We left Carlsbad KOA in the dark, at about 5:30 am. The road south into Carlsbad was very busy, with a continuous line of pickup trucks, people going to work in the oil fields. We stopped in Carlsbad at the local Starbucks for our morning coffee (Vente Flat White, Decaf, Extra Shot, Breve…) and we continued south on Hwy 285 out of town. This is where the drive got interesting.
Hwy 285 goes through thousands of acres of oil and gas fields. It is barely paved – maybe semi-paved. It is under construction all the way to Texas. It was raining and the road is dirty, with loose sand, gravel, and asphalt being thrown up everywhere. And there was a solid line of trucks in both directions: large trucks carrying gravel, sand, water, and fracking chemicals; medium size trucks, outfitted with welders, generators, pumps, cranes, and the like; and pickup trucks, carrying the happy merry workers to their jobs.
It was still dark. Looking off to the horizon on all sides were fires, burning off the excess natural gas from the oil wells; it is not economically feasible to capture the gas because we have such a glut of natural gas in the country, and until recently the export of natural gas was prohibited.
After about 100 miles of this most unusual landscape and traffic and dirt and rain we arrived at Pecos, TX. The town is totally dead. Apparently all these busy, well-paid workers don’t live here – they stay in trailers and motels during the week and go home (wherever that may be) on weekends. It is always sad to see these dead towns (they are everywhere…) but it is the natural cycle…
There were a few interesting things to see in the dead town…
Public art:
Historic buildings:
Gunfighter’s grave:
Abandoned train station:
Main Street; we never found out why these cars were here – perhaps this is a carpool parking area…
I went into the only active store on Main Street, a hardware store, and asked if there was a local diner we could go to for breakfast. They recommended a delightful little place, located in an abandoned Sonic building. It has only been open for about two months, and was a purely local place. I mentioned that they were not on Yelp. I don’t think they knew what Yelp was… The food was real and quite good. However the parking lot was so empty that people just parked free-style…
After our late breakfast we continued into Texas – due to the road construction there was no sign welcoming us… This is Texas:
The first thing to happen to us in Texas is that we took a rock to the Airstream, which blew a hole in the rock guard. Maybe we need to put a protective cover over the rock guard.
About 10 minutes later we took a rock to the truck windshield – another big ding.
We traveled east on the 10, and after a few hours we turned off the 10 and headed into Texas Hill Country…
We arrived in Fredericksburg in mid afternoon and set up at Fredericksburg RV park – a very nice place… As you can see, the Airstream is filthy!
We walked into town (about 3/4 mile) for an early dinner. Along the way we passed this hotel, with these flags; we always enjoy the Texas State flag, bragging of Texas’ one star Yelp rating…
The History of Fredericksburg, Texas, dates back to its founding in 1846. It was named after Prince Frederick of Prussia. Fredericksburg is also notable as the home of “Texas German”, a dialect spoken by the first generations of German settlers who initially refused to learn English. The emigration was in part the liberal, educated Germans fleeing the social, political and economic conditions that later resulted in the Revolution of 1848, and in part lots of working-class Germans.
The town was laid out by surveyor Herman Wilke. On April 23, 1846, the first wagon train of settlers left New Braunfels, encountering friendly Delaware Indians en route, and arrived at the Fredericksburg site on May 8, 1846. The first colonists immediately set about to plant a garden and build a storehouse out of logs, and a stockade and a blockhouse. The town continued to thrive for over 100 years as a center of this German farming community.
Fredericksburg in the 21st Century is in a state of flux. As each generation of descendants of the original settlers dies away, or moves to new horizons, the authenticity of the rural German farm culture of the Texas Hill Country communities also dies away. It is gradually blending with the customs of newcomers and being replaced by tourist-oriented concepts of both German heritage and the Texas cowboy culture.
Downtown Fredericksburg today is one giant restaurant, wine-tasting and tourist trinket store district. It was great! We had a lovely dinner and bottle of wine at Cultures…
We returned to the Villa and turned in early – it had been a long day…
And an enjoyable time was had by all…
Adventures in the Villa 