Day 2.
Friday April 15th, 2011.
I awoke to a beautiful Alpine, Texas morning.
Alpine is surrounded by the majestic Davis Mountains in the area of Texas known as the Big Bend Region. This area boasts of people having lived here since pre-historic times dating back to early Paleo-Indians who hunted mammoths, which inhabited this territory. Nomadic Apache and Comanche Indians traversed this expanse of land. It is written that Alpine was carved out of West Texas with true Texan tenacity by peoples of Spanish, Mexican, African and European decent. It has played host to soldiers, miners and movie stars. Today cowboys, ranchers, the railroad, Sul Ross State University and a whole myriad of plant and animal life call Alpine home.
As we assembled in the parking lot this morning. The thundering sound of Harleys broke the morning silence as a group of them rode out in formation from the hotel lot.
Between that group and ours, the hotel was completely booked. We loaded up our gear for the day, bowed our heads in prayer (led by Dennis) and were led off by Tony towards Study Butte. The road wound us around and through lovely mountains that rose high into the fresh, crisp morning air. It was 49’F. I could not help but look around me in awe. The rock formations were simply fantastic. I couldn’t help and be thankful for what I considered to be a blessing for me to behold. In order to not hold back the group, I did not request to stop for photo-taking and mentally promised myself that I would definitely be back on another trip to immortalize these images with my camera. Nevertheless though, the images of this natural beauty are forever etched in my mind. Believe me, the sights are prettier than I can make my camera portray! Nor can my words do justice enough to describe them. But this beauty is to be beheld by eyes in real life. Unfortunately but for self-preservation and safety for the group, I reluctantly returned my eyes and concentration to the road, only to steal an occasional glance every few seconds at this awesome place. I couldn’t help it. I did not want to miss any of this view. I wanted it to last forever. The road wound through the hills and mountains for as far as you could see for all the miles, after 52 of which brought us to the Cow Head Ranch. Sandy the caretaker/owner welcomed us warmly and answered a lot of questions we asked of her. It was an interesting place that put us in touch with another way of life. The Wild West.
We pushed on and twenty-five miles later arrived in Terlingua.
This is where we would make a change in direction and get onto the much anticipated “River Road” ride, which wound along the Rio Grande through mountain passes on a road that had inclines and descents at a grade of fifteen percent! Now if you think this is a small number, I hereby challenge you to traverse this route and if you don’t ride tentatively out of apprehension I will tip my hat to you.
Having fuelled up and as we prepared to leave, the convenience store lady and another gentleman came outside as we prayed and both cautioned and begged us to heed the warnings and speed limits posted on that route.
As a result of their close association with E.M.S. Teams of the area, they had been witness to a lot of accidents and mishaps on this particular stretch of road. They truly implored us to heed the posted signs and speed limits.
We began the descent into the Rio Grande Valley. It was deep. The mountains towered over our heads. They were so huge that not much sky was visible. It was beautiful. Not long after, we came upon the Big Bend State Park. We took a break and gathered ourselves there, ready for the mountain pass ride. Teri, Doug, Mike and Mike (from El Paso) entered the park for some exploration whilst the rest of us took a photo op and waited for them. They finally came back with a strange story of a Native American living up in them thar hills – I’ll leave that story for them to tell!
Finally we pushed on. Posted signs of 25 m.p.h. were not uncommon! And believe me on some crests and bends of the road we virtually slowed to walking speed! Sheer drops at the side of the road were prevalent!
We came upon a pass where the building set on location for the movie “Streets Of Laredo” had been erected. We stopped to take in the sights and experience the location. We walked downhill to the movie set by the Rio Grande, some of us standing in the cool waters with the mountains of Mexico hovering over us from just a stones’ throw away.
A burned tanker truck shell lying almost at river level that seemed apparently to have fallen down the side of the mountain from the road several hundred feet above, gave us a stark reminder of how treacherous this road could be. All of a sudden everyone reached for their cameras to get a photo of the tanker!
Teetering at the edge of this high mountain road overlooking the Rio Grande and Mexico, just across, they all lined up. I could not help but catch them unawares with this photo! “What’s wrong fellas, scared to get closer to the edge?”
Out of the mountains we came and entered the town of Presidio. Lunch. We were hungry. The tension from riding concentration along the river road had worked up our appetites.
Pulling up at a car wash, Doug asked a local resident for directions to a good place to eat. Needless to say, we ended up making good friends with him, his wife and daughter, who insisted on an opportunity to sit with Teri on her bike for a “photo-op”.
After lunch with our backs to Presidio, we pushed on with our journey towards the McDonald Observatory not too far north of Alpine. We passed evidence of wildfires that had been raging since the week before. Must have been at least 20 to 30 miles (32 to 48 km.) of burned land we passed by. We came upon a cemetery that had been spared the brunt of the fire. The wild fires had touched nothing in it. Everything else around it was burned. Hmmm, was this some kind of divine intervention or a deliberate effort by someone or others to save it from the fire? I guess we will never know.
Late afternoon brought us to the top of a BIG mountain upon which the Observatory stood. We were now 6,791 feet (2069 m) above sea level. This was the summit of Mount Locke, upon which the McDonald observatory was built and stands. It is also the highest point on the Texas Highway system.
Oh no! Terry’s BIG Burgundy Honda with the BIG rear tire had developed a BIG flat!
Out with the repair kit, out with the portable air compressor and repair kit. Hands on board, on their knees and butts in the air, repair work commenced.
The site for this observatory had been purposely chosen for its high ratio of clear nights. This was because it was far away from artificially lighted cities and its low latitude that permits good observation of southern skies. This observatory has a very BIG telescope in it. This eighty-two inch (208.3 cm.) telescope, until 1948 was the 2nd largest in the world.
It was so serene at this altitude. On a clear day, I’ll bet one can see for miles. The still lingering smoke from the wildfires that had been raging since the previous week hampered the view from here. Even after five days of no fires in this area, the smoke was still thick in the air. With some camera tweaking and picture composition, I dialed my lens to capture a few pictures that would help me to convey this obscurity.
It would be dark soon. With all attention now on Terry’s tire repair work, Doug was able to get some much-needed soap to aid in the “leak-test” of the tire. He had walked down to the “Doss Residence”, introduced himself, gave a brief description of the situation and begged for much needed assistance in the form of soap and water.
Puncture repair underway, Mr. Doss appeared in the parking lot and introduced himself. We reached the observatory well after closing hours on this day. Mr. Doss, who had been working here for over forty years, offered us a personal tour and visit into the Observatory. Was this a blessing from above or not? How much more fortunate could we be?
Inside, we met Professor John who was performing maintenance on the telescope in preparation for the next viewing. How grateful we were for the experience. We must definitely remember to send them a Thank you card.
“Alright, saddle up!” With tire repair accomplished, gratitude extended to Mr. Doss, Tony prepared us to get off the mountain.
As we wound our way down off the mountain, we came across deer grazing in the fields just as we turned onto the mountain road that would take us down to the valley below. They were lovely. I could think of nothing but nature and how we human beings are so minuscule in comparison to the things around us. Darkness approached rapidly. Luckily Alpine was not too far away. We would make it back before too long.
We settled for dinner at the Pizza Hut across from our hotel. Tables together, we huddled as a team and the jokes began.
We laughed throughout our dinner. Even the staffs in the establishment were in on our jokes and laughing too. They had been eavesdropping. Were we that loud? Yes! We were having fun. This day was another blessing. It was a day that had been imprinted in our memories and lives with pure happiness and joy. I thanked The Good Lord for the guardian angels I believe he had asked to watch over each and every one of our families and us this day.
William and I made it back to the room we shared. We told jokes and laughed till we fell asleep.
I prayed the Lord our souls to keep just in case we’d be “called” in our sleep.