Ft. Stockton, Texas Day 2

We veered off from our very tight schedule and stayed a second night in Ft. Stockton.  Not directly by choice, however.  Upon unloading the trailer from the hitch, I noticed that one of the safety chains was oily. Donna smelled propane.  As propane was higher on the do it now list, I discovered that propane was leaking from a bleeder nozzle at the fill port.  When we got propane on the way out of Boerne, the propane attendant did not tighten it down appropriately.  Tightened it and the smell dissipated.  Another thing to double check when we refill!  Back to the oil.  Checked under the truck and could not see any evidence of a drip or leak.  Wondered if propane could have been the culprit?  Checked the Ft. Stockton area for an auto repair service to check for possible problem.  Chevy dealer was less than 2 miles away.  Went there and came back with an 8:00 AM appointment for today.   Needed a rear end gasket.  Left by 11:00 with gasket installed and $227.00 dollars less in the kitty.  We decided that we would rather stay another night here than get to El Paso at rush hour this afternoon.  The last time we drove through El Passo was at rush hour and the traffic on the interstate was horrendous.  We plan on leaving early tomorrow morning to be in El Paso before noon and then ending in Deming, New Mexico. 

We made the most of our time here by touring the area.  Yes, there really is a fort in Ft. Stockton.  We know because we paid our $3.00 each for a tour of the grounds.    The fort lies in the heart of the city and has been recently restored.  The fort never had a palisade as one could see across the desert for miles in all directions.  No one could sneak up on it without being seen.  The fort consists of a large parade grounds with several buildings including bunkhouses, officers' quarters and guard house:

The above guardhouse had three solitary confinement cells and a large holding cell.  Not too many of the residents of the cells smiled upon entry.  Below is an example of other buildings on the site:

And, of course, any old western fort has to have a connection with John Wayne, right?

Here is a closer view of the sign painted on the wagon for you old western buffs (you know who you are, don't you?):

Behind the wagon, is the parade grounds.  The grass looks very brown in the photo.  It was.  It actually crunched under our feet.  It is so dry here that there is a high alert in place for flash fires. 

A few blocks away from the fort is the tourist information center where tourists are greeted with this water falls and sculpture:

Actually, this is but a small piece of a much larger display.  It was quite impressive.  But not as impressive as this REAL, GIANT ROADRUNNER we found downtown:

Donna got it to pose for us by teasing it with some candy.  And, of course, there was some pretty good camera work involved!