Feb 2008

Things don't always work out as planned, today was a great example of that. Before we got to New Mexico, Mom and I had seen an article about Rockhound State Park in Deming, and both of us really wanted to check it out. Mom also wanted to go to Canyon de Chelly in Arizona, which was in the NE end of the state, so we decided to go to Deming first, then head north from there to Albuquerque and then west from there. There is a museum and display at White Sands Missile Range that I really wanted to visit, as well as a Space & Rocket museum in Alamogordo.

However, first things first. When we got up this morning at Rockhounds SP, there were so many birds I just had to stop and take some pictures. (I've seen it spelled both Rockhounds and Rock Hounds, but the Park brochure uses the former). Anyway, we were fortunate to see both kinds of quail that frequent the park, Scaled Quail (left) and Gambel's Quail (right - but click to enlarge).

We also saw several different kinds of small birds, most of which I'm still having trouble identifying in spite of the very helpful bird books we've picked up along the way. The first one is a Cactus Wren, the second some sort of Finch (possibly a House Finch), after that I'm lost. There were more, but these give you some idea of the variety - all pictures taken within a few minutes of each other.

In spite of the birds, we did finally leave Rockhounds SP and headed back east. As we drove through Las Cruces, Mom saw signs for the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Museum and wanted to check it out. This is roughly the view of the entrance, including a fairly large equipment display area.

Just outside the entrance is a very nice Cactus Garden. Unfortunately, the various cacti plants are not labeled so you have to just enjoy them (unless your a cactus expert of course).

The Museum has a fairly large outdoor area, including various types of animals and farm systems. We caught a ride on a cart while a volunteer drove us around and described the animals and farm & ranch systems. This is a Corriente Bull, from the type of cattle brought over by the Spanish in the 1400's. These are smaller than many modern cattle breeds, but also quite hardy.

A few cages down from the Corriente cattle were some Texas Longhorns. Many people believe that the Longhorns were descended from the Corriente, which seems quite likely. Texas Longhorns almost became extinct in the 1930's, which might explain why we didn't see any of them on the ranges as we drove through Texas. They are making a comeback now, but mostly on ranches or State Parks that specialize in them. Jim, our cart driver, explained that the horns continue to grow throughout the life of the Longhorn, so the longer the horns, the older the animal is. Mom was tickled to see a newborne with it's mother.

There were also a couple of display's of old types of transportation, both outside and inside.

The inside portion of the Museum had displays on Saddle Making and a rather odd assortment of displays (mostly signs) on people during the farming and ranching history of New Mexico. We walked through these sections rather quickly, then visited the gift shop. The most impressive items in the gift shop were Pistacho's - in several different flavors! Of course, I sampled most of the varieties (Mom doesn't do nuts) and picked up a few for later.

After visiting the Farm and Ranch Museum, we got back on the highway to head to our original destination, White Sands Missile Range. (OK - my destination, I don't think Mom was as enthusiastic about this as I was.) I wasn't too sure where I was going however, on the map was a White Sands National Monument, which I assumed to have something to do with the Missile Range - incorrectly it turns out. There is a Museum open to the public at White Sands Missile Testing Range, but it is inside the secure facility. It is also about 30 miles south of White Sands National Monument (more about that in a minute). Since the public museum is inside the gate, you must have all appropriate documentation to pass through the gate. As I pulled mine out, I found out my vehicle "Proof of Insurance" had expired so we couldn't get past the guards. Ugh. Well, better to find out now and get it fixed before I need to show it for something more serious. So after some fruitless hand wringing and frantic phone calls, we turned around and drove on north - not sure what we'd find (and a little bit frustrated at being turned away, for myself at least).

It turns out White Sands National Monument has nothing to do with the Missile Range other than similar names. The Tularosa Basin, where Alamogordo, White Sands NM and the Missile Range are located, sits between two mountain ranges. What little rain there is here has no outlet to the sea, so just drains into the basin and forms lakes there. The San Andres and Sacramento mountains contain Gypsum deposits that are easily dissolved by water, which washes down into the trapped basin lakes (called Playa's). As the hot desert sun evaporates the water, gypsum crystals form which are then eventually broken down into sand sized particles and blown into dunes by the wind. So the sand dunes of White Sands NM are gypsum dunes. Here is a photo of a small Playa that was along the park road as well as a closeup of the dried bed of the lake.

These are the largest gypsum sand dunes in the world and are quite rare. Since gypsum is water soluable, most gypsum erosion would just wash into the sea. The desert basin allows these deposits to be captured and the lack of rain allows it to continue to exist in crystal (sand) form.

The sand dunes cover 275 square miles of desert and are always on the move. Here you can see the edge of the dunes as it encroaches on the desert grasslands.

We were surprised to learn that some types of plants have adapted to the moving sand dunes. For example, Yucca plants just keep growing taller and taller, so what you see as the spiked leaves are really just the top of a very tall Yucca tree - the roots are still in the ground under the sand. (The Yucca is the one that looks like rabbit ears here).

Another form of adaptation is the Rosemarymint plant. This plant has so many roots and spines that it can grab onto the sand and hold it in place, even if the dune moves away from the plant - leaving a sand pedestal.

While this is a National Monument (e.g. Park), you are allowed to hike and climb on the dunes along the road. Of course, they ask people to avoid damaging fragile area's such as the spaces between dunes where many of the plants grow. Mom and I decided to check out this unique type of sand (most sand is made of quartz).

The road into the dunes is about eight miles long and is only paved half way, after that it is just compressed gypsum sand. This is very hard however and provides a fine road surface (except in a few spots where it had a bit of washboard). The deeper we got into the heart of the sand dunes however, the less vegetation we saw. In the middle, the dunes are moving too fast for even the most adaptable plants. There is some grass in between dunes, but mostly we just saw big, soft white dunes (and road). This shot shows how high the wind can drive the dunes - notice the RV parked below?

I had a lot of fun climbing up the dune to get these shots - I went barefooted and found it to be a very soft sand. In places it was hard enough to walk on top of it, in others I sank down, sometimes quite a bit. Here's a final shot of the 'heart of the dunes' as the park calls this area.

Alamogordo is just a few miles past the park entrance. We found a nice RV park there and plan to visit the Space & Rocket Museum in the morning, then head up to Albuquerque. I made reservations at one of my membership campgrounds for two nights up there to try yet again to finish my taxes, so we should also have time to get a few other things caught up, including the blog...

Logistics:

Miles Driven - 161 (Backwards!), Cumulative - 15,810
Camped at Roadrunner RV Campground, Alamogordo, NM

Our objective today was Rockhound State Park near Deming, New Mexico. This is a view of the Visitor's Center and the valley behind it.

Before we left Wal-mart in El Paso, I had checked the hardware department for a small (cheap) pick ax. None to be found, I purchases a small (fortunately inexpensive) shovel. It turned out to be a waste of money for this trip anyway, maybe a serious rockhounder would have used it, but we didn't need it. At any event, I thought I might need a tool. We didn't know exactly what we'd find there, Mom had visions of diamonds and rubys flying about her head. I figured we wouldn't know a gem if we saw one (in the rough that is), but would have some fun and maybe come home with something 'pretty'. When we first got to the park, the visitors center was closed, so we decided to locate a campsite first.We were fortunate to arrive just after some campers had checked out of one of the outside campsites. It overlooks one of the small peaks in the park and has an unobstructed view.

There was a small pedistal & plaque showing some of the Gemstones that could be found at Rockhound SP. Unfortunately, someone had defaced it badly and several samples were missing, but I could read enough to get an idea. The park has many types of jasper and rhyolite, agate, onyx, obsidian, geodes and some other black stones whose name I've forgotten. The geodes are mostly found about 1/2 way up a very steep hill, far beyond Mom's climbing ability. However, one of the path's looked quite level and suitable for her skills. The Jasper and Rhyolite are all over the place as well as a couple of the types of black rocks. Mom walked out about 100 yards and picked up some rocks. I also picked up quite a few, probably nothing valuable but I certainly had fun trying to find as many different kinds of rocks as I could.

By then the Visitor's Center was open, so we spent some time there also. They had a nice Cactus Garden outside and several diarama's inside about desert life as well as examples of geodes and other rocks found in the park. (I still don't think I'd recognize many of them 'in the rough'.) Mom was kind enough to pose for me by the flagpole. (And I must apologize for some of the pictures today - somehow I'd switched the camera settings without noticing, so several shots were overexposed. Perhaps my software could correct this, but I'm not that advanced an editor yet.)

After she was done, I hiked about 1/2 up a very steep slope and collected a few more rocks. Mostly there is a lot of Jasper here - in several configurations. On the mountain side they also have Geodes, but you need a pick ax, lots of time, and a lot more muscle then I've got to find them. I did learned I'm not in good enough shape to be a rockhounder! If you look closely on the right side of this picture, about in the middle, you can see a whitish spot - this is where one of the geode seams is. This is also as far as I could make it up the mountain, I tried to go a little further, but my knee's said that was far enough. (And, it's a lot steeper than it looks!)

While I did not find any geodes on the mountain, I did find something even better - real rockhounders - hounding! It was interesting talking with them about their hobby while they pounded away. They weren't finding any geodes either so were a little disappointed in the park. I was happy just to find a few 'pretty' rocks (my criteria for what's important). Gary (on the left) was kind enough to share a couple of nice specimines he'd found. Sue & Maurice & ? (on the right) had pounded at the wall for some time without luck, so were just about ready to pack it in for the night. (These are thumbnails, click to enlarge.)

So tonight, we're both very tired - physically, but otherwise fine. We're planning to head backwards a bit tomorrow and go to Alamogordo and visit the White Sands Missile Range and a Rocket & Space Museum. We've decided to head north first, then cross over to AZ around mid-state and visit the canyons (Canyon de Chelly & Grand Canyon) before heading back down to Phoenix, then CA.

They seem to grow a lot of nuts in New Mexico (Pecan's and Pistachio's), so we'll probably try to pick some up along the way.

So it's off to finish up the Big Bend blog entry... Here's a nice sunset shot from Rockhound SP to leave you with...

Logistics:

Miles Driven - 126, Cumulative - 15649
Camped at Rockhound SP, Site #6, near Deming NM

Provisions Obtained - Small Shovel (Wal-mart)
Several Geode Seconds from a rock shop near park (just in case we didn't find any, which we didn't)

After rechecking the tourist brochures and map, I found that the road north from Fort Davis is a steep, winding mountain road, not recommended for RV's. I think we could have made it, but since Mom is afraid of cliffs and it would have been pretty slow going, I elected to head west on Hwy 90 to El Paso instead. I know there's not much to see on I-10 in West Texas, but little did I know Hwy 90 was as bad, if not worse.

This is the first day on the trip so far where we didn't find anything of consequence to stop for. We did stop at a couple of roadside markers, but nothing worth mentioning. For the most part, we just kept driving. At one point we saw a really odd shape ahead in the distance that I thought might have been a hot air balloon, but as we continued driving, it seemed to be moving away too fast to be a balloon. We probably drove 15 or 20 minutes with it staying just far enough away that we couldn't tell what it was. Then finally, it turned and started going down (it wasn't very high to begin with, maybe a few hundred feet?) As we got closer, we could tell that it was some sort of blimp. It appeared to be docking at this white disk shaped structure. As we passed the entrance to the installation, the sign identified it as an Air Force Base. My guess is that this has something to do with Border Patrol.

Shortly after passing the AF Base, we passed a sign about the Marfa Lights. This is some sort of phenomenon where red lights appear on the desert for no explained reason. The county has set up a viewing platform, but since it was daytime when we passed through, there was nothing to observe for us. The town of Marfa is a little interesting also. However, the museum was closed when we stopped by, so we took a few pictures of the architecture (Church, City Hall and Hotel) and moved on.

After passing Marfa, there was very little else to see. We drove through a small town called Lobo, with no services. Some buildings were occupied, but it also had a lot of abandoned buildings and appeared almost to be a ghost town. Mostly we just drove through desert - brown, dry desert. Occasionally we saw pivot irrigation systems and cattle. Once we actually spotted an antelope! It seems these were almost hunted into extinction (in Texas that is), but they are starting to make a comeback. I had been wondering why we hadn't seen hardly any wildlife in Texas - but we have seen a lot of hunter's blinds.

This was pretty much it. We made it to El Paso this evening after a hard days drive (237 miles in leaky old boat). I'm not sure why this bothered me, I've always liked deserts and solitude in the past, but for some reason, both Mom and I are tired of seeing so much brown desert. Perhaps we just enjoyed the ocean and beaches for so long as we followed the east coast down to Florida, then back up along the gulf that I'd forgotten how to relax and enjoy the quiet and great expanse of the old west. For the moment at least, I miss the coastal birds, tree's and water.

Logistics:

Miles Driven - 226
Camped at El Paso Wal-mart

Provisions Obtained: Propane ($8.68), Gas $26.85, 9.26 gallons at 125,287 and $23.68, 8.46 gallons at 125,400

Observations:
Wildlife - Hawk, antelope
Domestic - Cattle, Horses, Sheep

We visited Big Bend National Park for two days, which wasn't nearly enough (as usual - this trip had turned out to be more of an overview than an in-depth journey. This Country is just too big to see it all in one trip!)

We left from Marathon fairly early in the morning. It was below freezing last night, but warmed up as the day wore on (or as we got farther south, I'm not sure which). We had a 70 mile drive to get to the park entrance, part of which was through cattle country. We still haven't seen any more longhorns in Texas, other then the two we saw near San Antonio. However I thought the colors on this animal were worth a picture - just an idea of some of the things we see along the trip...

Shortly after this, we noticed some really odd looking mountains (hills?). They were so odd, I stopped to take a couple of pictures. I guess I wasn't the only one curious about them, just after we got back on the road we passed a sign explaining the geology. It says the highly deformed rocks are part of the Ouachita Fold Belt, which uplifted between 275 -290 million years ago. This is about the same time the Appalachians were formed, so would seem to be a rather active period in the earths history. This is similar to the sign we saw along a highway cut yesterday to describe some weird, vertical rock veins. We have since learned that the geology of SW Texas is a big deal and a lot of people come down here to study it. I suspect it's partly because everything is so barren that rock formations can be easily seen. In any case, it was odd seeing such old rock formations together with newer formations, just an odd mix.

The further south we drove, the more desert like the scenery became. Finally, we rounded a corner and came across the park entrance at Persimmon Pass.

We quickly learned just how large the park is - after you enter the park, there is an expansive vista that seems to go on for miles (probably about 100, not an exageration). The main valley in the park is about 40 miles wide. There are three distinct regions - the Chihuahuan Desert, the Rio Grand River Valley, and the Chisos Mountains & Bason. The park is very large at over 800,000 acres in size, and while I don't know the exact proportions, I would estimate that the Desert regions take up at least 95% of the park.

The Chihuahuan Desert is one of four deserts in the United States. It also extends over 300 miles into Mexico. Some of the cacti in the park are unique to this desert, so we won't see them again in the Sonoran Desert for example (which we'll be in shortly when we get to AZ). Likewise, the Saguaro Cactus grows in the Sonoran Desert, but not in the Chihuahuan.

Mom & I drove the 26 miles from the entrance down to the main visitors center at Panther Junction. We stopped often for roadside signs ("Interpretive Exhibits") or just things that looked interesting. We decided not to try any of the many gravel side roads (today at least) since the RV isn't really an off road vehicle. After Panther Junction, we decided to drive down to the Rio Grande Village. Visiting the river has been one of our objectives for some time so we wanted to try to camp there for the night. Rio Grande Village is another 20 miles past Panther Junction, so it did take us most of the day (with a few stops) just to get there.

Once we found a campsite, we decided to take the Nature Walk just a short distance from where we parked. Mom took her walker and actually made it a couple hundred yards down the trail! The first part of the walk was over a board path across a beaver pond. (The pond was created by Bank Beavers, different sort of thing then beavers who build elaborate dens.) After we passed the pond however, the trail turned to loose dirt/sand/gravel and became quite uneven. Mom went some distance on it anyway, but it was just too difficult for a walker so she decided to wait for me there. I didn't want to make her wait too long, so decided to take just a short spur to see the river, then head back. The spur wasn't as short as we'd been told, but I did find the river and a few other things and we made it back to camp fine. I went back up a different direction on the trail later in the evening to watch the sunset from the top of the hill (with several other campers).

I took so many pictures that it would be less confusing to just group them by topic (birds, mountains, cacti) rather then try to show them in the order they were taken. Besides, if I didn't do it this way, this blog entry would be 100 pages long! Since neither of us have time for that - let's see how the groups work?

The geology and mountains around the park are one of the big attractions, so here are some of my scenery shots (thumbnails of course, click to enlarge and get more descriptions).

These are some of the Del Carmen cliffs across the Rio Grande River in Mexico. The small village is Boquillas.

Most of the birds we saw were in the Rio Grand Village area. However there were birds in other areas of the park, which I took pictures of if they would sit still for me... Big Bend NP is supposed to be one of the best places for birding, but we didn't see that many. Several campers were complaining about this, so I suspect it had more to do with the cold weather than our bad birding skills. These were the ones we did see (and were able to capture) however. (Note: I spent quite a bit of time looking up the (hopefully) correct names for these, so if you see one that's incorrectly identified, please let me know.) ... and yes, I know a butterfly isn't a bird, but it didn't seem to fit anywhere else.

We also didn't see that many animals in the park. When we first got to the campground, a Coyote was walking by our campsite, but he took off just as I got the camera out. We also saw several rabbits and I did get some pictures of those, but they aren't that good and I figure you know what a rabbit looks like. I saw a lizard on the second day - and got a shot of it, but didn't bother to upload it (too many pic's already). However, you might like to see this one - these were on the cliffs across the river on the Mexican side and were very far away (barely visible). Between the 12x zoom and some major cropping, you should be able to see several goats in here.

Here is what the Rio Grande River looks like when it passes through Big Bend. It is almost dry by the time it gets to El Paso Texas, farther upstream, however is replenished somewhat by the Pecos and a Mexican River. I'm sure this is just a shadow of what it used to be before we started taking so much water out for agriculture and human consumption.

And of course, what would any desert travel be without cacti (and this is only a small sample of the pictures I took of the many different species of cacti in Big Bend NP)? The Park Ranger told us there are 30 different kinds of Prickly Pear Cactus, and 27 of them grow in the park. We also saw cacti other then Yucca and Prickly Pear, maybe I can add a few more photo's eventually.

One area of the park where we also stopped was the Fossil Exhibit. The plexiglass on the exhibit was too scratched to try to take pictures through, but I was able to get a shot of the area. Also, someone had left a fossil in the parking lot (you're not supposed to take anything from a NP), so I got a picture of it.

Finally, I have to make a confession. My cousin dropped us a comment with some really good advice about what to see and do (and not do) in the park. I remembered part of it, but didn't bother to write it down or take notes figuring I'd recheck it once we got there. Then of course, there was no internet signal in the park (cell service), so I had to rely on my really faulty memory. Also I didn't feel we should stay more then a couple of days for several reasons - so had to limit what we tried to do. One thing my cousin said we should not try to visit was the Hot Springs. I did remember this, but also had never seen a hot springs so was just too curious to pass it by. The road was not good for RV's, but we made it as far as the first parking lot where there was a sign forbidding RV's from going any farther. I figured it wasn't too much farther so decided to hoof it while Mom waited in the RV (She has a number of things she can do on occasions such as this, as well as a cold fridge and all the amenities of a small apartment). It was much farther then I expected, but the hot springs are really neat. Here are a couple of shots from the walk and the springs.

Also, because we spent so much time at Rio Grande Village (Nature Walk and the drive down), then the hot springs on day 2), we decided we didn't also have time to visit the Chisos Basin nor take the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive. Ugh. Major things missed there - if I ever go back, I'll make sure to fit these in first. (If I do ever go back, I'll try to shoot for a little later in spring when things will be in bloom, but at least the temperature wasn't too hot by visiting when we did). So anyway, I'm sorry I didn't listen to my cousins advice better, I still appreciate the effort however!

My objective was to get to Alpine, Texas tonight - about 70 miles north of Big Bend. When we left the park, there was one last "Interpretive Exhibit" at the exit - for a vista of the Badlands and area to the west of the park.

Before I turned North however, Mom said she wanted to visit a Ghost Town shown on the map. She said it was only 5 miles further and I agreed that it was still early enough we could probably fit it in. (Chisos Basin was only six miles, so we could have made it there instead, but at that time I hadn't been so sure how much longer it would take us to get out of the park. I do wish we'd seen it, it might be some time before we see real tree's again.)

Anyway we got to Terlingua and found a rather odd place for a ghost town. This was once a mining town for Cinnabar, which is an ore for Mercury. As many as 2,000 people lived here. However, when the mine was closed in the 1940's, the town was abandoned - making it a ghost town. Since the 1970's people started moving back in however as an arts community (and tourist trap). There are enough broken down buildings still around that make it an interesting stop, but I think Langtry has a better claim to the ghost status.

So, with that we gassed up and headed north (I also got gas in the Park once - just to be on the safe side). Again, I should have taken better notes of my cousins suggestions I didnt' really consider going to Presidio first. Our map showed the road to Alpine was a 'scenic route' so we thought we'd give it a try. I guess it was somewhat scenic, in a dry, rocky deserty kind of way. We did make it to Alpine (later than I'd like, but not too bad). Tonight (2/7) we are at Lost Alaska RV Campground in Alpine, TX - about 70 miles north of the western entrance to Big Bend NP.

Not sure whether we're going to go to Fort Davis tomorrow or just head up to El Paso. We'll see tomorrow...

Logistics:

(will work on these later, so many pictures and such a slow internet connection, I'm already not getting much sleep tonight.)

When we got up, it was mostly overcast. The clouds blew over quickly however and the rest of the day was mostly sunny. We weren't totally spared from the huge storm system however; we got lots and lots of wind - gusty, strong headwinds. I drove between 35 and 40 mph most of the day, not good for making progress but as long as I kept my speed down, we did OK. Tonight it's really cold (around freezing) and should be cold tomorrow, but after that it's forecasted to warm up again.

Amistad Nat'l Recreation Area was just a couple of miles from where we camped. This was created by a dam across the Rio Grande River that is shared by both Mexico and the United States. The dam created a huge reservoir that is used for water sports, especially fishing. Mom & I drove down to one of the boat launch ramps but didn't see any birds, probably due to the high winds. We visited the Visitor's Center, but didn't see the need to spend any more time at the lake since we're not into fishing. It was also a little too windy to spend time at a lake (unless you're into aerobic wind surfing, kiteboarding, or some such thing).

A few miles further on we found Seminole Canyon State Park and Historic Site. The Historic Site refers to extensive prehistoric pictographs in rock shelters found throughout the parks canyons. Due to their sensitive nature, you can only see the pictographs during ranger guided hikes. However, the Park Visitor's Center contains an excellant museum with a lot of information about the types of people who lived in the area prior to European settlement, how they lived, and also a full size replica of some of the pictographs. Since Mom can't hike very well, the Museum suited us just fine. In back, there is also a nifty overlook of part of the larger canyons.

(Somehow, I didn't even think to take pictures inside the Museum). Just outside the Visitor's Center are several plants that are native to this area. Each one has a nifty sign by it to help Visitor's like us learn what the plants are. Mom is posing by a Huisache Tree. In the middle is a Century Plant, followed by a Yucca - very common in West Texas.

One more windmill picture (for Becky?), I promise no more. This one is nice because it clearly shows why they still use a lot of windmills in Texas. There is a water cistern just below the windmill. Many ranches in Texas are quite large. There aren't any streams or ponds in most areas, so ranchers use wells to get water to the livestock. They use a windmill to pump the water rather run electricity all over open range. This tank is adobe brick, but many are cement or steel.

After we left Seminole State Park, we continued heading west into a strong headwind. This was a little stressful, so when I saw a sign for a roadside picnic area I decided to pull over. This turned out to be the overlook for the Peco's River High Bridge. The Peco's River has very sheer cliffs on both sides, forming a deep canyon for some 60 miles. The picture doesn't show it, but the wind was blowing at least 40+ mph here and it was a bit scary just trying to get out and take pictures anywhere near the edge. The bridge is 1,310' long and is 273' above the water. This is the highest highway bridge in Texas and the 13th highest in the US. (By contrast, the Golden Gate Bridge is 220' above the water and the Tacoma Narrows Bridge is 200' above water.)

Looking in the opposite direction from the bridge, you can actually see the Pecos River run into the Rio Grande River(on the far left below).

Shortly after taking these pictures, we drove across the Pecos High Bridge, in a strong cross wind, very slowly.

A few miles after we crossed the bridge, we came to the town of Langtry. The wind was still blowing quite hard, I just threw in this shot to give you some idea. These flags were quite stiff, they hardly flapped at all.

I had picked up a brochure about this being the home of Judge Roy Bean. When we first came into Texas, the man at the Visitor's Center didn't recommend this stop, but we were here and there weren't any more towns for some time, so we stopped. Langtry also has a Texas State Visitor's Center and a museum about Judge Roy Bean (really just a few exhibits along the back of the center). Two people staff the center, which is odd when you learn that there are only 15 people in Langtry! Yes, population = 15. Since this town isn't at the border of anything (Mexico is across the river, but there are no legal crossing points) - the only reason I can think of for this is that the State has taken pity on the poor little town?

Anyway, the area behind the Visitor's Center has a couple of acres fenced in. This is where the actual Saloon & Billards Room for Judge Bean is located, which he called "The Jersey Lilly" in honor of the English Actress Lilly Langtry with whom he was infatuated.

The State of Texas restored the saloon, but it has the look and feel of a very old, late 1800's wild west saloon - complete with gaps between the wall boards.

It seems that West Texas was a very wild and lawless place in the late 1800's. The State decided to appoint a district Judge to try to bring some order to the place, and Roy Bean was one of the few men around with a business, his saloon. Most other people in the area were either outlaws, cowhands or temporary workers building the Southern Pacific Railroad and living in tent cities.

The State gave Judge Bean a large book of Texas laws, but he pretty much ran things the way he wanted. He had been something of a rascal before being appointed Judge, and while he did help bring some law & order into the area, he also tended to interpret or make up the law as he saw fit. Later he built this house for himself, but called it "The Opera House".

The rest of the fenced in area behind the Visitor's Center consists of a Cactus Garden. These were all very well laid out and marked, not just what kind of cactus or plant it was - but also how it was used. This is just a small sample to give you an idea of some of the variety in their garden. (Click to get descriptions)

After I took pictures of most of the other plants and signs in the garden, Mom and I decided to drive through Langtry and try to get a better view of the Rio Grande River. The Visitor's Center staff had said the main cross street had a good view the river. We quickly saw what happens to a town once most people leave it. Once the trains no longer needed a water & fueling station, the town didn't really have much need to exist, so there isn't much left. IMHO, they could probably drum up a little more business if they called themselves a 'Ghost Town', this is pretty much what most of it looks like:

We did get a better view of the cliffs from the end of the road, but couldn't see the Rio Grande. There was a gravel road that led down the hill, but I decided it wasn't worth driving an RV down it, especially since we'd have other chances to see the river. The cliffs were pretty cool however (these are in Mexico since they're on the other side of the river).

There is still one functioning gas station in Langtry (I am following my cousin's advice and buying gas pretty much at every opportunity in West Texas!) The sign was damaged a bit by today's wind, but the station was open and I filled up. The owner told me that as far as he knows, this has been in continuous operation since 1929! (They probably don't get enough rain down here to rust old underground tanks.)

So all gassed up, we drove on to Marathon. This will be our jumping off point to drive to Big Bend in the morning. On the way we passed another roadside sign (they call them 'Historical Markers' here, but they use that term generously. Often they are 'Points of Interest', not necessarily historical - IMHO. Either way is fine, we'd still probably stop). This is the first roadside marker I've seen describing the geology, but it's a pretty big topic down here. In this case, the vertical rock bands on the sides of the hill cut away for the highway are part of the "Denuded Ouachita Rock Belt", an upthrust of about 290 million years ago.

In Marathon, we found a great RV campground with wi-fi and bundled up for the night (forecast calls for it to dip below freezing tonight). I don't know if I'll have a signal down in Big Bend NP, it's pretty remote. If you don't hear from us for a day or two, we're probably fine - just unplugged.

Logistics:

Miles Driven - 174
Camped at RV Campground in Marathon, Texas (69 miles from Big Bend NP)