The Road to Big Bend

March 6/2016  In Lajitas Texas where we are headed today the weather will be 84, tonight 55.  We have talked to a few campers and found that the best rv park to stay in for a big rig is outside the Nat'l Park in Lajitas.   From there we can make the rides in and out of the park and along the Rio Grande River.  So from Las Cruces we drove I10 east to Van Horn exit 140, south on Texas 90 to Alpine, then hwy 118 south to Study Butte then west on Farm to Market road FM170 to Lajitas. 

downtown Alpine

We are staying at Maverick Ranch RV and Golf Resort.  There are a few ways to get to our RV park but only 1 way to drive there safely in our big rig.  Do not follow your GPS unless you double check the route to be the roads above.  Even our RV GPS would have taken us down a narrow winding up and down elevations with 15% grade.... yikes..... double checking and asking really helped this time.   We belong to a Monaco Group Forum on the internet which came in extremely helpful in finding the safest route.  We posted the question on the forum and received the answer back from a fellow who had just made the trek in November it  corresponded to the route the campground provided.  No thanks to Lola this time!!!  (Lola is our GPS).

hwy 90 south/east to Marfa and then to Alpine

When you are driving south on hwy 90 there is nothing.. Nothing... nothing.  No gas, no stores, no houses.  You will pass through the small town of Marfa (some amenities), famous for filming of the 1956 movie Giant and further on you will turn south at Alpine another small town(some amenities).  The route will take you up to about 5000 and a climb of close to 7000 at one point before it drops back down, but all is gradual and doable with the RV.  Now when you drive down hwy 118 to Study Butte the landscape takes quite a change from hwy 90.  So we are happy to be in our RV park tonight with no events along the way and all is well.    Tip: Diesel up before leaving the Interstate, and all your Groceries too.

hwy 118 south  driving towards Study Butte