The Back Roads of Texas

After a restful night, we woke to a chilly morning. The mountains were lovely in the morning light. We quickly packed up and headed to our next destination. We traversed the back roads of Texas, traveling through the flat oil fields.

After a few miles, we found ourselves stopped at a traffic light. I knew the light was for the construction ahead of us, but I found it comical to be sitting in the middle of nowhere, with no traffic in sight for the extended length of the light. After what seemed like forever, we saw large trucks approaching. They were driving fast and straight for us. At the last moment, they changed lanes, barely missing us. There would be several more of the traffic lights, but none as scary as that one.

After a long drive, we finally made it back to civilization. We made a quick stop for gas and lunch and then continued to Monahan Sandhills State Park. The dunes were not as large as the Imperial Sand Dunes we had seen in California, but there were no dune buggies, so we were able to explore and enjoy the dunes.

While we walked up the steep hills, we could see people in the distance sliding down the dunes on coasters. I was more interested in the footprints left by the birds in the sand. The dunes seemed to go on forever in the distance. While there were plenty of open sand faces, there were also hills covered in vegetation.

There were showers available at the park. We knew we would be in a campground with showers the following night, so we did not take advantage of them. Before leaving the park, we walked a nature trail near the entrance. We saw finches galore in the trees along the trail. As we walked, a few hawks circled overhead.

Marfa’s Mystery Lights

We next journeyed to Marfa, where we would spend the night in the Marfa mystery lights viewing area. As we traveled through the flat oil fields, we could see mountains in the distance. The oil fields had an odor that was not appealing, but I found the fire-topped towers fascinating.

As the mountains drew closer, they became more and more beautiful. I enjoyed their interesting shapes and structures. As we passed through small towns, it became evident that Texans are very proud of their state. Most houses that we saw had the Lone Star on display, and many of them flew the Texas flag.

We arrived at the viewing area in the late afternoon. There was a unique broken cloud pattern covering the sky. We weren’t sure which direction the lights would be or if they would even make an appearance. When I went to the restroom, I saw that the viewing areas seemed to face west toward the mountains. We parked the truck facing that direction and hoped for the best.

As it drew close to sunset, the parking lot filled up. It was almost a party atmosphere. People pulled out lawn chairs and coolers in preparation for the show. A man, parked in front of us, set up his camera directly in front of me, completely blocking my view. Chris politely pointed out what he had done, and the man was kind enough to reposition.

The sunset over the mountains, with the broken clouds above, was gorgeous. I stood in the front seat with my head and body out of the sunroof for an unobscured view. The lights can occur anywhere from just after sunset to late in the night, or even not at all. As the darkness took over, I spotted a red light in the distance. The light blinked on and off randomly, but not in any specific pattern. As we looked, we spotted more lights across the bottom of the mountain, some red, some white. It was exciting to see them.

With a little research, we learned that they are an atmospherical phenomenon. Refraction of light from layers of air at different temperatures causes the nearby car lights to appear over Mitchell Flat. It creates the illusion that there are random blinking lights in the distance. We didn’t see it, but there have been reports that the lights seem to be racing across the ground. Knowing the lights’ logical explanation did not diminish the excitement we felt when we saw them. Sometimes it is fun to indulge our active imagination.

When I got out of the truck just before dawn, the lights were still visible. By that time, I was far more interested in the beauty of Venus shining next to the moon in the early morning sky.

On to Big Bend

In the morning, we continued south. Some years ago, I laughed when we saw a sign at a disc golf course warning about wild pigs.
Chris told me they were no joke. As we drove through Texas, we saw several large wild pigs lying beside the road, hit by cars. I couldn’t believe how big they were. Later I was excited to see a large bird near a pond next to the road. We went by so fast that I didn’t have time to identify it.

I enjoyed the changing landscape as we drew close to Big Bend National Park. The mountains were gorgeous, as were the rows of buttes that we saw.

After stopping in a small town for gas, we arrived at the guard gate for the park. As we pulled up, Chris held out our America the Beautiful card and asked for a map. The guard took the card, rudely declaring, “I DO my job.” He then scolded us about our pass, which had warped in the desert heat while we were at Chiriaco Summit. The guard lectured us that we shouldn’t keep the card in our wallet because sitting on it will warp it. He further declared that we should not keep the card stored in the sun for the same reason. We had done neither.

Our unpleasant experience dampened the excitement we had when we arrived at Big Bend.