MEANDERING MOOSE

     On our way to San Antonio, Texas we got a little side-tracked to the town of Langtry.  Langtry is the home of Judge Roy Bean...the "Hanging Judge"..."The Law West of the Pecos."  The Judge is famous in Texas as he was quite a character.  Apparently, his rulings were highly creative in finding conduct, malicious or not, to justify the imposition of hefty fines.  And, by the way, the Judge pocketed all the fines for himself.  In fact, there is no evidence that the "Hanging Judge" ever sentenced a person to be hanged.  I guess he found hanging to be less lucrative than fining.  At any rate, the State of Texas established a beautiful museum to celebrate this colorful character and we couldn't resist stopping for a visit. Judge Roy Bean Museum Langtry, TX      San Antonio is a gorgeous city on the San Antonio River and features the famous "Riverwalk." Somebody way back in 1926 had the foresight to "save" the river...

     We made it to Big Bend National Park on the Rio Grande River in Texas.  Big Bend is an isolated desert park with its own mountain range.  It has an endless supply of wilderness opportunities including great hikes, wonderful scenery for car touring and gorgeous river float trips on the Rio Grande. Big Bend National Park.      Travel to the park turned out to be quite an adventure.  I checked several map sources including the internet before traveling on the road through Big Bend Ranch State Park.  Seeing no "red flags" off we went.  Although the road was paved, it was no place for an RV of our size.  The road was narrow with no shoulder.  Over its 50 mile length, it had giant, steep dips every few hundred yards for the washes.  It was twisty and featured a 15% grade over a 1 mile portion.  A 15% grade in a car may not be a big deal, but in a 34' gas motorhome it is tighten the seat belts, shift in...

     Our next stop took us straight to outer-space.  That's right, we landed in the alien capital of the world--Roswell, New Mexico.  Everywhere you look in this town there are pictures and statues of aliens. Our journey took us to the International UFO Museum where everything you need to know about aliens and the "Roswell Incident" are available.      Apparently, in 1947 an alien spacecraft crashed on a farm near Roswell. As the story goes, there was substantial evidence of the the crash and heaps of alien debris spread throughout the farm and another nearby area in the desert.  To this day our government has covered-up the incident and refuses to acknowledge the existence of evidence of an alien crash in Roswell.  I was able to talk to a few locals who claim to have lived in Roswell at the time of the incident. Some stand by the alien crash story and some claim it to be a bunch of hooey.  Whatever you end up believing, t...