Abbey’s Road…Take The Other
The dream vacation is set. Marathon, Texas, population 450.
Why is Marathon the dream destination? Because there’s really nothing there. A hotel, a few B&B’s, several art galleries, a book seller, a good bar, a couple of eateries, local train service and miles and miles of open space and hiking through west Texas and Big Bend National Park.
There aren’t any big houses or exclusive resorts in Marathon and hopefully there never will. We’ll have to hope the locals don’t sell out to opportunistic parasites with more money than sense and that they keep their shotguns handy. Enact some ordinances that restrict population growth and place a ceiling on real estate prices. Maybe even do away with private property altogether and recreate the commons.
Word on the street is a couple of executive chefs have made their way there, which is tolerable I suppose. Let’s just hope that doesn’t become a trend, because once it does, you’ll soon find your $9.95 t-bone, hash browns and Mexican strawberries (refried beans) replaced with Proscuitto wrapped european quail with port wine figs and a port soaked filet covered in caramelized shallot confit. (market price)
Adios, PBR and Lonestar and bonjour, Pinot Noir. Say “so long” to the $90,000 rancher and meet your new neighbor, a $500,000 non-sustainable monstrosity. And of course the latter attracts the attention of the tax man, so before you know it, you can no longer afford to live in the place you were born. Get outta here, local! Make room for us yuppies.
Happy trails, Fred and Hazel, here come Winthrop and Buffy and they’re bringing Buckhead with them.
Everything around here either bites, stings or sticks in your skin, so my advice would be to not come here. Stay home or if you just have to go somewhere, go to Aspen, Las Vegas or some other fancy pants place. Leave Marathon for us rednecks.
And no, while tempted, I’m not staying. I’ll come back to where I belong and leave Marathon as I found it. You do the same.
Categories: Backpacking-Travel, Community, Environment, Miscellany
Tags: marathon, texas
Comments: 2 Comments.
Take lots of photos and be sure to report back to me after you return. Safe travels- Sean
Nothing personal, Jack, but there goes another good place, down the old porcelain parkway.
We saw Marathon, as we sailed through on AMTRAK, on to the real stop at Alpine, 30 miles away by road. There may be other local trains that stop at Marathon, but AMTRAK doesn’t. We heard the jokes: to get to Marathon, you get off the train in Alpine and wait 3 or 4 hours to hitch a ride to Marathon. Good sign.
Marathon looked like a decent, quiet town. The gourmet chef thing is a bad sign, but as long as public transportation is limited, it should stay pretty quiet. Sounds like a nice bunch of folks who live there now. Hard to keep these things secret.
Alpine looks like a baby Sedona, just learning to walk on its pointy-toed boots.
Good luck, Jack. Enjoy it while you can!