Day 10
LOCATION: Fort Stockton, Texas – 325 miles west of San Antonio
CAMPGROUND: The Old ’76 Beer Garden – a Harvest Host site
WEATHER: Hot. High 95
DRIVE: 2 hours
We have enjoyed our stay at The Lost Alaskan RV Park. This is an interesting cactus in front of the restroom/laundry facility. It is sprouting new leaves and we ate them!
We were given a late check-out, so we hit the trails. Alpine has a university and there is a hill/mountain in back of the school. Someone had recommended the hike. It was 3 miles round-trip. It was VERY rocky and steep. It is called the Desk Trail, as there is supposedly a desk at the end of the trail that a college student had dragged up there years ago. The trail was not marked very well. Either we missed the turn to the Desk, or they have removed it. Anyway, it was good exercise.
This is the view of the university campus below…
We arrived in Fort Stockton and got parked easily in our Harvest Host’s parking lot. The beer garden was not open yet, and since it was beastly hot, we made a bee-line to the winery/saloon next door with blessed air conditioning. We did a tasting and told them that we would return for dinner.
The beer garden opened about 6:00, and we had some of their craft beers and wine. We enjoyed chatting with another Airstream couple from Quebec, and fellow Harvest Host campers
The hostess/owner was so informative about the area and their dreams of building this beer garden, an AirB&B, and a restaurant (future). The beer garden bar area is a container. Nice set-up
This is the future restaurant…needs a bit of work.
We are parked just behind the beer garden with a secret back entrance.
We returned to the winery/saloon (originally from the cowboy days) for dinner. The owner/winemaker, Michele, is French and we talked with him about our upcoming canal trip on the Canal du Midi in southern France. He has done that, too, and highly recommended the cassoulet there.
The place was hopping, with a lot of hip Fort Stockton-ers. These girls were dressed to the hilt and ready to party..
DINNER: We had Michele’s gourmet tacos – shrimp, avocado, cabbage, and sauce.
By the time we returned to Joy, it had thankfully cooled down. We opened all the windows and slept peacefully, with the howling of coyotes in the distance.
Reids on the Road with Joy 