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Published: February 8th 2009
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Mountain Sheep
Jan 31 entry: I found out these were not goats, but mountain sheep. I was still excited to see them, however. CHAPTER 7
Jan 31: I decided to give Sam and me a day free from the RV, so I grabbed my camera and walked around the town of Ft. Davis. It was certainly great to stretch my legs and not worry about engine problems! My feet and legs seem to work fine! I took pictures of the historic courthouse and several churches in town. I walked closer to the rugged, stony cliff behind the town to take some closer pictures. While I was doing that, I spotted a family of mountain goats about halfway up the side of the cliff. Talk about getting excited! I zoomed in and took about 50 pictures. I had to rush back to the RV to download the pics and see what I had gotten. Some of them were not bad, but I wished, once again, that I had more than a 12 zoom lens.
Later I walked some more and stopped into a small shop called “Possibilities”. I thought it was quite an imaginative name for an eclectic shop. I wound up talking to the owner over an hour. He was very intelligent and widely read. Our conversation covered the full range of
Mountains near Ft. Davis
Feb 2 entry This was one of the spectacular mountains on the scenic loop. “possibilities.” lol! He seems to be typical of the non-typical people of Ft. Davis. I have met some very interesting people here and been kindly received. What an interesting town! I wound up buying more used books and some jigsaw puzzles from this store. Now, where the heck am I going to put them?
Feb 1: I can’t believe it is February already. I’ve been gone almost two months and the time has gone so fast. I went to a Baptist church this morning, then napped, read and worked on this blog the rest of the day.
Sam--Mommy stayed home most of today. We went for a walk around the campground. I always like to go for a walk with her. People find it hard to believe I will follow her around (more or less; I am a cat after all.) and that I know what the word “walk” means. I really like having Mommy outside. Feb. 2: Ground Hog Day and I don’t even know what the prediction is! The weather has been very consistent here in Ft. Davis. The days are sunny and cloudless with temps in the 50s and 60s. The nights are in
Dry River Bed
Feb 2 entry: One of the dry river beds I saw on the scenic loop. I never saw any water anywhere along the drive. the 20’s with hundreds of bright, bright stars. Residents say this is not unusual for winter here.
Today, I took the RV out for a long run, a 70+ mile scenic loop through the mountains. As I drove past pastures of cactus, dry river beds, gullies and huge rock formations, my imagination worked overtime. The scenes looked like they came out of the many westerns I used to watch and enjoy at the movies. I remember Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and Hopalong Cassidy--just to name a few--fight the bad guys. I could see the horses tearing along the sandy plateaus, kicking up a trail of dust behind them, riding in front of the towering cliffs of massive rocks. Sometimes, too, I could picture Indians following buffalo or deer around the bends. I could see where a tribe might set up their teepees along a river bed, among the trees that could grow where there is water.
Often, there were road signs warning drivers to watch for water on the road and to avoid driving into deep water. I know this is a country known for flash floods, but I had to laugh at the signs at the present
Officers' housing at Ft. Davis
Feb 3 entry: These buildings are replicas of the officers' houses at the old fort. (The enlisted men were housed in barracks.) One of the houses was furnished in the style of the period. time, as I looked at dusty cactus trees and waterless river beds everywhere. There are many people who would probably call this country ugly, but to me it has a beauty all its own. I can’t explain it, but there is something here that speaks to me of resilience and courage and majesty.
The RV worked fine, toiling up some steep grades and chugging along--for a change!
Feb 3: Taking it easy for another day, I rode my bike to the old fort for which the town is named. Took a long tour of the barracks, some of which were furnished as they would have been in the 1870’s. This and many other western forts were often garrisoned by the Black cavalry soldiers of the day. They got the nickname “Buffalo Soldiers” from the Indians due to their coarse hair, which the Indians thought resembled buffalo hide. The nickname stuck. The fort is now a national historic place and well kept. There is still archeology going on there. At certain times of day a recording is played of the troops gathering and the horses trotting around the parade grounds. It isn’t hard, then, to imagine what the place was like back then....
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Melanie Neer
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Nice entry
You're getting to be quite the writer here and I bet you're having a field day photographing. Aww...how sweet that Sammy follows you around Melanie