Day 21, March 26: Fort Davis

Rest Day

The appreciation of the rest day is universal in our tight-knit community. No one sleeps in, but naps are not unheard of. We do laundry, we clean bikes, the SAG drivers clean our wagon, Linda cleans her kitchen, and everyone looks for activities of interest within close proximity.

Our hotel, the Indian Lodge, came as a pleasant surprise. It was built in the 1930’s as a CCC project. The original structure has been enlarged to 39 rooms of attractive adobe construction, with some of the original native wood furniture intact.

I explored the town of Fort Davis by foot which, at most, took about a half hour. There are a couple of hotels from the late 18-early 1900’s that were interesting and fairly well maintained. I had lunch at the Old Texas Inn which had big atmosphere, with the soda fountain counter unaltered from its origins.

Several of us visited the McDonald Observatory atop Mount Locke, set above Fort Davis at an elevation of 6791’. We toured the Harlan Smith telescope, named after the first University of Texas Chair of Astronomy, built from 1966-1968 with a 107” mirror, then one of the largest in the world.

Jan and I are rooming together for this two-day stop. We are the tall and the short, or the vertically challenged and vertically endowed, of the group.

When I’m around Jan, it reminds me of going to the nursing uniform shop freshmen year to get fit for, well, a uniform. I asked one of my dorm mates to accompany me. She was, and I hope still is, 4’10”, as is Jan. When we walked in the door of this tiny shop, the woman took one look and exclaimed, “Oh, my God”. I assured her that I was the only one she needed to fit as Bug, her affectionate moniker, was not a nursing major. That seemed to offer the proprietor only minimal comfort. This was in 1966 and, within a few short months, fashion dictated that many, many inches would be chopped from the hem of said uniform. She need not have gone to all the trouble.

At dinner tonight, I learned that the weather is in for a dramatic temperature change tomorrow. Cold, wind—we’ll get a current forecast in the morning. And Ann, one of my fellow SAG drivers, has an injury from yesterday’s ride. Therefore, tomorrow I will ride instead of being the SAG driver, to give her injury a chance to heal.