Friday, January 6, 2012

Marathon, Texas

Yesterday was spent hiking the nearby Amistad Recreation Area, next to Del Rio. 

Amistad means "friendship" in Spanish, as the Mexican and American governments built this reservoir together.  It is an oasis in a desert !

This morning, we were on the road fairly early
( for us ! ), and our first stop was the Pecos River overlook. 


The view was amazing, and I wish they would allow overnight camping, but they don't.


Not much farther down the road, we came to the town of Langtry which is famous for one of it's most colorful residents - Judge Roy Bean.


Being from Canada, we did not know a lot about the Judge, but it sure was fun learning about him.


Apparently he was known to be quite eccentric, and he came up with some very unusual rulings. 

His office was also the local saloon !


He also was infatuated with an actress named Lillie, and told her he was building an opera building, however, this building was nothing more than his house.


I don't know if you have ever driven this stretch of Texas, but I am telling you there is NOTHING out there.  We drove for miles without seeing a town and there were very few vehicles either.


We are parked up in a Passport America ( $12.50 ) park, and tomorrow we should arrive in Big Bend National Park.

7 comments:

  1. Glad you are safe and having a good time. Keep writing!
    Hugs from the two of us.
    Ed & Marilyn

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  2. Looking forward to pics of Big Bend National Park...always wanted to visit there.

    www.travelwithkevinandruth.com

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  3. Driving thru Texas many times, it just takes forever! not a lot to see. just keep ongoing we like the Texas rest areas stop early free wifi and secure too. Or checkout a few places along the way. Have fun!

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  4. We lived there form 1999-2003. Looks like nothing has changed :-) We really enjoyed our time there. Russell's True Value in Del Rio is unlike any T.V. anywhere. They sell high end china, and even have a bridal registry. We caught some nice fish in Amistad!

    Todd Temple

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  5. It is so much fun to see new places and learn the history of those places. Great pictures.

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  6. You are headed toward one of our favorite places. (Of course, we're developing a long list of favorite places.) Big Bend is simply awesome! Enjoy!!!

    Here's a link to the first of our "Big Bend" posts on our blog. Hope it helps. http://www.bullwinklestravels.blogspot.com/2011/03/big-bend-rio-grande-village.html

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  7. Never been in that are before.....different for sure.

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