Abilene, TX

We left Abilene early. We have a long day today, driving to Marfa, TX.

While I napped Lynda visited the Visitor Center; they had a large exhibit about the area…

Apparently there was a large bomber base built nearby during WWII; it was decommissioned many years ago. However, during its construction several rattlesnake dens were unearthed, arousing thousands of hibernating rattlesnakes…

There is also a large meteor crated in nearby Odessa, as well as a giant failed oil tank that leaked…

We turned south at Pecos, TX, and continued through the Texas wilderness…

We passed through the “town” of Balmorhea…

Apparently, Balmorhea was a thriving farm town 50 years ago… Cotton was thriving and many families had a good life here. However, in the 1970s, as the cost of energy soared, the cost to bring up water from 300′ deep wells made the farms unprofitable, and, as you can see, the town died…

We continued south…

We stopped to see an historical marker… (stopping and walking across the street was not a problem…)

This canyon was an old trail, called Wild Rose Pass, due to the wild roses…

We didn’t see wild roses, but some prankster left a few plastic roses…

We continued through this lovely area…

We finally arrived at the Marfa Yacht Club…

Marfa Yacht Club is an Airstream-only RV park. There are 9 campsites, all covered with a shade structure. In the summer it can get hot here…

We quickly set up, then we headed into town. Marfa was begun in the 1880s; today most of the buildings have been retored and contain viable businesses, galleries, restaurants, etc…

This is the county courthouse…

You may have noticed a lack of people in town. Well, this is Sunday afternoon, and most things are closed from mid-day Sunday until Thursday. On Friday the tourists begin to show up and it can be quite lively…

Here is the rest of the story:

Donald Clarence Judd (June 3, 1928 – February 12, 1994) was an American artist associated with minimalism (a term he nonetheless stridently disavowed). In his work, Judd sought autonomy and clarity for the constructed object and the space created by it, ultimately achieving a rigorously democratic presentation without compositional hierarchy. He is generally considered the leading international exponent of “minimalism,” and its most important theoretician through such writings as “Specific Objects” (1964). Judd voiced his unorthodox perception of minimalism in Arts Yearbook 8, where he says, “The new three dimensional work doesn’t constitute a movement, school, or style. The common aspects are too general and too little common to define a movement. The differences are greater than the similarities.”

He was a successful artist and art critic; he moved from painting to sculpture in the 1960s. In the early seventies Judd started making annual trips to Baja California with his family. He was affected by the clean, empty desert and this strong attachment to the land would remain with him for the rest of his life. In 1971 he rented a house in Marfa, Texas, where he would later buy 16 decaying buildings in Marfa, an entire decommissioned Army base, and over 32,000 acres of ranch land, collectively known as Ayala de Chinati.

The result is a town full of art, attracting visitors from all over the world…

Here is a perfect opportunity to turn an art deco former gas station and auto repair shop into, well, anything you want…