West Texas

[lamphstravels]

New to the forum so apologies if I've posted in the wrong place.

Been wanting to drive through West Texas. Likely starting in Midland and ending in El Paso. Non I-10 as much as possible. Thinking Midland to Big Bend to Marfa to El Paso over six days.

Any can't miss sites?

Also, looking for a Friday night high school football game, somewhere between Midland and Big Bend. Any ideas where to find game schedules for the region?

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

When will this trip take place? Are you driving from somewhere else to get to West Texas?

Other than HS Football, what kinds of things spark your interest?

For Texas HS Football, not surprisingly I found several websites specifically dedicated to the topic, complete with full schedules, although with the size of Texas it's a little hard to narrow down to a specific school or area you might be visiting. You might actually be better off searching the newspapers/tv stations for Midland or whatever community you might be in on a Friday night to keep from having too many games to pick from.

[Southwest Dave]

You could easily spend 2 or 3 days exploring Big Bend, Rio Grande village Boquillas canyon, Chisos basin and the Ross Maxwell scenic drive down to Santa Elena canyon are some of the highlights. You could exit Big bend via Lajitas to Presido in FM170 which follows the Rio Grande and Mexican border with various viewpoints and an old movie location. Heading north towards Marfa you will pass Shafter ghost town and Elephant rock. From Marfa you could take US90 to Van horn of continue to Fort davis historic park and TX118 through Davis mountains and Madera canyon to I-10. You would need to carefully check lodgings at Big bend and depending on when you are visiting, the weather.

[AZBuck]

HERE is a link to national High School sports. It's pretty all encompassing, but I found it relatively easy to navigate. The big dog in the area your looking at is the Fort Stockton Panthers, but there's no guarantee that they'll be at home while you're there. But with even a relatively decent map of the area you should be able to find a smaller school that will be playing that night.

AZBuck

[Mark Sedenquist]

Also, looking for a Friday night high school football game, somewhere between Midland and Big Bend. Any ideas where to find game schedules for the region?

One of the RTA members is the author of A Sports Fan's Guide to Route 66 and he has spent a goodly amount of time attending sporting events in Texas.


Here is the route through northern Texas with the places he visited along the way.

Lots of members of this RoadTrip Advice forum like going to high school & college athletic events on their road trips.

[lamphstravels]

Thanks very much for the input https://www.roadtripamerica.com/foru...idwest-Michael.

Mid-October - fly into Midland an fly out of El Paso (I had a United flight credit to use before the end of October.)

48 states and most of that has been on non-interstate travel. I enjoy driving, looking for unique things to see off the beaten path as well as local food. And no real plan for each day. Around noon, I'll see where I am and where I may be around 6 PM and then chose my lodging.

I'll likely do more research re: football when I get to Midland and see what schools are along my route for the first Friday evening.

- - - Updated - - -

One of the RTA members is the author of A Sports Fan's Guide to Route 66 and he has spent a goodly amount of time attending sporting events in Texas.


Here is the route through northern Texas with the places he visited along the way.

Lots of members of this RoadTrip Advice forum like going to high school & college athletic events on their road trips.

Thanks for sharing that information!

[lamphstravels]

You could easily spend 2 or 3 days exploring Big Bend, Rio Grande village Boquillas canyon, Chisos basin and the Ross Maxwell scenic drive down to Santa Elena canyon are some of the highlights. You could exit Big bend via Lajitas to Presido in FM170 which follows the Rio Grande and Mexican border with various viewpoints and an old movie location. Heading north towards Marfa you will pass Shafter ghost town and Elephant rock. From Marfa you could take US90 to Van horn of continue to Fort davis historic park and TX118 through Davis mountains and Madera canyon to I-10. You would need to carefully check lodgings at Big bend and depending on when you are visiting, the weather.

Great, this helps. I noted a couple of these on my real roadmap of Texas! :o) GPS is great for 5 minutes ahead, but not 5 hours ahead. I do want to spend two days at Big Bend and I have noticed that lodging is tricky!

[lamphstravels]

HERE is a link to national High School sports. It's pretty all encompassing, but I found it relatively easy to navigate. The big dog in the area your looking at is the Fort Stockton Panthers, but there's no guarantee that they'll be at home while you're there. But with even a relatively decent map of the area you should be able to find a smaller school that will be playing that night.

AZBuck

That's a helpful site. Thanks! I'll check out Fort Stockton; it does not seem to be too far out of the way if there is a home game.

[lamphstravels]

Thanks to everyone who contributed. At the end, the route looked like this. I intend to do a more detailed report, but if I don't get this part finished now, I'll get sidetracked with other priorities.

All road travel was non-interstate except the short stretch between Midland and TX-18 and Van Horn and El Paso. The 70/75/80 MPH speed limits were great!

I got a lot of pictures that I'll post in a more detailed report, but here are some highlights (in text):

Midland - Permian Basin Petroleum Museum.

Ft. Stockton - Ft. Stockton Panthers vs. Monahans Lobos. Ft. Stockton was 6-0, but since I attended, it lost (29-38), but a great game and a great 1/2 time performance by both school bands.

Big Bend National Park - choice of the river, the mountains, and/or the desert. I did the Window Trail (about 6 miles round trip), not too strenuous and watched for black bears (for real).

Terlingua - a very eclectic locale; walked or drove much of it.

Lajitas - I simply wanted to see the Rio Grande River and this was as close as I was going to get (although there is a golf resort there). Leaving politics out of it, given the heat of the day and the terrain 100-feet from me in Mexico, it certainly provides a very minor perspective of what is involved in crossing into the US at non-controlled areas.

Alpine - I think a true western town. I really enjoyed walking around it. And it should be noted (Terlingua as well) is very popular with motorcyclists.

Fort Davis - both the town and the historic site. The few older buildings in town contained current businesses. I had a cup of coffee while sitting on the porch of one of the businesses. Fort Davis National Historic Site is very well done.

Marfa - I know this is heresy to many, but 'meh'. (The idea for this trip was from an Anthony Bourdain special where Marfa was a highlight.) First, it was Sunday, and really nothing was open. Second, the things I did see for sale, were, well, expensive. Third, a Starbucks is being built out and for me that ruins the locale.

El Paso - I stayed downtown and what a nice compact downtown. Unfortunately, being Sunday (and having Monday) the two things I wanted to do were closed - the National Border Patrol Museum and Cattleman's Steakhouse. I did drive to Scenic Drive to see great views of El Paso and Ciudad Juarez.

While it is not on the map, I wasn't going to waste Monday, so I drove out US-62 to Guadalupe National Park and did a 4-mile hike in 45-degree rain (Smith Spring Trail Loop). I found the hike very refreshing. (I considered going as far as Carlsbad National Park, but I collect university/college coffee mugs as travel souvenirs and had to get to the UTEP bookstore before closing time.

(I also considered going to Ciudad Juarez from El Paso, and in fact I took my passport. There are a few 'safe' sites to visit during the day, but the logistics of getting there and back seemed to be time consuming for a short day trip.)

The open space and the landscapes were amazing. There were so many seemingly abandoned structures that I would have loved to explore, but many reasons why I would not do that. The CBP 'Inspection Station' on US-62 was an interesting, but uneventful experience. And don't drop below 1/2 tank of gas (I noticed a sign on US-62 stating '128 miles until the next gas station').

Again, thanks for the input from everyone!

[Southwest Dave]

Thanks for the update, sounds like you had a blast !

I intend to do a more detailed report,

We have the Roadtrip field reports forum for detailed report and photo's. Will look forward to it ! It helps feed our passion while not able to be on the road !

Dave.