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The road to Marfa Texas is like the west Texas version of the yellow brick road. You turn off I-10 and you’re delivered onto a nearly perfectly straight 73.6 mile road to a remote, desolate, mythical outlier simmering in a stew of (mostly) unselfconscious quirk. The dream-like quality of the ride is aided by the fact that it’s a nearly deserted two lane blacktop, speed limit 75. Plus it’s west Texas, a giant swath of nothingness that adds a certain desperation to the dream-like quality of the ride. Especially when arriving near dusk as I did.

I was surprised by the feeling of adventure steadily developing in my gut almost as soon as I exited I-10. Since September 2020 I’ve travelled thousands of miles to and through some thrilling and arresting country, yet I’ve never experienced anything like that until now. Weird. Exhilarating.

At right about the halfway point appears Elmgreen and Dragset’s Prada Marfa. The Marfa connection is purely emotional. It’s 35 miles away and actually a stone’s throw from a ramshackle dot on the map named Valentine of all things. The images below are a fair representation of what you see as you drive past Valentine. But first, Prada Marfa…

These shots with the door open are rare. There happened to be a gentleman there doing some kind of maintenance. Got lucky. The place is popular enough for a selfie mirror…

Then there’s Valentine. ‘Texas’s Most Romantic Town.” My favorite detail is the bumper sticker next to the yield sign… (we can ignore the reference to my birthday)

Soon after Valentine you start noticing what I naively thought was some kind of weather blimp. Can you see it?

Cliff, who’s lived close to the border in southern Arizona for several years, hipped me to the fact that it’s actually one of the Border Patrol’s eyes in the sky, keeping us safe from endless caravans of marauding migrants. This one is located about 10 miles from the Texas/Mexico border.

About 5 miles outside of town is a very Marfa-like reminder that the intensely wonderful movie “Giant” was filmed here in the mid 50s. If you’ve never seen “Giant”, see it. These images are a little bit of a cheat as they’re actually facing traffic leaving rather than entering Marfa…

Here’s a brief photo essay on the creation of what the artist apparently calls a mural but I disagree. (I recommend watching with the sound muted. The music sucks and there’s no narration.)

Just outside of town I was suddenly jolted out of my 70-plus mile reverie when, from a distance, I saw this unmistakable symbol of everything I try to avoid on this adventure. McDonalds in Marfa? How was it possible? When I was close enough to read the small print I heaved a sigh of relief.