Fort Davis, TX

January 16

In the morning we started the RV and a warning notice that we had low coolant level came on the screen. We had just had the radiator replaced and coolant put in the day before. We called the repair people in Rockwall, TX and he said for us to shut it off and start the engine again. He explained that sometimes you get a bubble in it. We did what he suggested and it worked. Yeah! We are off to Fort Davis.

We arrived in Fort Davis and found our friends, Bob and Jackie waiting for us. They fixed us a nice hot bowl of homemade stew and fresh biscuits. It was very cold and they predicted it to get down to 18 degrees that night. We thought we had left the cold weather in St. Louis, but apparently not.

The next day we drove to the Chamber of Commerce in Fort Davis and got maps and information about the town. We soon discovered that there is a lot to do here. We drove to the Fort Davis National Historical Site. It is considered the best preserved of all the 19th century frontier forts and one of the best preserved “Buffalo Soldier“ forts in the West. We watched a movie about the Fort’s history and then walked the grounds. The Fort was initially set up to protect people from the Indians as they made their way on the new lower route from San Antonio to El Paso. Some of the barracks had been restored and others simply had the foundation left. They are in the process of reconstructing some of the other buildings. We were able to go into the hospital which had been partially restored. Many of the soldiers were consumed with dysentery, consumption and pneumonia. We went into the Officer's homes - both those of husband and wife and single officers. It was interesting to see the various furnishings. I especially got a kick out of seeing the sit bath tub. Now I know where that saying came from to take a sit bath. It took us several hours and a lot of walking to complete the tour.

We had lunch at Cuevo de Leon (a Mexican restaurant). Only about 6 restaurants in the whole town. We went across the street to the Custom Hat Store. They had a wide variety of hats and we had a few chuckles over some of them.

We made a stop at a small shop called The Broom Store. The owner, Ron Cox, was more than happy to show us how one of his 1800s style brooms are made.

The machine he recently acquired makes broom making go much faster. He would put the broom material (called broom corn) along the handle and step on a pedal (much like the old sewing machines). The machine kept the wire going around the broom as he added the broom corn. Once the straw has been added to the handle with the wire holding it in place, the next step is to add the covering over the top of the straw. This material is soaked and then each piece is split in half with a knife. He then adds the soaked material around the broom tying it off with whatever color yarn you decide.

His handles are made of oak or dried cactus. Some are stained and some are left natural. He makes all different sized brooms and even one for the RV. He spent at least an hour with us explaining his trade and how he became involved in broom making. The table where he sits to do the final steps was made by him. It is part of the broom training tradition that he makes his own table and then has to train at least two more people in the trade. The table gets passed on to another broom maker. This keeps the art of broom making alive. He makes about 25 brooms a day and most of the brooms are shipped to a dealer in Massachusetts.

Of course we had to buy a broom.

We walked into a toy store in town. Found some new wind-up toys that I didn't have yet. We enjoyed talking with the owner and seeing all her toys.

We had dinner at The Limpia Hotel in Fort Davis. The original hotel was built in 1890 and later burned. It was rebuilt in 1920. Since we were in a dry county we needed to join their Suttlers Club in order to get a mixed drink. The fee was $2 for four people. We went up stairs first to have a drink. The walls were all wood and were adorned with various animal heads. After our drink we went downstairs to have a good old fashion home cooked meal. You ordered your entree and then the potatoes and vegetables were served family style. It was all very good.

On January 18, we drove to Davis Mountains State Park. We looked at the various campsites and noted that we could easily stay in this park next time. We took the Skyline drive to the top of the mountain which was a 1,000 feet higher than the entrance to the park. From the viewpoint you could see the town of Fort Davis, the McDonald Observatory, the Indian Village and the Chinati mountain range which was 75 miles to the southwest We had lunch at the Black Bear restaurant at the Indian Lodge (a pueblo-style adobe hotel) built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corp.

We took a guided tour of the University of Texas McDonald Observatory. At this location there is a 107” Harlan J. Smith Telescope, 82” Otto Struve Telescope, and a 362” Hobby-Eberly Telescope. Astronomers from around the world come and stay for a few days gathering data on the various planets and stars. Our guided tour started in a small theater for a lecture and film on the sun and stars. Some of the pictures were live from a telescope aimed at the sun. We could see the clouds going over the sun and eventually we could see solar flares extending from the edge of the sun. Our tour continued by van up to the larger telescopes. The first telescope we toured was the

107” Harlan J. Smith Telescope. The guide showed us how the telescope could be moved, and

how the floor came up for maintenance on the telescope. Also how the dome could be spun, the slot opened, and how the curtain could be raised or lowered over the slot to control wind coming into the dome. The inside of the observatory is cooled to 38 degrees with liquid nitrogen 24 hours a day so when the slot in the dome is opened, the mirrors in the telescope do not fog up. Visiting astronomers have a room that they go into within the observatory building. They obtain their data by looking at various computer screens - not by looking through telescopes. How times have changed.

Next our guide drove us up to the big 362” Hobby-Eberly Telescope located on 6600 - foot Mount Fowlkes. This telescope is the fourth largest mirrored telescope in the world. It is designed with a large con caved dish covered with hexagonal shaped mirrors. The mirrors are cleaned once a week with carbon dioxide.

Later in the evening we returned to the observatory for a star party. It was 32 degrees outside so we had to bundle up. The first part of the star party took place at an outside amphitheater where we sat on cold slab benches. Yikes!!. A guide explained the observatory and pointed out various star formations. There was a full moon that night so it wasn't as easy to see all the star formations. As we walked back towards the building, we were able to view certain stars from several telescopes that they had set up earlier. We saw the Moon, Sirius, Mars, Orion’s Nebulous, and Cassiopeia.