The road gently undulates ever downward through rolling hills and dales. After 35 miles, it begins to slink sinuously until the pavement peters out and a gravel road takes over. You won't need four-wheel drive to complete the journey, but you'll probably want to drive slowly. The last 20 miles drop into a box canyon. It's past lunchtime when I get back to Marfa, but not too late for a handsome plate of cheesy enchiladas at Carmen's Cafe.
Coconut pie is the appropriate dessert.
If everything I've heard about the late Donald Judd's artistic establishment, the Chinati Foundation, is true, my afternoon will be enigmatic, if nothing else. The foundation has refurbished vast warehouses in the compound that was once Camp Marfa. The opinionated New York artist, who moved to Marfa in 1971, believed art should remain where it was created. Judd has achieved his vision. Along the highway, fifteen boxlike concrete configurations stand in a grassy field, their formal surfaces in mute contrast to the wild terrain.