Day 79 - 17 Mar - Van Horn, TX to Big Bend, TX

Photo: One of the abandoned houses in the mining 'ghost town' in Terlingua, right down the road from where we are staying.

It was a much easier drive today and although there was still a lot of wind, it wasn't nearly as crazy as yesterday. We did get to Big Bend and will go in to the park tomorrow and spend much of the day looking at the most amazing scenery in Texas. It's really like driving through the Grand Canyon....only better.

The terrain is so flat that you can see for miles and miles and while there are mailboxes along the road, you can't see any houses. I guess that in this area, you can afford to have really big front yards! this part of Texas doesn't even have cattle so I'm not sure exactly what those 'ranches' do out here.

This is UFO country....Roswell isn't too far from here and we would have loved to have gone to Area 51 in Nevada. We did stop at Marfa which is the place where light appear on the horizon and flick back and forth across the sky. There's lots of various theories as to what the light are, including UFO stuff, but since the first sighting in 1883, they have yet to find a definitive answer. They built a very nice spot for viewing, complete with binoculars but it has to be viewed at night at it's 60+ miles from where we are so we won't be going to see them. (Google Mysterious Marfa Lights).

Marfa is also the site of the oldest settlement in America and was the site of the first recorded crossing of a wagon train in to Texas in Dec 1582 (from Mexico). We have both commended, once again, that the Americans are pretty diligent about touting their history which is why most of us know more about what goes on in the USA that in Canada. A shame. This is a major Pecan growing area...there are very large orchards along this whole corridor...as there was in the small part of New Mexico that we came through...but I haven't seen any for sale yet.

The time changed in Arizona to daylight savings and we are so confused now we don't know whether we're hungry (well, that's easy...ALWAYS), tired, etc. The sun did not go behind the mountains until almost 8 pm vice 6:30 pm when we first got there. The RV park we are at is part of a hotel/RV complex and right outside the gate to the park. We took a quick drive in to the park before hooking up and I can't wait to get there tomorrow. The rocks in some parts are layered in colours...white, brown, black, orange...and I'm hoping it's a wee bit cloudy as it's better for photo taking.

Until next time, we love and miss you all. We are currently sitting in a restaurant, nursing a cup of tea, and using their WiFi. It irritates me to no end when the campground advertise wireless internet and the signal is so low that you can't get it. Take care everyone, Spring is coming!