Day 3948

What a long day. I wanted a little activity before starting the long drive to West Texas, so we took Dawn on a four mile walk before I left the house. I ate a light breakfast, finished packing my bags, and off I went. I wanted to be on the road before 9 AM, but it was closer to 10 before I was on my way. This always happens. It is next to impossible for me to get an early start.

I thought I"d remembered everything this time, but as the miles rolled along, I kept remembering little things that I'd forgotten. I forgot to take shampoo. I forgot a nail clipper. I forgot a ball point pen to take notes with. I'm sure I'll think of other things I forgot as I go to sleep tonight. Usually there is shampoo and pens at the hotel. Not this time. The little ranch cabin I'm staying in only has the bare necessities.

It's such a long drive to West Texas. Most of the drive is on I-20 which is always filled with large trucks. I find myself passing eighteen wheelers every few minutes. The highway between Midland and Odessa is filled with even larger oilfield trucks. There always seems to be construction too. Traffic really backs up quickly when the freeway becomes a one lave road. I wish there were scenic backroads I could take to the Davis Mountains, but basically the middle of Texas isn't very scenic and I-20 is the only choice you get.

I was making pretty good time today until I stopped for gas at a place where the pumps wouldn't accept my credit card. The logical thing to do would be to just drive on to the next station. Never mind. My tank was low and I wasn't sure I could make it to the next station. I finally got the station attendant to get the pumps working, but the whole process made me thirty minutes late. I need to fill up more often on the trip back.

With the exception of the gas stop, I drove straight through. I was hoping to catch the Prude Ranch manager before she left work at 5 PM. Needless to say, that didn't happen. I arrived around 6 PM and the place seemed empty. I went from building to building until I found the office. The place was dark and empty, but a map of the facility and my room key were waiting for me on the front desk.

I'm glad I took a cooler with sandwiches and water. There definitely wasn't any place to eat as evening approached. I brought one beer with m so I could relax after the long drive and immediately wish I'd brought more. Janet made me an excellent ham and cheese sandwich, which I ate in my room. Actually, eating in my room was probably a lot smarter than trying to find a restaurant. The observatory will be serving us some sort of an outdoor dinner tomorrow evening, so all I've got to worry about is breakfast.

Hopefully, the skies will be clear tomorrow night. I drove through a major dust storm getting here. I couldn't even see the David Mountains until I was about thirty miles away. It was very windy today, so maybe the dust will blow away. I can't hear any wind now. It's so quiet out here that it is kind of spooky. There is no traffic noise. No planes overhead. No police sirens. And no barking dogs. It seems unnatural for it to be this quiet. I should sleep well tonight. On the other hand, if I do hear a noise, it will probably break me out. 

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3733

I took a final walk around the mountain early this morning before saying goodby to a place I'd grown to love. Birds were starting to sing. The deer were grazing. The skies were starting to clear after last night's rain. It looked like it was going to be a good day. Too bad I wouldn't be able to enjoy it. It's still hard to believe that the observatory will be closed for 37 days. It seems like overkill to me. Call me a skeptic, but I think a lot of places are closing simply to avoid a lawsuit. If you are closed, nobody can blame you for making them sick.

It's a long drive from the Davis Mountain to Dallas. As I left the solitude of Mount Locke, I expected things to change. Oddly, the quiet seemed to continue. Sometimes the traffic is bad on I-20, but not today. The traffic was surprisingly light. I turned on the radio in the car and discovered that there was no escape from the coronavirus. Sirius XM already has a dedicated coronavirus channel. I turned the radio off. I've already heard enough about washing my hands and hoarding toilet paper.

I approached Abilene in heavy fog. The thousands of wind generators that dot the landscape in this part of the country all seemed to disappear into the sky. You'd see part of a blade descend out of the clouds and then disappear again as it continued to rotate. Hundreds of wind generators obscured by fog would have made a great picture, but there are few places to stop on the freeway. I continued to drive. I'll just have to remember this picture in my head. I just wasn't in the mood to look for an exit and search for backroads, just so I could capture a moody shot of some windmills.

I didn't see a single Land Rover on the road until I was approaching Fort Worth. It still seems ironic to me that this go anywhere vehicle is only seen in upscale, urban parts of Texas. When farmers and ranchers need to leave the highway, they take their truck. The absence of imported cars in remote parts of West Texas is making me rethink my affection for Citroën and Land Rover vehicles. Maybe it would be better to just buy a normal American car next time. The last time I traveled to the Davis Mountains I rented a Cadillac. This time I rented a Chevrolet Impala. Both cars were just fine.

When I turned off the alarm on my phone this morning I noticed a message saying that I had a dental appointment. I immediately called the dentist and left a message that I was out of town and would need to reschedule. It was only later that it occurred to me that the dentist never works on Saturday and that Apple phones always list your next appointment, no matter when it happens to be. It was a little embarrassing to realize that my next appointment of any kind was April 7. Such a busy guy I am these days. Oh, well. I'm sure my dentist is used to dealing with old people by now.

I'm not sure that Dawn initially recognized me when I returned home late this afternoon. She gave me a big nervous smile and looked at Janet as if to warn her there was a stranger in the house. She warmed up quickly though after I gave her a few treats. We're buddy's again now.

Humphrey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3727

I made it to McDonald Observatory. but it is a very It's a long drive to West Texas. I purposely made the trip on a Sunday because traffic is much lighter. I got started later than I'd planned, but I still made it in time for dinner at the Astronomer's Lodge. I guess you could call the Astronomer's Lodge a hotel, but it is not what you would expect. The place is located at the top of Mount Locke, right next to the big telescopes. The windows all have black out curtains to prevent extraneous light from reaching the telescopes. The hallways are dark, illuminated only by dim red bulbs. Astronomers come and go throughout the night and they don't want to ruin their night vision. You are encouraged to be quiet during the day, since that's when most of the astronomers sleep. There are no radios and televisions at the Astronomer's Lodge. I think this the first hotel I've ever stayed in that didn't have a television.

This place is very quiet. I walked around the mountain a bit before it got dark and there was no noise at all. There was no traffic noise. No airplanes overhead. No police sirens. Nothing at all. The Astronomer's Lodge is silent as well. I talked to a few people during dinner, but after the kitchen crew went home, silence returned. The strangest thing is the place feels like you are on a boat. The building was built on piers on the side of a cliff and in a strong wind, you can feel the entire building move. This feels a little unsettling, but the building has been here a long time and it hasn't blown away yet. The mountain is almost always windy and sometimes the winds can become quite strong. I've heard stories that winds have become so strong that once the dome of the huge 107" telescope was blown completely off its tracks.

Room rates for the Astronomer's Lodge include three meals a day. Breakfast is serve yourself and they will pack a lunch for you if you are busy. Dinner was excellent tonight. Once you're here, there's not much reason to leave. When I checked in, I was given two keys. One was my room key but I couldn't figure out what the second key was for. I asked the manager and she said, "Oh, the second key is for the telescopes. Jeez. I've got a key that opens the 82" Otto Struve and the 107" Harlan Smith telescopes. Sure is tempting. I'd better not go in the buildings on my own though. I'd probably be banned from this place for life.

There are no activities tonight, but my first work shift starts tomorrow. I'll be manning one of the Star Party telescopes and explaining Open Clusters to visitors. Hopefully the weather will be better than it is today. I seems to bring clouds with me to the observatory. It was very overcast when I arrived. It's a good thing that no Star Parties were planned for tonight. There's not much to see.

I knew I would forget a few things on my trip. I always do. I really tried to remember everything, but I forgot to bring a hat. I'm probably going to have to buy a wool hat at the visitor center gift shop tomorrow. It's pretty cold at night and I'm definitely going to need a warm hat. I also forgot to bring my good binoculars. I didn't bring my bad binoculars either. This was a major oversight.

I hope Dawn doesn't forget about me while I'm gone. Janet said she did very well today. She's completely relaxed and it appears she knows she has a home. Janet and I are really glad we adopted Dawn. She's had a hard life and really needs a place where she can rest and relax. She's not a whirling dervish like some of the younger dogs, but neither are we. A sweet older dog is exactly what we need.

I think I'll go outside and see if the clouds have cleared before I go to bed. I won't stay out long though. There are mountain lions and bears up here.

Bacardi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3532

We made it to Fort Davis. Texas is a very big state. The drive was a little over seven hours and covered a lot of flat open land. Around Amarillo we started seeing thousands of huge wind generator towers. They stretched from horizon to horizon on both sides of the road. A little later around Midland and Odessa we entered oil country. This must have been the Permian Basin, because there was a lot of fracking going on. The freeway was filled with huge oilfield trucks, but the traffic still wasn't nearly as bad as Dallas. For the first time in a long time I saw speed limit signs that said it was OK to go 80 miles an hour. Most people were going faster.

Eventually we saw the Davis Mountains on the horizon but it took a long time to reach them. As we got off the freeway and made our way toward Fort Davis, the roads became pretty lonely. I realized that this wouldn't be a great place to break down or have a flat tire. The closer we got to the mountains, the prettier the scenery became. At one point we traveled through a canyon that reminded me of Utah. This was where the cell phone service disappeared.

Janet and I have lived in cities for a long time. We both wondered what we'd do in a place like this. Fort Davis is a very small picturesque western town. Less than 2,000 people live here. The place got its name from a fort that used to be a Confederate outpost during the civil war. Apparently we just missed the annual Hummingbird festival which ended yesterday. We still saw lots of Hummingbirds though. They were everywhere.

The long drive wasn't as bad as I expected. We had a very nice car. The rental car place couldn't find the car I reserved and the guy checking me in didn't want to waste a lot of time looking for something similar. He upgraded me to a Cadillac for the same price as a basic Ford Fusion. This was fine by me. I was surprised that I enjoyed driving this car. It handled well, was very quiet, and we averaged 30 miles a gallon. This is a lot better than I normally get in the Land Rover. I was glad I rented a car. We were under an excessive heat advisory for most of our trip. The temperature was over 114 degrees in some places. I would have spent the whole trip worrying that my car would overheat if I drove the Land Rover.

Fort Davis is very small but it happens to have a wonderful restaurant. We were lucky that it happened to be open this evening. Very few Dallas restaurants could top the meal we had tonight. It was a nice way to end a very long day. I even had wine with my meal which is very rare for me. After dinner we watched the hummingbirds for a while and called it a day. The skies are clear tonight. I hope they stay this way tomorrow. The forecast has deteriorated a little bit but I still think that there a good chance everything will work out fine at the observatory. Before I go to bed, I'm going to go outside and take a look at these fabled dark skies I've been hearing so much about.

Cammy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day