2023-9-22 Marathon Texas

Friday morning Elaine and I slept in and relaxed before we had to head out. It was only a couple hours to the stop we picked out. We decided to go to Marathon to a motel and RV park I have heard about over the years. We also decided that rather than go back up to Alpine the way we came down and then drive east to Marathon, we would drive east through the national park and then go north to Marathon. I've never been that way so it would give us yet another view of the park. My GPS said that the distance would actually be less going that way but, of course, we would be driving slower in the national park. We were not in a hurry so that didn't matter. we were hoping to stop at the dinasaur exhibit but the sign came up unexpectedly and you had to drive down a road to get to it. Not knowing whether there would be room to turn around or park both our RVs, we kept on going.

We found the RV park without any problem and they honored our Passport America membership so camping was half price. Score.

I thought I took pictures of our RV sites but I guess not. We had pull-through water and electric sites. They also have full hookup sites. The camping area is 3 rows of pull-throughs in a desert gravel setting with a picnic table. The rest of the park is quite nice. This is a very large enclosed by adobe patio area which has lots of trees, grass, roses and other plants as well as a beautiful fireplace alcove with seating. I took Harley out about 10pm and heard some faint guitar music so I think we missed out on a performance.

This was the interior of the enclosed area.

This was an enclosed dining area and I think there was also a small restaurant. 

The motel part consists of numerous cabins with two rooms per building.

One of the reasons we wanted to go to this particular motel/RV park is that they do star parties here.

Unfortunately, the woman at the desk when we checked in told us that the astronomers said they would not be having one until the beginning of October because the moon was two bright. that was disappointing but there will be another time.

The star parties are not the only interesting thing in Marathon. I unhooked the care and we drove to the Gage Hotel. The history of the hotel is very interesting. Alfred Gage had a ranching empire of over 500,000 acres. When the railroad came to Marathon, Gage felt there was very little to offer in terms of places to stay. He commissioned famed architect Henry Trost to design a hotel. The Mission and Spanish hotel opened for business in 1927. Gage died the following year. The hotel hosted illustrious guests for a while but it fell into disuse. It was finally purchased in the 1970s by JP Bryan and his wife as their private residence. In 1981, they opened it to the public but it was years before they had any business to speak of. Knowing how important it was to the community, they persevered.

The hotel is unique and beautiful from the adobe walls to the layout and grounds.

The rooms open off the grass courtyard filled with trees. This particular grass is not real but it is real and just as green in the other courtyards.

The walled pool area was gorgeous.

We walked through this courtyard which was being set up for a wedding dinner. I hope it was a very late dinner because the temperature was about 100 degrees. The lobby was small but equally impressive. The Gage has an inhouse restaurant and the white Buffalo Bar as well as owning the V6 Coffee Bar and the Brick Vault restaurant and brewery next door. They also have an extensive beautiful garden that is offsite and open to the public. It was being used for the wedding as well so we headed back to the rV park.

Another interesting place in Marathon is Eve's Garden Bed and Breakfast. There are organic gardens and the rooms are handbuilt with recycled content, paper/adobe fiber-cement content.

Even without the star parties, it was a very interesting and worthwhile stop. The next morning Elaine headed north early. I used the dump station and headed east towards home. One more interesting site was the miniature Buc-ees located between Marathon and Sanderson on Hwy 90. I was planning to stop at the Judge Roy Bean museum but they have rebuilt the highway and it is no longer on the main road. I did not know that until I saw the sign for the turn off and was past it before I could change direction. There was no good place to turn around or another turn off so that will also have to be for another time.
 

I made it home in time for dinner. I'm already looking forward to my next rally in October.