On the way to Fort Stockton, I decided to stop at Fort Lancaster State Park, which houses a fort used to defend against Comanche raids and protect travelers from San Antonio to El Paso. That's located on a 20 or so mile bypass highway that runs from the 10, through the dumpy town of Sheffield, and back to the 10. Before Sheffield, I rounded a bend and saw my first glimpse of how this part of Texas is not in anyway like the areas around Dallas, Austin or San Antonio. There in front of me was a gully a few hundred feet high. Certainly, even some of the gullies in the Verdugos are deeper, but this was a bit of a shock. The road runs around the lip of the gully, and I was thinking it would a chance for some good, quick exercise to climb from the fort to the road and back. However, the gully - like most of the land in Texas - is privately owned, and that wasn't possible.

The fort is fairly interesting, despite the fact that all of the buildings are now just rubble. The plaques discussed how lonely and boring it was to be stationed out here. It'd be boring and lonely even today, and one can only imagine what it would be like over a hundred years ago.