Saturday, March 05, 2005
Headin' West
N30 36.42' W104 3.39'
One begins to appreciate just how big Texas is when you start hitting its western regions. It just goes on and on and on. As luck would have it there's something of interest every 100 miles or so and I latched onto the historic line of border forts that pepper the region. These, for the historically challenged, were set up in the 19th century to add a touch of security and stability to the expansion westward in the face of understandable resistance from the Native Americans. Naturally once the natives were dealt with they we left to rot and now live on as little museums for the likes of me to stretch my legs around. 1, 2, 3, 4.
Another historical draw was the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg. Having missed out on the National D-Day memorial in Virginia due to their sneaky signposting this was a must see. It turned out to be an excellent exhibition, well constructed, very informative and not at all gung ho. A nice touch was the Japanese peace garden to the left of the big guns - balanced it all out nicely.
It's warm enough down in these parts that I gave the pop up top its first run. Nice to be able to stretch around after conditioning myself to stoop these past few weeks.
Change of plan direction wise. Big Bend is off the itinerary. Looking at the map it seemed a long way to head South just to retrace my steps a couple of days later. Plus there are National Parks aplenty to the North so it's all good.
I eventually hooked the van up with an oil change by buying a filter from an auto parts store (actually two - one for next time) and taking it along to the changers of oil. The van has been good so I treated it to the expensive, high mileage stuff - the least I could do.
To add to the fun I spotted a Texas Highway Patrol car checking me out along highway 10. It shadowed me for a couple of miles, pulled alongside, dropped back a little and followed along for a few minutes. I can only assume that Wendy has no outstanding warrants and that I didn't look too dodgy as they eventually turned around and faded away. Phew!
The day ended just outside of Marfa where I learnt that every night they are visited by mysterious lights in the desert. There is even a custom made viewing area to make the whole experience more comfortable. People came and went - a few fuzzy lights also came and went. It was fun to hang out and feel part of a genuine mystery! It also made a nice place to spend the night.
Another historical draw was the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg. Having missed out on the National D-Day memorial in Virginia due to their sneaky signposting this was a must see. It turned out to be an excellent exhibition, well constructed, very informative and not at all gung ho. A nice touch was the Japanese peace garden to the left of the big guns - balanced it all out nicely.
It's warm enough down in these parts that I gave the pop up top its first run. Nice to be able to stretch around after conditioning myself to stoop these past few weeks.
Change of plan direction wise. Big Bend is off the itinerary. Looking at the map it seemed a long way to head South just to retrace my steps a couple of days later. Plus there are National Parks aplenty to the North so it's all good.
I eventually hooked the van up with an oil change by buying a filter from an auto parts store (actually two - one for next time) and taking it along to the changers of oil. The van has been good so I treated it to the expensive, high mileage stuff - the least I could do.
To add to the fun I spotted a Texas Highway Patrol car checking me out along highway 10. It shadowed me for a couple of miles, pulled alongside, dropped back a little and followed along for a few minutes. I can only assume that Wendy has no outstanding warrants and that I didn't look too dodgy as they eventually turned around and faded away. Phew!
The day ended just outside of Marfa where I learnt that every night they are visited by mysterious lights in the desert. There is even a custom made viewing area to make the whole experience more comfortable. People came and went - a few fuzzy lights also came and went. It was fun to hang out and feel part of a genuine mystery! It also made a nice place to spend the night.
andy 12:23 PM