Page 17 - Marfa Road Trip_ Thelma and Louise, With a Happier Ending - The New York Times

1/26/2018 Marfa Road Trip: Thelma and Louise, With a Happier Ending - The New York Times
And in the light, that was when we spotted him: a tall, handsome cowboy giving a
small art tour. Every Thelma and Louise road trip story like ours needed a Brad
Pitt moment and we found ours at The Chinati Foundation.

His name was Chris Cole and truly, he looked like Richard Prince’s iconic

Marlboro Man with his unmussed brown corduroy jacket, his tall cowboy build,
his long hair and his 10-gallon hat. We overheard him talking about ranch water
and because there’s nothing wrong with flirting, we asked what it was. Turns out

ranch water was a simple mix of tequila, lime juice and soda water.

“Nothing special, but fun to say,” he said. “Thanks for coming all the way to
Marfa.” And he seemed like he meant it.

Chris the Cowboy — or as we deemed him later that night, the “Hottie from
Chinati,” as we gulped down our ranch waters at the Hotel Saint George
(http://www.marfasaintgeorge.com/) bar where we stopped in for a drink after

dinner — had walked away into the sunset.

Our last night in the trailer, the four of us cozied up under colorful serapes,
reading animal spirit cards. We were wistful about leaving Marfa and leaving
each other. It would probably be another year until the four of us set out on

another adventure.

Before we left town on that bright Sunday morning, we stopped again at Marfa
Burrito. Ramona and Lucy invited us to the back, in the kitchen, where we
hugged them and thanked them for feeding us for our entire trip. “That’s what
we do, feed people and make them feel good,” Lucy said. They certainly did.

Hayley Krischer is a freelance writer living in New Jersey.

Correction: January 22, 2018
An earlier version of this article incorrectly described the Davis Mountains. The
highest point in Texas is Guadalupe Peak, not the Davis Mountains. A photo

caption with an earlier version of the article incorrectly identified a nonprofit
organization that provides art classes for young people. The photo is of Marfa
Contemporary, not the Marfa Studio of the Arts.

A version of this article appears in print on January 27, 2018, on Page TR1 of the New York edition with the headline: High Desert
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