After eight days of roughin’ it in her Houston home without electricity—due to Hurricane Ike—photojournalist Debora Smail took off in her beige Volkswagen Beetle. She headed out on a quest to find out why Marathon, a 5-square-mile town in West Texas, lures more than an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 big city folks a year.

Abilene, Alpine, El Paso, Fort Stockton, Lubbock, Marathon, Marfa, Midland, Odessa, Pecos, Presidio, San Angelo, Van Horn