We Finish Our Journey

 

While studying the map to plan a route back home, we noticed that there are four areas surrounding Las Cruces that make up the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument.

Approaching the Organ Mountains

Never ones to pass up a national monument, we decide to pay this unit a visit. Established in 2014, this monument is not organized under the National Park Service like other national monuments we have visited. Instead, it is managed as a national conservation land under the Department of the Interior/Bureau of Land Management. We decide to visit the Organ Mountains area to the east of Las Cruces about 10 miles away from our motel.

We're heeeere!

The Organ Mountains are a steep, angular mountain range with rocky spires that jut dramatically above the Chihuahuan Desert floor to an elevation of 9,000 feet. We arrived at the visitor’s center, collected the stamp (naturally!), and viewed the center’s exhibits, before going outside to get some pictures of the mountains. Our visit was

Majestic peaks

a short one as the activities are pretty much limited to trail hiking—something we don’t do.

We leave the monument, find our way to the interstate, and in a short time we are at the Texas border. It’s so good to be back in TEXAS! We found New Mexico to be very constraining with its maximum 65 mph speed limit, incessant reduced speed zones, and ubiquitous mask mandates.

Main street in Fredericksburg

Texas frees one up to drive 75-80 mph and not have to wear a damn mask everywhere one goes. The only downside to being at the Texas border is that there is a hell of a lot of driving that has to be done to get to the other end! Cruising along I-10, we stop in Van Horn to have lunch and realize that this is the day and place that Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin Aerospace launched William Shatner and crew into space.

Fredericksburg library

What a coincidence that we should pass through here on this day. We continue on the interstate and make our way to Fort Stockton where we will spend the night. We had visited Fort Stockton back in 2007 when we did our around-the-country motorcycle trip, and were amazed at all of the development that occurred in this community since then.

The next morning we are back on I 10 and cruise our way to an exit that will take us to the German-tourist town of Fredericksburg.

Former Fredericksburg hospital

This is our second visit to Fredericksburg and we find that the town is much quieter on a weekday than our previous weekend visit. Parking spaces aplenty, we parked the minivan and got out and walked Main Street so that Jane could shop the shops. After going down one side of the street and up the other, we returned to our van and headed to our destination for the night in Marble Falls. Marble Falls is only about an hour’s drive from Georgetown, TX, where we will visit our dear travel friends Pam and Dayne Carlson for a couple of days.

Arriving at the Carlson’s, everyone is so excited to be reunited! We update each other with our latest news (mostly health!) and stories. Pam and Jane take off on a shopping trip and Dayne drives Capt. Larry around his farm to show him the extensive housing development that is being built on land that he had sold.

At the ROCK fundraiser

We returned to the Carlson home, meet up with Pam and Jane, have a delicious dinner, and then watch the Houston Astros win the first game of their MLB playoff series.

The next day the Carlson’s drive us around Georgetown showing us the sites and stopping at a donation store so Pam and Jane could see what treasures they could find. After a really great pizza lunch we returned to the house to get ready for the evening’s big event— a charity dinner and barn dance.

Dayne & Pam with some veterans

The charity named ROCK, Ride On Center for Kids (ROCK), is a nonprofit organization that provides equine-assisted services to children, adults, and veterans with physical, cognitive, and emotional challenges. ROCK’s participants see improvements in most aspects of their lives—from muscle tone, strength, flexibility and balance to cognitive, behavioral, communication and emotional improvements. Pam and Dayne had purchased two tables for this event and invited us to be their guests along with some PTSD veterans.

Dayne won his "Texas" gas can

We enjoyed a delicious Texas-style steak dinner with all the trimmings and an open bar. In the silent auction Dayne spotted a Texas-rigged (i.e. no environmental contraptions) fuel container that he wanted to carry fuel for his new mowing tractor. We wanted to make a contribution to the cause, so we told Dayne to put our contribution on the container. It worked and at the end of the evening Dayne got his gas can! There was also a live auction with big ticket items such as trips and vacations. At evening’s end it was announced that over $100,000 had been raised. If you’d like to know more about this charity, check out their website at https://rockride.org/. After such a delightful evening, we said our goodbyes to our friends the next morning and drove to our home in Louisiana. That’s all she wrote for this trip!