Wednesday 21st November- Del Rio to Alpine Texas

Following our late evening we were a little slow of the mark this morning. We had to fill up the car with gas, oops Petrol which is always a challenge as most of the pumps are automatic with self serve, just add your credit card and give us your zip code. We don't have a Zip and so by the time you have found out you need one then its back to the attendant, leave the card then fill up the car and then return to settle up.
The road to Alpine is just one long straight road called US 90 which at times passes close to the Mexican Border. There are quite a few trucks going up and down marker Border Patrol and and at one point we came to a road block where the Border guys checked us out for II's.
We came across a sign saying Judge John Dread Museum which we duly visited and it the real stuff this time (the real hanging Judge) with original buildings and lots of history  and well worth the visit. The saloon he had was very small and would only accommodate about 12 to 14 cowboys and the signs saying' no spittin on the floor' so we didn't.

We actually saw three large moving cargo trains today, usually we see only carriages or bulk carrying units and no tug but this time, boy three complete trains under way and one very long one of about one mile long being pulled by four engines.
We arrived in Alpine at the Holiday Inn, looks new from the outside and more expensive than it should be but this is due to the Thanksgiving Holidays we guess and lack of other goodish hotels. We weren't sure whether to visit the diner across the street later but the the girls at the front desk were not impressed by this place so then we decided to cater in and one hour later we had Tilapia fillets, mashed potatoes and peas and a bottle of Chardonnay ready for the evening meal, thanks to the microwave in the room.
As time is beginning to run out we held a board meeting to plan the rest of the trip so as to ensure we do everything we want to but also have a couple of days in Scottsdale taking it easy whilst a quick rush in to Phoenix to collect Noels new Amex card.
The fish tasted Ok, not like the fresh stuff but better than nothing we guess.
Tomorrow we have to be an early morning as to get to the Big Bend Park which is 90 miles each way to get there plus quite a bit of driving around the park and so it promises to be a long and perhaps tiring days but certainly interesting. Unfortunately all of the accommodation in the park is full up due to the holidays.
See you tomorrow