good this morning, but I decided I would see if I could find a chiropractor while we are here. After suffering both Saturday evening and most of the day yesterday I've decided an adjustment is needed. After Dean was up, we had our shakes, finished our morning routines, and then I made a call to a doctor in Fort Stockton where we plan to spend a good part of our day. I received a message that he was either with a patient or was out of the office, asking that I leave a message and he will return my call, or I could send him a text message. I did both. It was 11:30 when I received a text message he was out of the office today. Since we plan to spend Tuesday in Big Bend (best weather day), I sent a message to see if he had an opening on Wednesday or Thursday. I hope to hear from him tomorrow when he is back in his office, and pray Tuesday goes as well as it has for me today. It is supposed to rain Wednesday and Thursday so we want to take advantage of the 60 degree weather tomorrow. We hope to hike a few of the trails, which will be great with those tempeatures.

I also called the park for our next stop in Las Cruces, NM to secure a site. Again, I had to leave a message. I did not hear back and by the time we returned to the RV, I forgot to call again, so it's on my list for tomorrow morning before we leave for Big Bend. We need to have mail sent to us, so I need to be know if we can have it sent to the park, or need to go with General Delivery. Since it is important mail that we need, I'm a little leery about General Delivery after our experience in Mission.

While I was getting ready, Dean drove to a place to get one of our propane tanks filled. He had to leave it as the guy who works there had left on some errands. The lady inside said we could leave it until we return from Fort Stockton. They will just leave it outside and we can pick it up. Dean put our name on it and sure enough when we returned there it was waiting for us.

It was between 10:30 and 11:00 when we headed north to Fort Stockton. It's a much quicker drive without Bentley. Our first stop was at the Welcome to Fort Stockton sign where their town mascot, Paisano Pete, is located. Pete, the roadrunner, is one of the most recognizable roadside attractions in the southwest according to their travel brochure. He was erected in 1980, and stands at 11 feet tall and 22 feet long.

Roadrunner Paisano Pete - Sunday as we drove into Fort Stockton and after seeing Pete for the first time, we saw a real roadrunner as we headed to Marathon. Those little guys are so quick.

Leaving Pete, we headed across the road to the Visitor's Center where we picked up a pamphlet that provided a detailed driving tour map of Historic Fort Stockton.

Beautiful are of the grounds surrounding the Depot. "Terraced gardens, interpretive sculptures, a water feature and new lighting and signage highlight the communities past and its roots in the energy industry. (Taken from the Fort Stockton Tourism brochure)"

Before we continued on the tour, we decided to have lunch. I did a quick inquiry on Google for restaurants, and from several options, we chose B's Family Dining. It appeared small on the outside, so we were surprised when we walked through the front door to find a very nice sized restaurant. Today, along with the items on their menu, they were offering a buffet with two entrees: chicken fried steak and turkey noodle casserole. We decided to try it. The CFS was the best of the two entrees. I'm not a big fan of tuna (it was in the turkey casserole), and their salad bar was pretty good. They offered a dessert with the buffet but we passed on it as we were too full after such a big meal.

When we walked up to pay, I noticed the couple at the counter paying their bill. The man had a shirt on that we almost bought Dean on a previous trip through this area a few years ago. Had it not been for the shirt and watching them as they went out the door I would not have noticed the lady looked familiar. I told Dean I think that is Dee and Shiela, so I followed them out and I said, Shiela? She answered yes, and turned. We were both surprised to run into someone we knew. After hugs, we visited for several minutes. They are members of our Escapees RV Group, and have been in Southern California visiting their daughter for the past few months. They are now making their way back to Springfield, MO. What a coincidence that we ran into them and had a chance to visit for a few minutes.

I'm so glad we ran into these two lovely people.
I've decided that I really need to invest in a selfie stick - my arms are just too short!

We did not realize when we chose this restaurant that it was also right where we needed to be to follow the remainder of the driving tour. Here are pictures and signs explaining a few of the stops along the way:

Zero Stone Park - all points in Camp Stockton were referenced from this location

Historic Old Jail

Pecos County Courthouse.

Original Comanche Springs - The abundant water supply from this source made Fort Stockton a regular stop for travelers and settlers on the numerous roads and trails (including stage lines) heading west to Mexico and California from San Antonio. These trails also intersected the Comanche War Trail.

Historic Fort Stockton with a few of the buildings left standing.
In 1867, Fort Stockton was re-established at this location. It was garrisoned by four companies of the 9th Calvary, one of the new regiments created for the "Buffalo Soldiers".

After finishing our driving tour, we headed to Wal-Mart. We needed several grocery items, fuel and DEF for the truck. Dean first stopped for fuel, with a decent price of $2.59/gallon for this area. They were out of DEF at Wal-Mart so after buying groceries, we were back at their fuel station to buy it.

It's about a 40 minute drive back to Marathon, so I suggested we stop at McDonald's to use their facilities, and get a large $1 drink, before starting the drive back. I really enjoy having iced tea. While this McDonald's was a bit weaker than I usually find at McD's but it still tasted pretty good on this very warm day.

We enjoyed the return drive. I have felt great all day, but I'm still hoping to get an appointment for an adjustment before we leave here. I do not want another flare up like the previous two days.

A beautiful sunny day...the clouds are starting to roll in.

It reached the low 80's today. We left a few windows cracked when we left this morning, and once we had the groceries put away, we opened the windows up to get some fresh air. With the breeze, and our fans, it was very comfortable. We just had a light supper (salad for me, and a few crackers and cheese for Dean) since we had a big lunch. I thought we might get to see some stars tonight, but as the sun was sitting, the clouds moved in again. However, I did manage to get a beautiful sunset picture before the clouds took over.