Riata Inn Motel Presidio

... much there and the marker thats placed has seen better days. It riddled with bullets holes and covered with graffiti. Still kinda cool to see.<br><br>The rest of the day is riding hard!! I was about to give up after about 700 miles but found myself on a stretch of highway with nothing for about a 100 miles so I headed reaching my goal of Van Horn Texas against my will.<br><br>I finally made it to my hotel at 1045pm. Just about 15 hours of riding!<br>

We went to the McDonald Obseratory, it was near Fort Davis, Texas. It is on top of a big mountain. We left at 11:30am and got there at 1:45 pm. The tour started at 2pm and ended at 4:30pm. We toured two big telescopes and watched how they moved. The biggest telescope is the 3rd largest in the world. We ate dinner in Fort Davis - a BBQ again ...

We went to Fort Davis, established in 1854. It is one of the nations best preseved frontier forts. We stopped at a snake place to see snakes. Mamaw did not come in. We went shopping. After that, we went to Marfia again and we saw more lights this time. The nights are darker here so I can see a lot more stars then back in Zanesville. I even saw the Milky Way!

... at Big Bend National Park. It is a wondrous place for sure. We took a long scenic drive through the Chisos Mountains down to the RIo Grande. Cactus, some in bloom, buttes and mesas and mountains. Blue sky (and pollution evident in the views, alas....) Belle and I SWAM TO MEXICO across the Rio Grande (risking a $5000 fine and a year in jail for illegal entry, but really, there was no one around, and we didn't technically "enter" we just touched ...

... pressing on to get to Santa Fe. We rolled into Santa Fe around dusk and thought the landscape here was like none we'd seen before. Very cool abobo housing from shanty's to mansions! We drove around downtown trying to find someplace to park this big ole truck in the maze of tiny sidestreets before finding a public parking spot close to the Santa Fe Plaza. We were tired, cold and hungry so we just opted for a place ...

I drove down from El Paso, and instead of taking I-10 east across vast West Texas, I took a more southern route, through Marfa, a little town that I had heard of, but wasn't sure what to expect from. Not too far outside of town, on the most deserted stretch of road one can imagine, I got a flat tire. Actually, the tire stayed pressurized, but the outer rubber shell tore off and the car shook madly and swerved around a bit as I came to a stop. I had a spare ...

... hole called a Tinaja. The rocks in the area are fantastic, with layers upon layers of multicolored strata and crazy swirling shapes. I tried to capture a few, but Hao and Steve would have a field day out here! Next came some time in the West side of the park in the St. Elena Canyon area. This is similar to the Bouquillas Canyon but this is where the river enters the park. The whole park used to be ranch lands and ...

... that show the flat vastness of the countryside, however as ever we try! Yvonne has been a little uncertain of the racing through the states but when we stopped at a rest spot and the wind was blowing a gale, although it was a beautiful sunny day and there was a sign warning of snakes, she was becoming more convinced that Texas would be a better place to be. We were heading for El Paso but decided to carry on beyond as D had spotted a small town called Van ...

... where a third world country meets the "first world", streets are glossy and paved, and sparkly downtown El Paso shoots up with a Wells Fargo building, and others that I can't make out from this distance here. It is quite strange to have come up from the very south, where we were just hours from Guatemala, to have seen the way the people get taller as we go North- to have seen how bathroom rest stops get cleaner and more extensive, with toilet paper always supplied by ...

Up and going at 8:15, first stop at 11:12 at rest area east of Benson. I added a quart of oil. Next I got gas at The Thing Trading Post but I didn't see the Thing. On to the rest area near the New Mexico line and then stoped at the New Mexico weigh station to watch the sunset. Gas in El Paso and a couple more stops with a final stop for the day at ...