Texas 2019 week 2

Wednesday 1st May

We left our Motel in the rain and travelled Westward towards Marfa/Alpine. The road was straight all the way with hardly any traffic. As we travelled further West the weather changed into glorious hot sunshine. We arrived at our new Airbnb cabin in time for deer feeding.

Thursday 2nd May

Its the first day of our stay in the cabin near Alpine, Texas. We visited the Big Bend Museum which was really interesting. There is so much history right from the Spanish Conquistadors, the Apache Indians, the Mexicans, Texans and Immigrants travelling Westward towards California Gold. There were tales of Cavalry (mostly black) defending wagon trains from Apache Indian raids – just like in the old films. You have to feel sorry for the Apaches, having their land stolen and made to live in reservations.

After this we visited Fort Davis, a historical site on which a fort was built to protect travellers going from San Antonio to El Paso.

Friday 3rd May

Today we visited Big Bend National Park and also Terlingua “Ghost Town”.

Big Bend park is massive. We didn’t even make it to the Rio Grande, which is also the border between USA and Mexico. On our way back we were stopped and didn’t have our passports with us. Needless to say we were interrogated and told we could face $1000 fine and a term in jail!!!!! We were told in no uncertain terms we had to carry passports at all times.

Terlingua Ghost Town was a disappointment as most properties were inhabited as part of a tourist attraction!! Weird!!

Saturday 4th May

Today we moved North to Lubbock, North Texas. The drive was once again on straight roads through desert, though this times punctuated with hundreds of “Nodding Donkeys”. Yes we were in the middle of the Texas oil fields.

Our Airbnb in Lubbock is an old converted Fire Station beautifully converted into fantastic and quirky accommodation.

Sunday 5th May

The main reason for being in Lubbock was to visit the Buddy Holly Centre. Buddy came from Lubbock and wrote loads of his songs here. Such a tragic life, with an 18 month career in which he had 20 hits. The only problem was we couldn’t take photos in the museum, so here are two from outside

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Monday 6th May

Another day in Lubbock and a chance to visit the National Ranching Heritage Center, celebrating the past development of Texas. We also visited Buddy Holly’s grave, which was very simple, buried alongside his parents.

Tuesday 7th May

Off to Amarillo today via the town of Happy. There is a film called “Happy, Texas”, a comedy featuring the town. Then on to the famous art work “Cadillac Ranch” which I of course had to graffiti on!! Our new Airbnb is great, with fast wifi (normal) plus Netflix so we can continue watching Breaking Bad (for the second time) prior to our Breaking Bad tour in Alberquerque.

Wednesday 9th May

Today we visited the Palo Duro Canyon, second only to the Grand Canyon apparently. The history was very interesting from Dinosaurs to Cherokee Indians. A lovely morning out.

In the afternoon we visited an RV museum which turned out to be more interesting than we thought. There was even an old split screen camper there plus a multitude of Airstreams and even the RV used in the Robin Williams film “RV”. By contrast we had a look in a modern RV with extending sides – what a contrast!!

On to week 3 tomorrow starting with Albuquerque and Breaking Bad ……..