Wednesday, May 3, 2017--From Judy and Kevin's, McDonald Observatory to Percha Dam State Park, New Mexico--307 miles

     We hopped up before 7 this am, to visit with Judy and Kevin before they were off to work at 8 and 9 respectively; to try once again for a photo of the Montezuma Quail and TO HEAD HOMEWARD west and north.

     We all thoroughly enjoyed our visit and were sorry to see it come to a close. We did not see the quail at all this morning, but feel very fortunate to have had a good look at it at all. This is what prime Montezuma Quail habitat looks like--about 6700 feet elevation.

     A Bluebird bid us goodby. We left at 9:10 and wound our way slowly out of the Davis Mountains. 

     We found a Say's Phoebe at a picnic area and a Lark Sparrow along the way in addition to 15 Turkey Vultures on the road in front of us trying to lunch on some very small poor critter. No Photos!

     It was a beautiful drive, and mostly lonesome which suited us. We then caught the freeway  (I-10) toward El Paso. The drive was quiet at first so I took a shift. 

     As we drove westward the traffic increased, especially big trucks zooming past. The speed limit was 80. We were surprised to see a couple cars getting speeding tickets! Paul took over.      Nearing El Paso a cowboy sculpture caught our eye.

We avoided El Paso by taking a by-pass highway through rugged mountains, then north to New Mexico and Mountain Standard Time. 

     New Mexico rocky mountains and mesquite flatlands have a wild beauty all their own.

     We reached our campground at Percha Dam State Park at 4 pm, right after crossing the Rio Grande River. The park is on the river. We were surprised the elevation is 4100 feet. We have been climbing.

     It was 87 degrees when we got here. The sun was hot and no shade on our site. The van temp soon rose to 100 degrees. 

     We sat outside in the nearby shade and watched birds flitting in the trees, including a Bullock’s Oriole and a pair of Northern Mockingbirds. We also enjoyed watching Say’s Phoebe, Red-winged Blackbirds, the constant White-winged Doves and our first Robin since entering Texas several weeks ago. 

     Then we noticed no-see-ums biting us. Actually it is a misnomer; we did see them. So we moved inside and tried the AC. It works awhile and then shuts off. 

     Just think how wonderful our home AC will be when we get there! We are definitely in the homeward bound frame of mind now, especially as it is so much hotter than it was a month ago. The good thing is that our truck AC works very well and we all enjoy being cool while driving.

     It was a very peaceful campground.

Today Our Eyes Were On

The constantly changing scenery from mountains to foothills to green flatlands to desert to no vegetation then to green again and passing pecan groves to a much smaller Rio Grande river

A shopping area on the outskirts of El Paso that had mega-super-sized stores of every chain we have ever heard of plus hundreds of stores with names new to us. Even so, I had absolutely no desire to shop! It was way too overwhelming

The beautiful city of Las Cruces, one of the most appealing we have seen—adobe and stone homes and lovely landscaping. I would have liked to explore it more 

The road heading HOME!

Tuesday, May 2, 2017--McDonald Observatory, Davis Mountains, West Texas--0 miles

     At about 7:30 am, after a quick breakfast of homemade bread toast and jam, we walked up the road toward the observatory--the exact spot where we saw the two Montezuma Quail yesterday. We were hoping to have a better look, now that we know where they are and how they act. 

     Sure enough, a beautiful male was sitting 2 feet from the road. I got a good look at him before he moved off. There was not the least doubt this time--Montezuma Quail!!!! How lucky is that! Again, no photo except in my memory bank.

     Walking back, we saw a bird that was strange to us. It looked like a very large black barn swallow. We finally figured it was a Purple Martin.

     We also noticed an extraordinarily large Juniper Tree and its very old bark. It has been there a long time, perhaps since before the first observatory in 1940.

     We decided last night, after hearing of high temperatures and full campgrounds in Big Bend National Park, that we will save that for another trip. After a month and 3 days, we are ready to chart our course homeward. 

     So we stayed another day with Judy and Kevin. They were very kind hosts and welcomed us.

     I organized the chaos in the motor home and Paul studied the maps and weather. It has definitely warmed up. Then we luxuriated with hot showers and clean clothes.

     After a great lunch of soup and quesadillas, we walked Judy to work at the Visitor's Center. I had not seen all the the displays. 

     On the way I was attacked by the dried leaf of a yucca plant. This is the culprit. Who knew? I will be more respectful of yuccas in the future. 

     At the Visitor's Center I began to feel something dripping down my leg. The poke had not only gone through my jeans but also my skin. One of the women at the desk provided me with a box of band-aids, a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, a cotton ball, and a tube of neo-sporin. Five band-aids soon took care of the damage!

     The Visitor's Center is a strikingly beautiful structure. Paul and I went through the very interesting display area. I was fascinated by the different ways telescopes have used information from space as technology improves. Formerly astronomers used optical information (what they saw). Now they use spectrography and study space on their computers. 

     We enjoyed the gift shop and had a cold drink in the Star Date Cafe before walking home. He went to take a nap, I to blog.

     Heading west and north tomorrow. We have had such a wonderful visit with Judy and Kevin, and thoroughly enjoyed learning about all aspects of McDonald Observatory.

Today Our Eyes Were On

A SITTING MONTEZUMA QUAIL--NO DOUBT ABOUT IT!

Very friendly and helpful Texans

A clean and organized motor home--at least temporarily

I am still caught up on the blog!!!!!!!!

Monday, May 1, 2017--Another lazy day at McDonald Observatory

     Our home away from home (Judy and Kevin's). We awoke at 7 am and got up slowly. Kevin went to work at 8 and walked 1.2 miles to the observatory with Gus, the Coonhound. 

     Judy drove up to bring the dog back. Paul, Sofie and I hitched a ride with Judy to the top and walked back. We got to ride in their cop-car (formerly) with the canoe on top. They recently bought a new-to-them canoe. It is a beautiful sunny day. 

     We had an ulterior motive. Montezuma Quail are occasionally seen along this road. 

     Sofie was thrilled to go on a walk. She had been in the house and met the very gentle and sweet resident dogs Gus and Spica (a quiet ball of fluff). But Sofie was intimidated. She spent her time STANDING between Paul and my chairs watching but not venturing out. 

     I think she has had almost enough new experiences for one trip. She has happily spent most of the rest of the time on our bed in the van.

     We had barely started walking down the road when we spotted three quail that scurried to the side of the road and froze. 

     They were Scaled Quail. At this point I noticed my camera battery flashing. Here I am looking for the Montezuma Quail with almost no camera! 

     Paul had Sofie so he traded his good battery with me. We kept walking and watching.

     It takes about 80 people to run the McDonald Observatory. More than half live on the Observatory grounds. This is one of the bigger homes--they vary in size. Other residences are scattered down the hill.

     One of the stunning observatories--Hobby-Eberly Observatory 1997--the newest one. We could see the Visitor's Center in the distance. 

     The reddish circular area in front is the amphitheater where we had the star party. You can see three small telescopes and observatories used in the star party.

     As I took this photo of a Woodhouse's Jay, the newly exchanged camera battery started flashing empty. Here we were looking for the Montezuma Quail with 2 almost drained camera batteries. That is so typical of birding! We have each been carrying extra batteries in our pockets for 4 weeks. None today!

     All of a sudden two small quail flushed about 4 feet from us. They flew up the hill. I followed them. Then one flushed a few steps from me. 

     This is where Kevin had seen them flush as he walked up the hill earlier. We did not get a good look at them, we saw them flying twice and we almost stepped on them twice. That is very characteristic behavior. They were much smaller than the Scaled Quail we had seen earlier. They were Montezuma Quail. BUT NO PHOTO!

     At 2:30 Judy led us on a special tour of the newest observatory, the Hobby-Eberly Telescope dedicated in 1997. 

     This telescope is made of 91 mirrors and no big tube above them.The observatory looks entirely different inside without the tube to point at the stars. 

     The base of mirrors is pointed to the stars. It points the image to another set of mirrors near the top of the observatory and then is converted by many spectrographs into information the astronomers can use. 

     This observatory has a new project trying to find the reason for Dark Energy. It boggles the mind!

     After this, we took a long walk with Judy and her two dogs Gus and Spica, and Sofie. 

     We found a male and female Western Bluebird. 

     Another fun and busy day, again not a cloud in the sky. It was a beautiful day. 

     We have decided we will not be heading south to Big Bend National Park. Today the temp there was 95 and there are limited camping sites and no reservations. It is about 3 hours from any other choice of accommodations if we couldn't find a site.  

     Also, after 4 weeks we are now more interested in heading toward home than farther away.

Today Our Eyes Were On

Two walks with our dog

A couple of quick looks at Montezuma Quails flying fast away from us

A mind-stretching look at a beautiful observatory and 91 mirror telescope

Sunday, April 30, 2017--McDonald Observatory and Ft. Davis

     For some reason we all slept in this morning. (At 5:30 we checked the temp--25 degrees!) We were toasty warm in our van.
     We had a leisurely morning and a sumptuous breakfast of waffles with delicious sausage and lots of cups of coffee and tea. Then we brought out our computers and iPads for some cozy surfing and visiting. I blogged.
     We didn't get hungry again until mid-afternoon and drove to Ft. Davis for lunch at "The Drugstore". We enjoyed burgers, oldies music, lots of relics of bygone eras and a real soda fountain with a counter and stools! The town of Ft. Davis was an army post from the time of stage lines, guarding the Butterfield trail and indians. It had many stone buildings from that time, including a huge general store. 
     It was a lazy day of visiting, possibly an occasional nap, and relaxing. There was not a cloud in the sky!!!! We did not see a bird!!

Gus, the sweet coonhound, and Spica, the sweet ball of fluff named after a star, led the way in the relaxing today.

Today Our Eyes (and the rest of us) Were Relaxing!!!!