The Main Challenges of Survey Work in Rural Texas

Part of the puzzle was how it was that Rocksprings came to have such a decent hotel in the first place. That answer was just down the street in the form of this building:

It was the Texas Historical Commisison plaque on the building facade that provided the necessary detail:

Apparently, during the boom years of mohair production in the 1920s, Rocksprings was a center for Angora goat ranching. While that didn't survive the invention of synthetic fibers and the withdrawal of subsidies, the money made off of mohair in the meantime kept hotel rooms in Rocksprings booked.

Wow. I'm surprised there's not a "Goat-topia" theme park there by now...what an attraction. Second only to the old Tastee-Freeze in Pond Creek, OK that sold intergallatically famous emu burgers....

On a serious note I've heard you complain more than once about the availability and quality of local chow. Might I suggest you pack a small propane grill with you and enjoy some quality tailgate time with yourself a couple of times a day. There's always a park or roadside bench made for just such purposes.

In days past I use to carry my own chow gear with me occasionally. Fresh food stuff and meats can be logistically difficult and ice chests get messy but with a little ingenuity one can make do really well. I use to carry a large iron skillet with my grill but opted to replace it with a medium size wok; very easy to clean and somewhat forgiving with open high heat sources.

A quick run through a locally grocery store can provide fresh veggies and daily fare. Rice is an easy dish that goes with everything, tortillas too. I remember one high calorie breakfast I liked was oatmeal with pecans and a large pinch of boxed "None Such Minced Meat" (dried fruit for pies). Good for those three or four mile mornings with no lunch break...unless you kept a can of Viennies in the glove box.

But maybe your West Texas surveyor palette is more refined than one would think...pan bagnat with tuna and olives, or a decadent croque tartine parisienne might be more to your liking. If that's the case you will probably be reduced to P̢t̩ or canned caviar on a Ritz. I'm sure the Shell station probably carries the Ritz crackers. The vin du jour would be your choice, of course. 😉

I'd seen the salvia in its natural state. In the course of the work on that project, I had to tie an original corner that fell at the top of the bluff in the photo below and, on the way up, there the salvia was, growing out of a crack in the rock, living on practically nothing.

paden cash, post: 421005, member: 20 wrote: On a serious note I've heard you complain more than once about the availability and quality of local chow. Might I suggest you pack a small propane grill with you and enjoy some quality tailgate time with yourself a couple of times a day. There's always a park or roadside bench made for just such purposes.
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A quick run through a locally grocery store can provide fresh veggies and daily fare. Rice is an easy dish that goes with everything, tortillas too.

I have a Coleman stove and am not particularly afraid to use it. The problem with work in rural Texas is that if you are more than an hour from a city of any consequence, you are likely quite a ways from a grocery store. I suppose that a person could eat rice and canned beans, but that somehow isn't my idea of supper after a day in the field.

Regardless of what you may have heard, Cheez whiz is not a major food group anc canned beef stew loses its appeal upon actually opening the can.

For Pete's sake do not read the ingredients on that can of beef stew. It's better not to know.

Rocksprings did have an interest in promoting tourism, though. This plaque was attached to a rock store building that, were it not for the reinforced concrete beam spanning the wide window openings, I would have guessed dated from 1900 or before. Somehow, the text on the plaque just isn't working. Not sure what it is.

Kent McMillan, post: 421010, member: 3 wrote: ...Regardless of what you may have heard, Cheez whiz is not a major food group anc canned beef stew loses its appeal upon actually opening the can.

I agree. Eating out of a can is close to starvation...the only thing worse would be eating nothing but McDonald's....a slow and painful death, for sure. But one can get really creative with dry goods and a vegetable or two from the A&P. The one thing that suffers is our American addiction to variety. I have a recipe for a "faux pho" that can be whipped up in a few minutes with a wok and broth, some dried rice noodles and maybe some dried beef. A few sprigs of basil and some wild green onions and its a delicacy. A selection of dried spices is a requirement.

It can force you to become really creative. And if canned gruel isn't an option, you're left with peanut butter and jelly sammiches...

paden cash, post: 421017, member: 20 wrote: I agree. Eating out of a can is close to starvation...the only thing worse would be eating nothing but McDonald's....a slow and painful death, for sure. But one can get really creative with dry goods and a vegetable or two from the A&P. The one thing that suffers is our American addiction to variety. I have a recipe for a "faux pho" that can be whipped up in a few minutes with a wok and broth, some dried rice noodles and maybe some dried beef. A few sprigs of basil and some wild green onions and its a delicacy. A selection of dried spices is a requirement.

It can force you to become really creative. And if canned gruel isn't an option, you're left with peanut butter and jelly sammiches...

Actually, some of the curries would be possible as long as one had the means to keep onions and other vegetables more or less fresh until needed. There is still the matter of protein, though. Dry sausage is only good so far and I'm not feeling up to trying to use barbacoa from the "deli" counter at the truck stop. Some of the vacuum-packed or canned chicken might work.

By the way, it was a lawsuit over an access easement that took me to Rocksprings in the first place. The work had two components: (1) mapping the road that was in dispute and (2) figuring out where the road was in relation to the underlying titles. The first was easy. Here are photos of a few segments of the six miles of the road:

Wasn't Rock Springs where "Blazing Saddles" took place? I have a grill that mounts into the receiver hitch of my truck that has cooked many a meal out on jobsites. Dry ice keeps for a long time in a regular cooler but you have to put regular ice on top to keep your food from freezing. I've yet to talk myself into the value of a Yeti cooler but they do work great.
I planted some Salvias last year and the bees and humming birds loved them. I'll replant this year.
Andy

Kent McMillan, post: 421051, member: 3 wrote: By the way, it was a lawsuit over an access easement that took me to Rocksprings in the first place. The work had two components: (1) mapping the road that was in dispute and (2) figuring out where the road was in relation to the underlying titles. The first was easy. Here are photos of a few segments of the six miles of the road:

Curious if you work in these remote areas alone all the time? Does your safety ever bother you? A rattle snake bite, all alone would be a tragic end or an encounter with a mountain lion... or more likely a slip or trip...Beautiful Country and would be a nice place to work.

In remote Missouri (or the City of St. Louis) you are 100 times more likely to be attached or shot by a meth head than any real wildlife dangers. I've always been more afraid of people than anything wild.

Andy Bruner, post: 421057, member: 1123 wrote: I've yet to talk myself into the value of a Yeti cooler but they do work great.
I planted some Salvias last year and the bees and humming birds loved them.

If you can grow Salvia greggii in your location (they like a limestone soil), you shouldn't need to replant every year. They're a hardy perennial.

To tell the truth, I was unaware of the price tag on Yeti coolers. $300 for the small one seems a bit stiff unless you only have to add ice to it every few days.

Kent, I'll check with our County Agent to see if they will grow here we don't have much but red "clay" for topsoil in my yard. I amend it heavily when I plant.

StLSurveyor, post: 421058, member: 7070 wrote: Curious if you work in these remote areas alone all the time? Does your safety ever bother you? A rattle snake bite, all alone would be a tragic end or an encounter with a mountain lion... or more likely a slip or trip...Beautiful Country and would be a nice place to work.

I do usually work solo and prefer it. Surveying in rural areas does involve scanning the ground for snakes and Indian artifacts, but both are somewhat rare and probably the most hazardous part of the work is just driving to and from the project. That risk is the same whether solo or not.

Andy Bruner, post: 421057, member: 1123 wrote: Wasn't Rock Springs where "Blazing Saddles" took place? I have a grill that mounts into the receiver hitch of my truck that has cooked many a meal out on jobsites. Dry ice keeps for a long time in a regular cooler but you have to put regular ice on top to keep your food from freezing. I've yet to talk myself into the value of a Yeti cooler but they do work great.
I planted some Salvias last year and the bees and humming birds loved them. I'll replant this year.
Andy

Salvias are the prime butterfly garden plant here.

I work in many of the same areas as Kent, and work alone almost always these days. I carry several MRE bags in the truck, cans of Wolf Chili, a good tool set, a couple of jacks, a coat, propane stove, etc as a matter of habit. I really pack up if I am going out of town. I have been doing my best to find bed n breakfasts to stay in, or guesthouses, because they offer a kitchen, and room to spread my paperwork, and often do have a porch or patio. Canned meats can still be found, but the grocery clerks here in town look at me funny when I buy a week's worth. Lunch meat and bread, or crackers, simple things. Otherwise I not only have to cook, but clean. And worry about a raccoon or other critter getting nto the food or the trash.

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BTW, here's a photo of the old rock mound that remained in place at the top of the bluff with the salvia growing out of it. I settled for just getting the position of the mound and didn't drag the rock drill up to set a rod and cap at its center. However, I did set a rod and cap for witness on the section line at the base of the bluff from which I gave a tie to the mound.

The mound was set by a State Surveyor in about 1890 in the course of his resurvey of Block 11 of the surveys made by the Gulf, West Texas & Pacific Rwy. Co. in about 1876. I could cheat and look at the file to get the dates exact, but they probably are close.

The occasion for the State Surveyor's work was to actually figure out where Block 11 was on the ground. It had originally been fieldnoted by former GLO Commissioner Jacob Kuechler on the basis of a traverse that he had run along the river and with a chain that he thought to have been 10 varas long, but wasn't.

i actually found the grocery store in rocksprings to be surprisingly adequate- iirc they even had an organic produce section. i know they had soy milk, which is my usual barometer for small town texas (not that i consume much in the way of soy milk or dairy).

the world's supposedly longest zip line is in rocksprings, or just east of it- at camp eagle. i don't know if it actually is or just that's just routine texas hyperbole, but i do know that damn thing is BIG. i didn't get a chance to do it, though- by the time i was done running 30 miles around that ranch all i wanted to do (and did) was soak in the nueces.

You guys are all missing out... Spam is the only way to go! Little Tabasco now and then and your set! Breakfast, lunch, dinner, birthday parties, it's an all purpose food that can't be beat! I've heard that it can be eaten with vegetables, but I've never gone that far out on a limb. It is great with pineapple though...especially grilled.

P.S. I believe you can buy it by the case too!