west texas refresher

i spent a few days in the davis mountains of west texas. what a delight! it changed my mind about west texas. i had thought of it as a desert, impossibly hot in summer. as it turned out, nights were cool, around 60, and days got up to around 85. perfect.

impressions:

clean air.

big skies.

wonderful panoramic views of mountains and desert.

night skies filled with stars.

rocks. ancient rocks everywhere. i developed friendships with them and brought a few home.

balmorhea. cool clear spring water. big black catfish. schools of hovering silvery fish. ropes of light dancing across the bottom, so incredibly alive. being sure the universe was at play.

mcdonald observatory by night and by day. awesome!

hiking for 3 hours. hot, sunny. doing "legs-up-the-wall" pose and other asanas, rolling my back with my spine aligner afterwards and feeling just the weariness, no pain.

riding in the back of a pickup truck on the 4th of july in fort davis, texas, in this, my 55th year. sweet!

eating a whole pint of ben & jerry's by myself after hiking.

shadows of clouds on the land.

birds.

the smell of javelinas looking for something to eat in our campsite.

being served whole romaine leaves dipped in dressing at a restaurant in marfa.

having coffee on the patio of the hotel paisano in marfa, listening to a female singer do patsy cline songs and the longest version of the star spangled banner i've ever heard.

buying a punched tin, bejeweled lampshade for $22 from a vendor at the fort davis 4th of july celebration.

driving the 75-mile loop west of fort davis and marveling at the beauty of the land.

falling asleep in my tent with an image of the night sky and billions of stars etched on the inside of my eyelids.

driving out there with peggy and two bikes and camping gear and not getting very good mileage in my hybrid but enjoying the company very much.

peggy and john duvall from lockhart cracking up over "waiting for guffman". learning it was filmed in lockhart.

learning fort davis is the highest town in texas, at over 5,000 feet in elevation.

seeing the amazing way meals are prepared and cleaned up after on sierra club trips.

not seeing the marfa lights. next time.