LAJITAS, Texas -- Want to buy the mayor a beer? That's the first question most visitors hear when they first set foot in this Southwest Texas town (population 48) along the banks of the Rio Grande River.
Like a lot of things in Lajitas, the beer-drinking mayor comes with a story. The mayor, you must understand, is a goat named Clay Henry III. His Honor (recently re-elected) lives with his wife and, well, kids, in a pen down by the Trading Post not far from the Ambush golf course.
Indeed, Clay Henry is just one of the unique characters that make this town on the edge of Big Bend National Park unique. Everybody here, it seems, has a story or has heard a story.
For example, there's the "donkey lady," who rides along the road from here to Alpine some 85 miles away while she waits to be picked up (again) by an alien spaceship. In the town cemetery, there's a tombstone marked "Just Jake," the only name the residents knew the deceased by when he came into the area more than 30 years ago.
Steve Smith has a story, too. Maybe the best one of all. Smith is the Austin, Tex., businessman who is developing Lajitas as the "Ultimate Hideout," a resort community where time doesn't quite stand still, but just moves a bit slower than in other places. That's fine, because few places in North America, or on earth for that matter, compare to this part of Texas, where the Chisos Mountains, Rio Grande River, Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park all meet in a kaleidoscope of nature.
In these parts, you can play golf at the Ambush, take a raft down the Rio Grande River, dig for fossils, go horseback riding or hunt for Mule Deer and Aoudad sheep at the Hunt Ranch, which at 275,000 acres is fourth largest privately held continuous piece of land in Texas.
Smith, fittingly was born in the Old West town of Dodge City, Kan., some 58 years ago. He bought more than 22,000 acres here in the Big Bend region at an auction in 2001 for a price of $4.25 million.
Appropriately enough, the auction (in which Smith was the only serious bidder) was held at the town's Thirsty Goat Saloon.
This area's history is as old as history itself. Fossils of giant, long-necked dinosaurs from 40 million years ago have been found in the digs north of Lajitas. In late 19th century, Comanche warriors raided the small Mexican towns just across the Rio Grande. And in the early 20th century, Gen. John J. "Black Jack" Pershing, the only six-star general in U.S. military history, commanded the Lajitas military outpost whose soldiers chased (in vain) Mexican folk hero Pancho Villa throughout northern Mexico.
In the 1940s, the neighboring town of Terlingua was the quicksilver mining capital of the world. Its bounty was being used in the ignition of bombs during World War II. When the war ended, however, the need for Terlingua's quicksilver diminished and the original town became a ghost town that still draws visitors to its adobe brick buildings and haunting cemetery, not to mention its annual Chili Festival.
Work is continuing on the town's infrastructure, including power and water, to help sell private home sites that range from one acre to 10 acres. Some of the home sites are tucked away in the deep recesses of the canyon lands while others are hundreds of feet above the valley floor, offering panoramic views of the Big Bend country on both sides of the border.
Lajitas has four hotels: the Badlands Hotel is located in the frontier town and is loaded with Old West charm; La Cuesta is a series of rooms and suites around a Spanish plaza; the Officers' Quarters overlooks the Ambush; the Cavalry Post has less formal rooms on the site of Pershing's old post.
If you haven't guessed, it's not easy to get here. Lajitas in 240 miles from Midland, Tex., and 300 miles from El Paso. The closest full-service grocery store is in Alpine. Nevertheless, the drive is worth the while -- at least once in a lifetime -- as Texas Highway 170, which brings you into the town, is considered one of the nation's more scenic roadways. For those who prefer a faster mode of transportation, Lajitas has a private airport just a few minutes away from Clay Henry's compound.
The resort's Agavita Spa treatments feature aromatic and healing elements of the Chihuahuan Desert, most of which are native extracts such as Agave, Rio Grande mud and stones from the Big Bend area. A “Golfer Getaway’’ treatment starts with a peppermint foot soak with golf balls rolling under your feet, followed by a foot massage, hand therapy to improve your grip, and a custom sport massage.
The Rio Grande River, which separates the United States and Mexico, is only a few yards across and a few feet down in some spots. When Smith built the Ambush course (designed by Texans Roy Bechtol and Randy Russell), he also built a green across the river on the Mexican side.
From the 11th tee box, a player can tee up and fire at the green (about 100 yards) across the river. The ball can't be retrieved (golfers aren't allowed to cross over into Mexico), but that hasn't stopped virtually everybody from trying for an international hole-in-one.
The 7,042-yard, par-71 course is being renovated to get a new desert-style look. Six holes of turf, for example, have been removed to make room for more of a native desert landscape; and more than 65,000 shrubs and 600 trees have been planted to replace turf and palm trees.
The holes along the back nine of the Ambush, which border the Chisos Mountains, have benched greens and tees into hillsides, giving them a stadium course-like look. The course really begins to show its teeth on the backside, beginning with the 442-yard, par-4 10th that plays alongside the Rio Grande.
Wild donkeys and horses can often be seen grazing on the other side of the river in Mexico. The green of the 10th hole is framed with indigenous flat stones and further protected by a big bunker on the right side.
The 11th hole, a 436-yard par 4, requires a carry over five sand bunkers stretched across the fairway. The approach shot is a big carry over a bunker on the left side of the green.
The 18th hole, a 575-yard par 5, requires a second shot that carries over a creek and third shot to the green that is tucked into a grassy hill. The hole is called "Kiko's Revenge" after a loyal Lajitas workman who, during the construction of the Ambush, was killed when the truck on which he was changing a tire, fell on him.
Despite its tragedy, Kiko's is another good story to add to this storied land.
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