Land of the Pecos

Lajitas, TX to Del Rio, TX Reluctantly we left our Lajitas hideaway this morning and departed this little slice of tranquility.  Yes, we'll be glad to return to the land of reliable cell signal and internet connectivity, but our three-day sojourn in this tiny town provided a much-needed respite in our one-night stand wanderings.
   


Big Bend was our westernmost destination for this trip, so today we began our trek back east toward Georgia.  To reach the road that would take us north to US-90, we drove back briefly through the national park this morning.  Then it was up to the town of Marathon (pop. 430) where we searched for a letterbox devoted to that legendary south Texas cowboy, Pecos Bill, the folk hero star of numerous tall tales.

In Marathon, we picked up US-90 on its run from the Texas border to Jacksonville.  The Pecos Bill styled speed limit for this two-lane road was 75 miles per hour, except on the rare occasion when you ran through a town, where you were forced to slow to 70.  Some two hours and 120 miles later, we reached the tiny town of Langtry (pop. 145), most noted as the home of another Texas legend, Judge Roy Bean.

Though the town is a bit off the beaten path, the Texas DOT has established a Visitor Center and museum at the site of the Old West's most colorful justice of the peace, Roy Bean, who called himself "the law west of the Pecos." Books have been written about the unconventional style of justice that Bean dispensed from his saloon and billiard hall, which also served as his courtroom.