Highland Inn Alpine

... didn't get back to the RV until midnight. Sylvia crawled up on the bed and we both went to sleep. We went to the twilight progam and the starlight program. I saw the Milky Way, the Swan Nebula, twin stars, the red giant! The red super giant was another star we saw. I saw a galaxy 3,000 light years away. I saw Saturn's biggest moon - Titan!

We went to Fort Davis, established in 1854. It is one of the nations best preseved frontier forts. We stopped at a snake place to see snakes. Mamaw did not come in. We went shopping. After that, we went to Marfia again and we saw more lights this time. The nights are darker here so I can see a lot more stars then back in Zanesville. I even saw the Milky Way!

... Julian. I went to the live show, which was held at the local bookstore, because there's not really another good place to host shows. (Until a new place opens, which is soon, I found out). The band, "Spectral Cities", was very cool, and I ended up meeting just about everyone there, all 15 or so. It was great to be in a little intimate atmosphere with a good band coming back from South By Southwest. One of the guys I met was an artist, who has worked on ...

... and craggy, forming unique formations. This combination of habitat allows large animals like Black Bear, Mountain Lion, White Tail Deer, and Javelina to exist here. The camp ground here actually has a nice lodge, restaurant, and store so travelers can visit without camping. I spent two days here and met some great people. On one side was Gary from Chicago, ridding a BMW Adventure Bike. He was a real talker and regaled ...

... 30 ft. We thought it was from some plant because it resembled cotton balls - but houseflies were hovering over most clumps. We stopped and walked along the roadway for about ¼ mile. It was dead rabbits. · Several miles of abandoned "Car Hauling Railcars" on an adjacent rail line. Evidently, not many imported Japanese cars are being hauled eastward and no Detroit built cars are going west. · A border patrol tethered balloon along the Mexican border. It is huge! Resembling ...

... bar and restaurant to ask one of the waitresses about the rooms. We did and she promptly produced a list of all of their rooms - room number, description and price. There was quite a selection, so she suggested that we make a note of the numbers we were interested in and go up and take a look: "all of the rooms are unlocked, the keys are on the beds, so feel free to wander about and see what takes your fancy". So that is what we did. We were very nearly ...

In our continuing effort to avoid Hurricane Ike, we decided to stop for the night in a little town called Marfa in west Texas. Famous (well sort of) for its artists community and some 1980s artist named Donald Judd--who neither of us had ever heard of--it has a few nice hotels and a lot of art galleries and small cafes. When we arrived, we realized that this was a town with a strange vibe. Most of the buildings looked historic but not particularly ...

... would ride you across on his ferry. Then you could either walk or rent a burro for a couple more dollars and go into a quaint little Mexican village for dinner or what-have-you, spend the evening, then return the same way to the campground. No more, and it has cut deeply into the local economy. Also, if you do get over there, you better not get caught coming back as this is not an authorized crossing. Its a shame, and now they ...

... I had. On the last day we put the rubber duck into the Rio Grande and paddled and pulled the boat upstream for about a mile, taking us about 2 hours through some shallow fast running rapids. It was worth the effort once we reached the mouth of the canyon and it became deeper and slower flowing. we paddled up into the canyon with its 1500 foot high sheer walls. Thinking we were the only ones in the ...

... river on the other, to Marfa where we are currently having pizza and limeades. Marfa is where the movie Giant with Liz Taylor, James Dean and Rock Hudson was filmed, and it appears little changed. This evening we are headed to Van Horn which will be our final night in the great state of Texas. Tomorrow we're off to climb the Guadalupe Mountains. We miss you all!! Upcoming stops: Guadalupe Mountains, Carlsbad Caverns, White Sands ...