Chasing the Texas sunsets, craig

10 to 12 million bats came out of this little Texas cave at about 7:45 pm on April 23, 2009. What a sight ! The cave is about 4 miles from Concan on the Frio River.

Check out their website at http://www.friobatflight.com/.

Chasing the Texas sunsets,
craig

Onions

Chasing the Texas sunsets,

 

          Onions, yes onions:  white, yellow and red.  All organic.  Our good friend Steve Major has this huge garden and the onions are ready.  I think the potatoes are close to being ready.  Steve lives on Diemer road just east of the Brazos River.  Like most gardeners he is hard to catch in the house, but his phone number is – (979) 877-0692.  Steve hasn’t gone internet.  He has a bunch of strawberries, but I get most of them before he realizes it. 

          Rickey, I think you ought to go by Steve’s place,  pick up a bunch of onions and advertise “Organic Onion Rings this Weekend”  Hey, we’ll put it on the marquee.  Got a good ring to it, doesn’t it.  “Organic Onion Rings”

Attached is a photo of Steve’s onions.

Hey, I got a crop too.  See attached photo.  No Lavern it ain’t marijuana.

 

 

          I could tell you something about what they are putting on those vegetables and fruit from Mexico, Chile and beyond, but I could also tell you something about Obama’s stimulus package.

 

Craig Dickson

craig dickson realty

www.TrueToTexas.com

 

Pandale

Chasing the Texas sunsets.

 

            Pandale, Texas.  Yes, Pandale.  Lavern, have you ever been there?  Check out the attached photo.  No, I mean check it out now.  What do you think?  That is about as quite a place as you can get.  Most of ya’ll know that I try to head to west Texas every spring to experience the cacti blooming in the Chihuahuan Desert.  And, I always notice this long road that dead ends at Pandale, Texas which is on the east bank of the Pecos River.  Well, I’ve been there now!  58 miles of a questionable road and you can get to a great place to kick back in the crystal clear Pecos River.  IDAHO, FLORIDA, KANSAS, ALABAMA, WISCONSIN, LOUISIANA, CLAIFORNIA, NEW MEXICO, COLORADO, NORTH CAROLINA, MEXICO, ARIZONA, OREGON, OHIO, ALASKA, ONTARIO, MISSOURI, ILLINOIS and TEXAS.  That’s the license plates I could read on this trip.  (not at Pandale)  Why?  Why are they here?  Back to Pandale, Texas.  If you want to go there, contact the Mayor.  Well, appointed by me.  That’s Mayor Easy Davila.  Easy has the only store in Pandale, Flat Rock Crossing.  Easy has some cabins, campsites, and cabanas.  Easy will rent you an inner tube to float around in the Pecos River.  Easy’s cell phone number is 432-553-8175 or try 432-291-3212.  Hey, this all started on the Brazos River with High School Girlfriend and I heading west.  West to Alpine and Fort Davis.  Used to be I would lay the hammer down on Interstate-10 all the way to Fort Stockton.  Well, from now on I’ll be traveling on Hwy. 90 to west Texas.  The King, the grandson, little Dixon Kellner lives two blocks off of Hwy. 90 in Knippa.  Explanation completed.  First stop, Knippa where we spend the night with Dixon and family.  We decide to try Bill & Rosa’s Steakhouse and Saloon in D’Hanis.  Bonnie, have you ever partaked there?  OK, my Vegan friends.  I went overboard.  A 24 oz porterhouse steak.  But, Little Dixon helped me.  He now has almost a full set of baby teeth and he proved he can eat steak.  That was last Thursday night April, 2^nd.

            Friday morning High School Girlfriend and I are off to Alpine by way of Del Rio, Comstock, Pandale, Langtry, Sanderson, Marathon (the Gage) and at 6 pm we are at the Historic Holland Hotel in Alpine.  In Langtry we stopped at Judge Roy Bean’s museum and desert garden.  The garden is a great educational tool of desert plants.  Sanderson, Texas and we stop for a late lunch.  We eat at the RoundHouse Café. (432.345.2481).  Good hamburgers.  Yes, my friends I will get back to my vegetables when I cross the Brazos.  5 pm and we are in Marathon and we stop at the Gage to get that west Texas dust out of our throats.  Did I mention the wind was blowing?  And, I mean blowing.

            All hell breaks loose.  You see, I’ve wanted to stay in that special room at the Holland Hotel, call the Crow’s Nest, since I heard about it 2 years ago.  Well, I planned this trip to Alpine around its availability.  I have a confirmation number.  At the front desk they are telling me that they made a mistake and that the Crow’s Nest is booked.  I’m pissed.  Real pissed.  They know it.  They give me the keys to a fabulous room; it’s not the Crow’s Nest.  I leave to sight see and cool off.  Did I mention that I am pissed?  I go back into the Holland Hotel lobby and demand to know who the owner is.  The answer, answered a few of my questions.  The bank now owns it.

            I’ll finish this story later, a customer just walked in and listed 5 acres so I ought to go put a “For Sale” sign up.

 

craig

 

           

Craig Dickson

craig dickson realty

www.TrueToTexas.com

 

Pandale continued.

Chasing the Texas sunsets,

 

            Where was I?  Oh, the Holland Hotel.  By the way, both the restaurant and bar closed down at foreclosure. It’s Saturday morning and I have tried to make it a habit not to stay mad over one day.  So, when I walk through the lobby I tell the guys that, “hey, that’s life, anybody can make a mistake”.  Even though I still believe the new management for the bank just took the Crow’s Nest for themselves.  You know, when things go to hell, it seems like one follows the other.   I don’t know what’s happened in Alpine.  The service, the service is pitiful.   We went to two steak houses and walked out because of the service.  Can you believe? Does anybody know the owner of “Alpine City Limits”?  I think I could help them, if they cared.  Same thing at “The Drug Store” restaurant in Fort Davis.  I could help them.  Maybe, they want to be fired.  Hey no car payments for a year, Obama’s stimulus package, Obama’s extended unemployment,  and Government reduction of their home mortgage.   It might make cents to get fired about now.  Lavern, there were bright spots:  The Apache Trading Post, a must stop in Alpine,  Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute out of Fort Davis, great place to view many of the desert plants, and Mt. Mitre.  We also made a run through Marfa.  With the service gone to hell in a basket, High School Girlfriend and I partaked at the local Dairy Queen.

            Sunday morning we are packed and heading east.  Destination, Dixon Kellner’s place.  Rickey, look, don’t give up on the Holland Hotel.  Give them 4 or 5 months to get things running right again.  They said that their working with someone to open a quality restaurant, soon.  It could happen to any of us.  They are really pretty good people.  I’ll book again.  Uh, uh, did I mention that when I went to check out, these good people, said it’s on the house, it’s free, and they were sorry for the mix up.  Oh life is wonderful.

            Rolling, rolling, rolling down Highway 90.  Damn right, I’m driving a Ford F-150.  The one American car maker that didn’t take the Government bailout.   Sanderson,  Dryden and pull off the highway at Langtry for a pit stop.  Well, there’s not much there, but the Wagon Wheel is open and has clean rest rooms.  You know I’m not staying on Hwy. 90 all the way.  I’ve decided to take the back roads to Knippa.  I’m taking the river road north at Comstock where we can parallel the Devil’s River.  Man, I love this country.  I need to find somebody with a place on the Devil’s River.  Juno,  Mayfield’s Country Store, Nix Ranches, and Hudspeth Ranches.  Anybody know a place I can meditate on the Devil’s River?  Let me know, please.  Comstock, Juno, Rock Springs, Camp Wood  ( a vehicle with it’s emergency lights, it’s Texas Game Warden Rachel Kellner, not a citation, a hug and put on notice that Dixon and Charlie are waiting for our arrival) Uvalde, Knippa and the Little King is out in his front yard waving at his grandparents. Charlie and Rachel prepare a wonderful dinner while I baby-hog.  Monday morning we are off to the Brazos Bottoms and back to work.

 

 

Chasing the Texas sunsets,

 

Craig Dickson

craig dickson realty

www.TrueToTexas.com

 

Ocotillo

Mt. Mitre - 6,200 ft.

Chasing the Texas sunsets!

Easy, Edna and High School Girlfriend.

Pandale, Texas.

Ocotillo is a fabulous desert plant, sometimes called the Devil's walking stick. It only has leaves after a rain. Once it dries out, as usual, the leaves fall off.

Texas State History Museum

Chasing the Texas sunsets,

 

            Have you been to the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin?  If you are a Texan you should have.  Native or Naturalized Texans should all visit this Museum.  I’ve been there before.  More than once.  But, ya’ll know how I roam.  High School Girlfriend wanted to revisit the Museum.  You see, they have a new exhibit.  “FORGOTTEN GATEWAY: COMING TO AMERICA THROUGH GALVESTON ISLAND”. High School Girlfriend’s grandmother came from Hamburg, Germany and landed in Galveston.

            Last Thursday we left the east bank of the Brazos river and headed west on Interstate-10 to Columbus, where we jumped on Hwy. 71 to Austin.  First stop, Hruska’s Bakery, at Ellinger, where we partaked on some kolaches.  Peach and Apricot for me.  Back on Hwy.71 heading to Austin.  Whoa, whoa, I pull off the Highway at LaGrange.  Weikel’s Bakery.  They have the best blueberry kolaches.  Well, might as well get a few more peach and apricot kolaches for later.  Onward.  We arrive at the Texas State History Museum about 10:30 am.  First thing, I want to go to the Texas Spirit Theater.  It’s great.  I’ve seen the feature presentation, “The Spirit of Texas” more than once, and love it.  The girl at the ticket counter suggested we wait until the noon showing because the 11:00 am feature was full of first graders.  Where is she from?  I told her I would pay extra to be in that theater full of first graders.  It was a blast.  Then High School Girlfriend and I approached the FORGOTTEN GATEWAY exhibit.  Two hours to take it in.  Charlie, it’s worth the trip.  Talk about Texas history.  And, it’s a history of immigration from the early 1800’s until today.  Yes, that exhibit really sheds light on immigration.  It’s an education worth seeing.  If I’m going to sell Texas Dirt, I’ve got to know as much as I can about Texas.  All true Texans should see this exhibit.  It’s now after 1:00 pm and we head over to have lunch at Hofbrau’s.  We both get the large t-bone steak.  High School Girlfriend gets her steak rare to medium, I get mine medium-well.

            After lunch we head back to the Museum where we see “Across the Sea of Time” in 3D at the Museum’s IMAX Theatre.  Lavern, do it.

            We get out of Austin before 5 pm.  Stop at Hruska’s on the way back to stretch our legs and use the facilities.  Hey, Hruska’s rest rooms can compete with Bucee’s.  Cross the Brazos River and home on the east bank before dark.

 

www TrueToTexas.com

 

Craig Dickson

craig dickson realty

www.TrueToTexas.com