A Road Rave

(I am once more on a motorcycle riding around Big Bend and environs, sleeping on the ground, staring at the sky. Because I do this what might be called too often, I just as frequently get asked for advice and information about what to do when out yonder. My offering is below, and is in no way complete, but ought to keep anyone busy for a week or two. I’ll be back Sunday with a bit of an emotional report from the mouth of Santa Elena Canyon. - JM)

“We still do not know one thousandth of one percent of what nature has revealed to us.” - Albert Einstein

JimBob's Comprehensive Guide to the Big Bend and the Trans Pecos of Texas

First, if you are going out I-10, don't go past Fort Stockton. Take 385 south of Ft. Stockton to Marathon. I recommend, however, taking U.S 90 at least from Del Rio westward. It will give you the opportunity to stop at the Pecos High River Bridge, historically the highest bridge in the U.S. for many years. Crosses the Pecos River at the canyon where the Pecos meets Lake Amistad on the Rio Grande. Also, highly recommend historic Langtry, not far from the bridge, which is where Judge Roy Bean held court before the 1900s and during the construction of the railroad. His old courthouse and bar are still in original condition. Bean provided the “Law West of the Pecos,” a one-man judge, jury, and executioner. The road after Langtry will take you to Sanderson and then onto a stretch of highway that has some of the most sublime and remote beauty in all the land, prior to arrival in Marathon.

You should stop in Marathon. Nice little shops on the main street, which is also Highway 90, and there is the famous Gage Hotel. They have a nice bar called The White Buffalo (stuffed white buffalo head on the wall) and a great restaurant, al fresco dining, fireplace, etc. Check it out even if you don't eat there. Gage was built on the old Butterfield Stage route that ran from San Antonio to Santa Fe. Used to be a wagon rest stop. Has a great old history. I/we usually stay in the Marathon Motel down the road because it's more reasonable. The 1984 film "Paris, Texas, written by Sam Shepherd was shot there. The Marathon Motel has an RV park, too, and you have access to the beautiful courtyard and fireplace. The owner, a good pal of mine, Danny Self, also conducts nightly star parties with his telescopes that are open to the public. Marathon and much of the region is part of the National Dark Sky Preserve, which has the darkest night skies in the U.S. Check at the motel office for times. The place to get groceries and supplies in town is called The French Grocer, just around the corner from the Gage, and every Friday night is burger night, hot delicious food cooked and served out back to the locals while a band plays beneath those amazing stars.

Santa Elena Canyon on the Rio Grande

In Alpine, the Holland has a great lobby, two bars, outdoor courtyard, and a restaurant that is quite good called the Century Grill. I also eat at the Reata, which is around the corner. Have many great memories of meals and with my TV and writer friends and folks from West Texas there. It is still one of the great steak houses anywhere in America, gets its beef from local ranchers, and is very warm and friendly. They have a large outdoor courtyard area in the back and serve al fresco when the weather is good, which is most of the time.

Every place is very casual. A new spot that I have found very enjoyable with terrific food is on the west side of Alpine. Spicewood has only been open about a year but has a full bar, fine hamburgers, and walls of windows. For breakfast and lunch, Alicia’s Mexican food or Magoo’s for traditional American. I am fond of ending my days at the bar in the Holland, which sits right on the street and across from the Amtrak station. Has a great old west feel to the experience. The hotel’s lobby would make a fine Western movie set.

In the end, all things become Texas and a river runs through it. - (Apologies to Mr. McLean. Mexico to the left, Texas to the right, of course.)

If you like baseball, possibly the prettiest baseball park in America is on the north side of Alpine. Kokernot Field was built by rancher Herbert Lee Kokernot, who missed baseball but didn't have time to travel to big cities. (Here is an article I wrote on the park, called, “Best of the Pecos.) Kokernot made the park so appealing that major league teams that were barnstorming toured to his field. A number of major league players have been on that diamond. Norm Cash, 1961 batting champion of the American League with a .361 average, played his college ball there. The only minor league games ever pitched by Gaylord Perry were for the semi-pro Alpine Cowboys at Kokernot Field. Today, it's used by Sul Ross University and the still extant Cowboys playing in the Pecos League. Still the greatest ballpark in America, my view. Season for Cowboys doesn't start till May. 

There are a lot of galleries and shops on Holland Avenue and the art district of Murphy Street in Alpine and one of the more famous music venues in Texas - the Railroad Blues. You can often grab a picnic table and hear great music in the evening after it cools off. Most famous Texas musicians have played the RR Blues venue. If you have time, you should also visit the Museum of the Big Bend on the campus of Sul Ross University, which is on the hill on the east side of town. I also highly recommend Harry's Tinaja where the locals hang out; it’s a BYOB kinda joint. (Harry recently passed. The bar is for sale.)

Known Exaggerators at the Broken Wheel Bar, Fort Gaston, Marathon, Texas

Try to find time to drive north about 25 minutes on highway 118 to Ft. Davis, the city with the highest elevation in Texas at the exact same altitude as Denver. It is the home of the Buffalo Soldier Fort where the first African American US army troops were stationed to protect stagecoaches and settlers from Comanche raids. The fort exists in almost original and pristine form and has a great museum. It was once the westernmost outpost in the US and the army shipped in camels at Matagorda Bay to resupply the place because it was considered too remote for most horses to make the trip. Henry O. Flipper, the first black graduate at West Point, served there and was railroaded for an 18-dollar crime he didn't commit after his commanding officer got angry at him for courting a white girl. Flipper led an amazing life after he was dishonorably discharged and his descendants were invited to the White House by President Clinton, who corrected the wrong and gave him an honorable discharge. His story comprises much of the final chapter of my first book, "Bush's Brain." The fort is in almost original condition and contains all of the equipment used by soldiers of that era

You can also drive up the mountain to McDonald Observatory from Ft. Davis, which did all of the laser ranging for the Apollo moon landing. There is an 85 inch and a 110- inch telescope and many nights they have "star parties" for anyone who shows up. Check their website. You are allowed to look through a small but powerful telescope. It's great fun, and about 20 mins. past Ft. Davis. Also, you should visit the Limpia Hotel in Ft. Davis. Great old hotel with lots of Texas history. Davis Mountains State Park is on your way up the mountain, too, and you can do a nice hike/walk there and visit the Indian Colony Hotel inside the park, which was a Civilian Conservation Corps project in the 30s and 40s and has been remodeled to grandeur. Very cool place. The Fort Davis drug store on main street has an old school, working soda fountain and the best milk shakes humans have ever devised. 

Life’s a bluebonnet highway

You could decide to make Ft. Davis your last stop because you can go north out of there over Wild Rose pass and back down to I-10 for your trip. If you do that, check out the freshwater spring pool in Balmorhea when you get to I-10. It is larger than Barton Springs in Austin and cold and beautiful. 

One evening you should drive about 25 mins west of Alpine toward Marfa to see if you can see the Marfa Lights. I'm sure you know the legend, but they are lights that seemingly have gone unexplained for centuries and have been showing up irregularly for as long as people have been living out there. The state has built a pull off from Highway 90 and there are usually groups of people there after dark waiting to see the lights. I've been lucky enough to see them a half dozen times through the years and they defy explanation. 

You could always make that stop coming back from Marfa. In Marfa, visit the Paisano Hotel; it's where Liz Taylor, Rock Hudson, Dennis Hopper, and James Dean stayed when they were filming "Giant" just outside of town. They have a little museum/display about the film in the hotel. The Paisano has great burgers and a nice courtyard with fountains and the weather is always nice enough to sit outside even during the day. BTW, the movie "There Will be Blood" was also filmed outside of Marfa along with some scenes for "No Country for Old Men," and more recent films, “Trans Pecos” and “Marfa Girl.”

If the Food Shark truck is open on US 90 going west of town, do yourself a favor and grab some of their food for lunch. It is astonishing. Marfa Burrito just south of town is the best breakfast food around and a favorite of locals. They may still have a chef at the Stripes gas station and their breakfast tacos are very memorable. It is the place to be in the mornings. Even Anthony Bourdain featured it in his report on West Texas. (I am not making that up).

You should also see the Judd Museum. Donald Judd is the NY artist who moved to Marfa back in the 50s-60s to create his art. One of his strange displays is at the old air base south of town, just concrete rectangles sitting in a field. Highly recommend Foundation Pizza in Marfa and stopping in for a drink at the Lost Horse Saloon at the end of the day when the locals begin to drift in. (If it is open; dive bar with ongoing tax issues.)

You may have heard of Prada Marfa and be interested in seeing that installation. But it's not exactly in Marfa. You need to drive a bit over 30 miles west on Highway 90 just past the town of Valentine and you will see the store on your left. No sign of humans around but a Prada store with shoes and bags, not for sale, but just display. Pretty funny.

Me and My Arrow

Big Bend National Park, the most remote of all the national parks, is about an hour south of Marathon on US 385, and just under two hours south of Alpine to the park’s west entrance off 118. Everyone should go to this place once in their life. Drive up to the Chisos Basin and hike the Old Mines Trail for four or five miles. Walk the Window Trail. Go up to the South Rim or Emery Peak. A must is the twenty plus mile drive down Ross Maxwell Drive to the mouth of Santa Elena Canyon where the Rio Grande comes down through the 1500-foot walls of the canyon. Finish your day off by going over to Terlingua, the ghost town that has survived the end of mercury mining after WWII. Lots of rundown adobes and people who have abandoned the rat race. Every night on the porch of the general store in Terlingua there is music, drinking, and dancing as the sun sets on the Chisos Mountains in the distance. Eat next door at the Starlight Cafe. Great musicians from all over Texas play there and their chicken fried elk is fantastic. Long Draw Pizza up on the highway heading towards Lajitas is spectacular. 

If you have time, go west of Terlingua on ranch road 170 toward Lajitas. This is a touristy resort, but they have a building, turned into guest rooms, which is where Gen. Black Jack Pershing bivouacked his troops on the Rio Grande before he crossed the river to chase Pancho Villa. About ten miles west of Lajitas on 170 is a fantastic view of the Rio Grande at the mountain pass, one of the best scenes Texas has to offer, and the highest elevated paved road in the state. You can drive about another hour west to Presidio and see Fort Leaton, founded by a vet of the Mexican American war in 1848 who never wanted to go back north. Great history at the place. RR 170 from Terlingua to Presidio is considered by all motorcycle publications to be the best road in America for motorcyclists. As a guy who has ridden a motorcycle on some of the best roads in America, I'd say it's definitely in the top 10, maybe top 5, but it is sure worth the trip. And if you are in a four-wheel and you have time, I'd recommend driving Pinto Canyon Road from just outside of Marfa all the way down to the Rio Grande. A spectacular experience. Check with Border Patrol in Marfa as to the condition of the unpaved section of the road. It's always passable unless there has been big rain. Some of the most beautiful scenery in the state. 

I also tell anyone who has the time to do the scenic route around the Davis Mountains. Go west toward Valentine until you see 505 North and take that up to 166 and go west. That loops around the Davis Mountains and will take you back past the observatory and back down into Fort Davis. Most scenic road in Texas, hands down. And if you do end up going west towards El Paso, stop in Van Horn for lunch at Lizy's. Dear gawd what Tex Mex. Also, make it a point to have a beverage at the El Capitan bar in VH. Like the Paisano in Marfa and the Gage in Marathon, the El Capitan was designed by architect Henry Trost back in the 20s and 30s. A lot of El Paso's most famous structures were also his work. His hotels are very special and uniquely appealing. 

Just like the entirety of the Texas Trans Pecos.

Jim Bob