Driving all the way across Texas makes “Everything’s Bigger in Texas” make perfect sense! And in the process we went from dry desert to hot, humid, thick soup in the crack of a whip.

Van Horn, TX

The drive to Van Horn took us through El Paso which meant that we were just a few hundred yards from the border with Mexico at one point. And we had to go through a Border Patrol checkpoint with our camper. Agent: Is everyone on board a U.S. citizen? Greg: Yes. Agent: Proceed. (Not even a peek inside our camper!) We also saw a fake cell phone tower in the form of a palm tree. That’s a first for us!

We discovered that the Blue Origin spaceport (a la Jeff Bezos) is based just outside of Van Horn. This is where Gayle King and friends recently started their space journey. Imagine all those high-maintenance women traipsing through that hot, dusty place. The expensive moisturizer must have been flowing! When he’s in town, does Jeff Bezos order his groceries from Amazon? He must, because grocery stores are sparse.

Van Horn has the hallmarks of a once thriving town (like so many we have seen): ornate, but faded and closed buildings, signs to nowhere, lots of parking spaces with no parked cars…but they do have one semi-happening spot in the quiet downtown. It is the fancy Hotel El Capitan complete with an old school lounge/bar, chandeliers and a lovely courtyard with a fountain.

While in Van Horn we realized that we were about an hour from a spring-fed swimming pool at Balmorhea State Park. That might seem like a long way to go, but did I mention that we were HOT?

Balmorhea is a beautiful oasis in the desert of West Texas! It has a huge pool built by the CCC nearly 100 years ago and a beautiful campground. The pool ranges from 3′ to 25′ deep, has several diving boards and many picnic tables. There is a small, endangered fish called a Comanche Springs pupfish that swims in the pool with you! I was skittish about that at first, but those little guys are cute and keep to themselves. We swam and floated around for a couple of hours. It was just what we needed! (You do need a reservation and a day pass to enter the park.)

Marfa, Marfa, Maaarfa!

Greg has always wanted to show me the mysterious lights in Marfa, TX. He was there about 30 years ago and claims to have seen lights of various colors on the horizon. Some say the lights have something to do with gases rising in the cooling air at night. Some say they have something to do with space creatures. Some simply say car lights….But then how can they explain the stories from cowboys in the 1800’s seeing the Marfa lights? There were no automobiles that long ago! Hmmm.

People from near and far make the pilgrimage to Marfa to witness this great mystery. There is even a viewing platform! The night we were there had amazing sunset views. A rattlesnake was seen on a path. The other truth seekers were enthusiastic. But in the end, we were all a bit disappointed. Even Greg agreed that we only saw a few car headlights and brake lights.

We never imagined that an Academy Award-winning movie was filmed in and around Marfa of all places! “Giant,” starring James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson was filmed there in 1955. And the fancy Hotel Paisano was used as headquarters during filming. It was fascinating to walk in the same rooms as those movie icons. They even watched each day’s filming on a screen in the ballroom (they called it watching the dailies). It seems that James Dean was very interested in the Marfa lights and even got a telescope to watch them! Sadly, this was his last movie. He died in a car accident before the movie was released. We have added “Giant” to our watch list.

Imagine our disappointment when he said, “Hi,” when we were prepared for a good ol’ Texas cowboy “Howdy!”

While sitting in front of the Hotel Paisano we watched a man approach us who looked like a Sam Elliott humanoid, complete with the mustache, cowboy boots and leathery skin…an actual cowboy! Imagine our disappointment when he said, “Hi,” when we were prepared for a good ol’ Texas cowboy “Howdy!”

While visiting Marfa, we stayed at Davis Mountains State Park which has amazing vistas and great birdwatching. There is an interesting fort nearby (Fort Davis), wild aoudad goats brought from Africa, a food truck with delicious Salvadoran food and, amazingly, Fort Davis, TX is still within driving distance to the tempting cool waters of Balmorhea State Park. Yup, we drove there again!

Fort Stockton

Most of the places we are visiting on this cross-country trip are simply at the right stopping point on the map. And then we get to discover the hidden treasures, great or small, in these often less-frequented towns. Fort Stockton is one of those places!

The wind at the RV park in Fort Stockton was WILD. So much so that their display of flags from all 50 states was a guessing game as each flag had been windblown into shreds. We were in direct sun and could not use the awning due to the wind. But they DID have a pool. Yay! And for the first time we saw an actual sheep dog hanging with the sheep overnight at the neighboring farm. We learned that her name is Layla. She barks at the sheep if they start wandering. There might be a few coyote in Texas…Who’s a good dog? Layla, Layla is!

Sonora

We stopped overnight on the way to Fredericksburg. The downtown was pretty typical for a small West Texas town. The only business that was bustling was a bar we passed. An overly friendly (slightly off) local walked by and said, “Welcome to Sonora.” Creepy vibes 100%.

Fredericksburg

We stayed at an RV “resort,” because we had a coupon code. It wasn’t the best, but there was a pool (yay, again). I did laundry (first time since Hill AFB) and we met some very nice people there.

Fredericksburg has a super cute, bustling downtown/Main Street with businesses that seem to exist mostly for the tourists. It gave us a little bit of the Leavenworth/Gatlinburg vibe that we can only take in small doses. The famous Navy fleet admiral, Admiral Chester Nimitz, was born in Fredericksburg, so there are several sites relating to his life in the town.

We also drove about 30 minutes to Old Tunnel State Park to watch one million Mexican Free-Tailed Bats emerge from, well, an old train tunnel at dusk. Later in the summer there will be three million bats when the females return with their pups. It was amazing to witness a counterclockwise vortex of bats ascending into the sky. Another first for us!

There is a lot more to see in the Fredericksburg area. We plan on returning soon!

Austin (the city, not my son…at least not until we get to the east coast)

We managed to snag a two-night stay at McKinney Falls State Park which is only 13 miles away from the Texas state capitol building. The crazy traffic and torturous condition of most of the roads around Austin made towing the trailer a challenge (and caused a lot of complaining from the back seat felines).

We enjoyed some of the best meatless food we’ve had in a long time while in Austin, including a brisket that Greg said could fool even the most stubborn carnivore. We also did a quick walk around and through the capitol building and then got the heck out of Dodge before rush hour.

Closer to our campsite we watched airplanes from the Family Viewing Area at the Austin-Bergstrom Airport. It would be fun if more airports set aside a spot like that.

McKinney Falls State Park has upper and lower falls areas to get in the water and swim or simply dip your feet in the rushing water from the top of the falls as we did. It seems to be very popular with the locals.

San Felipe de Austin & Sealy

Next stop, Stephen F. Austin State Park. Ahhhh, shade! Trees! Still hot, don’t get me wrong…and the humidity creates instant sweat. This park is on the Brazos River, but not really a swimming spot as far as we could tell.

San Felipe was the economic and political center of the colony of Texas until 1836 when retreating Texas forces burned down the town to prevent the Mexican army from acquiring the resources and supplies at San Felipe (very abridged version of the story). There is more history in this region than we can possibly see in two days, let alone absorb.

One evening we drove to the Katy, TX area to visit a wildlife refuge with bird watching, so we thought. It ended up being a private park for a large subdivision. We did see Black Bellied Whistling Ducks, which we had never seen before. We also discovered on the way home that the Igloo (coolers) world headquarters is in Katy. It’s a huge building right off the highway. Just a random fact. Also, Katy, TX seems pretty ritzy!

On our second full day we drove to Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge. There is something magical about being surrounded by an endless prairie. We saw Meadowlarks, Moorhens, Grebes, deer chasing each other, a Heron, frog, wildflowers, but no Prairie Chickens! Why did the Prairie Chicken cross the road? He didn’t! The road was too hot!

Beaumont

After a slightly white-knuckle drive on I-10 through Houston, we took a break in Beaumont at another “resort.” Don’t be fooled as there were no drinks with tiny umbrellas nor a buffet to be seen. We did enjoy the pool and immaculate laundry room. I guess a pool of any size turns an RV park into a resort?

We had one full day in Beaumont and were dodging storms. But we did see the “world’s largest” fire hydrant and visited Cat Tail Swamp along with a conservatory full of tropical plants. The tropical conditions created inside were indistinguishable from what we were already experiencing outside!

Catio Corner

Meowdy, y’all! We both agree that the Great-tailed Grackle is our new favorite bird to menace from the catio. They have long, flitty tails that are delightful. They strut around with an attitude just asking for a swat. Our female human needs to stop trimming our claws so that we can be better prepared for the big moment when one of them (any bird, really) gets too close.