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:
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:
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Noise:
Site:
Internet (in usage priority order):
Amenities:
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, with our truck behind:
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:
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:
So I taped a bit of cardboard over it to mask that light:
A grasshopper on our windscreen Magne Shade:
The neighboring site has a bird feeder, which attracts lots of birds:
Of course, Paladin really enjoyed watching the birds:
The motel has a resident cat, Oliver, that visited our coach:
Paladin wasn’t thrilled; he hissed at the 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:
By the entrance:
RV check-in:
Old motel signs (established 1940):
The sign at night:
The office; friendly staff, happy to receive packages for us:
A very nice courtyard area:
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:
Backside of the courtyard:
Old cart:
Water tank and windmill:
Goat artwork:
Horse artwork:
Telescope shed and domes; they do nightly star viewing here (a separate post coming about that):
Telescope domes, with our coach visible in the background:
There is an onsite cantina restaurant, but it’s currently closed due to lack of staff:
Other RVs:
Dumpsters, laundry, bathrooms, and motel rooms:
More motel rooms:
There’s an area with a deck, pond, and gardens; a little run down, but it is winter:
They have a chicken run; I enjoyed spending some time with the chickens; I sometimes miss mine:
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 120 miles from Presidio, Texas to Marathon, Texas.
We drove our coach 120 miles, about two hours of driving, from Presidio, Texas to Marathon, Texas.
The map route, heading north then east:
An interactive map, with potential stops:
Leaving the campground:
Presidio:
Mountains:
Elephant Rock:
US Border Patrol inspection station; the officer just waved us through without stopping:
Marfa:
A brief stop at a rest area:
Alpine is a cute town:
A couple of low bridges; just a foot of clearance on the first one (we are 12’ 7”):
Exploded train cars?
Our destination:
We travelled along the Rio Grande river route through Big Bend Ranch State Park. This river marks the border between the US and Mexico.
Here’s an interactive map of our route and stops:
We first needed to go back to Fort Leaton to get a permit to access stops along the route, which was no additional cost thanks to having purchased a Texas State Parks Pass:
Then we headed east into the park, passing the road to the interior of the park:
Lots of interesting hills and views along the route:
Park sign:
A narrow single lane bridge during construction:
Hoodoos:
The Rio Grande river:
More roadworks:
15% grade:
Rio Grande river:
We stopped at a nice roadside picnic area for lunch:
The Rio Grande river was close behind the picnic area — and the other side of the river is Mexico:
Contrabando day use area and movie set:
Closer to the Rio Grande river:
The other side of the park, Barton Warnock Visitor Center:
The four deserts of the US; we’ve now been to all four:
We’re amused by “intrusive igneous deposits”:
Heading back:
15% grade:
Boats in the river:
We’re often in some areas with very hard water, which leaves buildups on counters etc. So we recently purchased a portable water softener for our coach:
It came with water hardness test strips:
I connected it to our (already complicated) water system after the filter, to eliminate any impurities before softening the water (of course, I use quick-connect fittings, to make hooking up and disconnecting easier):
One more thing to get out and put away each time; one day I’d like to build both the filters and softener into the coach, but it doesn’t take long, and is worth it for better quality water in our coach.
We visited the Fort Leaton State Historic Site, literally a minute down the road from our campsite. It also serves as the western entrance of Big Bend Ranch State Park in Texas (which is distinct from Big Bend National Park, which we’ll visit from our next campsite).
Here’s a map of the fort from a self-guided tour PDF:
Outside:
Courtyard:
A ranger; we purchased a Texas State Parks Pass, since we’ll be in Texas over the winter:
Gift shop:
Exhibits:
A cart, or “carreta”, used to transport goods:
Corral area:
The walls in this area haven’t been restored:
Crumbly doorways:
Blacksmith:
Fireplace:
The “dungeon”:
Walls:
Kitchen:
Dining room:
Family parlor:
Trading office:
Formal parlor:
Nursery / family sitting room:
Courtyard:
Servant’s quarters:
Outside again:
A nature trail around the fort:
Cemetery:
A view of the fort from the trail:
An interesting historic site.
Soon after purchasing our coach, I installed a paper towel holder under the cabinet in the kitchen:
That was nice, except Paladin had a bad habit of shredding the towels; I guess it felt fun.
So we left the towel rail empty, and put the roll in a cupboard:
We decided to replace it with an enclosed automatic towel dispenser. We had one in our homestead, and it worked well to protect the towels from Paladin, and was pretty convenient. So we got a similar one, but under-counter mounted, since counter space is valuable in an RV.
I used its template to mark the location:
Then mounted the bracket:
Here it is installed:
One simply waves a hand in front, and it dispenses a sheet to be torn off:
I also tidied the wire, wrapped in a velcro strap, and attached to the wall with a stick-on clip:
Here it is in context in our kitchen:
Finally, a video of it in action — the motion sensor to dispense a towel, and it auto-retracting when I didn’t take one:
You can hold your hand longer to dispense more towel sections, and can set how much to dispense at a time.
A nice improvement to our kitchen.
We stayed at Loma Paloma RV Park in Presidio, Texas. (Campground Reviews listing.)
Our first stop in Texas, a quiet, no-frills RV park just north of Mexico.
Dates:
Weather:
Noise:
Site:
Internet (in usage priority order):
Amenities:
Here’s our review on Campground Reviews:
Basic park with super-friendly folks
We stayed for two weeks and loved the serenity of the place. The check-in process is self-serve, and then you pick your own site from the available options. Everyone is nicely spaced out in the park, and they encourage arrivals to leave space on either side, if possible, so you get the lovely views of the desert instead of your neighbor’s rig. We were there over Thanksgiving, and everyone made us feel very welcome, inviting us to the neighborhood feast where we met some of the long-term residents, some of whom have been wintering there for decades. The amenities are basic, but they work. Between the scenery and the people, we’d definitely stay here again. We camped at Loma Paloma RV Park & Golf Course in a Motorhome.
An interactive map of the RV park:
Our site:
This is our first campground in Texas… so you know what that means — yep, we get to add another sticker (the last new one until August next year!):
This park is a bit unusual in that it doesn’t have a staffed office (more on that later). But we can still get packages delivered, as FedEx and UPS will deliver straight to our site:
The utilities weren’t ideally placed, but not too bad:
A video of three cats by our site at night from our front door cam:
A pleasant view out our dining window:
Sunsets:
This campground is away from big cities, and the nearby Big Bend Ranch State Park is a dark sky park, so we have a good view of stars at night (looked better in person):
A sign for the park:
The main entrance:
Slow adults at play; this is more of a long-term snowbird park than a kid-friendly one (which suits us just fine):
The office building:
As mentioned, it is unstaffed; it just has a small room with books and such, and a desk for self-registration, paying by cash or check in an honor box:
A map of the park on the wall:
The other half of the building is a single toilet and a laundry:
Other sites, including several long-term ones; people don’t live here year-round, but several people spend the winter here:
A bird feeder opposite our site:
Wilderness opposite our coach:
Cats peeking over a tub:
The Lizard Lounge is a gathering place in the center of the park:
Apparently once more people are here over winter they have regular gatherings there, but while we were here there was just one, a Thanksgiving feast:
A nice bunch of people, and a relaxed, quiet RV park. I can see why many people come back every year to spend the winter here. We probably won’t, as it wasn’t quite warm enough for our wintertime, but if we’re passing this way again, we wouldn’t hesitate to stay again.
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 275 miles from Carlsbad, New Mexico to Presidio, Texas.