BBE 16 - Presidio

Merlene taught school in Presidio for 3 years. But that’s not why we went there - to visit her old acquaintances. The true reason is that the little town has the best Mexican restaurant in West Texas. I can’t remember the name of it, M will have to fill in that blank, but it was very good.

Presidio is a little cowtown on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande river. A Mexican town, Ojinaga, is on the south side of the river.

How did I know Presidio is a cowtown? This was the greeting committee.


Once again, in Texas they have drivers who are smart enough to figure out that if there’s a cow in the road, you should slow down. This doesn’t work in California. Truly. I had a horse hit and killed on the highway in front of our house once by a driver who saw him in plenty of time to stop but said, “I thought he’d get out of the way.”

Presidio is not a fancy place, 43% of the population lives below the poverty line. But it’s a strangely comfortable place. The phrase "honorable poverty" comes to mind, and I liked it there. I like Hispanic people and they are the majority in Presidio.

Merlene said when she first came to the area she liked it, but she was struck by the sight of the ominous black mountain that overlooks it from the Mexican side of the river. The bandit Pancho Villa reportedly had a camp up there, where he could see for miles.


Located on a fertile flood plain, Presidio is the oldest continuously cultivated area in the United States. People have farmed there since 1500 B.C.

If you want to get away from it all, this is the place to be. I found some real estate for you online: Casa Piedra It shows a “stunning” house on 510 acres for only a million bucks or so. In typical real estate lingo, the description says, “The interior walls are covered with a plaster of earth and water.” (In other words, mud.) You need to know that it’s 250 miles to the nearest WalMart. There are several small airfields in the area, so if you have your own plane it’s not a problem. (Do people who own planes shop at WalMart?)

Merlene says there are some very exclusive spa-type ranches in the area where celebrities come for a retreat. In contrast, these are some of the places where real people live:

A mobile home in Presidio


An adobe and rock home in nearby Shafter



This and a couple of other stone houses reminded me of dry land "Hobbit" abodes. They look pretty cozy.

What you don’t see is 1200 acres of ticky tacky McMansions thrown up 5 feet away from each other, åla California. There’s probably not enough electricity in all of West Texas to run the air conditioners in Sacramento County’s newest development, Anatolia. (fondly called Assholia by those of us who think it’s a black hole).

I will be at home all weekend, nursing my batch of chicks to health. I'm planning to catch up on Big Bend Escape episodes, so hang on and enjoy the ride.