Friday, 13 November 2020
 |
| today's route |
I don't know what the McDonald's Observatory does with visitors during non-pandemic times, but what they do now is allow visitors for 90 minutes, at specified times twice a day, 4 days a week for general admission. They also offer small-group guided tours, as well as nighttime visits. The only nearby campground was the Davis Mountains State Park, which is very small and was very full when I planned to be there, so that made a night visit impossible. I opted for a morning slot (10:00-11:30) to have enough time to drive on to Van Horn afterwards.
On the road
The countryside I traveled through was quite varied.
 |
| mountains, as expected |
 |
| a lot of flat land, as not expected |
At Fort Davis, I passed the Chihuahuan Nature Center & Botanical Garden. I didn't stop, but they say they display the range of plants native to this area, which would be interesting if I'd be in the area longer.
From Ft. Davis, the road begins a steady climb, past the state park, and on up to the observatory.
From Ft. Davis, the road begins a steady climb, past the state park, and on up to the observatory.
 |
| observatory buildings on top of mountains |
The larger of those at the mountain top is the Harlan J. Smith Telescope, 107", put into service in 1969. It helped the Apollo space program and NASA's robotic missions to the planets.
The smaller is the Struve Telescope, 82", and when it was put into service in 1939 was the world's 2nd largest telescope.
Both these telescopes are still being used.
The nearer building (above) houses one of the 6 smaller telescopes near the Visitors Center and I think they're the ones used by visitors. One of them is constructed to allow use by people in wheelchairs.
Also near the Visitors Center is a radio telescope (at right). It's part of the Geodetic Observatory and helps scientists understand things like the shape, rotation and gravitational field of the earth. This results in improved navigational systems and better prediction of earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic activity.
In front of the Visitors Center is a very handsome sundial, and I was pleased with myself for realizing that's what it was right away, even though from a distance it was just a rock.
 |
 |
| In November, they say deduct 17 minutes. Because we weren't on Daylight Savings Time, the sundial was absolutely correct. |
Many of the exhibits in the Visitors Center were intended to be interactive and, in these stupid virus days, they were off-limits. But they were kept in semi-darkness to enhance viewing, which meant taking photos was challenging. I had a hard time holding the camera still for long enough to get the exposure right for those low light levels, but these are the photos that seemed decipherable.
I'm rearranging the order of their exhibits to make more logical sense to me, a non-scientist.
Science for the Non-scientist:
 |
Secrets of Starlight
Almost everything we know about the universe comes from starlight.
 |
Light Is More than Meets the Eye
There are more kinds of light in our world than the light we normally see.
 |
Different views of Galaxy M51 (and with names like this, no wonder people think scientists lack poetry in their souls):
 |
| This too is Galaxy M51. |
Some scientists:
 |
| Joseph Fraunhofer 1787 - 1826 |
 |
 |
| Annie Jump Cannon 1863 - 1941 |
 |
 |
| Cecelia Payne-Gaposchkin 1900 - 1971 |
 |
| Gérard de Vaucouleurs |
 |
| Antoinette de Vaucouleurs 1921 - 1987 |
 |
Establishing an Observatory:
 |
The Telescopes:
The Struve Telescope:
 |
 |
 |
 |
| discovery using the Struve Telescope |
 |
| detail from photo above |
 |
| referring to photo at left |
 |
| This photo's not completely clear, but I think these are all white men - a sign of the times. |
The Harlan J. Smith Telescope:
 |
| photo of the mirror planted on the moon in 1969 (see info at left) |
The Hobby-Eberly Telescope:
And in the et cetera category, they had these:
 |
| meteorite (see below right) |
 |
| see above left |
 |
| the 1881 microscope |
This link gives a summary of the importance of preserving dark skies. https://www.thesca.org/why-dark-skies-need-be-preserved
And this one is a list of the recognized Dark Sky Parks in the US. And if Dripping Springs, TX, can get on this list, it should be doable by many more communities. https://www.worldatlas.com/dark-sky-parks
Back on the road
It's odd what a different view you can get of a scene depending on the direction you're traveling (a metaphor for life). So going back down the mountain, I saw scenery I didn't notice on the way up.
 |
| fall colors in the mountains |
Going through town again I saw 2 deer in the yard of a house and assumed they were statues, because I see so much of that. Then one of them moved. I'd been so sure. Odd experience.
Fort Davis is a small town but heir to a lot of history. The history, the nearness to the observatory, and the relative nearness to Big Bend National Park (several hours away, but it's all relative Out Here in the West) combine to make Ft. Davis an unexpected tourist place. I passed the Hotel Limpia, the Butterfield Inn and the Prude Guest Ranch, among others.
That Hotel Limpia, by the way - the word limpia means clean in Spanish and not far from town are the headwaters of Limpia Creek. I'm sure that's where the hotel's name came from, but it struck me as funny that a hotel would be named Hotel Clean - I mean, one would certainly hope . . . .
Also in town is the Overland Trail Museum, and the Overland Trail, I learned, was the road from San Antonio to El Paso and a remnant of it still exists near the museum. And of course there's the Fort Davis National Historic Site, which was in operation from 1854 to 1891 primarily to protect the travelers on the Overland Trail and the Chihuahua Trail, and is "one of the best surviving examples of an Indian Wars' frontier military post in the southwest," per Wikipedia.
Back on the road
I noticed many of the houses in this area are what I think of as the style of Mexico/New Mexico in appearance, and probably in construction.
I passed a farm of Registered Quarter Horses, and saw a fair number of horses here and there along the road.
Because I was curious about the name of the Davis Mountains, I looked it up and learned they were named for Fort Davis, which in turn was named for the then-Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, who of course later went on to be a traitor to his country by serving as the only president of the Confederacy. I know it's impossible after so many years (170+) to rename all these things, but think of it - we don't have an awful lot of places in the US named for Aaron Burr (and he was acquitted at trial).
I nearly hit another tumbleweed and started wondering what kind of plant it is. There were lots of them by the side of the road, having already tumbled. The internet says it could actually be any of several plants, all of which have the characteristic of detaching from their root systems when they become mature and dry. So it's not just one kind of plant. Who knew?
Marfa
Marfa has been making the news for a while now for various reasons, so I was curious to see it. And once again my preconceptions were completely and entirely wrong. I'd pictured a few houses and buildings huddled together at a crossroads. Take a look.
You can see from the photo (internet, of course) that this is no tiny crossroads place. It's an actual town.
 |
| Presidio County Courthouse |
The courthouse (this is my photo) is a good illustration of the fact that this is a real town. It's big and it's old and it's really pretty.
I suppose it was to be expected, but the only political signs I saw around here were Biden/Harris signs.
The one thing I was right about is that Marfa is on a crossroads - I turned from TX 17 onto US 90, heading northwest to Van Horn. Just out of town I saw a large display for Giant that was so surprising, I couldn't really comprehend it while I was passing. Short of turning around and going back for another look, I decided to say it's one of those things you should see for yourself.
Back on the road
I passed a billboard that said "Eat Like a Texan - Dairy Queen." Seemed an odd thing to say, out here in the smack middle of west Texas but sounding like it's back near a border, except it is near a border. If you head south from Marfa, TX 17 changes its name to US 67 and runs 60 miles to Presidio, which is a border town with Mexico. So yeah, 60 miles is near a border by west Texas standards.
Marfa Public Radio played The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and I was surprised to realize I knew from the 2nd note what it was going to be. I did see this movie and have long admired it.
Farther along the road I saw a lone bicyclist heading south, out in the middle of absolutely nothing. I suppose he was headed to Marfa for the evening, because we were already well into the afternoon by this time.
It was about in here that I started seeing something odd in the sky. I took that photo when I was much much closer than when I got my first glimpse. Eventually I passed a building with a sign saying Tethered Aerostat Radar System. I now know that an aerostat is a moored balloon used as a radar platform or, more precisely, a "large fabric envelope filled with helium that can rise to an altitude of 15,000' while tethered by a single cable." Since the mid-80s, they've been used to fight illegal drug trafficking. So I guess I was getting tracked. Something about that feels creepy to me.
All along this road there's lots of flat land surrounded by mountains.
I heard on the radio that the combined deaths in the Vietnam and Korean Wars are less than we've already had from COVID-19. Why, oh why, is it so hard for people (like, say, all of South Dakota) to understand that it's real. I heard somebody say on the radio that you can't stop a fire that's spreading from town to town when some towns don't fight it.
I passed a sign saying the litter patrol in that area was being done by the Friends of the People's Republic of Valentine, which sounded like fun. But then I came to a sign marking the city limits of Valentine, pop. 217. So I've looked it up and there are several odd things about this. First is that it's been a while since the population was that big: it was 187 in 2000 and 134 in 2010. Second is that it's the only incorporated town in Jeff Davis County but is not the county seat. That honor went to the town of Ft. Davis, which is not incorporated. Third is that it has 2 odd claims to fame: each year hundreds of people send their valentines to be postmarked here for mailing, and it's the location of the well-known (in Texas) Prada store that's not a store.
Valentine has more to it than meets the eye (which frankly isn't much at all), and you might want to take a look at this more complete description, including information about the Prada store. https://fortdavis.com/valentine
I passed - and later was passed by - a Border Patrol car.
I passed a sign saying Watch for Blowing Dust.
I passed a large orchard, though there weren't any signs saying what kind of. I passed cotton and soybeans (I think).
I heard on the radio that in every state - red states and blue states - every ballot proposition to do with loosening restrictions on drugs passed. Our country is changing right before our eyes.
And I got to Van Horn, a comparatively large town at 2,500. I stopped at the grocery store - Porter's Grocery is the chain I found in every town from Alpine up to here. It's part of the IGA chain and here, though small, got me most of what I wanted, which is all I ask of a grocery store. And then on to the campground, where I have a reservation for the next 3 nights.
Today was Friday the 13th, and all day I was a little concerned about possible trouble, since I spend so much time on the roads. But I managed to make it through being nothing but tired at the end of a long day so, very lucky.
No comments:
Post a Comment