I managed the night okay. 32 degrees, but this time I was prepared. Since I had no long drive today I was able to walked around a bit. Davis Mountains State Park is highly recommended. They even attempted to have wifi.  It’s mostly for tents, though there was one tenter driving an 18 wheeler cab.

McDonald Observatory was fun. Toured one of their several telescopes. They even let little girls take turns moving the giant telescope around and rotating the dome. We saw a live viewing of a large solar flare, which the lecturer said we were lucky to catch.  Beautiful views from the mountain, as usual.

Fort Davis National Historical Park (about Fort Davis) was much more involved than I would have expected. Big place for such a small number of soldiers.  The best part was a camel exhibit.  I learned a lot about camels from their handler.  “Did indians ever steal camels?” “Yes, they reported them delicious!”)  Before the Civil War the Army experimented with them as pack animals.   Also of interest: For much of the fort’s history after the Civil War it was manned by Buffalo Soldiers.

Saw my second 2015 anniversary Goldwing (like mine).

I’m in Alpine tonight paying way too much for a hotel room, doing laundry. Tomorrow I’ll hopefully get a tent site at Big Bend National Park. But this is Spring Break week for much of Texas. Ugh.