From: firstinitiallastname@texas.net   
      
   George Kincaid wrote:   
      
   > That was strange country for a bunch of kids from the green hills of West   
   > Virginia. We thought the desert was just sand, like Lawrence of Arabia or   
   > something. I remember one poor guy, decked out in his frat gear in shorts,   
   > was walking in front of me and some kind of cactus shot a ball of thorns   
   > right into his left calf. He didn't say shucks! Tear blanket is a good   
   > term-even the big rugby player was in tears! I think I was wearing jeans and   
   > heavy boots at this point--I had enough cactus in me to make tequila :) ! I   
   > had a lot more understanding of cowboys and folks who work and live in that   
   > terrain. Man, there was a whole lot of nothing bewteen Marathon and the park   
   > I recall. Thorns or not, I'm glad I got to see that part of the country.   
   > Thanks   
      
   It's one of those places where the "old west" lingered and still   
   lingers, in ways that have nothing to do with tourism and nostalgia.   
   When I walk over Big Bend Ranch State Park, I think about what sort of   
   people it took to work in that country. Miles of iron pipe to water   
   cattle, hauled, mostly up and down, through canyons and up to the tops   
   and laid. Hundreds of pounds of cement packed up there to build rock   
   water tanks. (Cristobal Reza seems to have been one of the main builders   
   of rock tanks.) The last time I was out there, I could, for the first   
   time, get a cell phone signal in places. Almost a disappointment.   
      
   Little law. If you walk into the hotel at Lajitas, the privately owned   
   town, early in the morning and you pester the clerk enough, she'll tell   
   you who those booted and spurred men are who are sitting in the side   
   room drinking coffee. They're employees, and the job title is   
   "Peacekeeper." It's a very peaceful place, even though a deputy sheriff   
   may only get down there twice a year.   
      
   --   
                          Gerald Clough   
       "Nothing has any value, unless you know you can give it up."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)