Two old guys

September 20/09 - Sanderson, Texas
Canyon RV Park
Mileage: 104 km
Total mileage: 3,353 km

Leaving Fort Stockton this morning we stopped at a service station for a coffee. We talked with two old fellas for a while. Ronny is why Texans are known to tell 'tall tales'. Ronny was full of it, but in a good way. Ronny's stories were so outlandish that even he didn't expect you to believe them. He and A.E. Ivy bantered back and forth attempting to insult each other, neither one losing the battle.

When we parted, A.E. Ivy, the kind you don't want as he put it, gave Deby a handmade rosewood perfume bottle with a glass insert and gave me a birch pen and pencil set that he had made. Ronny told us not to go through Langtry. Ronny said the last guy that went that way got hung. We already knew it was Judge Roy Bean country so the joke was on him. We were off.

We travelled south on 285 and the first 50 km appeared the same as most of the country since we had entered Texas two days ago. As Ronny had said, "you can travel further in this part of Texas and see less than you can anywhere else in the United Sates."

Then the country changed. We came into some pretty serious rolling hills which lead us into 'Big Canyon'. Beautiful, a large valley with sedimentary rock walls covered in cactus, mostly prickly pear. Leaves on the prickly pear as big as canoe paddles. From 'Big Canyon' it was all downhill into Sanderson.

Sanderson is a pretty place in the bottom of Sanderson Canyon. Several other canyons come into it from different directions. As we travelled through Sanderson we happened on a plaque. The plaque was dedicated to all those who lost their lives in the flood of 1965. I couldn't imagine how a flood could have happened here since a river doesn't even run through the place. Later we learned that in 1965, 21" of rain fell in 2 hours and all the canyons funneled the water into town. Many perished, some of the bodies never recovered. A horrible disaster.

We were greeted warmly in Sanderson. We're going back there someday. Talked for a long time at the service station with Jr. Gamboa. Nice little Hispanic guy. Jr told us to look him up in Del Rio, and we will do that.

Looking for the campground, we asked an old fella where we could find it. He gave us directions and when we arrived, he was there in his truck to make sure we found the place.

Oh, I forgot. I wish we could have enjoyed 'Big Canyon' more, but we were caught in a torrential downpour. Fixing a flat tire in that torrential downpour didn't make it any better. We arrived in Sanderson drenched. (The good part was that the wind had changed direction and between the wind and the rain pounding my back, V-Dub flew into town).

The campground was really nice. The host was fantastic. He charged us $5 for the stay. At a lot of these campgrounds they appreciate the effort of a cyclist and just do you a favor.