WAAAAAAYYYYY out in West Texas is a place called Marfa, Texas. I’ve never seen it but the movie Far Marfa has an appropriate title. What typically takes around 4 hours took us a mere 2 hours extra. 6 HOURS. Don’t get me wrong, the drive is nice and the views are pretty but pulling a 7500 pound trailer with a couple of tanks full of water and other stuff can make driving long distances feel like a drag. Keeping the Airstream and Tahoe above 60 mph is tough.
Welcome to Marfa sign – 9 miles away from Marfa…
We Tumbled In to Marfa (finally!) by way of Junction on Sunday afternoon. Mrs. Tin Can was excited to visit – wait – is it live in Marfa since we are full-time? Hrm. Let’s just say “SEE” Marfa, she wanted to see Marfa because she’s heard so many people rave on and on about what a fun town it is. She says, “It’s a super cute town with a lot of neat buildings that I would love to one day turn into a home, in city that isn’t so windy.”
The “Palace” in the middle of downtown Marfa.
In case you didn’t know, Marfa was established in 1881 as a water stop for the Texas and New Orleans Railroad. Now, Marfa is small town in West Texas that is known as its own mini cosmopolitan. Its small population consists of retirees to famous celebrities or big city folk who stumbled into Marfa and never left.
Marfa, Texas. Population 2121 and growing?
Great, there’s your history lesson on Marfa.
In Marfa, the wind blows HARD, as in around 30 mph daily. Combine this with the dust and dirt that surrounds us and you have a recipe for DUST. It’s on your shoes, on your clothes, in your skin, outside the trailer and you don’t even know it, but the dust has creeped its way in to your HOME while you weren’t looking.
The dust in Marfa will find you.
As you know, we have four dogs and keeping them clean has been quite a challenge. We do have a process where we walk them and as soon as we get back to the Airstream we wipe their dirty paws with baby wipes. But there aren’t enough baby wipes to combat the amount of dirt! Sometimes you just have to break down and bathe your dogs in the Airstream shower. How many of you have done that?
A dog bath in an Airstream shower.
Once we got our RV spot settled, we headed over to the el Paisano Hotel to grab a bite to eat and kick back. It’s one of the only places open, ever, it seems. The thing about Marfa is that people keep their own hours. If they feel like being open on a Monday they will, if not, welp, you should just accept it and go elsewhere. The Hotel seems to keep regular hours. I left Mrs. TCP here for a bit so she could have the luxury of sitting on their awesome patio and she knocked out a few hours of work. There isn’t much shade out here in West Texas so when you find it you cherish it.
el Paisano Hotel, Marfa, TX
Back in the big city, I try to ride a bike everywhere and decided our life on the road should be no different. I left Mrs. TCP to do her work and went for a ride. It’s a little different ride out in a rural areas. In the city, my biggest fear was getting hit by a car taking a sharp right turn. Out here my biggest fear was that I’d wreck somehow and my brain would be picked over by the buzzards that seemed to be following me.
The big city bike at home in the desert.
It’s wide open out here in Marfa, TX and I’m sure we’ll be back soon.
Wide open road in Marfa, TX.
