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Texas
06 Trip – Report 1
On the road again. This time just a one-month Tuzigoot (our
motorhome’s name) trip to our neighboring state – Texas, a whole other country! (I think
they say)
Our itinerary is as follows: 1. Las Cruces, NM,
to visit with daughter-in-law Valerie Hinkle’s mother, Verna. 2. Fort
Davis, TX, to visit
with in-laws Alan and Elizabeth Anthony – parents of son Matt’s wife,
Suzy. 3. Big
Bend National Park,
with Amarillo
friends, Roy and Sue Sooter. 4. McAllen, visit with my
cousin, Donelda. 5. Bastrop, to see friends and former
neighbors, Wayne and Pat Young. 6.
Side trip, by air, to OKC for wedding of nephew Stephen Collins. 7. Abilene,
seeing friends we made there last spring.
Looks like a fine mix of family, friends, and sights. Could call this the in-laws and out-laws
tour, but that would be rude.
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Friday, Feb. 17.
We arrive in Las Cruces
in mid-afternoon, have a nice visit with Verna, then, after making the
standard Wal-Mart stop to pick up things we had forgotten, we opt for a Taco
Bell supper in Tuzigoot.
Next day, on to Fort Davis. This is a fascinating Old West town, tucked
up against the Davis
Mountains, the town now
being discovered by retirees and e-mobile professionals. On the way we score a county courthouse in
nearby Marfa – slightly off-center, my aim, not the building. I can’t see my camera’s screen in
daylight. There was an Albq Jrnl
article recently about Marfa’s development as an avant garde art center. We keep going to Fort Davis.
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After dinner with the Anthonys, Susie and I
drive up to the McDonald
Observatory for a Star Party.
There are three large research telescopes at this location and several
smaller telescopes scattered around the visitor center. After a guide’s introductory talk, we line
up at various telescopes – Saturn and Orion’s nebula are a couple of the
selected aim points. What’s most
impressive to us, though, is just looking overhead at the millions of stars
visible in the very dark sky. Truly
Awesome! No wonder our ancient
forebears spent so much time studying the sky, identifying and naming
constellations, tracking them, etc. They had pretty vivid imaginations,
though, so you wonder what they used for inspiration. It’s cold, so we welcome the opportunity to
go into the auditorium for some computer views of the heavens and some
big-telescope views transmitted into the auditorium. Guide asks us if we notice the difference
between computer and telescope views.
One big difference is that there are no lines connecting the stars in
the constellations as are shown in the computer simulation. J
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After the auditorium show, I go back out for a
constellation tour; Susie stays where it’s warm for chicken soup and hot
chocolate. Guide, with a laser-like
flashlight points out the battle going on in the sky between Orion, the
hunter, and Taurus, the bull, along with some Ursas (bears) and Canuses (dogs)
and a lion, Leo, mixed in. In spite of
the cold, we’re very glad that we went to a McDonald Star Party. A friend told us that she felt closer to
God there than anywhere else she had been, and we can see why.
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Sunday morning we meet the Anthonys at church,
located right near the Jeff Davis County Courthouse then drive out to the Davis Mountains State Park
for lunch at the Indian Lodge, a large CCC project now undergoing some
renovations. Texans who can’t get to
Red River or Ruidoso come here for the mountain air – OK, no more Texas comments
(They also say Don’t Mess With Texas), but just couldn’t resist that
one. Large campground there makes us
regret choosing to park behind a motel this trip. Next time we’ll know better. The Anthonys give us a city tour, showing
us sights we’ll see later in the movie, Dancer, Texas Pop. 81. Then Alan and I tour the Fort Davis
Historical Park.
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This fort
was established in 1854, when Jefferson Davis was (our) Secretary of War and
it is named for him. I think it’s
interesting that the county is named Jeff Davis, not Jefferson Davis. The fort’s role was to provide protection
for shipping and travelers along the San Antonio
to El Paso “Overland
Trail.” The fort was abandoned when Texas seceded, then rebuilt after the
Civil War and active until 1891. At
its peak there were 600 officers and men stationed there. In 1857 it cost $100 to ride a stagecoach
from San Antonio to El
Paso, $200 from SA to San
Diego!
There’s a huge parade ground, lined on one side by something like 15
officers’ duplexes, a couple of which have been restored and furnished. I think they should convert some of the
rest into B&B cottages – make some money for the Fort. The setting and the view are
spectacular. On the other side of the
parade ground, soldiers’ barracks have been restored and one has been
converted into the museum and visitor center.
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After dinner with the Anthonys we watch a video
of Dancer, filmed in Fort
Davis. It’s about four guys who, at an early age,
vowed they would all four catch the first bus out of town and go to Los Angeles after they
graduate from HS. Now, it’s graduation
weekend and some of the four are getting cold feet. It’s an entertaining movie, particularly
after having seen the Fort
Davis locales it
includes. And, those of us who grew up
in and left small western towns can identify with the issues.
We also watched a video of Carl Hurley,
proclaimed as America’s
funniest professor. One story: man
goes into pet store and tells owner that his parrot won’t talk. Owner says you need to file off his upper
beak. A few weeks later parrot owner
encounters pet store owner who asks, “Is your parrot talking now?” “No, he’s not. He died.”
“You must have filed too much off his beak, made it so he couldn’t eat.” No, I don’t think that’s the problem. I think he was dead when I took his head
out of the vise.”
That’s enough for now. Big Bend
next.
Cheers.
Susie and Rob
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