Stillwell Store

Comfort Castle Location: Stillwell Store, Texas
Adventure Location: Stillwell Store, Texas

The late start worked out well. It was getting to be dawn by the time my eyes opened. It was eight am before the Team left San Pedro campground. The decision was made to do the dump and fresh water routine so we could check out the Diablo East facilities that the NPS provides for the campers to use.

The dump station is a two holer but the paving slopes the wrong way so blocks had to be put under two tires for proper drainage. The approach and departure space is wonderful. That is a fish cleaning table to the back left.

Next we looped around and took on a LOT of drinking water. It must have taken fifteen minutes to fill the tank on the Castle. Again the facility was first class with great ingress and egress.
Seems to me to be great value for $2 a night.

By now it was nine am and off on the travel adventure we went. The traffic was non-existent for the whole 150 miles or more. Here is one view that we saw on the road north of Amistad.

All the way to Marathon the highway was without traffic. In Sanderson diesel fuel was purchased for $3.749 a gallon. The apple fried pie was great also. About thirty miles down the road in Marathon the stations were getting $4.259 a gallon. Make your own conclusions about that. Any way at the outskirts of Marathon at a historic marker site, lunch was served. The sandwich was good but the view was better.
It was not known how full the campgrounds would be in the Bibe area.

Stillwell Store campground ( http://stillwellstore.com/ ) was chosen as a first attempt for somewhere to stay with electricity. It was still 93 at six pm. The campground was nearly empty. The choice was available between w/e/s or w/e. No sewer is needed since they have a dump station available. So $2.50 a day was saved. In this next picture of the campsite there is a notch in the hill in the back ground. The highway to get here runs through that notch. When the Team topped the notch and this campground section was nearly empty, joy sprang up since this is a great location for this side of Bibe and other things.
Here is something closer to an overall view from the gate of the bustling campground.
This is a very level dirt /caliche parking lot with excellent tasting water and electricity. The isolation makes San Pedro look like it is in down town San Antonio. The nearest full grocery is in Alpine, Texas about 70 miles away one way. Choose your site and set up. The stars tonight should be something else.

The elevation is around 2400 feet at the campground, but the mountains around are known to top 6000 feet. So that makes some steep climbs with the Truck or Sightseer. Maybe a bike ride is in order. Of course you have several options as to direction. To the left when you exit the campground is Mexico only thirty miles away. To the right is Bibe or even more choices. Six touring bikers were passed on the way here today. It certainly is getting late in the year to be on a bicycle in this heat. The next three or four days are expected to peak in the high 90’s. It is a long way between towns and absolutely no nothing in-between.

As for me, my body will be working in a much lower energy state than cross country bike riding as it tries to have tooooo much fun, TheOFM.