Friday (April 11) was a day to rest and write. I rented a small house in Marfa a small town 30 minutes west of Alpine. Marfa was put on the art world map in 1971, when Donald Judd, a famous New York artist moved there bought a hanger on a defunct Air Force base and started inviting his East Coast art friends to come visit. They were enchanted by the town, the desert, the iconic water tower, and soon art foundations were beating a path to Marfa.

My nephew T had recommended to me the “Cocaine and Rhinestones” podcast by Tyler Mahan Coe, the very fey son of country music legend and certified sonofabitch, David Allen Coe. As I drove, I listened to the first episode in which Ernest Tubbs goes to downtown Nashville in his pajamas and slippers and shoots a man that he mistook for the director of the Grand Old Opry. TMC’s radio manner needs polishing, but I am very much looking forward to Episode 2 which concerns Loretta Lynn and her song “The Pill” which was banned from country radio in the 70s.

Rolling into town, I passed some shipping containers stacked at odd angles in a field on the edge of town. I snapped a photo and texted it to my sweetie with the question, “Art or Not?” What say you, gentle reader?

The town bore the marks of improvers. There’s a thriving hotel, a few store front galleries, and some coffee shops and cafes that you would not expect in most towns this size. Contrary to my expectations, the bobos had not completely obliterated its small town charm. As I strolled around town, there was just enough grit, dust, and pickup trucks that I decided that I would be justified in adjusting my gait to walk like Timothy Olyphant.

It’s a wonderful thing to be married to a professional artist who can give you authoritative opinions on what might or might not be art. This for example:

Not art.

But this?

Definitely art. Notice the use of perspective and how the nose of the locomotive extends past the edge of the front fender.

After an afternoon of labor at the keyboard, I walked around town and looked for dinner. The BeeHive restaurant that my Airbnb guide recommended had departed too long ago to leave a trace, but across the street music was emanating from a building with a sign that said Planet Marfa. Inside was a courtyard with a beer garden. As twilight settled in and the air cooled, it was quite pleasant. There were locals in boots and jeans with dirt under their fingernails and art habitues dressed in primary colors and funny looking glasses. All mingled amiably. Maybe we all can just get along.

The woman behind the bar was built like a welder, but she brought me a delicious grilled caprese sandwich with enough cheese to choke a water buffalo. God bless the inventor of lactase pills.

I’ll admit that I drove into Marfa expecting to sneer a little bit at Eastern Art Money, their pretensions, and the hicks who sold their town to seekers of authenticity. But you know what? Marfa was founded by Episcopalians from out east who thought that some one should build at least one store on the trail from San Antonio to El Paso and so they did. Episcopalians and the like once ran this country. They got a lot of criticism and all of it was deserved. But when you consider our present circumstances, well, I kind of miss them.

We now have the misfortune of having more deserving targets of our sneers than rich easterners setting up an art colony in the West Texas desert.

Day 1: 688 miles traveled. $12.01 Spent on “gas.” $51.08 in “gas” money contributed by Hyundai. Cost of “gas” with an Electrify America membership: $47.32.

Day 2: 377 miles traveled. $9.82 spent on “gas.” $90.82 in “gas” money contributed by Hyundai. Cost of “gas” with an Electrify America membership: $75.48.

Days 3 and 4: All over Austin. Not a penny spent on “gas.”

Day 5: 410 miles traveled. 41 cents spent on “gas.” $73.13 in “gas” money contributed by Hyundai. Cost of “gas” with an Electrify American membership: $55.16.

Day 6: 240 miles traveled. Not a penny spent on “gas.”

Day 7: 28 miles traveled. Not a penny spent on “gas.”

Trip Total: 1,743 miles traveled and all over Austin. $22.24 spent on “gas”. $163.95 in “gas” contributed by Hyundai. Cost of “gas” for a retail customer with an Electrify America membership: $139.64.