2023-9-17 Study Butte/Terlingua TX

 Sunday morning was a good morning for sleeping in, having coffee, and having a breakfast snack with the Texas Ramblin' Roses rally group. We only had about a two hour drive down to Study Butte. The roads are great in this area and traffic was very light as the Big Bend season doesn't really start until November when the weather leaves the scorching temps. My view.

Elaine's view following me, lol.

Elaine had never been to Big Bend so I agreed to go inspite of the scorching temps. I figured a couple others might want to go since we had already come this far so I checked out RV parks and decided on Paisano Village. I contacted them months in advance and negotiated a better volume rate. When she asked how many RVs, I said maximum of 10 so they put us on the new side of the park. Well, 17 RVs called and reserved under me so 6 rigs were on the other side of the park. One woman broke down in Abilene on the way to the rally and had to cancel. We all got emails the day before we were to arrive giving us our site numbers and a request we respond when we arrived or if we needed anything. Smoothest check-in ever. 

I warned everyone in advance that these are desert campgrounds so don't expect trees or grass but the desert has it's own beauty.

Sites were long, level back-ins with plenty of room to get straight before backing up.

Each site had a concrete patio with a table and a firepit....definitely no fires needed this time of year.

There was one family style bathroom on our side of the park with a fabulous huge rainshower shower head. There was also one casita on the other side of the bathroom with a huge patio behind the whole building. They told us to go ahead and use the patio. There wasn't anyone scheduled to use the casita so we could all leave our chairs and grills behind the building which had great late afternoon and evening shade.

That night we all decided to go out to dinner and I suggested La Kiva. It was closed the last two times I was here but definitely open now. La Kiva is carved out of massive sandstone boulders. You enter it like you are going into a cellar. La Kiva is a very popular local restaurant with an interesting history. Former owner Glenn Felts was found laying in the parking lot of the restaurant. Initially workers arriving thought he was drunk but later discovered that he was dead. His friend Tony Flint, a retired Bears offensive lineman was charged with the murder but when the coroner disclosed that the wounds could also have been caused by being hit with an automobile, the charges were dismissed.

The current owners are John and Josie Holroyd are a British couple who began coming to the area in 1981 as snowbirds. the restaurant and bar are very large inside.

There are several rooms and outside seating on a covered patio is also available in the back.

When we called to see if the restaurant could handle a party of about 18 women, they said "bring it on". We had one huge table that seated all 16 of us that came. One waitress handled all our individual orders with finesse and some extra help bringing the food out. She was fantastic and personable and very smartly did not add the customary 20% tip for over 6 people. As a result, her tip was substantially more. The food was also excellent and portions huge.

Our La Kiva experience was great and we would all recommend it whatever your group size.

Later in the week we had dinner at another popular restaurant, the Starlight Theatre. One of women called to get a reservation for 6pm. She was told we would have to come at 5pm. She was also told that there would only be one bill for all 17 of us. That is really not workable since some have drinks, some order big meals while others order sandwiches, etc. They finally said that we could sit at tables for 4 with one bill for each table which was slightly better. 

We arrived about 5 minutes early and were told we would have to stand outside. It was incredibly hot in the direct sun. Finally they told us we could come in and stand in front of the stage. As they finished putting the silverware on the table, they would let a group of 4 sit. we were finally all seated.

One of the group at our table had not heard about the earlier reservation conversation and asked our waiter if we could have separate checks. He said that he overheard the reservation conversation and was surprised at the rudeness. He said he would be more than happy to do separate checks for our table and did a great job taking care of us. My barbeque sandwich and fries were good. Others had the antelope and said it was very dry. I would not take a group there again.

Next most of us made a trip to the General Store in the same building as the restaurant. It's very large and they have many different rooms.

In addition to items for sale, they have things on display like a museum.

There is even a room dedicated year-round to Christmas.

After we got done there, we decided to tour around Terlingua.

This is a local church. You can just see the steeple on the left side of the building.

There are little houses, RVs, teepees, and yurts sprouted up all over. Almost all were empty this time of year. Other than the RVs in the parks, those on individual plots looked like they drove in and never left.

Believe it or not, these are individual rentals. They are very small looking like they would not hold more than a bed and maybe a chair. I guess you can see the stars out the roof but that would also let the sun in. Only one was occupied that evening and the guest was sitting outside.

Back at the RV park, we were treated to a beautiful sunset every night. This building has the casita taking up the majority of the building with the bathroom on the left end.