Drive North --Spring Has Sprung

So much to see and many miles to drive as we meander home. 

Diane and Bob invited us for dinner and St. Paddy's Day Parade.  This is Cathy and Jerry (Bob's Sister and Husband) and Dennis and Nancy Doyle our next door neighbors

Dinner at the Fritels was a precursor to pulling up stakes and head for the trio of National Parks.  Bob and Diane have been terrific friends at La Feria we will miss them! Farmers from Wolford, North Dakota, we have threatened to visit there.  They helped to put a new spin on staying in one place for the winter—we are the type to need more than 2 or 3 days to make friends and when you are gypsies that doesn’t happen. On the Loop we kept running into the same people so it was easier.
 

The St. Paddy's Day parade proceeded right by the Fritel's

 

We left La Feria on March 21st  and first stop was the Walmart at Del Rio. They had RV spots and we provisioned for the trip which provided changing landscape we headed north and into the unknown.  This is the land of wide open spaces and no cell service, so we are not real sure what to expect for the next few days but we are ready for adventure. 

Here we stand in front of a Century Plant at Langtry.  It looks like a giant aloe plant and blooms once (this takes about 25 years) The bloom they called a yellow Christmas tree and they actually cut it off for theirs.  The plant then dies. 

 

The bar was the actual building.

 

The Judge called his home the Opera House hoping to impress Lillie (through letters) sadly
he died before he could meet her

 

Belly up to the Bar

 

The Pecos River

 

We have catfish yard art in Nashville they have boots

Next a stop at Langtry, TX where  Judge Roy Bean held court in the late 1800's. He had proclaimed himself the "Law west of the Pecos".  He actually kept the order when the railroad men got rowdy in his bar and he had a serious crush on Lillie Langtry (an international actress of some repute) and so he (of course) named his town after her.  There was an hilarious movie  back in 1972 starring Paul Newman that we both loved named for him so we had to stop.  There was also  great Ranger here that told us various places along our route to stop including the McDonald Observatory and Fort Davis--we will get there.