Texas

Three days and 880 miles ago we entered the State of Texas. The drive from New Orleans to San Antonio proved longer than expected so we had time to enjoy the River Walk but alas we won't remember the Alamo since it was closed when we got there.

We had a Mexican dinner along the banks and listened to Mariachi bands. Then walked back to our hotel to get an early start for Fort Davis the star capital of Texas and the home of the McDonald Observatory. We are amazingly not bothered by these 500 mile days. As we are driving along we see the bluest, clearest skies till you guessed it, we get to McDonald Observatory. The clouds rolled in and Ron's dreams of inky black skies were dashed. So we drove down the mountain in search of our home for the night.

 So after several failed attempts we found our B&B and what a hidden gem!

The Davis Mountain Inn is a lovely home owned by a former employee of the McDonald Observatory. But better yet it had a private back yard with a deck where Ron could set up his telescope. The weather report said that the clouds would clear by 2:00 am. So Ron got everything ready, set his alarm went out at 2am and had a spectacular night. Ron also got to fly his drone. We aroused the interest of one of the locals from the trailer on the adjacent property. His name was PeeWee, a misnomer, he should have called motor mouth. We finally had to fake an emergency phone call to gracefully end our encounter.

I did not join Ron for the star show and Milky Way viewing but slept till 6am. During my run I was greeted by a spetacular sunrise while I ran through the quirky town of Fort Davis where they celebrate 110 years of the town jail. At breakfast, our host shared that you can never tell when a restaurant will be open or closed. But luckily her food was wonderful and we hit the road from there.

During our final drive through Texas, we were reminded to watch out for snakes and don't mess with Texas at every rest stop. So we bid adieu to Texas and were thrilled to enter The Land of Enchantment.