Get your hat ready

Trans-Pecos 2019 brings music and love to the coolest town in West Texas

Trans-Pecos is coming back to Marfa.

Trans-Pecos Festival of Music + Love returns to Marfa, bringing a weekend of music, shopping, workshops — and sandlot baseball — to the famed West Texas town. The festival runs Thursday, September 26, through Sunday, September 29, at El Cosmico, the bohemian West Texas hotel owned by Austin's Bunkhouse Group.

"Just like Marfa itself, Trans-Pecos Festival is an intimate gathering place with a bit of a cosmic touch — Burning Man vibes in the West Texas desert," organizers say in a release.

Indeed, Trans-Pecos is part music festival, part desert sojourn, part hippest party you've ever been to. Headlining this year's lineup is Broken Social Scene, Margo Price, Luna, and Chicano Batman, along with Butch Walker, William Tyler, Orville Peck, Combo Chimbita, Dylan Leblanc, and The Suffers, among other acts. Take a peek at the daily schedule here.

In addition to a stacked live music lineup, the grounds play host workshops, an artisan marketplace, pop-up parties, a Ferris Wheel, and a sandlot baseball game between Marfa's Los Yonke Gallos and Austin's Texas Playboys.

Outdoor Voices returns for another year, this time leading a yoga class on the grounds. Retox with Scribe Winery as it hosts a wine tasting or decompress with massage treatments and a CBD skincare workshop.

Or learn something new at a workshop. For the 2019 festivities, artist Mercedez Rex hosts a late-night water marbling class. Attendees will learn "a brief history of marbling as well as classic historical patterns before diving in to experiment with basic techniques of manipulating paints on the surface of a water bath." Prefer to sit back rather than join in? Flora and Fortitude takes a roll through the history of cannabis.

And what would a festival be without food? The celebratory pig roast, hosted again by chef Lou Lambert, and the Sunday brunch, benefitting KRTS Marfa Public Radio, both make their tasty returns.

Lake Highlands-based food truck Resident Taqueria joins eight others, including Ranch Hand, Burro Cheese Kitchen, Four Brothers Venezuelan Kitchen, Noble Sandwich Co., Lick Honest Ice Cream, Oh My Pizza Pie, Chilaquil, and Wildflower Caramel Co.

While not necessary, staying on-site is encouraged. Tiny houses, yurts, safari tents, tipis, and trailers make up El Cosmico's legendary accommodations. For Trans-Pecos, the resort is once again offering furnished Shelter + Co. tents, priced between $950-$1,200. Camping in personal tents is also allowed for a fee.

Weekend passes for the music portion (no camping) are available for $250. Camping plus weekend passes are priced at $325. Most activities also require an individual ticket, and fees vary. Find more information and purchase tickets here.

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Holiday News

American Airlines expects record-setting travel on Thanksgiving 2024

Photo courtesy of American Airlines

American Airlines ready for takeoff.

The holidays are looming and American Airlines is ramping up. Over the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend, the Fort Worth-based airline expects to process nearly 8.3 million customers across more than 77,000 flights.

According to a statement from American's COO David Seymour, the airline is having a good fall season and canceled fewer flights than its peers during October.

“Thanks to the hard work of our 130,000 team members, we canceled fewer flights than any of our major competitors this October and beat our own records for on-time departures and arrivals,” Seymour says.

That's surely good news. One hates to rain on their parade, but in June 2024, the only flight I booked this year, my flight was canceled less than 24 hours before take-off. I had made hotel reservations, scheduled a pet sitter, planned events, and arranged for a friend to pick me up at the destination airport. One employee speculated that it may have been "insufficient crew." Their only solution offered was: Feel free to reschedule your flight.

Thanksgiving facts and figures
The travel window runs from November 21 to December 3, and the airline expects to carry more than 500,000 more customers than it did last year.

The most-traveled day will be Sunday, December 1. The second most-traveled day will be Monday, December 2.

The peak of peak: 1,035 mainline and regional aircraft will be enroute at 10:45 am on Sunday, December 1 — the highest number of flights handled at any given time during American’s travel period.

The airline expects to serve more than 6.8 million Biscoff cookies on board from November 21 to December 3.

Travel tips
Download the American Airlines app and check in for your flight, noting added any bags to your trip. This will save you time at the airport.

If traveling internationally, download the Mobile Passport Control app, which can speed up your entry into the U.S. Global Entry members can download the Global Entry app, which allows you to submit your entry and go straight to the officer.

Upon arrival at the airport lobby, scan your mobile boarding pass to print bag tags quickly at a kiosk. If you’re not checking bags, go straight to TSA security with your mobile boarding pass.

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