Biosphere 2

We toured Biosphere 2 north of Tuscon this morning - what an incredible experiment it was and still is.  Here is a link to their website:  http://www.b2science.org/index.html 

The website says it was built "to research and develop self-sustaining space-colonization technology. Two missions, between 1991 and 1994, sealed Biospherians inside the glass enclosure to measure survivability."

We toured several ecosystems under the glass - rainforest, savannah, desert, and ocean, in which they grew food and even housed pigs and goats.  We also saw the living quarters, kitchen and the tall white tower/library. 

There are two domes which contain huge bladders that function as giant  "lungs"  for the complex, they  really impressed Russ.  This picture is from inside a dome, as the air in the complex heats during the day it expands and the "excess" is funneled into this chamber with a dark, rubber-like roof that can grow to fill the inside of the dome.  The contracting, cooler air in the evening will result in this "lung" collapsing almost down to the floor.  By the way, that small white cylinder in the middle of this picture is 4 feet tall, so you can see the huge scale of this chamber.  The engineering, the ingenuity, the dedication of all involved in this project is amazing and inspiring.

White Sands National Monument

We rose at 4:30am to drive out to White Sands National Monument, to get some (I hoped) good photographs with that magic early morning light.  Got to watch the sun rise, then it promptly disappeared into the clouds.  It was so cold (low 40's), we had no trouble imagining we were walking in snow instead of brilliant white sand.  And of course, there was no good light at all.

 

The Frog wanted to be in a picture anyway.

The dogs did not mind the cold one bit, frolicking off leash up and down the dunes.  The highway back to Las Cruces was closed for an hour while a missle test took place across the desert.  Made it back in time to lunch at La Posta in the old town area, feasting on Caldillo, Shrimp Coctail and Sopapillas with honey.

We have now moved to Beaudry RV, a giant RV park in Tucson, hoping for some warm weather and fewer cactus spines on the ground.  Tomorrow, going to tour Biosphere 2.

Big Bend National Park

Been remiss in updating, too tired at night.  Spent a couple of days in Fort Stockton, TX, right off I-10.  Drove down to Big Bend National Park, then to Terlingua, and back.  Did not have time to really look around the Park, just wanted to find a good place to stay whenever we come back.  Terlingua was dry, dusty, rocky and not attractive.  But it is the "Chili Head" capital and we hope to come back there during one of the November International Chili Cookoffs.  And, wonder of wonders, it is the only place in Texas that we saw Blue Bonnets.  It is too early in the north.  Also saw a group of 4-5 Javelinas, which sort of look like wild pigs (pictured here is the slow one, running in the weeds).  And got a great shot of a hawk on the side of the road, we interrupted its meal.  Dad - we are out of your homemade cookies!!!!

Boot Shopping

We went to Austin to find some new cowboy boots.  Allen boots is an official seller of Luchese boots, which I really like.  Russ bought me a pair of gorgeous hand made, hand tooled leather boots for Valentines day.  The boots come with a lifetime, free refurbishing program.  The store had the largest selection I have ever seen.  So many exotic leathers and colors.  Russ ended up getting a pair in Fredericksburg from L.M. Easterling hand-made boots.

We leave tomorrow, headed for Las Cruces New Mexico.

BBQ Pilgrims

We have been on the BBQ trail the last few days. The Peach Pit in Fredericksburg served good, sweet, delicate flavored pork ribs. Coopers of Llano is great, old style BBQ. You buy the meat by the pound: pork, brisket and cabrito (goat) and cole slaw or potato salad. Bread, beans and jalapenos are free. A little too salty for us.

Our undisputed favorite is the Salt Lick in Driftwood (outside of Austin).  Seen on the back of their t-shirts: 
"You can smell our pits for miles", we wish we could save the aroma and bring it back home.  They serve German potato salad, an Asian inspired cole slaw (I think owner Mrs. Roberts is Japanese), really flavorful beans and bread that tastes like cake.  Did I mention the ribs?  Don't even bother with the other stuff, just order the pork ribs.  Sweet, smoky, just enough bite to the bone, not drowning in sauce - oh boy!  We even went back a second day.  We are reduced to eating cereal for dinner, just so we can zip our jeans.

This is one of the pits at the Salt Lick.  And yes, that bookmark Russ was holding is from the Four-Eyed Frog bookstore back home.

Seen on the road

Happy Valentines Day to all!  We drove to Bandera today, the Cowboy Capital.  Were supposed to be judges in a chili cookoff, but arrived too late - boo-hoo.  We saw some great sights on the way home though.  We started off with lunch in the John Wayne room at OST Restaurant (Old Spanish Trail), open since 1921.  Spotted a young girl saddling up to the bar to eat her burger and fries, while her family watched.

Seems a lot of people ride their horses into town.  These were "parked" on the right side of the No Parking sign.

The Chicken Car speaks for itself. Note the "pedal to the metal" of his chicken foot.

 

And last, it is the
"Revenge of the 10-Point Buck" - crushing the real car which sports the license plate "Scrapy". 

A fast moving cold front moved in, and in the hour between the Chicken Car and the Deer Stomper, the temperature dropped 20 degrees and the winds were gusting 30 mph.  But we are now safely back in the trailer, watching the Olympics.

Marathon - the Texas Longhorn

Early this morning we spotted this sculpture alongside the highway, west of Johnson City, former home of LBJ and Lady Bird Johnson.  His eyes and grimace seem to say Don't mess with me!  He wants Russ' truck for breakfast.  Click the pic to get a larger image.

His name is Marathon, one of the Texas Longhorn bull series of sculptures by Bettye Hamblen Turner, and constructed of chromium plated steel, stainless steel and recycled auto and motorcycle parts.

Just Loafing Today

We spent the last few days looking at houses and ranches here in Fredericksburg.  Have not found the "PERFECT" one, so going to quit for now.  Today we cruised Main Street and Russ bought a pair of custom-made Easterling boots.  Oh, I got a few things, too :-)

While returning from Missouri, we drove through Dallas, and I snapped this shot of colorful columns topped with the 5-point star.  We have seen quite a bit of 'overpass art' during our travels, never have the camera out.

Here is a pic of a miniature donkey we saw out on a ranch, when we stopped it came over to the fence to loudly greet us.  Holly and Riley were really curious, Holly even managed to roll down the window on her side, good thing she could not jump out.

Back to Fredericksburg

We really had a tough day today. Left at 8am, doors on truck were frozen shut, it was 13 degrees and by the time we stopped at my mom’s grave it was zero with the wind chill and freezing hard grains of snow.  Then, the highways were wet with blowing snow and when we had to pass a semi truck their back spray would freeze to the windshield. After 6 or 7 trucks, we would have to pull off and clean the windshield, and that liquid would freeze too so we would then scrape it off with a credit card. Needless to say, we could not use the windshield sprayers, as they were frozen. Finally decided to just go slow and not pass any trucks, took forever. We are now just north of Dallas, no more snow, took the truck to the car wash – it was covered with dirty snow, red clay and road salt. Just had BBQ ribs at a good little place down the street and are going to sleep for 10 hours!!

Yea Saints!

Had a family Super Bowl party last night, really enjoyed the game.  Not so much the commercials, though, they were mostly disappointing.  But the Saints did not disappoint.  The gals all had our Saints "beads" on.  Norm made ribs, cheese bread and cinnamon rolls.  And Dad made cookies and more cookies for us to take back to Fredericksburg.  Evan and Todd, we missed you!  And I need to go now, because Dad is serving Lefsa!

Missouri

We traveled this week up to Southwest Missouri to visit my Dad, Sister Barb and her family and Brother Norm and his family.  We left the 5th wheel in Fredericksburg, since the roads here are mostly gravel and clay and a mushy mess right now.  Staying out on the family farm, it snowed this morning.  We hope to drive to Rogers, Arkansas today to see Avatar, you all have told us how great it is, gotta see it!  Then Sunday we will take in the Super Bowl at my brother's, on his 52inch screen.  Go Saints!!