Marathon to El Paso, TX

As I mentioned in the last post we stayed in the town of Marathon, just north of Big Bend National Park, and were surprised at how much we liked it. I mean it's just a one street town and at first glance there's not a whole lot to it. But our friends, Priscilla and John, had stayed there and recommended the Marathon Motel & RV Park which is where we stayed and found everyone very friendly....nice view of the surrounding mountains and within easy distance of Big Bend. The town has amongst a few other businesses a very nice hotel, The Gage, and with a fabulous restaurant attached to it where we had a 5 star dinner one night. We have decided this is a really cool little town.

At the camp ground Bill is returning from a round up of dog's balls lost in the dust. He said he only needed a couple of good long throws on that dirt road and the dogs were done in....probably choking on desert dust.

A building next to the campground.

On a building in downtown Marathon. Texas is big on Texas. Well it does have a good looking flag.

These skulls were artistically arranged in one of the courtyards at the Gage Hotel and the bar in the hotel is named the "White Buffalo Bar" and has a real white buffalo head mounted on the wall. What a creature and a good story to go with it. We were told that it actually died of old age, not by the gun or arrow.

Some storm clouds over the mountains that brought us cold, high 20's by morning, but no precipitation. They only get about a tiny amount of rain in this region and there's dust to prove it.

You see windmills like this all over Texas bringing precious water up to the surface. This one is in the campground.

A little wimsy.

I had never seen these birds before, Scaled Quail. Click on the pictures for a closer look.

On the road between Marathon and El Paso, our next destination.

This herd of antelope were along route 90, west of the town of Marfa I think..if you know that area...they were grazing in the most beautiful grasses and were very obliging subjects. We've seen lots and lots of antelope on the plains in numerous western states .

Next stop New Mexico.