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Marathon, Texas

Not a bad place to be marooned waiting on Smart Car parts once again. Not happy with the parts people at MB of SA. It would have been cheaper to go get them in San Antonio and bring them back here but, oh well …

Small railroad, ranching and get away from it all town along RT 90 above Big Bend NP. Not far from a US Customs & Border Patrol Station (C&BP). My experiences there have left me feeling that we live in a police state. Now this may sound extreme but it is not far off: My mother used to talk about traveling in Europe before the break up of the communist states. She recounted when crossing borders their car being surrounded by unsmiling uniformed gun-toting state police. Questions where asked and answered and paperwork was demanded. On our way up from Big Ben NP and the borderlands on approaching this check point four olive green-clad gun-toting representative of the US Customs & Border Patrol sprinted out of the building. One at the driver’s side window two in back and off to one side of the passenger side and the fourth positioned where we could not see him. Questions were asked, no paperwork was demanded but I had my ID ready and handed it over. Eerily similar to my mother’s description of  her experience in eastern Europe.

It begs the question: Are we becoming a police state?

We had the opportunity to socialize with a C&BP guy and his family in Terlingua. He works in Big Bend NP and his presentation was very different from what I experienced outside of Marathon.

Lots of borderland locals and old timers talked about the pre-911 state of affairs at the border. The Anglo and Mexican communities freely mingled back and forth across the border with commerce, friendship and families shared back and forth. Everyone to a person decried the current state of affairs along the border. 9/11 and our politics since has changed all.

I am not sure about the immigration issue and do not want to spark any outrage. It seems to be fences and police states are poor solutions affecting our liberties as much as anyone’s. If employers did not hire folks in the States illegally there would certainly be less cause to be here illegally. Buttoning up the hiring of illegal aliens ought to be the first step.

Marathon is a nice place, maybe a little down on its luck of late but still a nice place. There is more green here than further south in the Chihuahuan Desert. Again a town of all sorts and all stripes. Closed up gas stations on both ends of town. The towns chief employer is the Gage Hotel, with the Marathon Independent School District and Texas DoT in second place. There is an elementary school and a combined middle-high school. No football team and small graduating classes. A recent senior class ended up graduating no one after the lone senior dropped out. Most of the town folk that work at the Gage Hotel probably could not afford to eat or stay there.  We can’t. Pricey place for those from away. So once again both extremes. Lots of homes for sale, a number of businesses for sale. Friendly people: Anglos and Mexican-Americans. The businesses in town that seem to be doing well cater to the crowd that the Gage brings in or those passing through to Big Bend NP. There seems to be a healthy service industry with lots of folks wearing lots of hats. Three churches for a population of 430: one Catholic church and two Protestant churches all on the same street. A library (a branch of the Alpine Public Library) and a town museum. Some galleries, a beer and liquor store, a number of breakfast places. One grocery store: the French (Company) Grocer, not what one would think given the name but well stocked with the essentials. There web site probably sums up Marathon, Texas best when they say “Reflecting the Diverse Culture of the Town and Visitors.”

Some Random Marathon, Texas Images

Hand carved doors by local Marathon artisan Maize Lee.

Carving detail.

Main street Marathon gas station buildings headed in different directions.

Images from in and around the Gage hotel.

The Gage Hotel waters their plantings.

Residence out back of the Gage Hotel, may well be part of that property.

Marathon is a quirky but thoroughly enjoyable west Texas town!