Back Road Whispers: CHICKEN FRIED ARMADILLOS

Heading west a couple of years ago I managed to de-life an already de-lifed armadillo lying in the middle of Interstate 10. There was no swerving thanks to an eighteen wheeler, so I tried to straddle it, not realizing a Cadillac is lower to the ground than I thought. So for this trip west pretend you are smelling roasting armadillo the entire way...because we did.

First stop was in Ozona to grab a cache at a midtown park across from the courthouse.

Statue in the park

Not sure if you can read the sign or not, but under GUNSMITH the little sign says "Small Fashions". Guess you can do your gun tradin', jump in a kayak in your pretty new gown and head down the river....wait, Ozona is in the desert region of Texas....what do they need with a kayak store?

Neat architecture on the above building, I liked how the sign was inset into the brick thinking it would be a nice indicator of how old the building was....unfortunately it read 1989 :)

Westerman Drug because good friends and neighbors when we lived in Houston were the Westermans.

After a quick stop we were on our way to Fort Stockton for the night. We were welcomed to the city by a beautiful silhouette on a hill.

Brian Norwood is the artist responsible for this and the one leaving Ft. Stockton as well as others. Please visit his page Brian Norwood Art and see his genius.

One thing that drew me to Ft. Stockton to spend the night was Paisano Pete, the world's largest roadrunner. Since we have Clarence, our resident roadrunner here at home as well as a few of his relatives, I am pretty partial to the species.

It was raining so I couldn't get out of the car, this was the best I could get sitting in a funky little parking lot.

He is 10' tall and 22' long.

Clarence last spring - he is such a sweetheart. He will come up on the deck while we are sitting out there and just sit with us, often I am sitting in the dining room (where I usually have the computer) concentrating on quantum physics (sounds better than Pinterest) and he will startle me pecking on the window.

He is considerably smaller than Paisano Pete.

Annie Riggs Museum
former site of the Riggs Hotel
former site of Koehler Hotel

Six local businessmen recognized the community's need for a hotel and organized the Fort Stockton Hotel Company. A site on a hill above Comanche Springs was selected, and construction began on the town's first substantial hotel in 1899. It opened in 1901 as the Koehler Hotel, named in memory of Herman Koehler, a benevolent, early Fort Stockton merchant.

The sprawling, single-story, exposed adobe brick building with its wrap-around verandas and gingerbread trim is a prime example of Territorial architecture. It has fifteen rooms, nine of which were guest rooms. All of them have both a door and window that open onto the veranda. The walls are two feet thick and the ceilings fourteen feet high.

Annie Riggs purchased the hotel for $5,000 in 1904; she paid $3,000 down and the rest on terms. The rate for a bed (not a room) was 50 cents. Family style meals were 35 cents. Baths were available at the bathhouse at Comanche Springs. Annie initially operated the facility as a hotel, then as a boarding house. She employed a full time cook, maintained a separate residence, and frequently employed a manager for the hotel. After her death in 1931, one of her sons, Ernest, with wife, Tina, operated the boarding house into the 1940s. Various family members resided in parts of the building during the Depression years and later.

In 1955 fourteen heirs of Annie Frazier Johnson Riggs deeded the old hotel to the Fort Stockton Historical Society to be operated as a museum, which opened in November of the same year.

Riggs Hotel Rules

Guests without baggage must pay in advance
No account carried longer than one week
All boisterous and profane language strictly forbidden
All drinking or gambling in rooms strictly forbidden
Please do not spit or throw ashes or matches on the floor
Guests wishing early calls must notify clerk before retiring
And damage to furniture, other than ordinary wear, will be charge to occupants of rooms
Guests must refrain from all singing or loud talking after reasonable hours for retiring
Persons engaging rooms will be charged for same from time rooms are place at their disposal whether occupied or not
Please extinguish lights on leaving rooms or retiring. Extra charge for burning lights unnecessarily
It is expected that parents will exercise proper care over children and not allow them to make a playground of halls and parlors
Money, jewels and valuables must be left with clerk in office, otherwise proprietor will not be responsible for any loss.

Meals a la carte from 6:00 AM to 10:30 PM

Annie's Life

Born November 24, 1858 near Las Cruces, New Mexico, Anna Stella was the first child of George M. and Mary Edgar Frazier. The family moved to Fort Stockton after the Civil War.

On June 16, 1877, Annie married James Johnson at St Joseph Catholic Church in Fort Stockton. Johnson was the first sheriff in Pecos County. While bearing six children, Annie ran the Johnson Hotel, a popular boarding house. By the late 1880s, the marriage failed and James moved to Toyah.

In 1891, Annie married Barney Kemp Riggs in a civil ceremony. Riggs was considered by many to be a gunman. He had received a life sentence for murder in the Arizona Territorial Penitentiary at Yuma. When a riot broke out there, Riggs saved the warden's life and was later pardoned by the governor, although told to leave the territory and "never return".

Annie brought four children into the often turbulent marriage, Barney brought a son from a previous marriage, and together they had four children. Annie was granted a divorce in 1901. Her son-in-law, from her first marriage, Buck Chadborn, was named as trustee for Annie's settlement. Barney had threatened Buck's life and on April 7, 1902, Buck shot Barney in self defense. Annie had her ex-husband carried to the Koehler Hotel (now the Riggs Museum), where she sat with him until he died the next day.

Riggs did not leave a will, and the courts awarded his estate to Annie. She used those assets to purchase the Koehler Hotel in 1904. Changing the name to the Riggs Hotel, she operated it as a hotel or boarding house almost to the time of her death on May 17, 1931 at the age of 73.

The Grey Mule Saloon
Built and owned by A. J. Royal

Historical marker reads:

Part of Old Fort Stockton; built in 1880's. Hangout for cowboys and hotel guests. Later a store and post office. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1966

The Pecos County Courthouse

There is so much "Wild West" history in Ft. Stockton. One legendary soul is A.J. Royal, the owner of the Grey Mule Bar pictured above. I could fill a blog posting with just Mr. Royal, Annie Riggs, and all the players in their lives. I would encourage you reading about Royal at the Legends of America page. A. J. was quite the character, mean as a snake and twice as sneaky. He was elected sheriff giving him power to use his abusive nature to his full advantage. After two years he was defeated but refused to vacate his office. Rumor has it that a group of local businessmen and ranchers met and drew straws, and ex-Sheriff Royal left his office feet first. Further rumor has it that the father of one of our governors was the one that drew that fatal straw.

Notice under the birth date is the inscription "assassinated".

After an aborted run for Mexican food (the clerk didn't know her left from her right), a flood in the parking lot of where we finally ended up eating, and a night at the Bates Motel, ok so it wasn't quite that bad, but I didn't want to take a shower just in case; we headed out of town heading for Balmorhea. I will spare you the details about our stay because I still have nightmares about it.

On the way out of town we stopped to view another one of Brian Norwood's pieces of art.

On the list of places to stop was Juan Carrasco Mercantile.
World famous? No. But it had a cache and the cache owner said they had the best burritos to be had...good enough for me to pull in! The burritos were just as good as advertised and we did find the cache.

Cache location....eeek. There are no snakes in Texas, there are no snakes in Texas, there are no snakes in Texas....gulp.

After logging in our cache, grabbing a burrito and a drink we started back down the road...for about a half mile. Now the Caddie is making weird noises along with smelling like a traveling BBQ pit. We pulled into a church parking lot for Walt to crawl under the car and see what he could see. Before he could get his ancient (sorry, Love, we really aren't spring chickens any more) body on the ground a true angel appeared in the form of the maintenance worker for the church. He crawled under the car, crawled out, went to the shed and got a rake, crawled back under the car and pulled off a panel that was flapping and hitting the road surface. Walt offered him money that he refused until Walt told him it was for the church. As we left the angel in overalls was heading to the chapel, I'm sure to put the money in the collection box.

Now that the panel (don't know what it covered but it cost $280 to replace) was removed, we didn't have to listen to the blap, blap, blap but it also released the aroma of that roasting armadillo more than before. GAG!

A quick stop to drive around Balmorhea State Park to see the Cienega Project, a wetlands restoration project.

Taken from the Texas State Parks web page.

History of the Area

San Solomon Springs has provided water for travelers for thousands of years. Artifacts indicate Indians used the spring extensively before white men came to the area. In 1849, the springs were called Mescalero Springs for the Mescalero Apache Indians who watered their horses along its banks. The present name was given by the first settlers, Mexican farmers who used the water for their crops and hand-dug the first irrigation canals.

Situated about four miles west of Balmorhea, Texas, the 45.9-acre Balmorhea State Park was constructed by Company 1856 of the Civilian Conservation Corps, or CCC, between 1936 and 1941. The CCC was established as a New Deal program by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression as a way to employ people that would have otherwise been out of work. Many of the state parks in Texas were developed during this time.

The 77,053 square ft San Solomon Spring is the focal point of Balmorhea State Park. From 22 to 28 million gallons of water flow through the spring-fed swimming pool each day. Other CCC structures in the park include a limestone concession building, two wooden bathhouses, an adobe superintendent residence, and San Solomon Courts, an early expression of the modern-day motel, constructed of adobe bricks. All of the CCC buildings are constructed in a Spanish Colonial style with stucco exteriors and tile roofs.

I will add that the swimming pool has a glass window that you can look through from the outside and see the kids making goofy faces at you.

Rose Peak

Never knew they had named a peak after me...I am honored.

We stopped at a pull out since there was no way that this WldTxRose was going to not get a picture of Wild Rose Pass. Gosh, not only a peak but a pass too?? I am overwhelmed now...almost blushing.

The pass is two miles long and ranges in elevation from 4,320 to 4,546 feet. It is named after the Demaree Rose, native to the area, by Lt. William Whiting, who was given the duty to explore the area for a possible route between San Antonio and El Paso.

In 1859 a stagecoach carrying mail was attacked by Mescalero Apaches who opened the mail pouches and became so engrossed in the pictures in catalogs and magazines sat turning pages and paying no attention to the troops that had been pursuing them. The troops killed 14 of the Apache. It is not known if the magazines were the National Geographic with photos of native African women topless.

WILD ROSE PASS

IN EARLY DAYS
THE INDIAN TRAIL THROUGH THESE MOUNTAINS
FOLLOWED THE GORGE BELOW
KNOWN AS LIMPIA CANYON.
TO AVOID THE FLOODS
TRAVELERS OVER THE SAN ANTONIO-EL PASO ROAD,
EMIGRANTS, U. S.TROOPS AND SUPPLY TRAINS,
AND THE MAIL
CHOSE THIS HIGHER PASS
FAMED FOR ITS WEALTH OF WILD ROSES

While stopped, the Fricasseed Armadillo became alarming fragrant. Not to worry, I immediately ran around the car and grabbed the computer and camera .... the rest could burn. Oh, I did finally tell Walt he should maybe join me outside the car. Hoping against hope that there would be a garage open in Ft. Davis we crossed our fingers, said a prayer and headed on down the road.

Our home for the next couple of nights - The Indian Lodge

The Indian Lodge was built by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) in the 1930's. In 1967, a major construction project was completed, including renovation of the original structure, which has 18-inch adobe walls, hand-carved cedar furniture, and ceilings of pine viga and latilla. It resembles a Southwestern Native-American-style, multilevel pueblo village. Indian Lodge was voted the #1 accommodation in Texas by readers of Texas Highways magazine in 1992.

Walt under the Black Bear Restaurant sign, the courtyard, the office and the view from our room. The restaurant was filled with "glad to see ya" employees, eager to please. One guest requested they put his ice cream in their freezer - no problem. Our second, and last day and night at the lodge yielded no hot water to be had. Something was majorly wrong but in far west Texas there isn't a repairman on every corner. It would be "tomorrow" before someone could come out from Odessa to fix it. So, no hot baths, no hot water to shave with, nope not in our room. Their answer to the problem was to subtract the cost of the room for one dayfrom our bill. Now how great is that???? The saying goes "stuff happens", it happened but instead of quoting the saying they did what they could to make it right...and I appreciate that!

We'll save the fort and McDonald's Observatory for later, but to finish out this day let's look around Ft. Davis.

The Jeff Davis Courthouse.

Built on the plat of land that the original courthouse was built on. The four faced Seth Thomas clock was used as a fire alarm for many years. The upstairs courtroom had an ornamental 25 foot pressed tin ceiling and a fan shaped stained glass window behind the judge's bench.

Outside the courthouse was fenced and turnstiles were placed on each side to keep out the donkeys that were turned free after wagons became more prevalent.

A complete restoration of the courthouse was completed in 2003

Various buildings of interest around Ft. Davis

The oldest automobile garage in west Texas. It is in use to this day, now a real estate office.

Built in 1913 the building was owned jointly by the bank and the International Order of Odd Fellows. The Odd Fellows held their meetings on the second floor until the 1950's when they sold their interest to the bank. The bank still has some of it's original furnishings.

Built by the Union Trading Company in 1912 it was a local hangout for social gatherings and to meet and exchange news.

Miss Anne's Cottage

Judge J. W. McClendon and his wife Anne were frequent summer visitors to Ft. Davis. After a few summers at the Hotel Limpia, Miss Anne became quite distraught at the noise and activity. She approached and convinced the Union Trading Company to convert their dynamite and powder shed into cottage for her. Who says rank doesn't have its privileges.

The old jail is made of pressed concrete blocks and held prisoners until 1978. Currently it is the county tax office.

Originally built in 1874 it was The W. Keesey and Company Store. In 1906 the building was expanded around the original store. The Union Trading Company acquired it in 1908 and remained the principle store in town until 1941 when it became a lumber and hardware store.

United Methodist Church. This is the oldest Protestant church between San Antonio and El Paso. It was built in 1884.

After touring the town and deciding to wait on the removing the dead armadillo (the aroma was now slight and we really didn't want to trust someone chosen from a phone book) we headed back to the park and up a winding road to see what we could see.