Just before you leave the pavement is the small ranching town of Escalante, which also does a brisk adventure travel business.

The most atmospheric place to stay in the whole region may be the restored Gage Hotel in the tiny ranching town of Marathon, about 45 miles east of Marfa.

"The old-timers who have been here forever can't believe what's going on," said Jack Pollock, a maintenance worker in Boulder, a little ranching town that sits at 6,600 feet.

He grew up in the ranching town of Westminster, Texas, just outside of McKinney.

That Texas epic, touted at the time as the most expensive movie ever made, irrevocably changed Marfa, a drought-plagued ranching town that had long seen better days.

The tiny ranching town in central Montana is one of eight communities that have suddenly become household names, thanks to a $14 million television campaign for the Beef Industry Council.

"I don't know if it's bad conscience on their part, if they feel guilty," said Mr. Warzecha, who grew up in the nearby ranching town of Cuero.

Six people including two children were said to have died when contras attacked a farm cooperative near the ranching town of Amoapa in the central part of the country.

Rose Meza Harrison was born in Benavides, Texas, a small ranching town in Duval County.

With plenty of roadside kitsch and old-school neon, this tiny ranching town is a favorite of Route 66 aficionados looking for a remnant of the old Southwest.