View from the 'Big Hill' in the Big Bend Ranch State Park,

450 feet above the Rio Grande.

 

To get to know the 'lay of the land' and more specifically, the Big Band Ranch State Park (not to be confused with the Big Bend National Park) we went to the Barton Warnock Visitor Center which serves as the eastern visitor center for Big Bend Ranch State Park.
It's here in Lajitas, only 2 minutes down the main road from the RV Park.



Permits for backpacking and camping at Big Bend Ranch State Park can be obtained  here and visitors can also purchase river-use permits, licenses, and loads information about the Big Bend region.

The new, renovated Interpretive Center, "Una Tierra - One Land," presents an archeological, historical, and natural history profile of the Big Bend region.
We really liked the displays and also the short and to the point texts which makes you actually wanna read them for a change!

 

              

The Interpretive Center also offers a self-guiding tour through the two-acre desert garden.

 

The next day it was time to see the Park for ourselves so we left early in the morning to enjoy the cooler temperatures.

Within a mile from leaving the campground we were already in the Park, you can't beat that for a location, can you?!

 

FM 170, also known as El Camino del Rio, is listed as one of the top 10 scenic roads in America by National Geographic. (and with the 15% grade going up Big Hill, it is also the steepest highway in Texas!).

A spectacular 50 miles through lush, twisting river valleys, carved red and purple rock rising 1000 feet from the churning river. The road is excellent; it twists and drops to the canyon floors along the  river.
Since we live so close by and can come back anytime in the future we'd selected only a few of the sites to see for today.

One particular part of Big Bend Ranch State Park might look familiar, even if you've never been here before.

Hollywood has come to the northern bank of the Rio Grande several times, using the colorful landscape as the perfect backdrop for a tiny, Wild West town.

 

 

The Contrabando Movie Set is what remains, from the production of movies like Streets of Laredo.  
All of the buildings were built in 1985, for the filming of the comedy Uphill All The Way.  But that was just the first of nine movies made here.

 

 

Just a facade, this church, as are all the other buildings.

Next stop the 'Grassy Banks' where you have access to the Rio Grande:

And where the banks are grassy indeed (this is the Mexican side):

We'd hoped to run into some Javelinas, small pig-like animals (but they aren't) but weren't so lucky.
Their little hoof prints were all over the place though, together with prints of raccoons.

Onwards we went, for about another 5 miles, until we reached that bugger of a hill again, the famous 'Big Hill', as it is known around here.
There it is, you see the road going up in the distance (those tepees are covering the benches of a rest area. Such a neat idea):

 

 

 

 

And here we are on top again. Much less scary without an RV behind you!

 

 

                   

          Still, I'm leaning heavily into this hill! Boy is it steep up there!

 

Just before you go down there's this sign:

 

 

And this is the other side:

 

 

 

We actually went to a few other places that day but I think I'll save that for another post, this one's long enough as it is already.

 

                             It sure is a beautiful park so far!

 

 

View from the 13th tee towards the Rio Grande and Mexico on the other side.

 

One of the first things we did after settling down was checking out the golf course! James had been dreaming about it for weeks now and he was almost to excited to think straight!

 

                          

 

That first day the sky was overcast and the temperatures fairly cool. Perfect for golf around here.

It turns out we can golf anytime we want, as long as there is an open tee-time. There are no set or limited hours for employees and we get a cart on top of that. We usually walk a course but this is one you absolutely cannot do that at! The elevation differences are huge and so are the distances between greens and tees.

The carts have one of those GPS-computer-screen-thingies in them that tell you where you are and how far from the hole at any time. Sweet!

 

The views are just not from this world!

 

 

 Looking down from the #13 tee towards it's green some 100' below!

 

 

That's the cart path going up that hill there! Can you believe it?!

 

Like I said on Facebook; every paradise has it's pitfall:

 

 

 

 

I shook so much taking this picture that out of the 5 I took 2 were from the grass only :-)!

 

A couple of days later we tagged on to a sunset horse ride at the

Equestrian center of the Resort. We can ride for free whenever we want if there's a space available (and tip the guide).

 

 

This building houses the nice and shady stables. 

 

 

 

 

Our guide TT didn't speak much English but was an excellent horseman and took very good care of us.

We crossed the infamous Comanche Creek Trail, which is part of the pony path the Comanches used to stage raids into Mexico along the Rio Grande River for horses and silver, and along various other historic trails with great views of Laijitas and Anguila Mesa and the

Chihuahuan Desert. 

 

 

 

 

Halfway we enjoyed the sunset at a little private Mesa where we tied up the horses and sat down for some cheese and wine. The only other people on this ride were a nice couple from Austin who were really nice and fun to talk to.

 

 

The way back we rode in total darkness. Fortunately, the horses knew where they were going because I didn't see a thing!
What we did see were all the amazing stars! Incredible, you can see the whole Milky way up here, millions of other stars and of course Venus, the brightest of them all!

 

 

I'd hoped for a little more information about the area we drove through or maybe some names of animals or flowers or later of the stars we were looking at but the utter silence during the ride was actually amazing too.

This place is so remote and quiet. No trains, no traffic, no planes,  no city lights, just silence and darkness and those stars.....it's awe-some.

 

  

 

On one of our first evenings here we checked out the restaurant of the Resort, the Candelilla Cafe.
Again we have some 'perks' here, we get 20% off certain (cheaper) menu items (not the pheasant, etc)!
You can dine inside or like we did on a fantastic patio with a fountain and great views of the golf course, Rio Grande, and mountains.

'Back on the ranch' (quite literary since the campground is called the Maverick Ranch RV Resort) there was a full moon rising above 'our' spot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back on the road again! Almost there, only 2 more days to go!

 

We took the I-10 out of Albuquerque and East for a while until we reached the 285 which we followed to Vaughn and all the way south to Roswell.

 

 

 

Not much out there but wide open planes ..... 

 

..... although .... that's what they thought in the little town of Roswell, that we finally arrived at, also, and we all know what happened there ....

(that is to say .... what REALLY happened ...?)

 

We tried to find the Bottomless Lakes State Campground in Roswel but got lost (ha ... there you go ...) so we pulled in a small private campground, the Trailer Village Campground, just outside town and snatched up the last available spot!

It was Sunday and all the shops in town were closed, which was a little eery (like something out of the Twilight Zone, how appropriate) but the museum was open and it was actually a really fun one!

 

 

 

 

Admission was very reasonable, only $5 pp, it's small and doesn't have anything truly authentic of course, but it was chock full of first hand accounts, news articles and different perspectives (both sides equally) on the 1947 Roswell UFO incident and a little about crop circles and 'other' alien phenomenons.  

And off course there were the cheesy but fun displays to take pics around aliens and crafts.

 

 

 

 

The town is all decked out in alien stuff:

 

 

 

 

In the only other store open that day (a consignment antique mall, I love those!) I managed to snatch up a great pair of black (Alan Post) cowboy boots for $38. My first of such boots, and my ticket into Texas, since I've heard they don't let you in if you ain't have 'm! ;-)

 

The next day we drove to Carlsbad where we did our last Walmart 'run' to stock up on groceries for about 2 months (!) and than onto Carlsbad.

We'd still harbored some hope that the National Parks might have opened up but they hadn't so we had to pass on the Carlsbad Caverns National Park too. Darn!!

 

 

 

 

                         So than finally, without much ado, there we were!

                                                    In Texas!

 

Route 62, that we were on, took us alongside the Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Again, we couldn't get inside but in this case we got a pretty good feel of it since it's right next to the road!

 

 

 

 

It's a beautiful rugged mountain park and it houses the tallest point in Texas, the Guadalupe Peak at 8748".

 

                                

 

 

In Van Horn we managed to get at an excellent spot off to the side at a truck stop on the I-10 that crosses Route 54 here.

Merlin just loves truck stops and we really have to keep an eye on him since he likes nothing better than to inspect the undersides of the big trucks that are parked there. We don't want to imagine what will happen if one drives off with him underneath it!

 

 

 

 

  

From Van Horn we took the 90 south with the rugged Sierra Vieja on our right, and at Marfa (cute little desert town) the 67 to Presidio, which brought us right to the Mexican border.

 

There we took the 'scenic Farm Road', the 170 ,which basically follows the Rio Grande and skirts the Big Bend Ranch State Park  on your left and Mexico on your right, all the way to Lajitas.

There WAS a sign that warned about a steep hill coming up but I think we both sort of tried to ignore it.

Well, that was a mistake, although James keeps insisting that he thought it was a lot of fun!

 

 

 

This picture is taken from the Big Hill

 

The hill, simply known here by the locals as the 'Big Hill', has a 15% grade (!!!!!!) and let's just say that it took about 5 years of my life!

Believe me, you DON'T wanna do this (and I mean the going-down part specifically) with a 40' RV behind you!

 

But like I said, James thought it was 'fun' and I guess we'll be back here in the future to 'do' this again without the trailer.

 

 

  

For about 50 miles this road meanders through canyons, flats, along cliffs, and around massive lava flows as you are shown the true majesty of the Rio Grande.

 

And than, after about 50 miles, we reached Lajitas, our final destination!

 

 

 

 

 

We made our way to the Maverick Ranch RV Park and were warmly welcomed by Terry, a fellow 'volunteer', after which we walked the grounds to find a spot and get our bearings.

 

We picked a beautiful site at the far end of the park with a ton of space on one side of us that will stay 'open' since it's not a site and with a beautiful view of Lajitas landmark, 'Lajitas Mesa', right in front of us.

 

 

 

A couple of hours later we were pretty much settled in, just in time for 'happy hour'. 

So here we are. 'Home sweet home' again. 

 

Cheers!