Big Bend N.P. Trip (Day 5)

Wednesday Feb. 5th

Before bedtime last night, we went next door to our hotel to the Big Bend Café to grab a sandwich or something.  It was a very somber atmosphere as all the employees in the Café and the convenience store were talking in hushed tones about a tragedy that had occurred that morning in their small town of Terlingua.  Unbeknown to us as we were heading out to the river, a murder was taking place on the other side of town.  When a kitchen employee arrived to work at LaKiva Café/Bar she discovered the body of the owner, Glen Felts, lying in the parking lot and immediately called 911.  By the time we got back from our canoe trip down the Rio Grande the Brewster County Sheriff Dept. had already arrested Tony Flynn as a suspect in Glenn's murder (blunt force trauma/head).  Here's the thing, apparently Glen and Tony were friends and were both well known and respected in the community.  Naturally everyone was shocked and puzzled as to why this had happened in this small tight-knit community.

Anyway after we went next door again this morning for another of Big Bend Cafe's awesome Mexican breakfasts, we headed out northbound along Hwy. 118 toward Alpine.  We planned to take a scenic drive thru part of the Davis Mountains this morning however as we drove north and increased in altitude, the temperature kept dropping and we were encountering freezing fog(23 degrees!) before we even reached Alpine. We could barely see a hundred feet ahead, no scenic views to be had in the mountains this morning.  It reminded me of many times when I was hiking the Appalachian Trail and would struggle for more than an hour to reach the top of a mountain only to be enveloped in fog by the time I reached the top, obscuring any possible views.

Along the way (before we reached the heavy fog) on Hwy.118 we saw this unique use of old tires; stacked up, filled with dirt, makes a sturdy fence.  That's called "using what you have on hand"!

 We passed by Black Mesa but did not stop.

When we arrived in Alpine we decided since it was so foggy in the higher elevations today, we would head west to Marfa and pick up U.S. Hwy. 90 west toward I-10 then on to El Paso.

After miles and miles on U.S. Hwy 90 of nothing but scrubby desert land we saw this:

 It is an aviation radar tracking station, close enough to the Rio Grande that it may be a Homeland Security facility.

Once we reached I-10 we cruised on into El Paso very quickly.  We were shocked to see the Speed Limit 80 signs on I-10!  We were quiet comfortable staying at 75 mph though.

A beautiful bridge as we were entering the city...

 We kept looking to our left as I-10 skirted so close to the Rio Grande River and thought we could see a fence but weren't sure.  We made a swing thru downtown and by the Juarez Bridge border crossing.  Then right after that we definitely saw the high fence along the border that we have heard so much about in the news.

 El Paso is such a busy thriving city (pop. 650,000) with modern office buildings, large retail shopping centers, museums, and all the other amenities and convenienes common in any large U.S. city, but then just on the other side of that fence is Juarez, Mexico with more than a million residents packed together in crumbling, dilapidated houses, crowded together, depressing.  I am profoundly grateful to have been born here in America and have all the privileges and conveniences we enjoy, and the opportunity to travel and see different areas of our country. 

 As we make our way north out of downtown El Paso we see the majestic peaks of the Franklin Mountains............

 We stop for lunch at a Five Guys (great burger place).  The city of  El Paso actually wraps around in a "U" shape around the Franklin Mountains State Park.  It is the largest State Park in an urban setting at more than 24,000 acres of rugged terrain in 40 square miles of Chihuhuan desert wilderness, scrub vegetation and open space with 135 miles of multiuse trails.   

 We exit off I-10, and drive east along Loop 375, climbing higher and higher into the Franklin Mountains State Park and when we reach Smuggler Pass (elevation 5,250 ft.) we pull over at the scenic viewpoint and the wind is whipping so hard Tom can barely stand up, so he braces himself on a concrete retaining wall!

 The city of El Paso stretches out in the valley below us......

 This is the view as we head down the other side of the pass....

 Just ahead in the valley lies Fort Bliss, a U.S. Army Air Defense Center and combat training for allied nations.

As we exit off Loop 375 we see this interesting bridge.....

 We leave Loop 375 and head east on U.S. 180/62 toward Guadalupe Mountains National Park where we would like to do a little hiking and maybe campout  there.  (We have not yet gotten our tent/cots/sleeping bags out of the car's trunk this trip.)  There is not much to see as we drive along, just scrubby desert plants. 

 The temperature is steadily falling as we climb up into the Guadalupe Mountains.

 The route over Guadalupe Pass is one of the highest highways in Texas.  It climbs up out of the desert into the foothills of the Guadalupe Mountains, a rugged mountain range dominated by the sheer cliffs of El Capitan Peak.  As we get higher and it gets colder we start to see freezing fog and ice accumulating on the vegetation.

 Oh yippee!  Guess we won't be doing any camping out after all, no hiking either.  Just hope the road doesn't begin to ice over!

It is so foggy we can't see far but what we can see is covered in ice.

 As we pass over Guadalupe Pass the temperature has reached 16 degrees and the wind is whipping at about 60 mph!

 Oh my goodness, we just keep on driving.  We can come back here sometime when it is just a tad bit warmer!

 We take F.M.652 east toward the tiny town of Orla.  We spot this very large ranch brand sitting on a hilltop.....

 Once we reach Orla we drive south on U. S. Hwy. 285 and see nothing but oil field workers, trucks and equipment rolling down the highway to Pecos. We plan to to spend the night in Pecos (which is a small west Texas town) but the Quality Inn  in Pecos wanted $165.00 per night, what? (filled up with oil field workers) so we kept driving east on I-10 to Monahans and discovered the same thing there....higher motel prices because of the demand from so many oil/gas workers in the area.  The nice gal at the front desk in the Quality Inn in Monahans steered us to an America's Best Value Inn (newly remodeled) where we stayed the night. At $90.00 I guess it was the "best value" we would find in oil-rich west Texas.

Tomorrow our destination will be Fort Worth!