Ft. Davis, Texas

March 31, 2011 - We had a full day today.  This is a really nice state campground, with full hook-ups.  Each campsite has a covered picnic area. 

We had another visit by wildlife this morning.

We went over to the office here this morning and paid our camping fee.  They said they had a wifi hotspot there, but I went back later and could never get online.  Then we walked over to their pool, the world's largest spring-fed pool covering 1.75 acres and staying 72-76 degrees year round.  This pool is crystal clear and scuba divers come here.  It has a depth of 25 ft.  Actually, there was a class of scuba divers here getting their certification today.

It even has a diving area, with a depth of 20 ft. here.  We could see a few catfish swimming around, and lots of minnows.

After I gave up on posting my blog, we broke camp and headed down the road to Ft. Davis, to the state park there, another really nice campground.  This was only a 38 mile drive, but later in the afternoon we took a 127-mile scenic drive in the Explorer.  We set up camp and went over the the Indian Lodge in the park for lunch.  This Lodge was built by the CCCs in the 1930s, and they still use a lot of the original furniture, which was also built by the CCCs.  We went back to camp and rested, and I finally have Wifi at the RV, so I was able to post my first blogs.  A little before 5:00, we took off on our scenic drive.  This drive took us past the McDonald Observatory, one of the major astronomical research facilities in the world.  They had just closed for the day, and their "star parties" are held on Tues., Fri., and Sat., (today is Thurs.), we we missed that as well.  We drove up the hill and turned around.

We continued on our drive, with scenery much like Arizona's high country.  We had mountains, canyons, a lot of dried brush so we don't know if it hasn't greened up for the spring, or it is just that dry here.  The Texas have their own language, and I thought this sign was humorous.

Most states just say "range cattle" or something similar.  But we did come across some loose cattle on this drive.  We passed Sawtooth Mountain, elev. 7,718.

And another mountain, Mt. Livermore, 8,831, but we didn't get a picture of that one (we weren't sure which one it was).  We are pretty close to the Mexican border here, and there was a border patrol balloon flying overhead.

Our destination for this drive was Marfa, Texas, famous for its sightings of strange lights.  We stopped at the Dairy Queen for a treat and information, and the waitress said they are usually seen around 10:00 or 10:30, when it gets completely dark.  There was a viewing center a few miles out of town, so we drove out there about dusk. 

We spotted 4 antelope along the way, so that was exciting.  We stayed until 10:00 (past our bedtime) but never did see anything, so we drove back to the campground, weary from our long day.  There was a pretty sunset, though, and it is said that this area has one of the darkest night skies in the U.S.