Terlingua Texas

Texas…. The last time I was here it was not all that to me. It has been a while (just over 4 years) and I’ve changed a lot since then, but I still wasn’t looking forward to Texas again. Maybe it was the bad experience in Carlsbad, but entering Texas actually felt good this time around. It helps that Big Bend National Park was on the immediate agenda as well. Big Bend has been on my park-bucket-list for some time, but due to it’s proximity to… well, nothing… I’ve never made it all the way out. This time around Big Bend will be visited.

Any time I bring up Big Bend to another RV’r that has been out here, they seem to all bring up the ghost town of Terlingua. “It is the place to stay… and be sure to visit the Starlight Theater” they all seem to say. Who am I to ignore good advice? So Terlingua it is – not far outside the Western entrance to the park – for our first week’s stay in Texas. It is a quirky place; hippy and artsy with a lot of booze mixed in. An old mining town from a whole different world, it now inhabits only a few dozen year round folks. Folks, I might add, who build pirate ships and large metal bugs in their front yards… good folks.

The “theater” is not much more than a bar with a few tables that a family can wait for an hour in hopes of getting a meal (it can be very busy at times) but there was live music each night of the week while we were here. That is saying a lot considering the town consists of only a few dozen structures, most of which are in decay of one degree or another. We spent our fair share if evenings hanging out in the theater; having a drink or two, watching the locals and tourists both, and just enjoying the vibe. If you can get in the door, it is good enough food/drink and environment.

The local cemetery brings you back to how people were laid to rest in the hard, rocky, desert. Above ground and covered with a pile of rocks to keep the coyotes from digging up your loved one was the norm. Most of those buried here are the miners from the mercury mine. Again, even then graves were in a state of decay with most wooden crosses and head stones lost to the ages. Some new graves are there too, and they appear to be regularly visited by their friends or family who offer them a drink each time they visit. Many offerings of alcohol cans and bottles litter the cemetery.

As it were, I like Terlingua even though both Kerri and I feel it reminds us – in parts – of Jerome or Bisbee Arizona, but without the over-done touristy garbage that both come with. Terlingua is a run down, dusty, dirty, angry, wrinkled, sun beaten, drunk, and still drinking town. Everyone should be required to ride into town, cursing and sweaty, on a very old mule who brings them straight to the Starlight Theater for a cold Lone Star beer. That’s pretty much what I imagine a great day in Terlingua to be.