The drive to Marfa from Fort Davis was very different than the drive to Alpine. This one was not as scenic and it was flat. Texas definitely keeps it interesting. 😉 Here we are (still in the middle of nowhere) in a very unattractive little Texas town called Marfa. You might remember that I said I wanted to play golf for my birthday and we obviously couldn’t do that in Fort Davis, but would you believe Marfa has a course? I haven’t golfed in years due to my knees, feet, and a torn tendon in my shoulder, but I was ready to get out there again so we went to the 9 hole course just a few miles from our RV park. I really thought I would need practice so we just hit from the driving range instead of playing a round. Oh, am I glad we did that. As it turns out, I need a LOT of practice, and I’m OK with that. I wasn’t too hard on myself. On top of everything else I’ve put on some (a lot) weight which made it a bit more difficult. Anyway, I plan on sticking with it and working on my game. 🙂
When we arrived at the golf course we couldn’t figure out where to start. Nothing was obvious, so we just looked for something that looked like a driving range. There were tumble weeds tumbling and antelope grazing the course. Apparently they don’t mind people. I believe when we arrived we had gone back in time and we were golfing in the old west.
Ok, the people in Fort Davis actually call Marfa the “little Austin” because it tries being artsy. I think we might have seen a museum with a few sculptures, but the rest of the town is very run down. I can tell you right now that it is not even close to being Austin…even a little one. Nice try, Marfa, nice try…
Now, you might have heard of Marfa…or not, but it seems to be famous for these very mysterious lights. As the story goes, these lights were first reported in 1883 by a cowboy herding his cattle across the desert, then again in 1885 by somebody else wandering the same desert. The lights were seen again in the 1930s. The Native Americans also witnessed these lights and figured they were falling stars or something, Anyway, they’ve been described as ghost lights and headlights. Apparently, there has been scientific research and various studies but nobody can explain this phenomenon. The lights are too low on the horizon to be stars and if they were headlights, why would people have reported seeing this in the 19th century? So, back to our story…As many of you know, I am a believer of many things…ghosts, aliens, the supernatural, etc. Will is a bit more skeptical, but he has mentioned that he thinks that if we believe we’re the only living beings in the Universe, we’re all crazy. There just has to be something else out there, right? So, Will and I went to the Marfa lights viewing center (yes, that’s a thing) and got our binoculars ready. We noticed some lights in the distance. To us, they did look a lot like headlights, but we stayed for a while to get a better look. The lights didn’t do much. They did tend to come in pairs…hmmm, now that’s suspicious. Headlights come in pairs. They also seemed to come and go randomly. Hmmm…headlights seem to do that when they’re going over hills and behind mountains. Ok, I know you’re thinking we’re being skeptical, but honestly…yes, we are. The only real reason we’re not true believers is that Will did some research when we got home that night (I know what you’re thinking, of course he did…he’s Will) 😉 and learned that yes, there is a road going through mountains at the very spot the lights appear. There might be other lights, but we’re calling bull hockey on these particular lights being mysterious, which are the same lights you see when you Google “Marfa lights”. Very disappointing… Sorry, folks.
The coolest part about our Marfa trip was our RV park. There is an office, but there is never anybody there. It’s kind of a “self-serve” type of place.
We did have very good pizza while in Marfa.
Until our next stop…Terlingua, TX.
