Our Trip Across Texas
This trip took place a couple of years ago, right after selling a covered wagon that we put up for auction on eBay. I left the story here because we got letters from people all over the world who loved seeing our trip and many have asked us to put our other trips on the net.
The trip was (3500 miles) 1/10 thru 1/16/2000.
We sold a covered wagon on the Internet and were asked to deliver it, so here are the pics of our trip. We left 5 a.m. Monday morning.
Rather than bother with a trailer, tires, light hookups and all that, Cowboy George measured the wagon and figured out it would fit in the back of a pickup truck, so that's how we made the trip from Pioche, Nevada to Belton, Texas, just north of Austin, Texas.
By Monday evening we were in Tombstone, Arizona, southwest of Tuscon. This is George in front of Big Nose Kate's Saloon.
Cowboy George inside Big Nose Kate's Saloon.
Our bartender, Jerry, at Big Nose Kate's Saloon. He enlightened us with several stories of Tombstone and the surrounding areas.
Here's George in front of the O.K Corral where they stage the gunfights daily in Tombstone.
Since we were only 24 miles north of Bisbee, Arizone, a place I had heard of for many years, I talked George into taking the drive. He loved it so much, we're going to go back there someday soon. It's a town built on the rock with tiers and tiers of mansion-type homes and neat old buildings. The one we liked the best was on the ground floor ~ and it's FOR SALE! We're going to check it out next trip. We thought we'd go back through Bisbee on the way back to Nevada, so I didn't take any pics ~ and then we went through that area at night again so we didn't stop.
Once we got into Texas on I-10 on Tuesday, we realized our destination was north of Austin, Texas, so we took a county road and came across this place at Ft. McKavett, Texas. We exchanged many ghost town and history stories with the owners, Pete, his wife and their friend Robert.
George had me take a picture of what they called their "hot tub" because he had a setup just like it years ago when he lived on a Nevada Ranch without a bathroom. They light a fire under it to warm the water.
Pete bought his wife this car and she drives it everywhere. It's like new inside and out.
The entire portion of Texas we drove through, from West to Central Texas, had many rock houses and buildings like this one.
We arrived at our destination on our third night, Wednesday ~ Belton, Texas. Many of the people in the town of Belton had already known a covered wagon was coming, so directions to Frank Smith's place were easy to come by. This is George on the deck of Frank's Lakeview Inn ~ a restaurant on the Belton Lake which has several dining rooms, dancehall and bar, sun decks ~ and seats over 700 people. Nice place. This is George feeding the wild racoons in front of the sign that says "Don't Feed The Animals" while waiting for Frank and his wife to arrive We had a nice rib dinner in their fancy beautiful place while waiting for them.
Here's George and Frank Smith exchanging tales. He was a very nice man and really loved the covered wagon. His wife said it was much nicer than she expected it would be.
George tied the wagon to a couple of trees, put up some wooden ramps and I drove the truck 10 feet ahead, so it was very easy to unload. We set it into place at night but went back in the morning to fasten the tongue, brakes, seat and canvas top.
This is Frank's old broken wagon ~ the reason he wanted a new one. A semi truck demolished his and here it lies.
This is where the wagon ended up ~ down the road from Frank's Lakeview Inn on the Belton Lake Road in front of his Antique Shop.
George was really sad about leaving the wagon there. He had it for so many years and it was a part of our ranch, plus we used it for many events in the Las Vegas area, parades, school events for the kids and more. So he had me take many pictures of it before we left Belton on Thursday morning.
On the way to Belton, Texas, just outside of El Paso, we had noticed a couple of covered wagons in a field. George was missing his wagon so much, we remembered where those other wagons were, and searched for the owners as we headed toward El Paso on the return trip. I took a picture of the one he liked the best ~ just the frame without the box, but a nice old heavy-duty one.
George looked at it, studied it, went to the house to have the wife call the owner of it, back to the field to look at it again and again.
He just couldn't leave without it, so after an hour it was disassembled and put into the back of the pickup truck on it's way to Nevada. George was happy again.
Since it was getting so late in the day and we wouldn't make Bisbee before nightfall, we parked the truck in El Paso at the Border Parking lot and took a cab over to Juarez where we bought so much stuff, we loaded the rest of the back of the pickup truck. Here's George at the City Market downtown where they have blocks and blocks of food stands. But we spent the better part of the afternoon at Mercado Juarez, like an indoor swap meet.
On Saturday, nearing the end of Arizona on Hwy. 10, we just had to stop at Quartsite. This is the time of year when there are hundreds upon hundreds of sellers who live there from about December until the weather gets too hot.
Another picture of Quartsite with it's hundreds of motorhomes, campers, mobile homes, camper shells and tents. Neat place.
We finally arrived in Corona, California Saturday night and stayed with friends Colleen and Lory.
George was happy to take a rest after 650 miles of driving on Saturday. Here he is with Harley, one of the Dobermans.
Here's George saying goodbye to Lory and Colleen. This was Sunday morning, only 4 hours away from Las Vegas.
Coming into Nevada from California on I-15. This is Buffalo Bill's ~ one of the four casinos at Prim, Nevada, at the state line.
Within four hours after leaving Corona, California, we were turning into our driveway late Sunday afternoon and were very glad to be home.
George's trip wasn't over here. He had to leave this morning after we unpacked the goodies in the truck to go to Pioche where the ranches and the critters are. Though we had Cowboy Patrick taking care of the critters, George really missed them, so he left this morning to be there by this afternoon.
It was a great and interesting trip, and we met a lot of great people ~ but I'm so glad to be back home and on the web again.
Story by Lorraine
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This page was last updated on 12/13/06 01:03 AM
