To start the epic road trip 2022, we decided to drive from Austin, TX to Fort Stockton, TX. Why Fort Stockton, you say? Mostly because it was less than six hours from Austin and had a decent Marriott hotel where we could use some reward points. 😎

There was some nice elevation change on the drive. We stopped at a "picnic area" that may have had the best views we've ever seen... from a picnic area at least (see gallery).

The landscape definitely got more "mountainous" as we drove west but nothing like what we were about to experience in Big Bend. We affectionately named the mesas along the way based on their shapes. The Mesas at Nipple Mountain was the best we had that day.

Fort Stockton was clearly a town that people stopped at on their way to another place, but we happened to choose the best of the 4 hotels along the hotel strip in northwest Fort Stockton. It was a great location based on proximity to the best food in town (McDonalds), and the best bar in town (our little bar in the Fairfield Inn and Suites).

As we normally do anywhere we go, we made a friend at the bar and chatted for several hours over drinks. Jake Jacobsen (if that is your real name 🧐 ) we appreciate the good company at the bar and the invite to play golf in Phoenix on our way through, we may still take you up on that and look forward to you following along on the trip!

Overall a good day and great start to the trip!

The morning of Day 2 started a bit rough. Mostly due to Mr. Maker's Mark and Ms. Tito's sneaking up on us but the rally was underway and a trip into Big Bend was in our future. Nothing a good shower and some water can't fix!

A quick trip to Google Maps (while we still had cell phone reception) showed us a route to our destination through the north side of Big Bend National Park. The extra 30 minutes of drive time was WELL worth the trip.

As we were driving into the more mountainous terrain, we were so amazed that we were still in Texas. Needless to say we have a bunch of really terrible pictures of mountains in the distance that looked really cool while you were driving through, but didn't really look that cool when you took the photo. We'll save you from those and only post some of the best we've got.

We entered the north side of Big Bend and decided to stop pretty immediately to do a hike at Dog Canyon Trail. The trail was supposed to be an easy 3.8 mile round trip hike along a pretty flat route. We turned it into nearly 6 miles with a couple of climbs out of the dry river bed to check out a cave and some massive rock walls. Looking back, the excitement clearly got to us in the beginning, but we don't regret it for a second. Fittingly, we dedicated the hike on Dog Canyon Trail to Bentley.

As we were walking off the trail, it started to rain. We knew there were some afternoon storms that could get heavy but the hike wasn't bad so we weren't too worried. We stopped at Panther Junction Visitor Center on our way out of the park and grabbed a map and drove west to get to Lajitas Golf Resort, where we'd be staying for the next three nights.

Later we found out that the rain was the first Lajitas had seen since September of 2021 (so the first rain in roughly 8 months) and the little storm wasn't just a little storm. There were tornados just north of where we had stayed the night before and massive thunderstorms in Lajiitas before we arrived. We were viewing the storms from the mountains while we were driving out of Big Bend so we got doubly lucky to see the views and avoid any big storms.

Driving into Lajitas, TX took us through Terlingua, TX which is considered an old ghost town. It was a very interesting place to drive through though not one that made us really want to stop or stay. We bet the Long Draw Pizza that we passed along the way was a quality place to stop though we didn't happen to get around to that.

Our room at Lajitas Golf Resort overlooked the driving range, putting green and some amazing mountains (see gallery for some sunset photos 🤓 ). We played a little putt putt of our own on the putting green during sunset and went and ate at the (woefully understaffed) bar and restaurant. Nonetheless, the food was decent and much needed after a long day of driving and exploring.

Tomorrow brings golf on what has been rated the "#1 golf course you can play" in Texas for the last 7 years. Based on the driving range views, it's going to be quite the round.