The clue was in the name: Alpine, Texas. We should have been ready for mountains. But in Texas? It seemed as unlikely as floods in the desert, yet we had already seen Death Valley in California underwater in the aftermath of a hurricane.
Now, trundling south along Highway 90, distinct peaks were looming ever larger through the expansive windscreen of our RV. We were on course for Big Bend National Park in west Texas, and had chosen Alpine as the base from which to explore this lesser-known part of the state.
To our surprise, we found ourselves 4,500ft above sea level in a super-cute town packed with dazzling murals and scenic splendours, from the Davis Mountains, topping 8,000ft to the north, to the Chisos range to the south. They weren’t quite the Alps, but this was distinctly loftier than we expected in the Lone Star State.
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The Lost Alaskan RV Park proved a perfect hideaway after the 266-mile jaunt south from New Mexico, which we had been forced to abandon at the first sight of snow (knowing full well that driving a 36ft, 11-ton vehicle in icy conditions was a likely recipe for disaster).
We had enjoyed 17 days of enchantment in Texas’ north-west neighbour, spent mainly in the city of Las Cruces, a compelling mix of Mexican heritage, cowboy overtones and wonderful food – notably from La Posta, where they have been serving south of the border fare since 1939. They didn’t have a Mariachi band, but that was about the only thing missing as we soaked up their hearty posole soup, tasty tacos and spicy tostadas.
This was also ideal for forays to Silver City (a historic mining boom town of the 1870s), White Sands National Park, and Alamogordo, site of the first atomic bomb test in 1945. We also stumbled upon the adorable skiing resort of Cloudcroft, where the first snow of winter had fallen and we were glad we were in our trusty tow car. Lincoln Historic Site took us back into cowboy country – where Billy the Kid made his name in the Lincoln County War of 1878 – and the timewarp Murphy-Dolan…
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