It's Day 237.....It's Also December 28,2019.....and we are on a road...called FM 192...in Texas

It's Day 237.....It's Also December 28,2019.....and we are on a road...called FM 192...in Texas

we'd continue east on hiway 9 out of Columbus.....continuing our wandering.....stopping along the way to explore...and sometimes.....just watch.

Parked alongside the road just outside Santa Teresa New Mexico one afternoon for lunch.....I was studying the dirt road that drifted into the mountains to our north....when we were surprised....and fascinated to watch two boarder patrol pickups....each with a trailer in tow......and coming from the east....pull off of the highway onto the desert across the road from us.

In just minutes.....the trailers had been unloaded....two saddled horses from one....and two off road vehicles from the other.....and the agents....had disappeared into the desert. So curious....what....or who....was out there. Had the agents been alerted to activity that needed to be investigated.....or were they merely out on patrol.

We'd spend hours that afternoon......parked in the desert......having lunch.....and reading about the RV camping opportunities all around us.

We'd read of places like...

Franklin Mountains State Park.....and Aguirre Spring Campground in the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument.....camping sounded pretty amazing in both places....I also found tons of BLM opportunity within the mountains around us....some....looked to be just a few miles up that desert road to our north.....but like anywhere...the higher into the mountains you venture in December and.....the cooler the temps....sometimes down right cold....not to mention.... weather can be unpredictable.

Thought it best we leave that adventure for another time....and stick closer to pavement for the time being.

Several hours would pass before the border patrol agents returned.....loaded up nearly as quickly as they had unloaded....and headed back from where they had come.....my guess...El Paso.....which I had just learned....was just a few miles up the road.

When pulling off the road here for a break....It had not yet occurred to me that we were about to leave New Mexico.....and enter Texas. slipping into that southwest corner of Texas that would suddenly put the New Mexico border to our north...and all of Texas....and Mexico...to our south.

Learning that over 600 thousand Texans call El Paso home.....and that just across the border from El Paso....you'll find the nearly 1.5 million people that call ciudad-Juárez, Chihuahua home...in Mexico.....wow...considering that we were not that far away from nearly a quarter of million humans....and apparently a much busier part of this desert southwest....we'd likely just slip by El-Paso....and keep looking for our next quiet spot.

But that said.....a quick read about El Paso....and one could probably be pretty easily convinced....to stick around a bit...and check it out....

That said......

Who wouldn't want to check out the spot near present day El-Paso....on which the Spanish explorer Juan de Oñate...and his expedition would celebrate the very first ever....Day of Thanksgiving in North America...crazy right...

Thanksgiving in America....in my head....was born of images of American Pilgrims breaking bread with Native Americans in Plymouth Massachusetts.....in celebration of the seasons bountiful harvest...which is all true...and accurate....and has been tracked back to 1621 being the first known Thanksgiving.....pilgrims style.

I didn't know the part...about....it wasn't an annual thing....in fact...Thanksgiving would be celebrated pretty sporadically throughout the colonies for years....apparently.....only when deemed warranted.

It wouldn't be until 1863.....and during the civil war....that President Lincoln would proclaim the 4th Thursday of each November as a national day of Thanksgiving.

And it would be another 78 years...when in 1941...it would be declared a national holiday by the US Congress.

Oh....and why Turkey? Turns out....those pilgrims were pretty practical. It was all about abundance....seems North America was full of wild turkeys.....so they were pretty readily available all the time....and the size of the bird typically meant that one could easily feed a family.....not to mention that those other meat sources of the time.....cows....and chickens....well those guys were dual purpose....the whole milk and eggs thing....so why not feast one of those other birds.....the bigger ones.....the ones they didn't feed all year....Turkey actually became a part of the celebration later on....that first documented Thanksgiving centered around Cod, Roasted Goose.....and Lobster.

So ya...two very different celebrations.....for different reasons.....

Within the Spanish culture....A Day of Thanksgiving dates deep into their Catholic Heritage. The celebration can be held at any time....and for many reasons.....it is considered a celebration of blessings...

so technically....the First recorded day of Thanksgiving feast .... that took place in North America....well it happened...23 years prior....To the one in Massachusetts...over here in El Paso... On April 30, 1598, when that Spanish explorer and his expedition celebrated a day of thanksgiving after a grueling journey across the Chihuahuan Desert.............and successfully reaching, and crossing the Rio Grand River.

or was it the first.....

And then...that one more click thing.....read a little more....and it seems that the folks in St. Augustine Florida might have something to say about the claim being made over here in El Paso.

History also documents a Day of Thanksgiving feast....followed by mass on September 8, 1565...33 years...prior to when they hit the table over here....forks and knives in hand..... in El Paso....and those folks in St. Augustine... were giving thanks for the safe arrival of Spanish explorer Pedro Menéndez de Avilés and his 800 settlers.....They had successfully navigated the Atlantic Ocean and landed in what they named La Florida.....translated.....the flowery one. And then...in time....Americans would apply a bit of ......what was that called "Phonetic Simplification"....and La Flo Ree Duh.....would become. Florida...

But in the end.....and not to make lite of the significance of the date....and the celebration held here in El Paso....the community ....still....does indeed celebrate the historic event each year honoring the significance of their forefathers arrival in the area. An expedition of over 400 would leave Santa Barbara Mexico and travel for over 4 months... successfully traversing some 1500 miles...to become a critical part of the colonization of the American Southwest. And in celebrating this remarkable achievement.....the community often referring to the event as "their first thanksgiving" So basically....folks in El Paso....they get two thanksgivings a year!

But enough about Thanksgiving......

El Paso....is also home to Ysleta Mission: Established in 1682, this Mission is the oldest continuously operated parish in Texas.

Fort Bliss: also calls El Paso home.....In 1849 the U.S. military established the Fort...., which has grown into one of the largest military complexes in the United States.....spanning some 1700 squares miles....of this El Paso desert....so big...that portions of it even extend across the state line....into New Mexico.

And you know me....when I read something is ...one of the largest.....I have to know where even larger military complexes might be...so I asked the internet....for 5 largest...in the world....measured by land size....and population...

I loved reading that all 5....are here in the US. But was also interested to learn...when I asked the internet the largest not. In the US....well that's a complex in the Astrakhan region of Russia.... it's called Kapustine Yar....but when I asked how big that facility is.....appears that info is "not readily available."

So....I'll just have to go with.....these five largest.....are of the ones we know of?

The largest....Fort Liberty formerly known as Fort Bragg in North Carolina...this base...is home to over 260,000 people and covers 163,000 acres

And then there's Fort Campbell....which actually extends the borders of Kentucky and Tennessee border.....235 thousand folks call that base home....and it covers 102,414 acres.

And 3rd, Fort Cavazos formerly known as Fort Hood....also in Texas.....218 thousand acres....and nearly 46 thousand personnel.

Number 4....Joint Base Lewis-McChord...in Washington State....Also referred to as JBLM...is home to over 125,0000 personal....and spans over 415,000 acres.

And finally....Fort Moore....formerly Fort Benning...in Georgia.....over 130,000 personnel call this 182,000 acres home.

And while El Paso's FT Bragg may not be in the top 5...it is the 9th largest.

Another interesting statistic around El Paso.....revolves around the arrival of four railways in the the area in 1881.......The sudden....and massive increase in commerce through the area would lead to bit of a boom....and the towns population would increase by 10 fold in just the following 9 years.....when the little town of El Paso would now be home to over 10 thousand new residents.

And finally.......I'd read about the Chamizal Dispute:

As I so often learn....if you dig around long enough.....you'll find fun factiods....fascinating ..... sometimes even tragic pieces of history that has some how gotten lost in the history books....at least the ones I learned from.....

This particular series of events caught my attention for a couple of different reasons I think....first....it's twisty-turny-up and down....and back and forth series of exchanges between the United States and Mexico....that spanned over 104 years.....and it all began....at the hands of Mother Nature.

By 1864.....The US Border with Mexico had been fairly well established....whether it be via the US victories in the Mexican American war.....or the Gadston Purchase....boundaries down here were pretty clear...and respected. But then

A major flood would occur in 1864. A weather pattern....and resulting flood....that would be so intense.....that it literally caused the Rio Grande river....the border between the countries in that area......to change course. The river...actually moved south....and this would begin the century long "dispute" around where the boundaries between the two countries were. And it didn't help....that the river would continue to shift....and to pretty continuously move....that boundry between the two nations just kept moving

Now when those 600 acres of Mexican Territory......and it's residents....had cleaned up after an historic flood....and suddenly found themselves on the other side of the border...in America? It's easy to see...how things could get complicated.....In short order....American Settlers....being the go getters they were..... would begin showing up...and attempting to settle land...as their own....and at the same time... that little city of El Paso ...well....it was doing some encroaching of it's own...and those...Mexican land owners....found themselves in the middle of a nightmare.....a nightmare...that would last over a 100 years.....

The area would become known....and referred to as El Chamizol.....loosely translated......the term referred to a shrub that was abundant in the area. A shrub known for its ability to thrive in the salty soil deposited by the Rio Grand River...a plant also known for it's deep root system....often times reaching some 15 feet into the earth...which helped to stabilize the soils....protecting against erosion. Seems clear to me that the term was applied by Mexican land owners to symbolize their resilience....and commitment to the land that was theirs.....and they fully believed....it still was.

I read this much of the story and wondered why....would such a dispute.....take two countries....friendly...ally's even....so long to come to a resolution.

But then I went on to read that Lawyers....in both countries.....and worse yet....politicians....in each country....would unavoidably get involved......then....I guess the question of how could this possibly have been in dispute for so long? Well...it became a little bit less of a mystery.....

It would be decades.....of legal wranglings.....and reinterpreting the treaties that had established the border lines in the first place.....and all the while....the effected residents would be left in the cross fire.....essentially....out in the cold....to deal with life on their land...and the encroachment of it......on their own...with their own attorneys....And it certainly did not help that all the while....mother nature....well she just kept at it......continuously shifting that Rio Grand......

To say that over this period of time....tensions would rise....and tempers would flare....would be an understatement.....multiple attempts at resolution had failed....when in 1909...during yet another attempt at resolution....The Taft-Díaz summit would be held. Meetings would take place in El Paso, Texas in the United States... and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua....in Mexico.....the two presidents would then meet on neutral soil...in the effected area of El Chamizal......where an assasin....would attempt to take the lives...of both Presidents.

While unsuccessfull.....the attempt on the lives of both presidents highlighted just how heated things had become in the area......and yet......the dispute could continue to drag on. The summit had not resolved the dispute....but it was notable in the fact that it represented the first time an American....and Mexican president had ever met....face to face. It would also symbolize...and reinforce each nations commitment to resolving the dispute peacefully.

But another 54 years would pass.....before an official resolution would be signed. Cities and communities would grow.....all around the area. Cultures in the area would meld and communities would figure out how to just "make it work" ...until these two nations...with their Politian's and lawyers.... could get their act together...the US would continue to operate under the belief that the area was US territory....if going by the letter of the law of the treaty that formed the border in the first place.

Then....finally.....in 1963....at the hands of President Kennedy....and in negotiation with President of Mexico....Adolfo López Mateos the Chamizal Treaty would be agreed upon....and signed. But then.....because there had not been enough craziness.....and time...invested in this process....President Kennedy would be assassinated before the treaty could be ratified. But thankfully....ratification would take place the following year....in 1964....when President Johnson would finish what President Kennedy had started.

Three years later...in 1967....630 acres of land would be turned back over to Mexico....along with 4.5 million dollars ....Within the treaty, the US agreed to compensate the Mexican government in an effort to help with relocation efforts...infrastructure improvements....and perhaps in some small measure....restore what had been taken away from Mexico...beginning. All those years ago.

Also Within the treaty....each country committed to building a memorial on each side of the Rio Grande...in remembrance of who had been effected....and what the two nations had learned, And while the process was painfully .....and quite frankly....ridiculously long..... it left generations of landowners that would not live to see the final resolution...but yet...at the same time proving...that two nations can work together....peacefully....to resolve issues....regardless of the cause....without warfare......and loss of life. And one last hope...for me anyways....next time...if there is one...maybe a little quicker?

Oh...and that one last lesson.....within the negotiation of the Chamizal Treaty.....4 miles....of that wandering Rio Grande River....and border....would be confined to a concrete canal......beneath the bridge that now connects the two countries....and those two cities....one American....and one Mexican.......it might take mother nature a bit longer this time.....to shift that border....at least the one between these two cities......

.....It's crazy....how much I had just read......how much I had just learned...in between walks with Dougie...along side a road in the desert southwest.....some 3 or 4 miles away from another country......all while waiting for a few border patrol agents to come back from patrol....and hoping.....yet again.....they'd want to come see what these three yahoo's were doing loitering around the desert. But Nope.....still don't find us curious enough I guess.

We'd actually decide to stay put for dinner....and spend the night there on that little piece of Desert.

The following morning.....snow? Who'd thunk it.

We'd hit the road after breakfast and skirt by El-Paso....gazing off into all that city around us....but keeping to the hiway.....watching the mountainside shift from shades of brown to skifts of white under the soft flurry of snow. That scenery didn't last long.....and as the sun heated up....and things were beginning to look more desert like again....we passed a sign....Sierra Blanca Check point ahead. And as we exited the freeway and approached the checkpoint.....that one big question of mine was being answered.....

I had been curious....it had been nearly 300 miles.....from Bisbee Arizona....we had trekked across two states...and were entering a third.....touching that Mexican boarder here and there.....wondering all the while....no one...of the Border Patrol persuasion anyways....had paid any attention to us. This 30 year old....32 foot long....big metal box on wheels....that we call Vacilando....had drawn not a second look....not even a wave....from anyone in one of those green and white Border Patrol Trucks.

Perhaps all part of the plan....

We'd pull into that check station and for the first time....be inspected.

A border patrol agent approached the drivers side window and asked for license and registration please...where ya headed.....and then asking if his partner may have a look around the inside of Vacilando....No problem....he's not allergic to cats and dogs right? I unlocked the door and invited the officer in.....Interesting watching his training at work....as he engaged in conversation with me....eye contact shifting between myself.....the the contents of Vacilando.... all the while asking permission to open some cabinet, closet, and bathroom doors here and there....simultaneously making friends with Dougie....Billie...uncharacteristically was not interested....he had retreated to his safety spot below the driver seat.

Also interesting to watch in the side mirrors as agents ran mirrors with some sort of scanner on them along the sides of Vacilando.....inspecting his under carriage......and at the same time instructing their canine partner to check out the exterior storage areas along Vacilando's sides.

Pulling out of the checkstation I guess I was maybe even a little relieved....that finally ..... after 300 miles and three states........... someone actually seemed interested....in what we might have been carting around the desert in this big metal box

Also interesting....in our nearly 1200 mile drive across Texas.......that this would be the last time we would be stopped...and inspected....here in BorderLand.

We would stay on I-10 only long enough to ensure we had safely escaped any semblance of serious population....when our wandering nature would take over once again.....and we'd randomly exit the interstate.

Wasn't even really keeping track....of where we exited....or what roads we took....or even what direction we were going....when I'd pass a roadsign reading....FM 192.

And there we were.....on a narrow road winding our way off into the horizon....not so much deserty feeling at this point...the landscape was changing...shifting. Starting to feel more like farmland....ranches....and rather than surrounded by the jagged mountains of the desert....those were slowly being replaced by the rolling mountains of....wherever we are in Texas?

We meanered along that FM 192 for miles.....stopping here and there to check out the scenery... and that body of water that had appeared along side us....taking the place of the occansional farm house or ranch we had driven passed just a few miles back. And then....rounding a corner....we would come to an abrupt interruption in our meandering in the form of a road closed sign.....and just a couple hundred feet or so beyond that road closed sign.....our road....seemed to have dissappeard.....it had simply immersed itself in that body of water that had appeared along side us. That body of water that had initially looked like a river maybe....now looked more like a lake....and it had fully consumed this FM 192.

Dougie and I would take a quick walk....up to the shores of this apparently newly formed lake that had consumed our road.....I found myself chuckling as we walked passed that big orange ROAD CLOSED sign....thinking....two things....first...duh....and second.....perhaps a more stratically placed road closed sign some 20 miles back would have been a bit more effective.....but none the less....here we were.

Returning to Vacilando..... and realizing that we would have to execute a rather time consuming process....and not for the first time....

We'd first executed this process when met with the unmarked dead end of a small RV park in Ocean Shores Washington.....anyone that has towed a vehicle on a tow dolly....behind an RV....knows that reverse in this scenario is tricky enough....when attempted even for just a few feet....but if hundreds of feet....or yards are involved.....there's a much quicker....although more labor intensive solution....

Unstrap the car from the car dolly......unload the car....turn the car around and park it out of the way.

Unhook the car dolly from the RV and push it out of the way.....

Then....execute a 16 point turn in the 32 foot RV.....on a two lane highway with minimal shoulder....and pull up up a few feet.....now facing in the desired direction.....

Re attach the car dolly.....and drive the RV up past the car you had parked out of the way....

Reload the car on the tow dolly and strap it back in.

And just like that.....20 or 30 minutes later.....your all set.....headed in the opposite....but desired direction.

Having just traveled....I dunno.....most of the morning.....now facing this process.....I decided.....I'm hungry.....

So it would be first....a longer walk with Dougie.....then lunch.....then a relaxing afternoon of reading....along side a newly form little lake...somewhere in Texas

Before....executing operation turn around....and heading back out towards the interstate

And the first thing I would read.....That FM....stands for Farm to Market Road......apparently it's a Texas thing.

This particular Farm to Market Road, according to google maps and the internet.... is located in Hudspeth County, Texas. It starts at State Highway 20....in McNary Texas...and runs southeastward through Esperanza, covering a distance of approximately 25.5 miles and the road was originally designated in 1946.....but has under gone several revisions and re-designations since.

And more reading..... “Farm Road” …or “Farm to Market Road”…specifically in Texas, is part of the state’s system of secondary and connecting routes built and maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). Texas established this system in 1949 to improve access to rural areas providing local farmers with more dependable roadways for transporting their product to larger market places. These roads are also sometimes referred to as Ranch Roads. The system consists primarily of paved two-lane roads, though some segments have more lanes and some are even considered freeways. Texas contains over 79,000 miles of Ranch....or Farm to Market roads. .....and the oldest of which....is FM 1960....a farm road completed in 1937....during the great depression. The road runs through several cities in what is now the Houston Metropolitan area...and has evolved from a rural country road...into the major urban thouroughfare it is today......

Some info out there can be a bit contradictory as to which is actually the oldest....and how many miles of it there are....but I wasn't much interested in getting buried in....and trying to sort all that out.....

What was fun to learn....for me....was that Texas....some 80 plus years ago had come up with an actually....very smart plan....to fund a system of roads that would connect large expanses of an enormouse state......They understood the importance of connecting farmers to the larger commerce areas of the state.....allowing every Texan the opportunity to farm and ranch...anywhere in the 261, 568 square miles that the nation calls Texas....and translated....thats 172 million acres.....and Texas figured out a way....to connect all that space.

Not hard to believe that while reading all this data about roads in Texas.....I'd also come across the un-suprising statistic...that Texas....the nations second largest state....is also home to the most extensive interstate system in the country....containing more miles of interstate than any other in the country....3,238.7 miles of interstate to be exact.....oh...and another quick fun fact......more road signs.....by far....than any other state in the country.

And here we go again......the internet had just told me Texas has more interestate than any other state....so guess who asked the internet what states held the top 5 slots...

California: Around 2,455.7 miles2.

Illinois: About 2,203.4 miles2.

Pennsylvania: Roughly 1,757.0 miles2.

Ohio: Approximately 1,572.4 miles2.ov

Interesting.....after California.....I don't think I would have gotten any of those right?

For us these Farm Roads were an escape from the congestion of I-10 coming out of El Paso.

After a couple hours of reading and relaxing.....I'd decide that break time was over.....and set out to execute operation turn around.....and some 30 minutes later....it was back out towards the interstate for us.

As night fell....We'd made it around 150 miles east...ish....stopping off along the way in places like Van Horn, Allamore, Saragosa and Sierra Blanca…calling it a day in Pecos Texas.

I'd already googled a spot to park for the night as we pulled into Pecos....A large parking area on an old fairgrounds.

As we pulled into the parking area we drove past a monument with a bronzed plaque....Proclaiming Pecos...the site of the worlds first Rodeo....

Settling in for the night....and after some dinner....I thought back to Prescott Arizona....and remembered learning there that Prescott was home to the worlds oldest Rodeo? And yet Pecos....claims to be the home of the worlds first Rodeo....Hmmm.....I've already got some more reading to do....

Ahhh....first time ever.....in Pecos Texas......I wonder what we'll learn here.