Onwards to Marfa

We wanted to get to Marfa to try to see the "Marfa Lights" - and this evening was predicted to be relatively clear, and warm enough to be ok for being outside in the evening/night.

We left Langtry before the Visitor's Center opened. It was quite foggy this morning, but just before Sanderson the skies cleared.

We found this rest stop via the "Days End Directory" and stopped to make breakfast.

Not exactly sure why, but at many of the rest areas, though there is fencing, there are A-shaped ladders over the fencing so you could cross if you wanted to (Dwayne is up on the ladder in the center of this picture).

I know a lot of people don't like the desert, but we find it beautiful.

Heading west, about 10 miles from Alpine.

We got to the Marfa Lights Viewing rest area in the early afternoon.

Marfa Mystery Lights
The Marfa Mystery Lights are visible on many clear nights between Marfa and Paisano Pass as one looks towards the Chinati Mountains. The lights may appear in various colors as they move about, split apart, melt together, disappear and reappear.
Robert Reed Ellison, a young cowboy, reported sighting the lights in 1883. He spotted them while tending a herd of cattle and wondered if they were Apache Indian campfires.
Apache Indians believed these eerie lights to be stars dropping to the earth.
Many viewers have theories ranging from scientific to science fiction as they describe their ideas of aliens in UFO's, ranch house lights, St. Elmo's fiew, or headlights from vehicles on US 67, the Presidio highway. Some believe the lights are an electrostatic discharge, swamp gases, moonlight shining on veins of mica, or ghosts of Conquistadors searching for gold.
An explanation as to why the lights cannot be located is an unusual phenomenon similar to a miracle, where atmospheric conditions produced by the interaction of cold and warm layers of air bend light so that it can be seen from afar, but not up close.
The mystery of these lights still remains unsolved.

All around us are the Marfa grasslands.  One of the information boards says, "Grasslands such as these are unique to the Chihuahuan Desert. They were once so extensive, early settlers proclaimed that the grasslands of the Trans-Pecos could feed every cow and horse in America."