Visiting Terlingua: Bound West Into The Dust

“It’s like an orb is rattling inside of me, slinging up more and more momentum until I yield and give into wandering again.” – Old Sean

Burst Trip

The moment has arrived.

A final, wonderful break from the monotony of quarantine, a quiet home life and the shuffle of daily activities has been granted to me in the form of a road trip.

The trip itself was a carefully planned endeavor, where my brother and I would drive through the endless flats and dusts of West Texas my favorite US National Park, Big Bend, which has remained operational despite the massive spike in coronavirus in the US and Texas.

This was not a haphazard trip, by any means.  I rented a car, determined acceptable isolated lodging, researched the route, confirmed what aspects of the park were open, stocked up on masks, disinfectants and disposable gloves before finally mentally bracing myself for a journey.

I should mention, that the tonnage of COVID equipment needed for this trip was impressive.  Disposable gloves and disinfectant wipes were brought out at every gas stop.  At our hotel, we wiped down every commonly touched surface prior to settling in.  Masks were a constant.  Water bottles and food packaging quickly packed up due to the wealth of personally stocked goods to avoid frequent stops.

Masks especially were a nice touch.  My brother and I have traditional masks with a secondary fabric layer made of magic scarves.  These handy trinkets help with dust, sun-blocking and in this case, creating a washable anti-COVID layer. 

However, driving into every town with long fabric obscuring our faces and necks while wearing sunglasses and hats felt very bandito in nature.  Doubly so, since I was primarily armed with a cowboy hat on my head (though my running shorts ruined that façade).

Fortuitous Roads

I’m grateful for this trip.  For far too long, I felt myself solidifying into a roll I neither loved nor desired.  My online work goes well, but working online, (while convenient) has proven exceptionally lonely when compared to a traditional office setting.  Even in Hohhot, where I felt adrift, there were people to speak to a mere elbow length away.

Regardless, I gathered my brother and we were off.

The road trip was initially a fantastic wander westward. I had loaded up on some riveting podcasts including Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History and Christopher Ryan’s Tangentially Speaking.  My brother contributed with a comedic trio of brothers in a podcast called “My Brother, My Brother and Me.”

While I love long road trips and they have been a depressing absence in my recent year, I was disappointed to find my brother wasn’t the greatest of road trip companions.  He’s funny, smart, with wit and a great ability to engage in conversations, but unfortunately, he’s a car sleeper.  For whatever reason, within a few minutes of a podcast playing, or music thumping in our vehicle, his head droops, mouth opens and he goes into a hibernation state.

So much of the driving has been done by me and much of the podcast listening has been mine as well.

Sights En Route

Despite my brother’s snoozing, we’ve done and seen a lot of things on the road.  Firstly, the majority of our food was prepacked, so snacks and coolers were in grand supply.  We made a point to stretch our legs at numerous roadside attractions.

The first, sought out in Eastland, Texas was an enormous Can of Soup perched outside a Dairy Queen.  This oddity is just that; odd.  Better still, I managed to start driving the car away before Ryan managed to hop in, causing him to do that futile after-vehicle jog.

Further down the line, we meandered around Abilene, eventually stopping to see Jacob’s Dream Sculpture, which was an admittedly interesting sight.  Topped stones are piled around a green circle, where biblical quotes are etched into the sides.  The stones stack upon one another in the center where a host of winged angles use a levitating ladder ascending to heaven.

Our next stop, also a unique feature of Texas included the Permian Basin Petroleum Museum.  We didn’t bother to head inside (due to a 12 dollar entrance fee) but we drove around the frontal area, gawking at odd machinery, elder oil drilling techniques and modern oil towers.

Following the Petroleum Museum, my brother and I quickly scooted further up the road to the Odessa Meteor Crater.  This feature was created by an impressive meteor impact.  We walked through intense heat, wandering through the ancient blast zone in a land washed of color thanks to the intensity of a cloudless sky overhead.

Entering Terlingua

Finally, our destination was reached as we rolled into Alpine, where we stayed at Oyo Hotel.  While not a great hotel, it was Spartan-like in terms of furniture with low features and everything else we needed.  Namely, an AC.  Put bluntly, we didn’t plan to spend much time here.

Instead of resting on our road-trip laurels, my brother and I opted to take another short road trip to the south, heading to Terlingua, one of my favorite towns in Texas. 

Sparse buildings dot flat-top buttes and rocky juts shooting skyward.  The land is segmented and blended with swirls of white shale and limestone being pried from cliff faces by the elements and deep, red, iron-rich soil. 

Small buildings dot the scene, almost randomly.  The homes occasionally appear pristine, washed-out from sunlight or completely abandoned.  But the roads are smooths and fine, the power lines are sturdy against the desert wind and both my brother and I always have three bars on our phones.

Many of the shops are for tours of Big Bend, including horseback rides, boat tours down the Rio Grande or hiking treks.  Most of these, unfortunately were closed due to COVID at the time.  There are also numerous quirk shops with outlandish names.  Buzzard’s Roost Rentals, Lost Gringo RV Park and DB’s Rustic Iron BBQ.

Ghostly Deserts

I had been to Big Bend and Terlingua before, a long time ago with friends, so I knew exactly what I was looking for.  On the outskirts of the quirky town, there is a famous area known as Terlingua Ghost Town. 

This series of semi-demolished settlements are inter spaced with fresher buildings that have recently gone up in the past two decades with the slight tourism boost here.  Huge washout canyons with dry riverbeds slink through the lower levels while the half-fallen houses topple on the upper levels.  Desert brush grows sparsely and occasional clouds thwart the sun’s more intense intents.

The sunsets in the area are spectacular and a lot of odd artworks dot that landscape.  Tee-pee rentals, a wire-mesh dinosaur, a tiny alien spaceship and a towering metal dragonfly are just a few.  We even spotted a few bits of wildlife, including a rabbit, a few brazen millipedes, tadpoles slinking in rare river puddles and the ultimate desert creature and feature, numerous buzzards wheeling about.

Return to Alpine

Afterwards, my brother and I tried driving back to Alpine that night in the hopes of getting some rest and waking up early tomorrow. 

Unfortunately, night driving back from Terlingua is somewhat inadvisable.  The number of deer willing to brave that windy road at twilight hours is harrowing.  I tapped the breaks like a dance and when we finally returned to Alpine, we gathered some McDonalds for dinner, drove in and promptly fell asleep.

Tomorrow, we head out to the actual desert hikes and true trails of West Texas.  Tomorrow, we visit Big Bend National Park.

Until then,

Best regards and excellent trails,

Old Sean

Written June 29th 2020

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