Friday, January 11, 2008 - Davis Mountains State Park, Fort Davis TX

Untitled, Davis Mountains State Park, Fort Davis, Texas, January 12, 2008

Spending the morning in Marfa

What a disappointing experience my visit to Marfa, Texas and The Chinati Foundation turned out to be. This is not my kind of place. My reactions are a contradictory mix. The town is being transformed into an art object and commercial art destination. It's architecturally quite an attractive town and what is being done is well done but it seems to me to be too controlled, too contrived, too cold. I hail from Columbia County, New York which is in the midst of an art renaissance of its own and is also seeing its county seat, Hudson, transforming into an art destination, but in a less structured way that I find quite appealing, warm and friendly. Marfa is too tightly structured for me. It's my impression the town has been taken over by Judds and Judd interests. Most of the buildings on the street before the county courthouse have been painted and the windows blanked out on those that are not yet developed in a unified theme that seems to indicate a common ownership and thrust of development.

Marfa, Texas, January 11, 2008

For some reason the Museum is purposely hard to find - there are no street signs to guide one there and once found the entrance seems to invite one not to enter. Why? The museum is open for tours only and there is no guidance to signing up.

I was offended enough by all this that I left town in a short while.

An afternoon and evening at McDonald Observatory

From Marfa I went north to Fort Davis in search of a campsite at Davis Mountains State Park. Driving up I realized I became aware I was approaching the McDonald Observatory, home of Sandy Wood's StarDate radio shorts I've heard all these many years. Road signs and observatory domes above the horizon were a big help here. An internet search turned up their website and got me thinking I might sign up for their Twilight and Star Party programs tonight. Later in the afternoon, I went up to the observatory.

This was such an enjoyable experience I decided to grab the opportunity and signed up for the observatory's usually sold out 36" Telescope Special Viewing Night tomorrow night.

Night camp

Davis Mountains State Park Campground, Fort Davis TX

This is a nice, well maintained campground with level gravel sites with electric & water, and some with full hookups
There is good biking on the park roads and hiking trails in the hills
Good Verizon cell phone service - Access is via Extended Network, roaming
No Verizon EVDO service - access is via the Extended Network and service is slow
Find other references to Fort Davis
List the nights I've camped here
Check the weather
Reserve a site
Get a Google Street View and a map

Give it, Give it All, Give it Now

One of the few things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now. The impulse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now. Something more will arise for later, something better. These things fill from behind, from beneath, like well water. Similarly, the impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes.

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