Matt and Carol's Travels

Another good drive under our belt, and as we turned into the campground, we realized we had stayed here before. This time we were on the front row of sites.

The site was an ok site since it backed up to a busy road. The redeeming quality of this site is in the right side photo... a pecan tree. While we were here I added a new career to my resumé, Pecan Farmer. We arrived at the right time for a pecan harvest.

ONE OF SEVERAL CONTAINERS COLLECTED

The next task after harvesting them, was cracking them open.

OLD NEW

The new way was sooooo much easier. I learned the new way after a visit to a local pecan store. While looking around I found this tool:

Designed specifically for shelling pecans. The gentleman at the store gave me instruction on how to use the tool: crack top, crack bottom, crack one side, crack the other side, and the shell pretty much fell off the nut.

I'm sure your wondering how you crack a side on a round object... great patience. Actually, the gentleman also explained that there are many types of pecans, some fairly round, others have a more square outer shell.

THE PROCESS

Step 1: harvest the pecan.

Step 2: Shell the pecan.

Upper right: raw pecan.

Step 3: roast pecans.

Not photographed: enjoying the roasted pecans.

Because we had already been here three years ago, most of our time was spent experimenting with new options for driving snacks.

The first concoction was a batter with: smashed potatoes, shredded cheddar and mozzarella cheeses, seasoning, and chopped pepperoni. I did this concoction two ways, one on a small tortilla, the other as a chaffle.

IN A TORTILLA

CHAFFLE

For the one on a tortilla, it required a small square pan for the tortilla to sit in. With the tortilla tucked into the pan, the mixture was scooped in, and it all went into the air fryer oven. The mixture was scooped into the chaffle iron to make chaffles.

Our next experiment required pounded out beef, pork, and chicken to make meat roll-ups. I added various cheeses and salami or pepperoni, then rolled them up, and into the air fryer they went.

TOP: BEEF AND PORK

BOTTOM: CHICKEN

That was pretty much the extent of our stay in Kerrville, though we drove up to Fredericksburg again, and came back with chocolate.

Our next rest stop was the town of Ft. Stockton. This town was a town with attractions to see, but not many. Obviously the first stop was the campground.

The campground was called Hilltop RV Park, and it was on a hilltop... next to the I-10 highway.

For a campground in the middle of nowhere, the owners have made an attempt to help keep visitors active. There are three outdoor TVs, a fitness room, pool, multiple game areas with yard size games, and a walking path around the exterior of the park. They do accommodate oil field workers, and even the local police.

FIRST SUNRISE

FIRST SUNSET

LOCAL ENTERTAINMENT

CARETAKER AT WORK

Carol and I tried the pool one hot day, and the furthest we got in was about mid-calf, we sat on the edge of the pool because the water was cold... not cool, but cold.

We did venture out to some of the attractions, but the first one I found myself on was a journey to the dentist.

Yes, I did say dentist, and there are only two, one doing the normal stuff, the other specializing in orthodontics. Needless to say, I did not need orthodontics. One evening we were sitting at the table, and I was eating some mixed nuts when one of them didn't feel right. I stopped chewing to spit out the different nut to discover it was not a nut, but a tooth. I had broke a tooth at the gum line. There was a positive and a negative about this break, positive, no pain, a root canal had been done on it, negative, it was a tooth with a crown on it.

I called the dentist to set up an appointment, but got no answer, so the next day I drove to the office to find it closed. Oh, why was it closed... a federal holiday. As I left I took a turn and found this:

I went back home and that was when it dawned on me about the federal holiday, so I made plans to call the following day and made an appointment for the next day. The problem I suspected was that they would not be able to provide temporary help because of the location of the break, which would require an extraction. The staff at the dentist were very good. Once I arrived and got in the chair, and the examine was completed, I received the news I was already expecting, and more, the tooth had the beginning of an infection. The dentist gave me a prescription for an antibiotic, and a referral to an oral surgeon at our next stop. To make the story a little shorter, I called our dentist in New Mexico for an appointment, and that would be in two weeks.

About happier times like the attractions we went to see. The first one was Ft. Stockton itself.

SIDE NOTE: all history related attractions are maintained by the Ft. Stockton Historical Society.

Back history for the necessity of Ft. Stockton began in the mid 1850's. Ft. Davis was established in 1854, and Ft. Lancaster in 1856, both to defend the "Military Road" from San Antonio to West Texas. The distance was too far to efficiently protect, so Ft. Stockton was established at Comanche Springs in 1859. the fort was named after Commodore Robert F. Stockton.

This fort was not what a visitor would normally expect.

There were three time periods of the fort, but visitors are looking at the last period, from 1867 to 1886.

SALUTE TO BUFFALO SOLDIERS

During this time frame the fort was manned by the "Buffalo Soldiers" of the 9th and 10th Calvaries, and the 24th and 25th Infantries, all these soldiers were black, commanded by a white officer. It was believed that the Indians gave the soldiers the nickname "Buffalo Soldiers" out of respect for their ability to fight, their stamina, and their courage. It was said that the Indians were also intrigued with their curly soft hair, it reminded them of a buffalo's mane. Another possibility was the fact that these soldiers wore buffalo hide coats during the winter while on patrol. These soldiers were treated as second-class citizens, but out performed many of their white counterparts.

The troops at Ft. Stockton were used for patrols, escorts, and scouts; all done largely against the Apaches. After the Apaches were defeated in 1882, the Army began withdrawing the troops. The last calvary and infantry left in 1886.

There were few buildings left from the fort, but still worth visiting. The fort was constructed different than other forts, the buildings were made of adobe, and there was no fortification wall. The idea behind a lack of the wall was so that intruders could be seen easier.

ADOBE BRICKS

The museum was housed in Barracks 1. In its day the this barracks not only housed soldiers, but it was the entertainment building for meetings, socials, and dances.

The museum had two video presentations about the fort, along with several exhibits of items left at the fort, and story about the commanding officers and Buffalo Soldiers.

When these soldiers were out patrolling the countryside, their day was spent either marching (infantry), or in the saddle (calvary), and at night they were sleeping on the ground.

If not on patrol, their day at the fort started with 0600 (6 am) reveille. After reveille the day was filled with work details and drilling, much like today's Army. Their day came to an end at dress assembly at sunset, and lights out at 2130 (9:30 pm). If they were off duty there wasn't much to do, as the closet town, Fredericksburg, was 370 miles away.

Each barracks had its own kitchen. Here was Barracks 2, which was open to the public.

This is what the barracks would have looked like in the days the fort was active:

My guess is that the bunks were moved in Barracks 1 when it was used for social gatherings.

The barracks kitchens were set back from the barracks.

In the early days of the fort, only two of the five barracks had kitchens, the other barracks cooked out of tents. By 1884 four out of the five kitchens were completed, leaving Barrack 3 and 4 sharing a kitchen.

Another structure that WAS open to the public was the Guardhouse, the day of our visit the volunteer went to open the door, and it almost fell on him, so he kept the building locked.

GUARDHOUSE

Remember, the fort was constructed in 1859, but was abandoned during the Civil War. This was the only building that was constructed of stone, which was quarried locally, the timbers were brought in by oxcart from Indianola. It had a room with arm and leg irons, berthing for the guards, and two solitary confinement cells in the dungeon. The Guardhouse was located on the south side of the parade grounds.

PARADE GROUNDS NOW

PARADE GROUNDS THEN

The parade grounds here was like many of the Army Installations, the enlisted were located on one side of the parade grounds, and the officers on the other.

The last building still standing for visitors was Officer Quarters 7, which was renovated, but visitors could not go inside, at least during our visit. Before visitors get to #7, they pass #8.

OFFICER'S QUARTERS 7

As you might see, these homes were adobe too. An article of interest was found during the renovation of this quarters:

BUGLE (a bit crushed)

Though this bugle was crushed, it still functioned perfectly during the raising of the garrison flag in 1986.

VIEW FROM OFFICER'S QUARTER 7

LEFT: BARRACKS 2

RIGHT: BARRACKS 1

Our stead was waiting on the other side of the parade ground to take us home. This historic site, which is controlled by the city, can be bought by local residents. In fact, Officer's Quarter's 6 had been sold and was under contract when we visited.

Another day we took a drive and visited the Annie Riggs Memorial Museum.

CIRCA 2024

It did not start out as the Riggs Hotel. The hotel was originally built in 1899 by a group of investors, and named it the Koehler Hotel after a prominent citizen in the town. Annie leased the hotel, then bought it in 1904, and changed the name to Riggs Hotel. She operated the hotel more as a boardinghouse than hotel.

It was said that she was a very nice person, but didn't put up with any guff in the hotel, and I believed it looking at her rules:

It was also said that she played the piano in the parlor for her guests.

Annie ran the hotel until her death in 1931. Some of her family continued to live in the building until the mid 1950's when they deeded the building to the Historical Society as a museum.

Today the museum is not only a memorial to Annie Riggs, but tells the history of the region, and town of Ft. Stockton.

Our self-guided tour started at the hotel desk of course. Off the hotel lobby was the parlor.

PARLOR

The parlor had a video presentation that talked about Annie, her husbands, and some of her relatives that held offices in the town. After the presentation we took a look around the room and found an interesting item, lets see if you can identify it... it shouldn't be difficult, I left the sign with it.

If you said gout stool, you are absolutely correct. Back in the 1800's and earlier, gout was a common problem, believed to be caused by eating too much rich food. Some famous people that were known to have had gout included: Benjamin Franklin, and King George III.

Leaving the parlor and passing through the lobby we came to the dining room.

CIRCA 1950'S

The room and tables don't look like much, but there were only 13 rooms to this hotel.

DINING ROOM

Obviously there would have been more tables to service the customers for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If you look back at the hotel rules, at the bottom it provides the hours of food service; all meals ala carte (6a to 10:30p). Today the dining room is an interactive room/gift shop. Children can color or read books.

Behind the dining room was the kitchen, "Annie's kitchen".

The Historical Society made every effort to get era appropriate furnishings where possible. In this room Annie and her daughter Eva prepared all the meals, which gained them the reputation of great home cooked food, and the price, .35￠.

Besides cooking, I bet Annie also provided ironing services for her customers.

COLLAR PRESS

Why would one be so inclined to have a collar press in their establishment. Back in the day it would have been a luxury to have laundered clothes everyday, so one trick around that was removing a shirt collar and having it washed, starched, and pressed. One would remove the dirty collar, take a fresh one out of a collar box, and put it on the soiled shirt giving the impression that the shirt was clean.

Here was another common piece of kitchen furniture on the frontier:

HOOSIER CABINET

These cabinets were the hot ticket item before built-ins appeared in the 20th century. The metal container on the left side held flour, and contained a sifter as well. The bottom drawer was tin lined for storing bread, and sugar. The center section pulled out for more counter space to prepare meals.

ELECTRIC STOVE

Annie purchased this stove in 1922, just 11 years after the town got electricity. It was the first electric stove in town. It also bolstered the hotel reputation for being the best for meals and service.

Remember, I said that the hotel tells the history of the town and region, and this was done using each hotel room, so we stepped outside to continue our tour.

THE HIDDEN COURTYARD

The first room we entered was honoring the Pioneer Club.

The pioneers of the region knew the value of the water resources around them, and capitalized on the resources by digging irrigation ditches to their properties.

Imagine digging ditches this size by hand with wooden shovels... that's exactly what the pioneers did. These ditches allowed them to have produce farms and ranches. In 1875 the Texas Legislature got on board and offered free land to anyone willing to dig three-miles of irrigation ditches, and maintain it for 10 years. This accomplished two goals, more productive farms and ranches, and a profitable business for those who dug the ditches.

People associated the Pecos area with cattle, but there were sheep herds here too. One gentleman brought his herd onto his land, built rock pens to protect them from coyotes, and hired experienced Mexican herders to watch over them. Traveling shearing crews would come across the border and shear for 1.5￠per sheep.

Back in the 1800's men needed to be careful about which woman to mess with, and here was an example.

SALLIE WHEAT WILLIAMS

She was the wife of Oscar Waldo Williams. Oscar in his younger days surveyed a lot of the Pecos region. His later years he worked in town as a real estate lawyer, and county judge. In 1890 Sallie took over operations of the farm and ranch, and hired someone to help run the business, but she was definitely the boss. She lived 28 miles out of Ft. Stockton. The land was actually in her name, and the brand was registered to her as well.

Anyway, one day her helper came to her and informed her that a neighboring ranch sheep herder was allowing his sheep to graze in her cotton field, and they were damaging the crop. Sallie got in her buggy, with shot gun in hand, and rode over to the speak with the rancher. She explained in no uncertain terms that she would not shoot him, but every sheep that crossed pass the barbed wire fence into her field.

Originally the town was call St. Gall, but as the town grew residents chose to change the name to Ft. Stockton in 1881. The town was actually born in 1868, after the Army reoccupied the fort. Peter Gallagher was a businessman that foresaw the future of the area and started buy up land around the fort. Of the land he bought, he donated 160 acres to create the township of St. Gall.

This area was a prime example of white man stealing land again. The establishment of Ft. Stockton was to drive the Indians out of the area... and they did. That's why in 1886 they left Ft. Stockton, the Indians were either driven down to Mexico, or on reservations in Oklahoma.

I mentioned earlier that Annie had a lot of relatives in various offices in this town, but I didn't tell you that one of them was her last husband, Barney Riggs. It is told that he wasn't a nice man to Annie, even though they had several children together.

Before he married Annie he was in prison for killing a man, and was doing a life sentence. So how did he get out, and marry Annie... during a riot he saved the live of the prison superintendent, which earned him a pardon. From Arizona he moved back to Ft. Stockton to be closer to family, then he met Annie, married her in 1891. He didn't stay out of trouble for very long, but he did eventually become a special deputy under a man named Sheriff J. A. Royal.

Funny I should mention Mr. Royal. He became part of the town's history a week after he was defeated for re-election.

SHERIFF ROYAL'S DESK

What's the importance of this desk? He was cleaning his belongings out of it when he was assassinated. It is believed that in the open drawer on the right is the blood from when he was shot in the head. The shooter was never found.

Let's go back to Barney. His drinking and abuse got bad enough that Annie filed for divorce. Here is where we see relatives. Barney got into a confrontation with Annie's divorce administrator... her son-in-law Buck Chadborn, hitting him with a cane. Later Barney visited Chadborn again, Chadborn mistakenly shoots him thinking he going to pull a gun. Barney is taken to the Riggs Hotel where he dies, with Annie at his side.

Moving to the next room we saw more progress come to the town.

INFORMATION, HOW MAY I HELP YOU?

Ft. Stockton saw major transformation between 1907 and 1912. Two men partnered to create the First State Bank, making loans available to farmers and ranchers. In their first two-year they made $62,000 in loans to the locals, and the next year they built a new building in what would be the business district of Ft. Stockton. 1908 saw the construction of the first public school, a two-story structure that had an enrollment of 70 children. In the same year, the first newspaper was formed. 1909 saw the first telephone exchange established, providing service directly to Ozona. In 1910 the first water service using a 10,000 tank, was created, providing water to residents. The Ft. Stockton Light and Ice Company was established in 1911, providing electricity and ice to residents and businesses alike. The biggie though was the arrival of the railroad.

The town had many churches of different denominations, but in 1908 the town saw for the first time... segregation, not between whites and blacks, but between whites and Mexican-Americans.

Here is how it went down after 1908. The first public school, built in 1908, only served white children. The english speaking Catholics built there own chapel; nothing Christian here. Division Street was the dividing line between white and Latino neighborhoods. A Latino business didn't show up on Main Street until 1955.

Personal Stories:

Corporal Garcia was turned away from the swimming pool at Comanche Springs in 1943, and he was in uniform. It took other incidents before the pool was integrated in 1950.

In 1949 a man and his wife were denied seats on the ground floor of the Pecos Theatre, a fistfight broke out. A few months later the owner of the theatre changed his policy and integrated the theatre.

With modernization came traffic. In 1919 most roads were still unpaved, but that was soon to change. In the 1920's the Old Spanish Trail was constructed, and ran though Ft. Stockton while starting in St. Augustine, FL, and ending in San Diego, CA. Ft. Stockton saw several highways pass through it. One of those highways was 67, from Dallas to Presidio, but in the 1930's that road from Ft. Stockton to Presidio was unpaved until 1947. Highway 290 brought traffic through Ft. Stockton, connecting the town to Houston and Austin. Construction on I-10 began in 1957. In 1957, Firestone opened the Firestone Test Center west of town. The center was 7.7 miles of high speed test track which employed 200 drivers.

ROADS IN TEXAS (ca 1919)

From here we moved over the the smaller wing. One of the rooms contained fossils, the next room was considered "Annie's Room".

Here was the typical room in the hotel.

You may have noticed that there was no running water in the room. For a guest to bathe, they needed to go to the bathhouse that was on the shore of the Comanche Springs River.

This was an interesting and enjoyable museum, but it was time to return home.

TAKE A BREAK BEFORE WE HEAD FOR OUR LAST STOP IN TEXAS.

The last stop in Texas was another oil town, Midland, TX. The drive was relatively short, but there was major construction on I-20, requiring us to find a different way to the campground. The park did tell us which off ramp to take, which was not what Garmin had in mind... and for good reason, there was no off ramp during this construction.

I decided to make our arrival a little more interesting by turning at the wrong place, and ending up in some companies parking lot. I thought I would just back up and head to the correct turn, not to be. I went to plan "B", go through their "exit" only part of the parking lot to get to the street I needed to be on if I desired to arrive at the park, so I jumped the curb to get through the "S" curve and get to the street I needed. We made it to the RV park, all was good. The RV park had over 300 sites, and this one was ours:

OUR SITE, #61

(no frills park)

With all the road construction happening in Midland, Carol and I didn't want to go sightseeing, but we did hit one museum.

What kind of a museum would we go visit... if you thought oil, you're right. The Petroleum Museum was only a couple of miles from us, but due to the construction, it was triple the distance.

The museum was broken into several different sections. The first section was sort of a what-if:

This region is known as the Permian Basin, which stretches into New Mexico. The basin is around 265,000,000 years old, and actually consists of two smaller basins, one is the Midland, and the other is the Delaware, with a ridge running between them. The basin was teeming with fish, sponges, and jellyfish.

It also contained microscopic creatures and plants which were carbon-based, getting the power from the sun and storing it in the organic structures. Huge layers of these organisms covered the sea bed, and were covered by sediment forming limestone beds. Over a long period of time the waters receded, the heat and pressure on these layers created what we now know as petroleum, and natural gas.

We as humans have been using oil for many, many, many years. In the beginning it was from oil seeping to the surface, and pooling, called "ancient oil".

It was believed that the Ohio River Valley was much larger than the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico. It was believed that most of the hydrocarbons seeping from the earth, evaporated into the atmosphere, because there were no traps to prevent the seeping.

The oil and natural gas are trapped unground by four types of traps.

1. Stratigraphic Traps:

The structure of the rocks can change within a single layer. In the case of this trap, the oil and natural gas pass through the porous rock until it is stopped by a dense layer of rock.

2. Salt Dome:

This trap is formed when a reservoir rock layer folds or shifts in a way that allows an overlaying dense cap traps the oil and natural gas under it.

3. Fault Trap:

These traps formed millions of years ago when the rock formations that make up the earth's surface began moving, shifting, or warping, creating overlapping layers. Thanks to gravity and pressure, the oil and natural gas were moved upward until they hit the impermeable layer, which is that "cap rock".

4. Anticline Trap:

This trap is a moving trap. The sediment that was laid down during the time of the prehistoric seas created a sediment rock. This sediment rock contained organisms. Over time pressure and heat "cooked" these organisms, turning them into oil and natural gas. In the case of this trap, the oil and natural gas are pushed horizontally and upward, until trapped by the "rock cap". If there were not the impermeable rock layer, the oil and natural gas would seep to the surface.

Back to the museum. Texas in the early days was valuable to the cattlemen as grazing land. Once oil was discovered, cattlemen became Wildcatters. Some farmers became Wildcatters, while other leased their land to oil seekers.

Before 1924 it was a "hit-or-miss" on finding oil, but in 1924 a geologist created this map from locations of oil wells, it was was evident that there was a large oil resource in western Texas. Most of the development of the Permian Basin is attributed to this map.

You might be asking yourself how the oil got from the rig to a processing facility, this was an example:

WOODEN OIL PIPE LINE (ca. 1920)

This piece of pipe was discovered at a tank farm in 2015 during facility maintenance.

Between 1908 and 1920 there were many drought years, reducing farming, and the beginning of small oil companies.

Though the mother lode wasn't hit 'til 1923, the area began growing in 1921. I-80 "The Broadway of America" ran through Midland vice San Angelo, another boomtown.

It took Santa Rita #1 striking it big in 1923 for Midland to become an oil boomtown.

FUN FACT: The Santa Rita #1 was actually located on a farm. The well got its name from a promise make to some nuns that invested in the project, and the well owner.

In 1927 the town really stepped up with streetlights, and improvements to the roads... we now call it pavement, and they began construction on the Petroleum Building. 1929 saw 36 offices for oil companies.

1929 also saw community confidence grow with the county selling their courthouse for $1.00. This stunt got the county into Ripley's Believe It or Not. This sale was done to make room for the new four-story building that started construction shortly after the sale.

By 1930 the little community of Midland saw a population of nearly 5,500 people, and boasting of an airport and luxury hotels.

I believe a lot of people that want different resources for energy aren't really thinking about how their new resources are manufactured. The museum does paint a picture of how the average person uses oil:

Let's talk about what one 42 gallon barrel of oil does for us. All numbers represent gallons.

19.1 - Gasoline

8.7 - Diesel and home heating oil

3.7 - Kerosene type- jet fuel

2.1 - Residual fuel oil

1.9 - Liquefied refinery-gases

1.7 - Still gas

1.5 - Coke (byproduct that gets burned)

1.2 - Asphalt and road oil

1.1 - Petro-chemical feedstocks

.5 - Lubricants

.2 - Kerosene

.3 - Other

By 1940, the US was producing enough for our needs, and supplied 75% of other countries requirements. Around 1960 all that changed. Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was formed, which greatly affected our country, especially the Permian Basin.

Natural gas can come from either a gas well, or an oil well. If the gas comes from an oil well it is called "associated gas". Natural gas found separate from oil is called "free gas", and if it is dissolved in crude oil it is called "dissolved gas. Once the gas, which is methane, is pumped up, it needs to be processed and made pure as possible for distribution.

Todays technology is much different from the early 20th century, today they use a technology called "well logging".

SCHLUMBERGER LOGGING TOOL

This wireline device is lowered down a well borehole and records petrophysical properties with the various sensors. You are thinking... what can they possible measure. These logging tools can measure the natural gamma ray, electrical, acoustic, stimulated radioactive responses, electromagnetic, nuclear magnetic resonance, pressure and other properties in the rocks and the fluids contained in them.

The next section of the museum was a treasure trove of gems and minerals. I will leave you here with pictures for a few minutes.

COPPER

TANZANITE

AZURITE AND MALACHITE

FLUORITE

QUARTZ / AMETHYST / HEMETITE

FLUORITE

RUBY

SULPHUR

BARITE

FLUORITE WITH QUARTZ

SCOLECITE

CROCOITE

FELDSPAR

AMETHYST

The final indoor area was sport cars... all Chaparrals.

CHAPARRAL 2 (ca. early 1960's)

This car was designed and built by two men in Midland, TX

CHAPARRAL 2D (ca. 1966)

Wondering why we are looking at race cars... the designers and builders were oil men from the Midland area, and built the cars in Midland.

CHAPARRAL 2H (ca. 1969)

CHAPARRAL 2E (ca. late 1960's)

The last race car was an experimental, and not a Chaparral, but a Corvette.

GS IIB EXPERIMENTAL CORVETTE (ca. 1964)

The first experimental Corvette was delivered to the Chapparal test facility in 1963, and had poor results. The original Corvette body was welded sheet metal, and had narrow tires. After a few months of testing it was sent back to GM, where it was destroyed. The next version (shown) had a riveted aluminum body, with wider tires.

The day of our first visit was a cold blustery day, so we did not go to the outside exhibit.

A couple of days later I took a trip back to the museum to see the outside exhibit. The exhibit was a variety of spudders, oil derricks, pump jacks, and pump units.

It was interesting to learn that there was difference in the pumping devices. Multiple well jacks were connected to a central power unit, where a pump unit is what we commonly see as we drive down the road.

WELL JACK POWER UNIT

The way the power unit works: the belt which is wrapped around the band wheel is powered by the electric motor or gas engine. The turning band wheel is connected to multiple pump jacks via rods. A cam on the wheel causes the rods to move in and out, causing the pumps to move up and down, pulling oil out of the oil reservoir. There is a belt tensioner to ensure the belt does not get slack.

Here is an example of a simple pump jack: