Tue, Sept 28, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 07:30PM Tuesday, September 28, 2010
After a long day on the road everybody slept great Monday night. We got up a little before sunrise, made a pot of coffee in the room, and then caught up on the national news. After a continental breakfast at the motel, the sun was just peeking over the horizon and we were ready to hit the road. The night before, after lot of discussion, we made the decision not to go down to Big Bend on this trip. This meant today would, again be mostly a driving day. Texas is a huge state and to traverse it from east to west is quite a drive even when you’re starting in the hill country.
Since a large part of the day would be driving and part of this would entail the dreaded Interstate travel, we decided to take the back road again from Llano to Mason. This turned out to be a good decision and one the pups particularly enjoyed. It is about 30 miles to Mason and I do believe we encountered a hundred deer along the way. Most were big does with older fawns and they were not nearly as glad to see us as we were to see them. Often when you encounter deer in the National Parks they stand and stare for a moment before wandering off. These deer had no intention of being caught flat footed by any tourists from Mississippi. But it was exciting to watch them bound and leap with their white tails flying. Paris and Dodger just went from one side of the jeep to the other waiting on the next sighting. We saw only a few bucks but at one point caught three nice size bucks standing in the edge of the dirt road. They stood just long enough for us to see they were toting some very nice racks as well. They bounded away thru the glistening sunlight stopping only briefly to take one look back before disappearing into the Mesquite trees. All of the deer we saw were healthy, the does large and fat, and their fawns sleek and nimble as well. It was obvious this part of the hill country at least has benefited from good rains because the grass everywhere has been tall and green.
Our initial plan was to drive straight to El Paso and then stay in Las Cruces, NM. However, as the day progressed it looked like we would hit El Paso just before 5:00 pm. Not wanting to spend the better part of the late afternoon to get thru the traffic (often heavy and stays that way most of the way to Las Cruces) we decided to make it an early day and take a short drive down to Ft Davis, TX for the night.
Ft Davis the city is located in the Ft Davis Mountains at about 5,000 feet. It is the highest city in Texas and is like stepping back in time to the earlier days of the old West. It sits on Limpia Creek and is also the site of the well preserved Ft Davis fort. It’s also well known for its crystal clear night skies which explains the placing of the McDonald Observatory atop a ridge about 7 miles from town.
Since we have already toured this area extensively on previous trips we opted to just relax at the motel and do a little reading and research some possible photography sites for the days to come. Charles made a quick trip to town, found a great market and brought us back some delicious broccoli and cheese soup. It reminded us of mother’s Garden Chowder and it really hit the spot.
As the sun gets closer to the mountaintops to our west I’m getting a little itchy to look for some photo opportunities. We’ll see how itchy in a little while.
Once again we are well and hope yall are too.
Peace, Hope & Love,
Donna, Charles, Paris & Dodger
Reader Comments (3)
Ft. Davis = I am so jealous!! Hopefully you will get a few pics in my childhood backyard before you head out. Thanks for including all of us with you as you travel on yet another Western adventure...........
Donna Gayle...what's up with the picture of the SNAKE! Gimme some hayfields, aspens and critters with legs or wings, please.
Seriously, thanks for sharing your travel adventures with us all so far. We all look forward to hearing about your adventures and seeing your beautiful photography.
Godspeed!
Mary Anne
And just how close to that snake were you!?!? I'm with Mary Ann on the aspens, etc. Do you have your snake leggings with you?
Continue to have a great time. The pics are wonderful, even the crawling creature.
Love and hugs to all,
Renee