Strange Creatures of Marathon and the Big Bend

Kangaroo Rats, White Buffalo, and

Famous Burro in Marathon, Texas

We left from the Hillsboro area ranch in southern New Mexico around noon on Friday, stopped off in Las Cruces for lunch. Made it through El Paso just before rush hour. We are in something of a rush to get back to our old ranch house in Llano to finish the solar power project.

However, we figured we could not come so close to one of our favorite areas, the Big Bend, with out a quick visit. Google maps had us a new route to take to Marathon via Hovey Road. Turns out Hovey road runs thirty miles from Interstate 10 between Balmorea and Fort Stockton to down near Alpine, all dirt road, with very little sign of human habitation. It was dark when we turned down it, and we hoped we did not get lost. Turns out the dirt road was fairly smooth going, though would not want to be on it when wet. We saw several mule deer, cottontail rabbits , and three times we laughed as kangaroo rat scurried across the road. One of them jumped a couple of feet straight up in the air, hence the name, Kangaroo Rat.

We were quite glad when we did not get lost and got back to pavement. We arrived in Marathon at around 8:00, set up our tent at the Marathon RV Park.

Then we drove down to our favorite pub, the White Buffalo Bar at the historic Gage Hotel, http://www.gagehotel.com/ . We were in luck as Mike was working and another guy who recognized us, so we were welcomed like we came in all the time, even though we had not been there since January. Mike told us about an interesting new art site related to Alpine, where he lives: http://thesecretplaceoftexas.com/index.html


After drinks and some good bar food, we ambled down the street to a new restuarant in town: Famous Burro, http://www.famousburro.com// , where Matt works as bar tender now. The Famous Burro is a former service station ? being turned in to a very cool place by Neil from Austin. Neil has done an awesome job on the place since we were there in January!

Call the Famous Burro at (432) 386-4100 .

Next morning we got up, fixed breakfast, broke down our camp, shopped for camping food at The French Grocer, gassed up, then drove toward Big Bend National Park . We stopped at a nice TxDot picnic area for lunch on the way. Very interesting historical marker there about the exotic mountain range and other geology near by.

As we arrived at the entrance station to Big Bend National Park , http://www.nps.gov/bibe ,we realized we had left our park pass in our truck camper, The Global Warmer, back in Santa Fe. Duhhhhhh.

Instead of getting in free we had to pay $20. For the first time ever we did not stop at the Panther Junction Visitor Center but instead headed directly on down the many miles and through the tunnel to Rio Grand Village Camping area.

Though tired as we set up our tent, the afternoon weather was fabulous, so we put our folding bikes together and road over to take a shower at the Rio Grande Village Store.


Beaver With Dinner
We came back and fixed our dinner, and as usual, carried our plates and wine over to the beaver pond. Ducks and other water birds flying in at sunset, great stars in this the least light polluted of all the US National Parks. Saw a shooting star! Lots of nature sounds, including the beavers pounding their tales on the water to get us to leave.
Next morning we took our coffee over and once again enjoyed the beaver pond and view of the mountains.


Mexico Burros Call Across the Border, Coyotes Kill in the Night

Several times both nights we were delighted to hear burros braying from the lonely fincas just accross the river in Mexico. The border crossing to Boquillas village is still closed after 9-11, so the folks there cannot come to the Rio Grande village store nor may tourists cross the narrow river and visit. Pity. We also heard coyotes howling numerous times ! Though they are rarely seen, bears and mountain lions also inhabit the park. Though there is little danger, still gives one pause on those night time trips from the tent to the toilet. Wild.

Next day we ran into some people we have met before who come from Michigan every winter to spend some weeks in Rio Grande Village campground in their RV. John and Joann are avid birders, bikers, and kayakers.



We rode our bikes again and saw a olive warbler which is rare, the usual funny roadrunners, chrissal thrasher singing its heart out, two others answering accross the road, which are supposedly hard to see. Took a long nap since we were worn out from all the miles since we left Llano.

White Bat
We were making our Sunday night dinner at the table under the shelter when a bat flew out twice. A white bat! Whoa, never saw a white bat before! We went over to the pond again and saw a beautiful vermillion flycatcher, other bats that appeared to have holes in their wings, grebes, great blue heron, night heron.

We washed dishes and then went to a Volunteer Interpretive Program at the Rio Grande Village Campground Amphitheatre. The topic: Endangered Species of Big Bend and Texas.

This was great after our just completed experience with WildEarth Guardians, http://wildearthguardians.org// !

Long And Winding Road
At two nights this is our shortest trip ever to the Big Bend area. We left with a little feeling of regret, but we want to get back to Llano and get the solar project finished, see some of Austin friends and relatives, then back to Santa Fe before coming back again to leave from Houston January 25 for a trip to Costa Rica. Love those free air fare trips on air miles.

Stopped again at the same nice picnic area for lunch. Drove through Marathon and somewhere on the road to Fort Stockton we were greated with the sight of roadside colony of prairie dogs. We had just seen pictures of them in the presentation on endangered species of Big Bend. Wonder if these are the same species....


At Fort Stockton we stopped for a quick pick of the City's huge Roadrunner sculpture, gassed and coffeed up, and hit Interstate 10 for the trip to Llano. Laura drove and sang, while I typed this blog and uploaded pictures.

A 1,761 Mile Round Trip for Wildlife
We made it to Mason just before dark, and were glad we did not run over any deer the last 30 miles into Llano. Always a hazard to drive in the Texas Hill Country at night. We left Llano on a Monday, and returned on a Monday, traveled 1,761 miles. Whew!

All was well when we arrived at our old shack, which is reportedly Llano's oldest ranch house north of the river, now surrounded by the inner 'city.'

We were glad to be able to sleep in our bed after the long road trip, and look forward to use of the kitchen for coffee in the morning. As we gaze out at the Llano River and the fall colors we are thankful for a wonderful life. We did hard time in the halls of the American High School, and now we reap the rewards of retirement.

All those years they took out extra money for our retirement we rarely thought of making it to this day. We are so thankful! Thank you, also, to those people of the State of Texas who set up the Teacher Retirement System, such as it is. Thank you.

As time permits, we will cross post this entry with many more pictures on our pages at http://www.blogger.com/www.traveljournals.net/rmalone . Now outside to dig a deeper trench and bury the solar wire in conduit before the cool temps warm up.