Terlingua is hard to describe. It's the people, the landscape, the buildings, the history, and the fact that it was a ghost town just a few decades ago. I thought I should do a video, driving from one end of town to the other (less than 1 km) so you can experience it too. You might want to turn your volume down as I did this holding the camera out the sunroof and there's quite a bit of wind noise. Check out the adobe "tiny home" at about 0:42 . Very Texas! We are starting at the High Sierra Bar and Grill, near the highway, and ending at the General Store/Starlight Theater. BTW there is a resident dog at the High Sierra that will bring you progressively larger sticks, until you give him some food. I caved at a 5' long, 3" log.
There were a lot more vehicles in the General Store's parking lot than I ever remembered. It seems we happened to arrive just as the Sunday afternoon jam session was getting underway.
And just a bit more, to highlight some of the "characters" of Terlingua.
Guess where we're going today..... Maverick Ranch is the RV park where we are staying. The Lajitas Mesa towers above it, about a mile to the north.
I've been wanting to go up there ever since I first saw it. Today I did, with the drone. Lots of video today, hope you enjoy it. I've had to use Youtube to upload these videos because Blogger has a 100MB limit per video. The first video was nearly 1GB. I'm glad the park has great wifi. And away we go!
Flying toward the Lajitas Mesa and some views of the town.
At around 1300 ft above the launch point the drone told me it was at max altitude, just shy of being able to clear the rim. Some incredible scenery from up here.
More flying around the rim. The Mesa is about 3700 ft above sea level.
Towards the end of the return trip, and a fly over.
Hope you enjoyed watching these. It sure was fun making them. The next post will cover Terlingua. There is so much to see and do here, the posts will be coming every day or two.
This is what keeps us coming back to Big Bend on every trip. The scenery is amazing and never ending.
That's the Rio Grande river.
An excerpt from "The Ultimate Big Bend National Park Travel Guide"
Forget the physical address—Big Bend National Park is not in Texas. It’s in “far west Texas,” which is so isolated and so completely different from the rest of the region in both personality and terrain that it might as well be its own state. The whole scene has an edge-of-the-world quality to it, from the mountains that seem to rise out of nowhere, like some geographical mistake on the horizon, to the sandy terrain that shimmers in the midday sun. The juxtaposition of these vistas and the subtlety of life that thrives within it is fascinating, too. You can see the guide here: https://www.outsideonline.com/2409231/big-bend-national-park-travel-guide#close
This post will have a lot of pictures and video. I have not yet mastered the art of editing video, so kindly excuse the raw clips, under/over exposures etc. I often feel completely overwhelmed by technology and it shows. A morning bike ride to some serious elevation near the RV Park. The Lajitas Overlook Trail. I also found out (on the way back down) that even e-bikes are subject to "brake fade". It was close to 3 kms downhill and I had to stop several times to let the brakes cool.
A short drone flight to (almost) inside Mexico.
A bit of hill climbing in the car.
A drone flight into a canyon over the Rio Grande. Mexico is on the left side heading out, on the right returning. It's a very long clip, just jump ahead when it gets boring.
The hiking/biking trails here are amazing. Hundreds of miles of trails across mountains, canyons and desert will get you really and truly "out in the middle of nowhere".
Dare to be different!
I had my second flat tire here. It was another thorn, in the front this time, but a slow leak so I was able to make it back. Terlingua has a bike shop so I took the tire there to be patched. The owner bestowed on me some biker wisdom...."if your bike has 4" wide tires you have twice the chance of getting a flat compared to someone riding on 2" wide tires". You can't argue with the logic, but I wouldn't trade the fat tires for anything.
After Del Rio we stayed 2 days in Alpine, TX. En route to Alpine we stopped in Sanderson, to visit what is probably the most eclectic store in Texas. Very artsy, much of it made in Mexico I think, and there are literally hundreds of thousands of items for sale.
Alpine is a small town best known for it's many food trucks (in season), outstanding kolaches from the Baker's Dozen Bakery, and the Holland Hotel. This is the lobby. Very, very, "Texas".
...and Harry's Tinaja, a roadside bar. Also very "Texas".
Harry's doesn't serve food, so being thirsty and a bit hungry we stopped at a nearby grocery store for a bag of nachos and guacamole which we enjoyed on Harry's patio, with a couple of "Dos XX's". A $10 lunch doesn't get any better.
I have been wanting to show some of the more extravagant RV's we have come across. Here is a short clip of a $2,000,000+ Marathon Coach leaving the park in Alpine.
Driving from Alpine to Lajitas is a real treat. The speed limit is 70 MPH on a winding and hilly two lane highway. About half way through the clip you can see a yellow sign suggesting you slow to 55 MPH for the next curve.
The day we arrived in Lajitas it was 80 degrees, the next day 40 and rain. Since we are staying in a private park and not a state or national park I hope to get the drone in the air for some aerial shots. Unfortunately, drones are prohibited in all state and national parks.
We spent 4 days at Lake Corpus Christi State Park, about an hour's drive from Mustang Island. I found out I could buy a Texas Park Pass and save $15 per day on park fees. The total cost of our stay here was; the pass and our park fees were paid for out of our deposit, plus we got a $2.50 refund. Sweet deal! It was here that I managed to fall off the bike for the first time on one of the trails. It was very narrow and winding with thorny bushes on both sides. I came around a tight corner and was almost whacked in the face by one of the fore-mentioned bushes. I ducked and swerved right and ended up on my ass in another bunch of the same bushes on the opposite side of the trail. No real harm done, just a few scratches, and the bike was fine.....for a while. A few hundred yards from our campsite it became very hard to pedal and felt mushy. A flat rear tire. There are no bike shops in Mathis Texas, so once again, off to the auto parts store for a patch kit and valve core tool. The tire had a thorn in it which had punctured the tube. All fixed in an hour or so. If you want it done right (or at all), do it yourself!
From now on I'll be carrying the patch kit with me. And maybe a few band-aids....and a blanket and a granola bar....Oh! and maybe a beer or two!
Darlene has been working hard at mastering the skill of riding her bike. She never learned to ride as a child (overprotective mother) and is braving the possible consequences now.
Javelinas are often seen here. These pig-like creatures (actually more closely related to the hippopotamus), are mostly harmless unless cornered. Although they are herbivores, they have wicked fangs for the sole purpose of self defense. They usually travel in groups of 10 or more. This group of about 6 were right behind our campsite,
Another hour's drive got us to Choke Canyon State Park. The park's dubious distinction is; this is as far west as you are likely to find alligators. (after here, it's just snakes). And here's a fun fact, Texas has 9 different kinds of rattlesnakes plus the Texas Coral snake, the Cottonmouth and the Copperhead. This poster was in the park office.
Wildlife is abundant here. Cardinals are seen in the hundreds. If you ever wondered where they go in the winter, this must be the place.
And deer are everywhere. When I opened the door this morning, these two were there to greet me. They are not shy or afraid. Hunting or feeding them is strictly forbidden in the park, and that makes for a harmonious relationship.
Next we head to Del Rio TX, the Broke Mill RV Park. We have stopped in here every time we're out this way. It's a great place to fill the fridge and freezer before heading into the "outback" of Texas. And diesel is 60 cents per gallon cheaper here than any place west. We'll be filling up here.
This was a bit of a disappointment weatherwise. The day we arrived it was 75 and sunny. The next day it really cooled off and the wind blew hard for the remainder of our stay. Mustang Island had been closed for 18 months after hurricane Harvey. The washrooms/showers had to be torn down and rebuilt and the park office building is still boarded up. The main beach parking lot was turned into a river by the receding flood waters. Here is an aerial view courtesy of google earth.
And a picture from the ground taken shortly after the storm.
All of this had to be filled in and re-paved. The electrical and water services in the campground had to be completely re-done. But the beach survived. You can drive for miles on this beach and camp just about anywhere tent, trailer or motor-home.
So, for the past 2 months we have been traveling from the Atlantic, westward along the gulf, racking up the beach time whenever the weather allowed. And the weather has been great for the most part. I had hoped to have the fuel filter changed in Corpus Christi. After calling at least a dozen "truck type" garages, not a single one was willing or able. So off I went to Napa for a filter and a hardware store for a filter wrench and bucket. An hour and about $40 later, problem solved. Now it's time to head inland and experience the other side of Texas, where everything either bites, scratches or stings.
Every time we stop here we find a few more things Galveston has to offer. History, night life, all kinds of restaurants, 32 miles of beach and..... Kolaches. You can find kolaches at any donut shop, although most sell more kolaches than donuts. A kolache is a "piggy in a blanket" on steroids. A medium size weenie in a pastry that defies description. They come plain or with a pepper jack cheese stuffed jalapeno alongside the weenie, all kept cozy inside the pastry. Add a little dijon and you have breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Oil rigs are numerous here. These two are probably here for a re-fit. They are enormous!
Cruise ships are here just about every day. Oddly I haven't noticed the usual hoards of cruise people in town. The historical downtown always seems civilized and is relatively quiet.
With 32 miles of mostly uninterrupted beach, I was able to do some serious biking. The pier is like an amusement park and also houses the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company restaurant.
I have put over 450 kms on the bike now. One thing that have really been wanting to upgrade is the saddle. I visited a bike shop here that is also a dealer for my bike, a Rad Rover. I picked up a really cool "Gel Padded" cruiser saddle made by Serfas. Their motto is "Protecting your junk since 1998". You've gotta love the "tell it like it is" motto, and I'm lovin' my new perch. Its the difference between a concrete slab and an armchair. Here's a picture of the pier at night, lots of neon.
