Ed and Midge Migrate South: Days 68 - 71 7-10 Jan 2016 Across Texas and into Mississippi

Day 68 - 7 January 2016 El Paso to Fort Stockton TX (265.1 miles)
Left El Paso before 9am. On the way out, we checked the Gas Buddy app for cheap gas. It said there was a Circle K with regular at $1.699 per gallon (about NS$0.64 per liter). Circle K started with 3 stores in El Paso in the early 1950's and now has 7,000 convenience stores world wide.

As usual, the pump was happy to take our credit card with no signature and no PIN. The pump delivered gas and diesel, but it also delivered a host of advertising, including for cheap cigarettes, credit cards, and any size of soda for 89 cents (try 64 ounces if you're thirsty and in need of a sugar fix). There was also a loudspeaker with more great offers--anything to get us off the forecourt and into the store.

We got to Guadalupe Mountains National Park at 10.40am and went to the visitor center to discuss hiking in the area. Because of the low cloud and poor forecast we decided against going up the mountain.

Instead, we returned to McKittrick Canyon, where we had been on 19 November 2015.

This time we walked farther in, doing the 7-mile return trip to the Grotto and Hunter Ranch Line Cabin.

Hunter Ranch Line Cabin (1924), a bit farther up the valley from the Pratt Cabin we visited on 19 November 2015.

Corrals at site of Hunter Ranch Line Cabin (1924)

Stream near the Grotto

Ed at The Grotto

Guadalupe Mountain National Park -- Leaving McKittrick Canyon

Guadalupe Mountain as we head southeast on Route 652, near the junction with Routes 62 and 180.

Sunset on the way toward Fort Stockton. To the left of the bottom center of the photo there are two gas flairs from oil wells.

There were no bargains in Pecos or Fort Stockton. Perhaps there is too much oil money right now. we spent the night in Fort Stockton at the Deluxe Motel and used our McDonald's voucher to get two quarter pounders with cheese. Tonight we planned most of the rest of the trip. We'll go along the Mississippi part of the Natchez Trace, through Ashville TN, to Norfolk VA, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, Chincoteague Island, and Cape May - Lewes Ferry to New Jersey. After a few days with Midge's Mom in southern NJ we'll drive to Maine to complete the trip.
Lost an hour, now on Central Time.

Day 69 - 8 Jan 2016 Fort Stockton to Temple TX (412.3 miles)
Fort Stockton is on I-10, which crosses Texas from El Paso in the west to Houston in the east, and on into southern Louisiana. Seventy miles east of Fort Stockton, we took the 290 Loop off of I-10 and stopped at Fort Lancaster State Historic Site. The fort was built in 1856 to guard the way west, at about the same time as Fort Davis. The site is all ruins. A visitor center is under construction. Admission was free and a nice host in a trailer even offered us a golf cart to tour the site.

This plaque described the old road west near Fort Lancaster.

We wanted to try Texas barbecue and had heard it is quite different from BBQ further east. We read about Cooper's Bar-B-Q and Grill in Junction, and stopped at 1:40pm.

We weren't disappointed by the array of choices. We shared a $15 plate of BBQ pork ribs, potato salad and coleslaw. The ribs were moist, tender and covered in a thin, delicate, vinegary sauce, not at all like the thick, strong, sweet sauce used farther east. Real BBQ aficionados, at least those that bother to write on the internet, believe there is better BBQ elsewhere in Texas. If so, we're in for a treat the next time we come to Texas.

Not fun seeing photos of a dead mountain lion, ocelot and bobcat, but Cooper's certainly had a rural Texas ambiance.

At 3:45pm we got to Enchanted Rock State Park, north of Fredericksburg TX.

We'd hoped to camp here for the night, but only primitive campsites a mile from the road were left. We stayed until 5pm, enough time to climb to the top of the rock and wait for the sun to come out.

As our shadows got longer, the dark clouds moved east.

The enormous pink granite pluton batholith was relatively flat on the top. Depressions in the rock held water and enough soil to support plants.

On leaving the park, we drove through cowboy towns like Llano, then Burnet, Lampasas and Killeen. This is Fort Hood country. Fort Hood is the largest active-duty armored post in the United States Armed Services, and seemed surrounded by strip malls. By 7:30 we got to America's Best Value Inn in Temple on I-35. The room smelled like mold and the TV didn't work, but it was a lot warmer than camping.

Day 70 - 9 Jan 2016 Temple to Nacogdoches TX (185.9 miles)
The next morning we headed for Nacogdoches, the oldest town in Texas. It was 46°F (8°C) all day, cloudy and windy.

There was lots of flooding and swollen rivers. The towns looked poor.

Arrived in Nacogdoches at 12.50. First stop was Durst-Taylor Historic House and Gardens. We were given a tour of the house by Patrick, who also managed the museum on the property. The museum told the story of the area, often through the inhabitants and visitors at the house.

Next stop was the Sterne-Hoya House Museum/Library. Built in 1830 by a German-Prussian Jewish immigrant. Davy Crockett and Sam Houston both stayed here.

Old Nacogdoches University Building, completed in 1848.

The ground floor of the building on the side that shows in the photo above.

Stone Fort Museum at Sam Houston University

Another very late lunch and a 2 for the price of 1 deal at McDonalds. This could be habit forming.

Day 71 - 10 Jan 2016 Nacogdoches TX to Natchez MS (248.9 miles)

We are roughly following the El Camino Real de los Tejas. The trail ran 2500 miles from Mexico City to Natchitoches LA and passed through Nacogdoches TX.

We crossed the Toledo Bend Reservoir from Texas to Louisiana, stopping on the Louisiana side.

Our goal for the day was Natchez MS, just east of Louisiana and across the Mississippi River. Natchez is at the southern end of the Natchez Trace Parkway.

At Natchez MS we visited two properties that are part of the Natchez National Historical Park. The first was Melrose House, built in the Greek Revival and Georgian style in 1845.