Just roll with it, baby

So we point our chariot northwest, happily motoring along – until we are pulled over and asked for our citizenship.  I was a tad surprised.  I realize that we were close to the Mexican border (in fact Chris and Tony had walked over to Mexico earlier that day.  I didn't as I didn't have my passport with me) but this wasn't a temporary checkpoint, this was a diversion of the two lanes to an area near a building.  Our papers were checked and we were sent on our way.  This was to happen another two times, once a significant distance from the border.  I found the whole experience rather distressing.

We shook it off though and proceeded into White Sands in time to poke around a bit and set up for some sunset shots.  There weren't enough clouds in the sky for a dramatic sunset, but the colors on the sand were nice.  We drove on to make our next way point, Big Bend National Park.

I've wanted to go to Big Bend for a while, for no real reason aside from it looking wild and remote.  It looks that way because it is.  Which is why I'd not, as yet, been there.  It's not like you can check it out on your way to somewhere else, as it's not really on the way to anywhere else.  So off we went, into the wild remoteness of southwest TX.  And on our way we tripped across what, I believe might be the strangest road in the lower 48.  Highway 90 on the way to Marfa, TX.

We were just driving through west TX on our way to Big Bend.  We had no idea what was along this road and if we'd looked we would've likely picked Marfa out as a probable place for food and fuel if for no other reason than there wasn't much else around.  What we didn't know is that this place figured in a few movies, including "Giant", "No Country for Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood".  We also didn't know that it was located on the strangest road in the lower 48.

So we're driving along Hwy 90 in west TX.  There's not much out there.  It's the high desert, which means it's flat, hot and dusty.  There are mountains along the horizon, and not a whole lot else.  Driving is a pretty boring experience, and for me it went something like:  "yep.  It's pretty brown out here.  Lots of dust.  There's some scrub vegetation.  No cactus really.  There's a little tiny Prada store.  More dust."  About a ten-count later I looked at Chris, who was looking at me.  We turned around.

And stood in the road looking at Prada Marfa.  Some Scandinavian artists thought it would be cool to build a little tiny Prada store in the middle of nowhere.  Prada endorsed the idea, donated a bunch of shoes and handbags, and – well.  There you go.

We got underway, and it wasn't long before I found myself asking "Is that a blimp?".  We pulled over, and yes, there was a blimp floating in the cloudless sky.

This may not seem odd, but seriously – there's nothing out there.  We'd driven through Valentine, TX – and – yeah, nothing.  As we approached the blimp Chris noticed that it was tethered, and indeed as we pulled into the area it was anchored in we read that it was a Tethered Aerostat Radar System.  Blimp-borne radar likely used for drug interdiction.  Or – something. 

We got underway.  We had lunch at a somewhat barren and forlorn Dairy Queen in Marfa, TX, then headed towards Big Bend.  On the way we saw a brown sign for Contrabando.  We pulled over.  It turns out Contrabando is a completely fabricated town used in many a movie.  We poked around and could totally picture the western scenes shot here (the one where the good guys take shelter in the church and rally the townsfolk?  That one was just over there, behind the fake well).  Tony pointed out a building that had some fake plastic rock "siding" attached to it and, looking at the endless supply of rock around us, pondered who decided they needed to ship this in, you know, just in case. 

Off we went, to Big Bend.  Which was pretty much exactly as I expected.  We ended up chatting with a park employee and she directed us to a spot called "The Window" where we set up the cameras and hung out (after some dinner).  The sunset worked out pretty well (it was a little too far to the right, but what can you do) and then we were off again.  To find a spot to sleep before we hit Fort Worth to rendezvous with Walker and acquire Monica.