The Stillwell Store and RV Park

 

On February 14th we traveled from Del Rio Texas toward Big Bend National Park. Since  the campgrounds in the park are frequently full and the reservable sites are usually reserved months in advance; I decided to stop just outside the park at the Stillwell Store and RV park.  Spending one night here allowed us a shot at the first come first serve national park sites which became vacant the next morning.  This park is adjacent to the Stillwell ranch and consists of a convenience store in the middle of the vast expanse of west Texas desert.  There was absolutely no cell phone service there and the nearest store of any kind was about 40 miles away in the town of Marathon.  The park, however, was inexpensive, had full hookups, and  an excellent WIFI signal.

 

The original owner, Hallie Stillwell, was an honored Texas cowgirl rancher whose life is said to have represented the embodiment of  Texas ranch culture.  The above is from a magazine describing Hallie.

Enroute from Del Rio, we stopped in Marathon Texas for fuel.  Marathon is mostly a crossroad town with one gas station and the rather picturesque Gage hotel.  We did not check out the interior of the hotel which is said to be equally interesting as is the exterior.

 This is the typical highway view going south from Marathon.  Not a single house or structure of any kind can be seen from the road. Note this is not yet in the boundary of the national park.

 Campgrounds in this part of the country are normally  nothing more than a gravel parking lot.  

Surprisingly the desolation of the area has its own charm with no highway or other man made noises. It is really peaceful.

 Ina is always fascinated by the large cacti which flourish in spite of the extremely dry environment.

This posting and several more will be out of chronological order.  Most of our time in Big Bend was without any cell (e.g. internet) service. I .will be trying to catch up with our travels and post a lot more photos in the next few days.  As of this writing we have competed our visit to Big Bend and are lingering in El Paso Texas before continuing on into New Mexico.