Day 19. We started where we left the interstate and headed up the - believe it or not - Texas mountains! We went up to over 6,000 feet in elevation to the McDonald Observatory and then down the hill to the Davis Mountains Campground. We actually stayed in some rooms - and nice ones at that. The distance was 50.6 miles and the climbing was 3,748 feet - in Texas of all places. Actually, I grew up in eastern Texas and never went to visit the Texas mountains - until now.
As you can see, the start of the trip was foggy climbing up the hills to the pass.
On the way we saw lots of neat - "out-of-Idaho" vegetation. It has interesting features.
The highway guards were very watchful, but not very helpful. They has other issues to deal with, but at least they did not ask for passports. I guess since he is outside the fence he has better status.
At the top of the climb, we stopped at the visitor center for the McDonald Observatory and were lucky enough to get tickets for the star-party later. We did make it back for that, but since the sky was covered with clouds we had lectures rather than looking at stars. They were great lectures and a virtual sky view was warmer.
So, after the climb to the top it was a gravity-driven coast down to camp.
It did warm up as we coasted, so the usual removal of extra layer was needed.
On the way down I was very surprised to see another of my insect friends - an even larger tarantula! How it was warm enough to cross the road puzzles me, but not this guy.
We ended up at the Indian Hotel at the Davis Mountains Campground. Tomorrow it is back on the road and we start a gradual descent down to the gulf.
Paul C
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