OUR HAPPY PLACE

Not to live necessarily, but we sure do love stopping in here each year.

If you remember from last January, we spent one week boondocking east of Study Butte. We were at the laundromat and found this location from another traveller. 

When we reached it we were hooked. So we returned this year for a few days - Monday to Thursday.

Nice to get a way to silence, hiking and a big sky. We park along a public road but it only sees a few cars a day. 

I always take a ton of photos - it's a very photogenic area. 

Here's just a few!

Last year we had two parking spots - this year we chose a new one in the middle of them. We like to hike in either direction. Here we are all set up Monday night - enjoying the sunset.

Cassia was nice enough to set up a fire for us. It was great but short since she only found twigs. 

Tuesday morning off for a hike. It was hot! 28C that day so we hiked in the morning and then again just before sunset.

A soak for Rufus along the way.

We have great fun with all the holes in the rocks.

FINALLY - after months of being tied up or on his leash Rufus is free!

Here starts the photos from our sunset walk. We went back to what we know call 'Cassia mountain'. Last year she headed up this mound by herself - there was a little bit of trepidation on our part but she is quite the little climber and handled it just fine. 

Our little traveller. Cas has been on the road since she was 18 months old. One of my favourite pictures so far.

Walking behind I noticed that Derek's tanned back matched the colour of the rocks.

 Howdy from the Wood Clan!

Wednesday morning we headed back to the Cassia mountain area.

Wednesday night we stuck close to the van for our sunset shots.

The sky here at Study Butte is often cloudless when we are here, however they rolled in Wednesday evening.

Last photo.

We were planning on leaving Thursday because we knew that rain was on the way. Our boondocking spot is NOT the place to get stuck in the rain. The road in is dirt. 

Unfortunately, at exactly 3:30 am we heard pitter patter. Good thing we were smart enough to heed the warning and head into town. Just a few hours later it poured - we would have been trapped. 

We pulled into the parking lot by the laundromat and were early birds in there by seven after a few more hours of sleep.

What an adventure!

If you want to see more pictures of this area you can find them here, our posts from last January:

Terlingua, Texas

Desert Wandering

A Few Pics of Heaven

It is now Friday morning. We spent Thursday here at the RV Park nice an cozy with the cool and wet weather. A bit of a luxury for the Wood Clan.

Today we head north again - not far - up to Alpine and Marfa.

From there on to New Mexico Saturday…..

See you there!

Teresa

LANGTRY TO TERLINGUA

Monday morning we rolled out of Langtry.

A left turn at the highway to go west.

The 90 is a great road if you've never been on it - stretching from Del Rio to Van Horn. It's one of our favourites - a free and easy kind of road. 

Just remember to keep track of your gas. We fill up in Del Rio and then again in Sanderson. Not a lot of gas stations out here in southwest Texas. We could have filled in Marathon instead of Sanderson but glad we didn't - the price jumped from $2.09 to $2.50. 

Not the most exciting scenery but nice - also very quiet.

We stopped in Marathon for lunch. Our usual spot is along the street across from the Gage Hotel. Last January we ended up staying overnight because when we returned from looking around the town we realized we had a flat tire. Remember that?! We sure do!

Of all the times we have been in Marathon I've never ventured inside the Gage Hotel. Today was the day. Very nice….

Although not overly impressed with the wildlife on display.

Sadly, the Burnt Biscuit Bakery was closed.

Then we headed south. Only one picture along the way - windshield photography doesn't work when headed into the sun.

We chose to take the 385 down even though we knew we'd have to pay the $20 Big Bend NP fee but would only be driving through. We'll be taking the 118 north and didn't want to do it twice in the span of a few days.

Sure wish our Provincial Park uniforms were more in line with the American National and State Parks.

I commented on why we don't go to Big Bend NP. We did back in 2008 but realized that it's not a good place if you have a dog. They are not allowed on the trails or even left unattended. Worth the stop I'm sure if you don't have any fur kids along.

For us - we like the scenery on the west side best. Now we have passed the headquarters and are heading to Study Butte.

Upon pulling into Study Butte we first went to the grocery store to stock up on water ($1 for 10 gallons in our tank), Big Bend Beer and a few groceries. 

From there over to one of our favourite shops to snoop around.

We are big fans of Terlingua but I didn't take any pictures this time. Go here to see last years collection.

Then over to the Study Butte Cafe - part of Big Bend Resort and Adventures. It's the main hub area with hotel, rv park, gas station, store, cafe, tours and laundromat.

The food at the cafe and is GREAT plus we can plug in and get wifi. We spent the afternoon there catching up.

Then we headed a few miles to our favourite boondocking spot.

After finding a super parking spot we went for a sunset walk.

Next post - just a few of the great pictures we got over the course of the two days and three nights we spent sleeping among the rocks and stars.

Teresa