The Great Western Texas Desert

A common scene through Texas.
Ususally, I see them dead beside the road

The desert after Brackettville, Texas

This kind of country should continue with very few towns
 for ten days riding

I rode for one day out onto the west Texas desert from Brackettville.  Here at Del Rio I checked into Motel6 and checked the weather forecast.  It was terrible for the next ten days.  Then I investigated the train station which runs directly to LA’s Union Station.  The temptation was just too strong.  I am now the holder of an Amtrak ticket and should be home Friday afternoon.





The places I slept on this adventure are shown at http://goo.gl/maps/e2fS5 .  Thanks to Michael Angerman for preparing and updating this map.  He keept it current throughout the trip.

A night in a Fort

Today was a perfect day for riding through Texas.  Although the road had no shoulder, it also had almost nobody, and wind was on my back.

I stopped at Brackettville this afternoon and rode just out of town to Fort Clark.  Established in1852 and expanded during the fort-building era of the 1870’s, the sprawling military village is built of limestone blocks and marching boots.  The old fort is no longer a military base, having been converted to a resort. 

Golf course at Fort Clark

My room at Fort Clark

It makes a person wonder how it could ever have been a military base.  A big open green at its center serves as a small golf course, and quaint stone buildings circle the green.  A river runs through it, and a swimming pool gathers water from the river and provides cool refreshment for the soldiers who once trained here, and now for local school children and visitors like me.  I will sleep tonight in former officers quarters.  I think Fort Clark was always a resort, formerly for soldiers, now for travelers.