After lunch in Marathon (March 8, 2023), our group headed south towards the Chisos Mountain Lodge. (Click on any image to enlarge.)
Nominally, it's a 90-minute drive, but we'll be making stops along the way. Our first pause was brief, at the Border Control Checkpoint just a few miles south of town.
Why so far from the Mexican border? Because US-385 is the only passage through a gargantuan area of mountains and desert, the station can do its job at this convenient location.
In our case, the officers glanced into the van and asked if anyone present wasn't a US citizen. Then, off we went. Next stop: the border of the national park.
Springtime flowers were poking up.
And these big bend bluebonnets.
The road ahead, mountains on the horizon.
And a historical marker.
Further on, we stopped again to visit the Fossil Discovery Center.
In eons past, this area has been an ocean bed, 
and a lush environment for the giants of the past.
Dinosaur through the glass.
Quetzalcoatlus is probably the largest flying creature ever.
Then came the "modern" era.
Rank upon rank of mountains in the distance. The Chisos Mountains are the southernmost in the lower 48 states, and the only mountain range entirely within a national park.
After a stop at the Panther Junction Visitor's Center, our van began climbing the mountains. (The highest point, Emory Peak, hits 7,825 feet elevation.) The lodge and campground sit in the caldera of the extinct volcano.
Joan and I ensured that our companions, Pugsly, Davis (the javelina we adopted at Fort Davis the day before), and Pig-O had a good view from our room.
After dinner, I grabbed this shot of the sunset seen through the "Window," a geologic feature our group would visit later in the trip, from both above and below.
Tomorrow, our van will take us to locations where we can stretch our legs.
