West Texas

Another beautiful
part of Texas
in it's own rugged way.



Prairie Dogs

These little guys used to be found by the millions but as progress has taken over they are becoming endangered. If we are very lucky we might see some.



Chapparel Bird

Still a few "Roadrunners" around. If you listen closely you can hear the "beep-beep" as they pass us by.



Big Bend

Turn off the A/C in the Chevy~ Roll down the windows! We don't need it in this part of Texas~

Big Bend National Park is a land of borders. Situated on the boundary with Mexico along the Rio Grande, it is a place where countries and cultures meet. It is also a place that merges natural environments, from desert to mountains. It is a place where south meets north and east meets west, creating a great diversity of plants and animals. The park covers over 801,000 acres of west Texas in the place where the Rio Grande makes a sharp turn - the Big Bend.



Another GREAT VIEW!



A photographers dream




Let's go see where many"Western Movies"
were made.



Alamo Village

ALAMO VILLAGE - Western family recreation center built around the movie set for John Wayne's "The Alamo," filmed in 1959. The set was one of the largest and most complete ever constructed in the U.S. The Alamo replica, built by adobe craftsmen from Mexico, overlooks a complete frontier village of the 1800s. Operated by ShahanAngus Ranch, set includes a cantina-restaurant, trading post, Indian store, authentic stage depot, old-time jail, bank, saddle shop, and other typical Old West structures.



Happy Shahan

Happy Shahan was the founding Father of the Texas film industry and the surrogate Father to countless young people who worked each summer at Alamo Village.   He attracted both those seeking fame and fortune and those seeking love and guidance. Happy reached out to rich kids, poor kids, troubled kids, and talented kids, bestowing on them all the same gift- the ability to discover integrity in themselves.



A re-enactment of the movie"The Alamo"



The Cougar

Keep a sharp lookout while I drive and if we are very lucky we might spot one of these rascals in the area.

Meanwhile let's meander over to Langtry, Texas.



Judge Roy Bean

Of the many colorful characters who have become legends of the Old West. "Hanging Judge Roy Bean," who held court sessions in his saloon along the Rio Grande River in a desolate stretch of the Chihuahuan Desert of West Texas, remains one of the more fascinating. He once told the Governor in Austin-"You take care of your business" and "I will take care of mine".



The Jersey Lily Saloon

The Law West of the Pecos. It looks like a grand time could be had by all.



The Vinegaroon

Lots of the things around here. They get their name by spewing a venom that has the smell of vinegar at their adversaries~

Let's run a shiver down our spines while we are in this part of the state. We will try and spot the Marfa Lights about dusk.



The Marfa Lights

By day Marfa is an unremarkable place, just another dusty West Texas town surrounding all directions by miles and miles of open space. But when the sun goes down something happens in the skies east of town that sets this place apart. People from across the globe come to a roadside viewing area on the highway between Marfa and Alpine. They peer into the night sky, looking for the Marfa lights.

"They dim and they go off and sometimes they divide in two," explained Armando Vasquez, something of a local expert on the subject who often comes to the viewing site to marvel at the ghost lights. "They're weird because they're not moving like a vehicle would. We don't know what causes them. Nobody does."

Let's take a quick peek at El Paso.


El Paso

Texas is the state with the longest border with Mexico, and El Paso is the most important gateway city between Mexico and Texas. This photograph shows El Paso, Texas, in the foreground, and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, in the background. Linked geographically and economically, the cities engage in the maquiladora system, in which goods are manufactured in Mexican plants along the border for sale in the United States



Fort Bliss

Established in 1848 to protect settlers from Indians and marauding bandits, Fort Bliss is  one of the oldest posts in the United States Army.  Although both infantry and cavalry soldiers could once be found on Fort Bliss, today their mission focus is on Air Defense Artillery.  As the center for air defense, Fort Bliss is home to the U.S. Army Air Defense Artillery School and four combat ADA brigades. With 1.1 million acres it is larger than the state of Rhode Island.



The Patriot Missle

Fort Bliss is the home of the Patriot. All training and deployment is at Bliss.

Well folks we have seen the dry portion of Texas let's swing over to East Texas. It's quite the opposite.