Leaving Kerrville, my next stop was Marathon which is the northern access point for Big Bend NP. I figured there would be enough things to stop for on the way to make it a full day for me, and I could get up the next morning and have the whole day to explore the Park before I went to my motel in Terlingua on the west side of the Park for a few days. I drove the back roads to Del Rio and then headed west on Rt. 90. Leaving the Hill Country, I encountered more and more cactus and mesquite, and exotic animal ranches which seemed very strange to me until I thought about it. Some parts of Africa are very much like this part of Texas (at least it looks like it from pictures - no first hand knowledge on my part). What I found extremely strange were the amount of gates across driveways that I saw. Everyone's property is fenced and has a gate that they have to go through to get to their home. I'm not sure if that is to keep something out or in, and I know Texans are not unfriendly people, because everyone I met were friendly, helpful, and extremely proud of their state. I enjoyed seeing the landscape change, and just outside of Del Rio took a side road to the Rough Canyon boat launch of Amistad National Recreation Area. I learned later at the Amistad NRA office outside of Del Rio, that there are several access points to the area and waterways, and they are extremely busy all the time. I crossed the Pecos River for the first time (I would encounter the Pecos several more times through my travel in New Mexico) and stopped at Langtry and paid my respects to Judge Roy Bean's courthouse (I am a retired paralegal), which truly was the law WEST of the Pecos. I thought how appropriate it would have been to have had a saloon in the courthouse after a hard day - I know I was ready for some libation after several stressful trial days with my attorney!

My day was from Kerrville to Marathon, which according to my GPS was only supposed to take a little over 4 hours - HAH.....with all the stops, it was much more than that. Ft. Davis was the day I left Terlingua and traveled through Presidio and Marfa. Thanks for the info on the lizard. I didn't take my book on reptiles with me. I also saw a pink snake in Big Bend next to the Rio Grande, and like most of my wildlife photos, got the tail end as he/she was slithering away. Have no idea what that was either. Thanks for coming along on my trip and for commenting.