A surprising hidden gem in Marathon is Gage Gardens, a 27-acre park tucked away across the railway tracks from the downtown shops.
Rose garden, dormant in winter:
Lots of grasshoppers:
A painted cow:
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:
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:
Our host, setting up the bigger 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:
Sunset:
A bunch of people for the star party:
Using a powerful laser pointer to indicate stars:
People at the binoculars:
The two 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:
The one grocery store in town, The French Grocer, is pretty tiny and expensive, but had the essentials:
With cute little grocery carts, too:
They also had a wide selection of ciders; we bought four Texas Keeper bottles:
More buildings around town:
A train track goes through the town:
The post office:
A painted sign next to the post office:
Foot bridge:
Rail tracks:
Another foot bridge:
More buildings:
Texas etched in footpath:
Another day, we had dinner at Brick Vault Brewery & Barbecue:
Outside seating:
Inside:
Menu:
Bar:
The building used to be a Gulf gas station, established in 1939:
A view outside:
Our dinners, all very tasty:
And desserts, also tasty:
Outside:
Fire station:
Windmill:
Church:
Historic house:
Shops:
The Gage Hotel is the main feature of the town, in fact they own several other businesses around town:
On the road next to the RV park, an amusing UFO sign:
On our last day, we stopped by 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:
Top of the adapter:
The connector on the bottom:
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:
Removing the cap from the port, you can see the connector pins:
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:
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):
I later changed to a different layout that I got from someone online:
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:
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:
Here’s a screenshot for a more clear view:
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:
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, 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:
Video: Presidio, Texas to Marathon, Texas motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 120 miles from Presidio, Texas to Marathon, Texas.
Travel from Presidio 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:
Big Bend Ranch State Park
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:
Water softener
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.