TuzigootJournal: Fort Davis, TX

Dear Family and Friends: Daughter-in-law Suzy Hinkle's parents organized a family reunion to coincide with the Fort Davis, TX Independence Day celebration this past weekend. They invited in-laws and step-in-laws so we decided to load up Tuzigoot and head down for the festivities.

Fort Davis is in that flange of SW Texas bounded on the south by the Rio Grande and the north by New Mexico. It's 200 miles east of El Paso, 400 miles west of San Antonio. The town grew up in the mid-1800s around the military post, Fort Davis, established there, up against the Davis Mountains, to protect trails and settlers in the area. The Davis behind all of this is referred to as Jeff Davis, as in Jeff Davis County. Mr. Davis was the U.S. Secretary of War when the fort was established. We know him better as Jefferson Davis, who went on a few years later to become President of the Confederacy. Guess there's never been enough Union sentiment in Texas to change the names.

The Fort, nicely preserved, is now a National Historic Site. I went out early in the morning before it officially opened and got some pix of Officers' Row, which I particularly like.

Now, some family history. Suzy's parents, Elizabeth and Alan Anthony, lived in Fort Davis and raised their kids, Suzy and Tommy here. Alan taught history at Sul Ross U, just down the road in Alpine. Elizabeth taught first grade in FD. They were pillars of the local Methodist Church, made lots of friends. A few years ago they moved to San Antonio, so this was a real homecoming for them.

Suzy and Matt have three children. The youngest, Andrew, is working this summer at the Prude Ranch (slogan, Come see us. We'll keep a horse saddled for you), located just a few miles out of FD, where he is a camp counselor, riding herd on a group of 6-9 year-olds. Kaci, their daughter, lives in NYC, but she was able to get away, fly out to Albq, then ride down to FD with her parents. Their other son, Tony, is in the Army, stationed in Fort Hood, some 450 miles away, but he could not get leave ... so everyone thought. Except Kaci, with whom he had been in contact. Kaci was staying with us in Tuzi and as soon as everyone left for the night, she spilled the plan to us. Tony was en route. We sent him directions to the RV park and kept in touch. He got to FD about 130 am. Next morning we drove over to the house in which Matt and Suzy were staying to surprise them. Here's a bit of the happy scene.

Next, the parade.

Lots of good ole Americana. Horses, kids, bicycles, motorcycles, tractors, trucks, floats ... .

Here's an unusual truck belonging to the University of Texas.

Part of our party.

Mercifully, it was a cloudy morning.

The grand finale was fire trucks. I couldn't get Blogger to upload my video. So, go to my facebook page and click the fire truck to watch and hear the video. Watch to the end to see scavengers chasing candy.

We watched the parade from across the street from the school where Elizabeth taught. After the parade we took the opportunity to get a schoolyard picture of four of the six grandchildren of the Anthonys.

From L to R, Kaci Hinkle, J. T. Anthony, Tony Hinkle, Mary Anthony.

Next, down to the courthouse for lunch and browsing. Andrew had been in the parade with his Prude Ranch kids. He didn't know Tony was here until their float came by our group watching the parade. We caught up with him at the courthouse.

Here's a shot of the courthouse the day before the crowds arrived. Quite elegant.

Andrew told us about a place in nearby Marfa that serves wonderful specialty grilled cheese sandwiches, but only after 930 on Friday and Saturday nights. We had already planned to see the Marfa lights Saturday night, so this would be on the way.

Here's the sign on the place.

Here are the electronic wonders.

J.T. said it was spooky having all these faces staring at you (same face on all the small TVs).

Here's the Food Shark Dining Car, where we ate.

Interior picture, courtesy of Matt.

As you might know or have guessed, Marfa has become an artsy, funky place in recent years.

Those lights behind us are Christmas lights, but they look like Marfa lights. Next stop, a viewing area a few miles east of Marfa.

WE SAW THEM! Lights would appear, bob around, then disappear. Here's a picture from the linked website.

One theory is that the lights are refracted images from car headlights on a nearby highway or from lights on various ranches. Seems like somebody could check that by recording traffic on the highway and sightings from the observation area and seeing if they match up. Counter claim is that the mysterious lights were observed in the 1800s before car lights existed. Others say swamp gas, or natural gas escaping from underground (that theory should be checkable). Some say extra-terrestials coming and going. Alan Anthony says it's cowboys out there riding around with high-powered flashlights. New theory that just occurred to me. The astronomers at the McDonald Observatory in the Davis Mountains are playing games with their big mirrors. Or, maybe Area 51 in Nevada has something to do with it. Whatever, the lights attract attention. Must have been 30-40 people out there at 11pm observing the phenomenon.

Sunday was church, lunch at the Lodge in the Davis Mountains State Park, then a reception where friends of the Anthonys could come by and visit. (The sixth grandchild in the Anthony clan, Michael Anthony, arrived about noon to complete the family register. Sorry I don't have a picture.) I do have a picture from outside the house where the reception was held (and where the bulk of our reunion group stayed) that I like. (You might guess that I focused outside the house because the house was so full of strangers, but that would be wrong.)

The linkage that started all this (I should say half of all this) is that Matt's roommate at West Point was from Fort Davis. He fixed Matt up with a date with Suzy Anthony, so Suzy from Fort Davis flew to West Point, NY, met Matt from Albuquerque, and the rest is history. Matt's roommate before Suzy lives in the area and he and his parents were among the reception attendees.

Monday we headed home by an eastern route, through Carlsbad and Roswell in NM (rather than the I-25/I-10 route through El Paso we came down by). A couple of years ago we drove the "loneliest road in the US," US 50 across Nevada, but I think the 95 miles from Roswell to Vaughn has to be the most desolate. In Nevada you're traversing range-and-basin country, so your view changes. Not so here.

There are mountains on the distant horizon, but obscured by smoke from fires in the Ruidoso area.

The other side of the highway looked like this.

I like the wide open spaces, but this is a bit much. Not even an interesting cloud to grab your attention.

Susie said when she and Manny lived in Roswell, she drove this route by herself twice a week en route to and from Las Vegas where she was taking summer classes at Highlands U. toward an M.A. degree. She had two year old Jeff with her and was seven months pregnant with Matt. She didn't realize how brave (or stupid - Susie's insert) she was.

We had a great time in Fort Davis. Glad we went. Glad to be home again, for a while.

Happy Fourth!