Big Bend National Park

We spent a day visiting Big Bend National Park in Texas, our last national park for the year, and our last new one until we visit Death Valley in March.

An interactive map of our route:

Entrance sign:

Sign

Persimmon Gap Visitor Center near the northern entrance:

Persimmon Gap Visitor Center

We asked the ranger about picnic spots; he told us about a secret picnic spot that isn’t normally mentioned, since they don’t maintain it; a couple of shelters, but just one table. So we had a picnic lunch there:

Secret picnic spot

Hazy mountains and views:

Mountains

Panther Junction Visitor Center, which includes a post office:

Panther Junction Visitor Center

You know I enjoy relief maps:

Relief map

Gift store:

Gift store

Mountains

There’s even a gas station, very unusual for a national park:

Gas station

Mountains

Chisos Basin Visitor Center:

Chisos Basin Visitor Center

Window View Trail:

Window view trail

The Window:

Window view trail

Mountains

Hole in a rock:

Mountains

Castolon Visitor Center area:

Castolon Visitor Center

Old barracks from 1919, that burned in 2019:

Castolon Visitor Center

Mountains

Moon over mountains:

Mountains

A scenic drive.

McDonald Observatory Star Party

In addition to the little star party at our RV park, we also attended a larger star party at McDonald Observatory in the mountains north of Fort Davis, Texas.

It was a little cloudy, and the moon was about halfway, neither of which made for ideal viewing, but it was fine for viewing bright objects like the moon and planets.

Star Party

The evening started with an introduction and constellation tour in an outdoor amphitheater:

Star Party

Then everyone lined up to view selected targets via some telescopes, including the moon, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn:

Star Party

We then headed to the visitor center, and looked at their exhibits:

Visitor center

And of course the gift store (though shockingly didn’t buy anything):

Gift store

Back outside:

Outside

Stars

A different experience than the campground star party; not as personal, more waiting, but more clear views through the telescopes. I’m glad we did both.

Power Watchdog dimmer shade

I mentioned in my review of the Marathon Motel & RV Park that the Power Watchdog was too bright for a dark sky park:

Power Watchdog

Here’s a nighttime pic from an earlier campground:

At night

As a temporary measure, I covered it with a bit of cardboard:

Power Watchdog

But I also ordered a better solution — a self-adhesive dimmer shade from the manufacturer:

Dimmer shade

Here it is with the shade added:

Power Watchdog with shade

At night, the light is still visible, but much less bright (this is a night mode pic, so looks brighter than in person):

Power Watchdog at night

A non-night-mode pic:

Power Watchdog at night

Gage Gardens

A surprising hidden gem in Marathon is Gage Gardens, a 27-acre park tucked away across the railway tracks from the downtown shops.

Gage Gardens

Rose garden, dormant in winter:

Gage Gardens

Lots of grasshoppers:

Gage Gardens

A painted cow:

Gage Gardens

A delightful garden in a delightful town.

Marathon Sky Park Star Party

Our neighbor at the Marathon Motel and RV Park hosts a star party each clear night, where he and another guy talk about the moon, planets, and stars, and show several of them through a couple of telescopes and high-powered binoculars for anyone interested (no reservation required, other than big groups).

A sign for the star party by the office:

Star party sign

The motel has a large area set aside for telescopes, with several concrete pads and a couple of small domes, plus a shed for a bigger telescope:

Star party area

Our host, setting up the bigger telescope:

Telescope

A photo of the moon, taken through the smaller telescope; rather blown out, but you can see the craters and mountains at the terminator line:

Moon

Sunset:

Sunset

A bunch of people for the star party:

Star party

Using a powerful laser pointer to indicate stars:

Laser pointer

People at the binoculars:

Star party

The two telescopes:

Telescopes

It was an enjoyable and fascinating experience. And so convenient, a short walk from our coach.

Marathon, Texas

We really liked the small town of Marathon in Texas (Wikipedia page). It has a population of just about 400, and was established in 1882.

We had lunch at the V6 Coffee Bar:

V6 Coffee Bar

Lunch

The one grocery store in town, The French Grocer, is pretty tiny and expensive, but had the essentials:

The French Grocer

With cute little grocery carts, too:

The French Grocer

They also had a wide selection of ciders; we bought four Texas Keeper bottles:

Ciders

More buildings around town:

Buildings

A train track goes through the town:

Train

The post office:

Post office

A painted sign next to the post office:

Sign

Foot bridge:

Foot bridge

Rail tracks:

Rail tracks

Another foot bridge:

Foot bridge

More buildings:

Building

Shops

Building

Texas etched in footpath:

Texas etched in footpath

Texas flag etched in footpath

Another day, we had dinner at Brick Vault Brewery & Barbecue:

Brick Vault Brewery & Barbecue

Outside seating:

Outside seating

Inside:

Inside

Menu:

Bar:

Bar

The building used to be a Gulf gas station, established in 1939:

Gulf station established 1939

A view outside:

Door

Our dinners, all very tasty:

Dinner

And desserts, also tasty:

Dessert

Outside:

Outside

Fire station:

Fire station

Windmill:

Windmill

Church:

Church

Historic house:

Historic house

Shops:

Shops

The Gage Hotel is the main feature of the town, in fact they own several other businesses around town:

Gage Hotel

On the road next to the RV park, an amusing UFO sign:

UFO sign

On our last day, we stopped by Big Bend Pizza:

Big Bend Pizza

A cute town. We’d be happy to visit again.

BlueFire diagnostic adapter

Vehicles nowadays are full of computers that control and monitor most operations. You may know about the data port that repair shops can use to diagnose issues. This port can be used by us, too.

The BlueFire data adapter connects to a different style of this port in large vehicles like trucks and motorhomes, and uses Bluetooth to communicate with an app to display this diagnostic information.

Here’s the adapter next to the case it came in:

BlueFire data adapter

Top of the adapter:

BlueFire data adapter

The connector on the bottom:

BlueFire data adapter

There are two data ports under the dash in our coach; the green one is the modern data port; I’m not sure about the gray one; might be an older port, or something else:

Data ports

Removing the cap from the port, you can see the connector pins:

Data port

The BlueFire adapter plugs in, with a twist to lock it in place; it lights up with various colors and flashing patterns for its status:

BlueFire data adapter

The other essential part is the app. It works on Apple iPads and iPhones, and Android devices. It has a dashboard that can be configured; see the BlueFire site for more examples.

Here’s a dashboard layout I used initially on my iPad Pro (I’ve actually been using the BlueFire for months, but just got around to writing about it):

iPad app

I later changed to a different layout that I got from someone online:

iPad app

I have my iPad on the dash of our coach on travel days, along with the tire pressure monitor, and my laptop with the map:

Devices

I’m still working on improving the dash layout in the app; I’ve added a couple of gauges, but there’s room for more:

iPad app

Here’s a screenshot for a more clear view:

iPad app

Sometime I’ll spend more time customizing this further, but it’s a useful tool as-is.

Marathon dark sky stars

Marathon is a small town in a dark sky region, so the stars are very visible at night. I took a bunch of photos of the night sky with my iPhone; it did a remarkably good job, for just a hand-held phone. It has a night mode where you can set the capture duration, from 1 to 10 seconds; I used 10 seconds for most of these. If your aim drifts, it shows a couple of crosshairs to get you back on target.

These are pictures taken outside our coach, with it visible in some:

Stars

Marathon Motel & RV Park

We stayed at Marathon Motel & RV Park in Marathon, Texas. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A motel with a small RV park in a cute small town.

Dates:

Check in: 2022-11-27
Check out: 2022-12-04
7 nights

Weather:

Mostly sunny
High temps ranging between 67-79°F, lows around 33-52°F
Afternoon wind most days, up to 30 MPH gusts

Noise:

A little road noise; occasional nearby train noise
Some neighbor noise

Site:

#7, pull-through, gravel
Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked behind and in front of coach
Very level
Medium site: about 80 feet long by about 30 feet wide
Full hookups:

50 amp power, conveniently located
60 PSI water, somewhat conveniently located
Good sewer connection, not conveniently located (2.5 10-foot pipes needed)

Picnic table
Goat’s heads!

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 86-94 Mbps down, 31-43 Mbps up, 55 ms ping
AT&T: 40-50 Mbps down, 7-21 Mbps up, 40-70 ms ping
Verizon: 30 Mbps down, 11 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
Campground Wi-Fi: not used
Starlink: not used

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters
Package delivery to office
Star party

Here’s our review on Campground Reviews:

The stars at night are truly big and bright

We stayed here for a week as a base for exploring the area and absolutely loved it. The RV sites are on the basic side, but everything worked in good order. The park is a dark sky area and every night, they do a star party with multiple telescopes and lots of fun conversation about what’s visible. We also did the star party at the MacDonald Observatory, and the one in Marathon was actually better (and cheaper); there were no crowds and a personalized tour of the sky. The staff here was so helpful, going above and beyond when we had package deliveries, including one that arrived after we checked out. I cannot say enough good things about how friendly everyone was. The town of Marathon is small but has everything one needs, including restaurants, a coffee shop, and a small grocery store for the necessities. We camped at Marathon Motel and RV Park in a Motorhome.

An interactive map of the RV park:

Our site before parking:

Our site before parking

Our site, with our truck behind:

Our site

Our site with our truck in front:

Our site with our truck in front

The utilities weren’t super convenient; the water was well positioned, but the sewer and electric were at the back of the site:

Utilities

The Power Watchdog surge protector has a bright light; the dog face lights up white if all is well, or red if there’s an issue. But in a dark sky park, that was a bit too bright:

Power Watchdog

So I taped a bit of cardboard over it to mask that light:

Power Watchdog

A grasshopper on our windscreen Magne Shade:

Grasshopper on Magne Shade

The neighboring site has a bird feeder, which attracts lots of birds:

Birds

Of course, Paladin really enjoyed watching the birds:

Paladin watching birds

The motel has a resident cat, Oliver, that visited our coach:

Campground cat

Paladin wasn’t thrilled; he hissed at the cat:

Campground cat

There is a train track across the road from the park, which has a few freight trains pass by each day, sounding their horn:

Train

By the entrance:

Entrance

RV check-in:

RV check-in

Old motel signs (established 1940):

Sign

The sign at night:

Sign

The office; friendly staff, happy to receive packages for us:

Office

A very nice courtyard area:

Courtyard

We enjoy playing Pokémon, and Jenn recently got the ability to request new PokéStops (or “spinny-things”, as we call them); she added one for the courtyard:

PokéStop