Texas – ON THE ROAD with Maria + Stephen

City Tour: San Antonio: Remember the Alamo!

10/05/2026 by Maria+Stephen, posted in Architecture, Art Museum, Cities, Coffee, Dining, Live Music, Street Art and Murals, Texas, Travel

For our city tour of San Antonio we selected the historic Gunter Hotel located in the heart of downtown. When the Gunter was constructed in 1909 it was the largest building in the city standing eight stories high.The hotel was quite luxurious by the standards of the day with central heating, four elevators and en suite bathrooms. Four stories were added during the 1920s. As with many other luxury hotels in this part of the United States the hotel was a hub for cattlemen when visiting San Antonio.

Day One: After checking into the hotel we walked along the Riverwalk north to The Pearl District for dinner and a live music performance.

Jazz,TX is a jazz venue located in the basement of one of the buildings at the Pearl (more on the Pearl later in this post). Patricia Vonne is a San Antonio native. She is a musician, songwriter, actor and award winning filmaker who has performed all over the globe. Her music is a unique blend of Tejano and Flamenco sometimes called “ranchera rock ‘n’ roll”. The New York Times described her as the “Renaissance woman of Austin, Texas”.

Patricia put on a great show which included several new songs from an upcoming album. Her 93 year old dad joined her onstage and accompanied her on one of her songs. Very cool.

Day Two: We started our day with a short walk to Vela Coffee. Vela is a relatively new entrant into the San Antonio specialty coffee community. We had an opportunity to chat with the manager who had relocated from Seattle to help open up the shop. A bit of a shock for her from a cultural and weather perspective. Vela is worth a visit if you are in downtown San Antonio.

From Vela we made our way to Mission Nuestra Senora de la Purisma Concepcion de Acuna. The mission is one of five missions built along the San Antonio River under the guidance of Spanish Franciscan friars. The mission was founded in 1716 with construction completed in 1731. This mission is noted for a number of surviving frescos painted over 250 years ago.

Mission Concepcion is still an operating Catholic church with Sunday masses held in the chapel pictured below.

After touring the mission we walked north on the Riverwalk to the King William District, where we departed the trail for afternoon fika at Eightball Coffee.

The KIng William Historic District was named for King Wilhelm I of Prussia (later the emperor of Germany). Not surprising since prior to the Civil War more than 30,000 Germans had immigrated to San Antonio and congregated in this area. The wealthiest of the German immigrants built grand homes in the neighborhood – many of which are still standing today.

We returned to the hotel for our customary late afternoon reset (and perhaps a cocktail at the lobby bar). After our reset we made our way around the downtown loop of the Riverwalk. The setting is quite charming although the loop is quite crowded with tourists dining and drinking at the many restaurants and bars located on this part of the Riverwalk.

We departed the loop walking several blocks south on Alamo Street to dine at NONNA Osteria which is located inside the Fairmont Hotel (Photo below courtesy of the Fairmont Hotel).

We had a fantastic dining experience at NONNA Osteria. Our appetizers and entrees were delicious and the service was impeccable. Our server was very knowledgable about the menu and their mostly Italian wine list. We would highly recommend dining here when you visit San Antonio.

Day Three: We took a relaxed walk around the Alamo area. The Alamo is a BIG DEAL in San Antonio and Texas history and lore. The Alamo is actually one of the five missions constructed by the Franciscan order in East Texas.

Mission San Antonio de Valero (later the Alamo) was established in 1718 and after being abandoned in the late 1700s became a military garrison of the Mexican Army. Of course, what followed was the seige of the Alamo (which was by then occupied by Texans) by the Mexican Army. Every one of the Texans defending the fort was killed!

The defeat at The Alamo became the rallying cry for Texans as they fought for and ultimately achieved independence as the Republic of Texas. Texas eventually joined the Union in 1845 because the Republic was financially in tatters and feared an invasion by Mexican forces to take back the land. The process of joining the union took several years as Texas was a slave state and many politicians were against adding another slave state to the Union.

That evening we dined in at the hotel restaurant – Jots and then walked across the lobby to the Bar 414 Speakeasy to take in a couple of jazz sets by the Aaron Prado Trio. We have noted during our recent travels that the Speakeasy theme (dim lighting, cozy, basement locations, back alley entrances) is quite popular at jazz venues – perhaps because jazz was often featured at the original prohibition era speakeasy bars.

Day Four: After an entirely unhealthy but delicious breakfast at Paris Baguette (located in the hotel) we strolled along the Riverwalk to visit the San Fernando Cathedral.

The cathedral is the oldest standing church in Texas. The history around the cathedral is quite fascinating. The non-native population that settled here were Canary Islanders who had been selected by the Spanish government to populate the area that surrounds the cathedral. Construction of the cathedral was completed in 1755.

In 1835 during the Texas Revolution the cathedral was occupied by the Mexican Army. The army placed cannons on the rooftop and flew a red flag (no mercy) for the benefit of Texas Army soldiers at the Alamo.

The church was in poor repair as one might imagine with all of the going ons during this very turbulent time but fortunately has been beautifully restored.

After visiting the cathedral we made our way north of downtown to the Beacon Hill neighborhood for fika at Bright Coffee. Bright was recommended to us by the barista at Vela Coffee. An excellent recommendation indeed. Bright is a first rate coffee shop with friendly staff and is also an art space with paintings by local artists exhibited on a rotating basis. A very pleasant spot for fika.

The Beacon Hill neighborhood dates back to the 1850s. The neighborhood began growing in earnest as a result of the completion of the San Antonio Street Railway Trolley which ran from the city center through the Beacon Hill area out to San Pedro Springs Park. The park is the second oldest park in the United States (Boston Common is the oldest).

Today the neighborhood is home to about 5500 residents and definitely possesses an artsy “urban forward” vibe. There are many boutiques, galleries, small eateries and street murals. We stopped for lunch at the Beacon Hill Market & Deli and then set off for an afternoon of fine art.

We traveled through several exclusive residential neighborhoods in Alamo Heights on our way to the museum. Alamo Heights is actually an independent, incorporated city physically surrounded by the city of San Antonio. This enclave has its own school district and police. It is also home to multiple museums and the San Antonio Zoo. The city of San Antonio attempted to annex the Heights during the 1920s but was thwarted when residents voted to incorporate. Today this tiny city (2.1 square miles) has a population of approximately 7500 people.

The McNay Art Museum is a fantastic example of the wealth that exists in this enclave. The Spanish Colonial style building that houses the museum was once the home to local heiress Marion McNay. The original house was built in 1927 and contained 24 rooms on 23 acres of land.

As you can see from the photos above the mansion is a beautiful setting for the prestigious collection of art under the stewardship of the museum. This museum is a must see for architecture and fine art fans.

Carl Rice Embrey

After a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon at the McNay we returned to the Gunter via Uber. We treated ourselves to a cocktail at the lobby bar and some Bossa Nova on vinyl before freshening up and heading to Southtown for dinner at La Frite Belgian Bistro.

After a delicious meal we wandered around Southtown a bit before walking back to the hotel. Southtown has plenty of art, shops, restaurants and nightlife and is worth a visit.

Day Five: We decided on a slower pace at the halfway point of our tour in order to recharge for the second half of the tour. We walked around the downtown area checking out some of the historic sites and architecture. Our bonus for the day was the parade of low riders that were in town for a low rider show. The photos below are cars owned by members of the Dallas Low Riders Club.

After a short rest stop at the hotel and a cocktail in the lobby we made the three minute walk to Kaedama Battleship for dinner and sake. Quite delicious and convenient.

After dinner we took an evening stroll and eventually made our way to The Alamo to see it at night and without the crowds.

Day Six: We strolled along the Riverwalk for breakfast at Commonwealth Coffee House & Bakery Good coffee products (and French Toast) along with a very soothing and relaxing atmosphere.

One of the reasons we chose Commonwealth was that it positioned us for a short walk to the San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) just across the river.

The SAMA is housed in spectacular quarters as is the McNay Museum, although of a completely different nature. The McNay is housed in a former mansion while the SAMA made stunning use of the former Lone Star Brewing Company complex.

Lone Star Brewing Company was founded in 1884 and brewed Alamo Beer (of course!). Weirdly, Lone Star Brewing never produced a beer named Lone Star. Today Lone Star Beer is produced and sold by a completely unrelated company.

The brewery started winding down during the WWI as supplies needed for the war effort made brewing too costly and the approaching implementation of prohibition saw sales declining dramatically. The complex sat vacant until the 1970s when local philanthropists funded the purchase and renovation of the complex to house SAMA.

San Antonio Museum of Art

Below are few photos of paintings that we quite enjoyed.

Clad in an apron and clutching a laundry basket at her hip, a woman stares boldly at the viewer. She is the artist’s mother, Dolores Treviño, whom he honors through a heroic portrait that monumentalizes everyday experience and dignifies her labor as a mother and wife. Jesse Treviño first gained attention in the 1970s for his photorealistic paintings that depict people in San Antonio’s West Side neighborhood and celebrate Mexican American history, culture, and community. After tragically losing his right arm after an explosion during the Vietnam War, Treviño masterfully re-learned to paint left-handed.

After completing our tour of the galleries we lunched at Tre Trattoria. The restaurant is located within the museum complex and faces the river. A delightful way to finish our visit at SAMA. We highly recommend visiting this museum and dining at Tre Trattoria when you are in San Antonio. Also, another nice feature is the river shuttle stop at the museum which allowed us to travel back down the river to a downtown stop just five minutes from the hotel.

After our obligatory cocktail in the Gunter lobby and our pre-dinner lie down we were both in the mood for a Texas burger. The Esquire Tavern is a short walk from the Gunter and many local folks advised that if we were in the mood for a burger in downtown it was the place.

Originally named The Esquire Bar, the establishment stretches from Commerce Street to the Riverwalk. The bar was in existence before the Riverwalk – opening in 1933 to celebrate the end of Prohibition. The bar itself is reputed to be the longest bar in Texas (see photo above). Yes – the burgers are delicious!

Day Seven: Our mission on day seven was to visit two of the missions on the Mission Trail by bicycle. Of course, all activities require coffee beforehand so we started the day at Halcyon Coffee. Halcyon is located in the Blue Star Arts Complex in Southtown. The arts complex is great place for poking around with a number of galleries, retail shops and restaurants.

The arts complex is right on the Riverwalk and most conveniently has a bike rental kiosk. From Halcyon we biked south to Mission San Juan Capistrano.

Mission San Juan was established in 1731 by the Franciscan Order as part of the six missions authorized by Spain. The Spanish government wanted to establish a firm presence in East Texas to keep the French at bay while the church was desirous, as always, to convert the indigenous population to Catholicism and learn to live as civilized Spanish citizens.

From Mission San Juan we biked further south along the river to Mission San Jose.

Mission San José y San Miguel de Aguayo is known as the “Queen of the Missions”. It is by far the largest of the missions and it is in excellent condition as the result of a restoration completed in the 1930s. The restoration work was done by the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

Mission San Jose was founded in 1720. The church is the most impressive of the missions churches in our opinion from both a size and an architectural perspective. Construction of the church building began in 1768.

Mission San Jose is also well know for the weekly Mariachi Mass held every Sunday at noon. We did not attend the service but understand it is quite interesting with a mariachi band and church choir performing as part of the mass.

From Mission San Jose we biked back to Halcyon Coffee and made the always delightful transition from caffeine to cocktails (in keeping with Halcyon’s motto).

Day Eight: A beautiful day for coffee, street art hunting and live music. We started with fika at the Merit Coffee outpost on Broadway in Alamo Heights. Merit operates about a dozen cafes in Dallas, Austin and San Antonio. Each cafe is unique in regard to the interior design and consistent in maintaining quality. So, while they are continuing to add locations this is not a cookie cutter chain in the making.They operate their own roastery in San Antonio.

After fika we secured an electric sit down scooter and set out on our mural hunting expedition. Our first stop was the Hoefgen Street Walls in the near east side of the Lavaca Historic District and from there to the failed Essex Modern City project. These two areas have a large number of murals although many are suffering from neglect. Additionally, the murals at the Essex Modern City project location require some creativity to obtain photos as the project is fenced and locked. Love a challenge!

The area where the murals are concentrated is a mix of warehouses, empty buildings and some single family homes as the planned redevelopment of this area has not gone forward. As street art aficionados this area is the equivalent of finding gold!

The photos on left above and below are the murals in their current state while the photos on the right are our best effort at repairing and restoring the artists’ work and adding backgrounds for our Street Art Tourist volumes.

After wrapping up our mural pic shoot we toured the area by scooter and eventually made our way to Stranded Coffee. The cafe occupies a former Texaco Gas station in the more gentrified area of Lavaca close to the King William neighborhood. Make this your coffee stop when in Lavaca (Southtown area).

After coffee we scootered back to the Gunter for a well deserved Lie Down (even if we say so ourselves). Our evening segment took us to the St Mary’s (The Strip) District for some curry and live music (and street art).

We were not familiar with the curry and barbecue genre and it’s growing popularity prior to dining at Curry Boys BBQ. Curry Boys mix smoked meats with a variety of Vietnamese and Thai curry sauces. Tasty!

After dinner we explored the Strip before heading to The Lonesome Rose to take in some Western Swing with Sam Platts & The Plainsmen.

We had a fantastic night of listening to authentic Western Swing; we made many new acquaintances with a very friendly crowd of ranchers who are big fans of Sam and his band.

Day Nine: We decided to check out the Pearl District as part of a leisurely last day. We were beginning our walk north along the river but stopped to chat with a river shuttle driver. He was heading to the northern end of the Riverwalk without passengers in order to bring passengers south. So we continued walking north only to have him pull up to us and take us on board.

The driver had spoken with his boss and he had given him permission to give us a lift. So good – we had our own private shuttle ride from downtown to the northern end of the Riverwalk. Our driver was a very nice guy who had just relocated to San Antonio from Atlanta. He was just completing his first month driving on the river.

First stop – you know – coffee. Local Coffee is the original location of what is now Merit Coffee. The owners sold the business but retained the right to keep the Local Coffee name and the Pearl location.

The Pearl complex is another stylishly renovated brewery. The Pearl Brewing Company dates back to 1883 but closed its doors in 2001. Pearl Beer and Lone Star are still sold in Texas with the manufacturing subcontracted to Pabst.

Hotel Emma

The Hotel Emma opened in the former Pearl Brewhouse in 2015 after several years of renovation. The architects preserved a substantial amount of the brewing equipment while creating a luxurious space.

We finished our visit to the hotel with a late luncheon on the patio. Delicious, of course.

San Antonio is the seventh largest city by population in the United States. It feels like a much smaller city to us, perhaps because of its many distinctive neighborhoods. This is a city worth exploring and offers an array of excellent museums, historic sights, live music, specialty coffee, fine dining and street art. Also, our weather in mid March was delightful with 75F to 80F daytime highs and lots of sunshine. Remember the Alamo!

Be seeing you!

Texarkana to Marathon: Howdy Y’all

21/08/2023 by Maria+Stephen, posted in 4WD Drive, Biking, Camping, Coffee, Dining, Hiking, Texas, The American West, Travel

Our first stop in Texas was the town of Texarkana (TXK), a twin city with Texarkana, Arkansas. TXK sits on the western side of the Texas/Arkansas border. Our purpose in stopping off in TXK was to purchase a new tire for Maria’s bike as she had suffered a tire destroying flat on our previous ride in Little Rock.

We had not planned on stopping in TXK and therefore knew little about the town other than its twin city status. When we entered the downtown area to access the bike shop we were caught off guard at how run down the town appeared. The streets were largely deserted and many of the buildings were dilapidated and vacant.

A quick online inquiry revealed that TXK has one of the highest crime rates in the U.S. and a poverty rate of 25%. As another indication of the problems the town is experiencing we found that while the bike shop was open for business, the entrance door is locked at all times and customers are only admitted after stating your business. When we brought Maria’s bike in for repair we could not help but notice that all of the shop’s inventory of bikes were chained together!

This is one of the few towns where we really felt uncomfortable and decided not to poke around other than taking some photos of street art we had passed on the way into town.

In lieu of burgers, we found a bbq joint about thirty miles south of TXK in Atlanta, Texas. The Texas BBQ was very rustic, but we would have to say the bbq was pretty dang tasty!

Atlanta, Texas was named after the city in Georgia as a number of the settlers arriving in 1871 were from the city of Atlanta, Georgia. The arrival of the Texas and Pacific Railroad in the same year was a boon to the area’s main economic activity – timber (the piney woods of East Texas) as it allowed the efficient transport of lumber. The town also benefited from the discovery of oil in 1935, which greatly helped the town survive the Great Depression.

About two hours south of Atlanta sits the town of Nacogdoches. The town is considered to be the oldest town in Texas – having by founded by the Spanish in 1779. What is now the town was a Caddo Indian Settlement from approximately 800 A.D. until the early 1700s when the Spanish arrived and began building missions, displacing the Caddo.

While Nacogdoches is considered the oldest town in Texas, the bigger claim to fame is The Battle of Nacogdoches which started in 1835 and was a precursor to the Texas Revolution. At this point in history, Texas was part of Mexico, although there were many settlers from the United States residing there in addition to the Tejanos. One of the major issues the U.S. settlers had with Mexico was over slavery. Mexico abolished slavery in 1829 and the U.S. settlers were dependent on slavery for their economic prosperity. Eventually, Texas seceded from Mexico (Remember the Alamo!) and was an independent republic for just under ten years. Texas was admitted as a state in 1845.

Today, Nacogdoches is an attractive town with a well preserved downtown brimming with mercantile establishments and red brick streets. The economy that once depended heavily on cotton, timber and tobacco now is centered around the Stephen F. Austin State University which brings 12,000 students to the town.

Always looking for bike trails and with several days until our camping reservation at Mustang Island SP, we detoured slightly inland to the town of Spring, which is located just north of metro Houston. The area is densely populated and covered with the usual urban/suburban sprawl that we tend to avoid. However, the trail looked interesting, and it is billed as the longest urban forested greenway in the United States. We are really glad we opted to check it out. It was a lush oasis in the middle of a crowded metro area.

After spending two days cycling on the greenway we departed Spring for Mustang Island SP (MISP) which is located a short distance from Corpus Christi. This was our first stay at the Texas shore. The camping spots were just off the beach behind the dunes and as an added bonus the beaches in this area allow vehicles to drive on the beach!

We stayed three days at MISP. We divided our time between bicycling along the shore road, walking and driving on the beach and, of course, drinking coffee and tea at Island Joe’s Coffee and Gallery (made from containers – see photos below). All in all, a good first experience at the Texas shore – our only complaint being the windy nights which curtailed sitting by the campfire.

Our next destination on the Texas State Park portion of OTR 9.0 was Garner State Park (GSP). GSP is located in the Hill Country west of San Antonio. Therefore, we felt compelled to pop into San Antonio to check out Estate Coffee Company. Estate is a small batch roaster with a minimalist espresso bar and cafe in downtown. Estate was excellent and the stop gave us a nicely timed break on the four hour drive to GSP.

The Frio River (Rio Frio) runs through GSP and provides about three miles of river access within the park. This was most fortunate for us as the weather in Hill Country was a matching set of 85s – temperature and humidity! We had luckily secured a campsite directly above the river and we were able to access the river via a five minute walk. We spent much of our two days at GSP sitting or wading in the river. P.S. While there was a feral hog alert in effect we fortunately did not encounter any of the beasts during our stay!

Seminole Canyon SP & Historic Site (SCSP) was the next stop on our journey west across South Texas. SCSP opened to the public as a state park in 1980. The land that now encompasses the park was privately owned until the late 1970s. The state purchased the land to protect and preserve more than 200 pictographs located in the canyon and caves, which date back 7000 years.

***Seminole Canyon, Nine Miles West of Comstock, Tex***as

We hiked the Canyon Rim Trail which provided spectacular views of the Seminole and Presa Canyons. The rim trail leads to the park’s southern boundary at the Rio Grande River with Mexico directly beyond.

We also broke out the bicycles for some dirt riding on the Rio Grande Trail. While one of us had a minor crash (see video below) our early evening ride was lots of fun and provided beautiful views of the Rio Grande and Mexico!

Our final stop before heading to Big Bend NP (see our post Three Nights in the Backcountry) was the town of Marathon (pronounced Marathen). We made a brief stop in Marathon in March 2020 en route back to Connecticut during our pandemic-shortened trip. As with the majority of towns we traveled through on our way home, Marathon was locked down tight. With a population of just 365 it was deserted for all intents and purposes. We made a note to return on a future trip to stay at the charming Gage Hotel and check out the town.

Marathon is a straight shot west from SCSP on State Route 90. We had traveled SR90 on our 2020 trip and recalled that significant sections were not attractive, There was a fair amount of truck traffic hauling oil from the fields along 90 and a lot of Border Patrol activity. We decided to attempt to wend our way through the maze of ranch roads using our DeLorme Atlas. We also figured that we could use the east-west Union Pacific Rail Line as a rough guide. We made good progress but eventually ran into a locked gate and after considering our options decided to backtrack until we could intersect with the 90 and finish the trip on the highway. A fun adventure nonetheless!

Ranch Road Adventure

One of the items you will become accustomed to seeing (not necessarily appreciating) driving through (and camping) farm and cattle country is the carcass pit. The carcass pit is just what it sounds like – when farm and ranch animals die (for whatever reason) they are hauled to holes that have been dug at various locations on the property and thrown into the pit to decompose.

You might go right by a pit while rumbling down a dirt road if you didn’t know that ranchers often use a skull as sign post (see photo below). In theory carcass pits need to follow state approved methods to avoid contaminating water as well as discouraging scavengers from dragging contaminated carcasses from the pit. While there are groups trying to end the practice I do not foresee that happening anytime soon – livestock mortality is a fact of life on ranches and farms.

In a future post we will share our experiences and thoughts on two cool towns in Far West Texas – Marathon and Alpine. We hope you found this post interesting and informative.

Be seeing you!

Pinto Canyon—Rugged and Beautiful Texas—But First, Food!

31/05/202308/06/2023 by Maria+Stephen, posted in 4WD Drive, Scenic Drive, Travel, Western history

While visiting the towns of Marathon and Alpine we met several people that recommended we eat at Bordo if we were going to be in the vicinity of Marfa. We were fortunate that the eatery was open on Sunday from 11:00AM to 3:00PM as were going to be passing through Marfa that day on our way to drive the Pinto Canyon.

Bordo opened in March. It is an Italian market and retaurant serving house made pasta and sandwiches. They bake all of their bread in a brick oven which sits outside on the patio. We had a delicious meal which prepared us well for the adventure ahead. If you plan on visiting Marfa we highly recommend Bordo be on your food itinerary!

Pinto Canyon

We drove south from Marfa for about thirty miles on a ranch road where the pavement ended. We found ourselves sitting at the top of the spectacular Pinto Canyon.

We have wanted to drive the Pinto Canyon since we read an article entitled The Road to Nowhere which chronicles the experience of the author tackling the canyon road. Finding this article was quite fortuitous — otherwise we would never known about the canyon.

The canyon has an interesting history. The first people arrived here around 13,000 years ago. These hunter-gathers were eventually displaced by the Apache that were dominant in the Big Bend.

Pinto Canyon Road

Texas authorized settlers to buy as much as 5000 acres of land in the ealy 1900s which brought a number of families into the canyon. The combination of drought, the Spanish Influenza (1918), the Mexican American War, the 1929 market crash and the ensuing depression sealed the fate of the settlers and the canyon. A handful of the settlers persevered but the canyon was all but abandoned.

***Impressive Longhorn*** ***at Pinto Canyon Ranch***

Today the vast majority of the the 15 square mile canyon is owned by one person — a retired CEO — and the canyon is a working cattle ranch (see photo above). We find the fact that one person can own all of this beauty in the middle of the Chinatti Mountains hard to fathom, but we are glad that you can at least traverse the canyon on the road (which is owned by the county).

The Un-cooperative Horse

After making our way down through the canyon we turned west and followed FM 170 to the end of the pavement in Candelaria. The FM winds through the Chihuahuan Desert along the U.S. side of the Rio Grande. The 50 mile road from Presidio to Candelaria was not paved until 1985.

At one point Candelaria was an agricultural town — growing crops in the wet areas along the Rio Grande. However, after the Mexican American War the army abandoned their encampment in Candelaria and the farmers had no buyers for their crops and no way to get their product to Presidio 50 miles east on a rough dirt road that often flooded.

Subsequently, the population declined from a high of about 300 to the current population estimated at 75 people. The only non-residential structure that we could see in Candelaria is the Catholic church pictured above. This small settlement is literally at the end of the road and looks and feels very much an off the grid enclave.

At Candelaria we had a decision to make — attempt to cross 40 miles of desert to connect with Route 90 or circle back around on the pavement. Based on the time of the day and the amount of rough road we had already covered we opted for the longer mileage but comfort of the pavement.

Border Patrol

As we turned north to head for our hotel we unsurprisingly encountered a Border Patrol checkpoint. We have been through dozens of checkpoints in our travels in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.

Some of the checkpoints are permanent while others are mobile. The Border Patrol only stops and inspects vehicles heading north as their only purpose is to stop illegal imigrants entering from Mexico.

We think the checkpoints are a bad use of taxpayer money—regardless of your view on immigration—the investment in technology and people to staff these checkpoints is significant. The payback is small as the vast majority of people attempting to enter the country illegally are not hitching rides in the automobiles of U.S. citizens.

Valentine

Our journey north took us through the town of Valentine. The town’s origins, like may others in this part of Texas, rests with the railroad. Crews from the Southern Pacific Railroad laying track from the West stopped here on 14 Feb 1882 to rest. Subsequently, the town became a layover point for train crews and a cattle shipping point.

With the building of Ranch-to-Market roads livestock began to be shipped by truck and the town’s fortunes along with the population declined. Many abandoned buildings still stand in testament to the past. As you can see the church (below) has been well maintained despite the hard times. The current population is estimated at 134. Why people stay is a mystery but we were not disposed to ask any of the remaining residents.

Valentine does have one big event that draws folks from many points on the compass. Every year on Valentine’s Day there is a festival in town to celebrate the town’s namesake holiday. And, of course, the Post Office does a booming business postmarking Valentine’s Day cards!

By pure chance we happened on the Prada “Installation” which sits on the side of US Route 90 about 1.4 miles north of Valentine. As you may know, Marfa has become an unlikely art hub in the far west reaches of Texas. We have visited Marfa and it is a fun town to visit. There are a number of excellent restaurants and the Paisano is a great hotel. However, the minimalist art of Donald Judd and others does not resonate with us, although it clearly does with others far more knowledgable than us.

The Prada installation pictured above was placed on the side of Route 90 in 2005. On the first night after completion the installation was vandalized. The shoes and purses were stolen and the building was spray painted with the word “Dumb”. Apparently, not everyone agreed with the artists’ description of the work as “pop architectural land art”. While we do not support the vandalism we do not see any meaningful conceptual or artistic value to building a replica of a Prada store on the side of a rural highway.

After our brief contemplation of the merits of the Prada installation, we completed our day’s journey in Van Horn with a stay at the El Capitain. The hotel is a classic Spanish style western hotel. We really enjoy the feel and look of this style hotel (a future post will showcase several of our hotel stays in Texas).

Our next destination is Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Pictured below is El Capitain—the first mountain you see in the range as you drive to the park from the south.

Be seeing you!

Three Nights in the Backcountry: Big Bend National Park(BBNP)

10/05/2023 by Maria+Stephen, posted in 4WD Drive, Camping, National Park, Overlanding, Travel

In March of 2020 OTR made our first visit to BBNP. Unfortunately, our timing was bad — the Covid Pandemic had finally made its way to Texas and the park closed the gates. We needed to leave the park after just two days.

BBNP was created in 1944 by Congressional Act and signed by then President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The deed for the park covered 700,000 acres of Chihuahuan Desert along the Rio Grande. Today, the park encompasses a little over 800,000 acres.

The park is one of the least visited National Parks, although it had its highest visitation in 2021. We can only surmise why this would be when this park offers so much stunning beauty – the Chiso Massive, desert, canyons and dark sky. There are probably several reasons – its remote location in Far West Texas abutting the Mexican border, the heat for much of the year and a lot of terrain accessible only by very rough roads.

Day one

Because we were entering the park from the north we decided to immediately drive the backcountry loop out to see the Dagger Yuca Forest. Fortunately, our timing was perfect— the Yucca were blooming.

From Dagger Flats we needed to secure our permits for camping in the backcountry. Backcountry camping in BBNP requires traversing rough 4WD drive roads and means that you will be on your own and in some cases in a very remote area of the park.

For our first night of camping we selected an area deep in the southeastern area of the park which is the desert floor (1700 feet above sea level). We followed the River Road East to its terminus a few miles north of the Rio Grande; the 25 mile journey took about 2.5 hours (slow going but exciting).

Our journey took us past an abandoned (but still toxic) mercury mine and provided phenomenal views of the Chisos Mouontains. Additionally, we encountered a herd of horses that we thought were feral but later learned are horses from Mexico that wandered across the border.

Day two

Our camping perch was a short distance from the Mariscal Mountains so we were able to get an early start hiking in the Mariscal Canyon and avoid the afternoon heat where the temperatures reach 95F this time of year.

We also learned that in addition to horses plenty of cattle from Mexico have found there way across the Rio Grande. When we later asked a ranger about the cattle he indicated that there are over 1000 head of cattle from Mexico in the park.

After our hike we retraced our route back east on the River Road until were back on asphalt and then motored north to drive up through the Chisos and into the Chisos Basin.

After taking in the views of the Chisos from the basin we headed back south to our camping spot for night two. We had another great camping spot in the shadow of the Chillicotal Mountain. From our camping area we had a 360 degree view – the views to the south were of mountains across the Rio Grande in Mexico.

Day three

Our campsite at Chilicotal was only about four miles from the Pine Canyon trailhead so we again got an early start to be off the trail before the worst of the heat.

Pine Canyon Road, BBNP

After finishing our hike up into the spectacular Spring Canyon we circled up across the northern section of the park to connect with the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive. The scenic drive connected us to southwestern area of the park along the Rio Grande.

The four photos directly above are the of the Rio Grande. The far shore is Mexico. The canyon in the final photo bottom right is Saint Elena. The left canyon wall is Mexico while the right canyon wall is the United States.

After cooling off in the Rio Grande we connected with the Maverick Road to head north for our final night of camping at a site nearTerlingua Abaya. Terlingua Abayo is an abandoned town on the banks of Terlingua Creek. The town was at one time a thriving agricultural community supplying produce for local ranchers and miners employed by the Quicksilver mines in the area. The town existed from 1900 until around 1930 when the mines ceased operations.

Terlingua Abaya Road, BBNP

day four

On day four we traveled north on the Maverick Road to exit the park and make our way north for a two day stay in Alpine. Before heading to Alpine we spent part of the day in Terlingua Ghost Town — home to Espresso Y Poco Mas — our coffee hangout from our previous visit to BBNP.