I have been at Rusty’s now for almost two weeks. Hard to believe. I am going back in time now, places I went, people I met on the road to Rusty’s…
Davis Mountain State Park is a beautiful gem in West Texas. Very dark skies. Nice hikes in the park. Great ranger programs.
We participated in a ranger program in which they brought dogs from the local shelter for participants to hike with. Christine has been talking about getting a dog for a while. She didn’t bond with any of the dogs on the walk, but we decided to go visit the shelter called Grand Companions. Impressive place.
We met a man named Kendall there. He was devoted, dedicated, committed, to those dogs. He brought out three siblings for us to see, seven months old: Moon Pie, Pop Tart and Schnitzel. Siblings, but they all looked very different. Christine was very clear, Moon Pie was her gal.
Kendall is an interesting young man. He lives in Marfa, a nearby town. He talked about living in the Southwest, in this kind of desert, big sky, dark sky area. He loves it. “The veil between this world and other worlds are thin here” he said. I get it. Maybe that’s why I love it so much. There’s lots of talk about aliens here too. The big dark night sky is full of all sorts of things. Kendall talked about some of the unexplained phenomena he has seen in the sky.
Christine deliberated about whether to adopt Moon Pie for a couple of days. She “checked her out” for an afternoon, bringing her to our campground for a few hours.
One of the nights at Davis Mountain, we went to McDonald Observatory. From their website: “McDonald Observatory is a research unit of The University of Texas at Austin and one of the world’s leading centers for astronomical research, teaching, and public education and outreach. Observatory facilities are located atop Mount Locke and Mount Fowlkes in the Davis Mountains of West Texas, which offer some of the darkest night skies in the continental United States. Additionally, the observatory is a partner in the Giant Magellan Telescope under construction in Chile.” https://mcdonaldobservatory.org/about
We attended a Star Party. We drove up a very windy road to the top of the mountain. We sat in an amphitheater, listened and watched as we learned about the night sky. The very entertaining instructor used a laser to point out constellations, stars, nebulae, galaxies. He pointed out one galaxy and said that the light that was reaching us left that galaxy before humans came to the Earth. Wow.
They had five telescopes that were pointed at Jupiter, Saturn, a nebula, a galaxy and something else I am not recalling. Incredible. Seeing the rings of Saturn and the planets of Jupiter was spectacular. Did I mention it was cold? It was cold. Did I mention how cool this place is? Out of this world cool.
I love the night sky because it reminds me how tiny I am. My problems can seem so important but when I see the night sky, the light coming from eons ago, the unimaginable vastness of it all, my problems dissolve.
It was dark when we ascended the mountain, but much darker when we came down. Really really dark. I was driving. I crawled down- you don’t want to mess with curvy mountain roads in that kind of dark place.
Christine decided to adopt Moon Pie. In preparation, we made a trip to Tractor Supply, which like Walmart, is a frequent destination for folks on the road. She pretty much bought out the store. On the way there, I Googled names for female dogs. Moon Pie was not working for Christine. She landed on Olive. Olive it is.
