Day 13 - Texas

Day 13

October 29

Burnet, Texas

Good Evening, Miss Smith,

What a busy day this has been. The boys and dogs were awake at six and Amy joined them shortly after. Having stayed up late writing to you last night, I wasn’t looking forward to departing from my warm bed that early; however, since neither lad seems to know how to whisper, it was impossible to return to the land of dreams. Therefore, I did the only thing left to do, I rose and prepared for the day.

Everyone was in such an impatient hurry to visit Fort Concho that we ended up arriving a full twenty minutes before they opened! I sent the boys and dogs out to have a run while we waited.

At last nine o’clock arrived and we were the first and only persons there. The boys voted to tour the place on our own, which we did. That fort reminded me somewhat of Fort Supply. Fort Concho was established in 1867, only two years after the Civil War ended. It had at least forty buildings and covered more than 1600 acres of land. Do you recall my mention of the famous 10th Cavalry in my letter about Fort Supply? Well, I was delighted to learn that those same Buffalo soldiers were stationed here, along with the 4th.

Barracks 6

Oh, Miss Smith, we discovered that, had we wanted to and known about it before, we could have rented and stayed in one of the Officers’ Quarters! Joseph and Levi are already trying to plan a time when they can get a bunch of boys together and stay in Barracks 6. It looks almost as though you stepped back in time with the concrete floor and low ceiling. Only there are no beds there. Levi said they could sleep on the floor. Well, if that would make them comfortable, why not?

The Fort Hospital

Many of the buildings have been restored either as museums or, like the Officers’ Quarters and Barracks 6, are available for renting. They had a gift shop which we visited, but mostly we wandered around the fort all morning. There was so much history there that had we been so inclined and had no other place to go, we could have stayed there all day. Did I mention, Miss Smith, that they have reenactments at the fort? None were going on while we were there, but it would be delightful to see some time.

At last, as everyone’s stomachs were complaining loudly that we had not fed them, we headed back to the RV, prepared sandwiches and the accessories which belong to that meal, and left San Angelo heading for Burnet.

It was a short drive today and we arrived at our destination, Longhorn Cavern State Park, early in the afternoon. The buildings were all built by the Civilian Conservation Corps back in the 1930s of rock and sediment which came out of the cave. The cave itself is the only limestone cave in Texas that they know of.

Main Cave Entrance

All of us were eager to start the tour of the cave and were relieved to find one just about to begin. Oh, Miss Smith, the cave was fascinating! Huge rooms, smaller walkways like halls, all carved by water, left a strange impression that perhaps you were not in a real cave after all. Only a few stalactites are to be found and after much searching our guide finally located a bat for us to see. You know, Miss Smith, that you have always wished for a place that remained the same temperature, well, if you got over your dislike of caves, you could come here because Longhorn Cavern remains at 68 degrees all year long. The tour lasted nearly an hour and a half! After coming out of the cave, the sun was so bright that it made seeing anything difficult for several minutes.

Legend has it that back in the days of the old west, when outlaws and bandits roamed the country seeking to elude the sheriff and his posse, an outlaw by the name of Sam Bass reached the Longhorn Cavern. There, somewhere in its vast depths he hid two million dollars of stolen money. Whether this story is true, no one knows, for the money has not been discovered. You can be sure Joseph and Levi were talking about finding it. They even joined a more rugged tour so that they could search farther. This tour, requiring helmets with lights, knee and elbow pads and much energy, was much too rugged for Amy with her sprained wrist. Therefore, she and I remained above ground and walked the dogs on one of the many trails.

The Queen's Watch Dog

When Joseph and Levi returned, they were grinning and declared they had discovered the treasure! Neither Amy nor I believed them.

“I’m from Missouri, the show-me state,” Amy told them. “Where’s the treasure?”

At that, Levi reached into his pocket and pulled out a dime. “The amount of money that outlaw hid just got exaggerated,” he informed us. 

Speaking of legends, there is another one which says that a young girl, kidnapped by Indians, was held in the cave until she was rescued by some Texas Rangers. That story might be true though there is no way to know for sure. It is fascinating to imagine all the things that might have happened in that cave. How many outlaws found shelter in its dark walls? Did the Indians use it for a secret meeting place? During the Civil War the Confederates used the cave to make gunpowder. Did they also hide there during the day, waiting for darkness to shelter them as they moved the precious gunpowder to where it was most needed? Ah, so many unkowns.

We are parked here at the state park for the night. All is quiet outside, but inside, ah, Miss Smith, this RV is rather small after all when you have three people trying to cook supper together and two dogs eager to clean up any crumb or drop of food that should fall. I am not cooking. Amy is doing what she can with her right hand while giving instructions to Levi and Joseph. I must say that the lads are doing remarkably well. I wonder if they have had practice at home. But, I must end this as supper will be ready in just a few minutes.

Until tomorrow, unless one of the others wants to write,

~ Priscilla