The side of the Alamo Wall Smells Like Pee

I made my way to San Antonio and looked for a place to park near the Alamo. Not wanting to pay 15 bucks for a few hours I found a place for $2.50. It literally pays to be patient. My patience came in handy again at night.

The Alamo was cool, free, and crowded. I am glad I saw it even though I chose to skip the Mission Tour. The Mission driving tour would have been cool but I was done with cities. After a nice walk on the Riverwalk and around the beautiful city it was time to head out.

I made the 6 hour drive to Fort Davis knowing it would be closed. Man this drive was desolate until I got to Fort Stockton area. Sometimes you can enter the National Parks after their visitor center closes and that’s what I was hoping for. Fort Davis was very large and looked interesting, but will have to wait for another trip.

I pulled into Marfa very sleepy and it was only 6:30. The Mystery Lights can only be seen at night. So, I got a place to stay. I made friends with the managers Tracy and Ricky. They informed me I should head out to the lights viewing area during the day so I could read the info they had set up. That’s what I did and it was a great suggestion. Once back they helped me out with local info and looked at my New Mexico maps with me. Many people come to West Texas for Big Bend National Park so I was torn what to do. I decided it would have to wait for another trip so I wasn’t going out of my way.

I made my way to the viewing area and there I sat, and sat, and sat. My eyes became tired of looking at darkness, but at least the stars were BEAUTIFUL! I just couldn’t leave without seeing them. I drove out of my way for this and on the drive debated whether it was worth it. I kept thinking if I left then they would come out. Finally around 11pm they appeared. Strange lights that got brighter, split, faded away and moved in squiggles or horizontal. They weren’t as big as I was expecting, but, I saw them!

Thoughts from the road:

A cool TX trip, although touristy, would be Austin to Frederiksberg. Fredericksburg to Bandera. Bandera to San Antonio, then back to Austin. Not sure the correct spelling of Fred______burg.

I got a nice hotel room and hot breakfast for only $38. Don’t think I’ll find that again.

There are some crazy aggressive drivers in TX. They need to stop tailgating!

The turnarounds in TX cities are weird.

I like Spanish influenced architecture.

I forgot to get postcards of New Orleans and Austin. Two cities where I was there awhile and experienced a yearly tradition. Oops. The only thing I buy anywhere and I forget.

I could be doing this trip slower but I like to get to places where know people.

Texas has some crazy flat vastness.

If your child is under 4’9 it needs to be in a car seat or booster. That’s crazy. I’m not much taller than 4’9.

There is a Texas Cowboy Poetry festival in Fort Davis.

Sometimes the landscape in West Texas reminded me of the Australian Outback.

Wow there are a ton of RV’s in TX.

I wrote down green houses but do not remember why. Oh well. OOOHHHHH. Not green houses but greenhouses. On route 17 there are HUGE green houses growing who knows what. I guess I could look it up. Okay. Hydroperfect Village Farms grows produce. The Marfa location is over 40acres and grows tomatoes.