We like it the way it is. There is no grocery store here, or bank, or hospital, not even a cemetery. No doctors or lawyers. Loving County is so vacant that each inhabitant could claim 10 square miles as his or her own. The wide-open spaces are knotted together by a few roads that lead to Mentone, the county's sole town.
Residents wave as they make the familiar trip to take care of business.
It's just small enough that people know each other and you don't have to worry about things disappearing. Creager's wife, Barbara, says she was somewhat surprised by the new census figures, but knows people are trickling away. The area receives just over 10 inches of rain a year, and some people have tried diverting water from the Pecos River to nurture cotton and grain. Until recently, there was ranching. A few area wells supply drinkable water, but they are not connected to a large, reliable aquifer.