Patrik Naindenel

I am right now in West Texas for work. Must say this parts of Texas have its beautiful side and its hmmm not ugly but boring side. 

We where told to stay at a hotel in Midland/Odessa which should be the closest place to live during this time. 

When I was still waiting waiting in Toronto for my flight down to Houston I was informed that this was not the correct hotel. Midland/Odessa was about 2.5 hours drive from where I should work (5 hours rive a day is a little much. 

We had to start searching hotel at once, with help from our US company this was solved….. We still had to take the 2.5 hours drive for two more days. In the end the closest hotel was hmmmm only an hour away (60 miles)…. Not to bad. The name of the town is Fort Stockton.

This part of Texas is quite depressing when you drive through some towns. most of the houses have not received any maintenance the last 40 years it seems.

The nature or view is quite boring, just low trees/bushes… On the other side you can drive for almost an hour without seeing any house, That I love.

Together with colleaguesI did some sightseeing when we had a Sunday off. 

After a late breakfast we left around 10:30 and headed west to an old cavalry fort. Town name is Fort Davis. This town is up in the mountains. To come there gives you a wonderful drive through valleys and up and down some nice hilly surrounding.

We would like to visit the museum but as it was closed due to the budget between the president and the government.

Here some info about Fort Davis:

Established in 1854 and serving the Texas frontier until 1891, provided a strategic factor in the defense system of the American Southwest. The Fort’s garrison protected settlers, mail coaches, wagon trains, and travelers enduring the San Antonio-El Paso road, and, until 1861, soldiers stayed busy driving Comanche, Kiowa, and Apaches from the region.

The Fort’s location, at the mouth of a box canyon on the eastern side of the Davis Mountains, provided a suitable advantage for fending off attacks, mustering troops, and staging defenses. Abandoned for a period after the Civil War, the Fort’s primitive structures had little to offer the Ninth U.S. Cavalry who arrived in 1867 to reoccupy the post. In two short years, however, permanent quarters, barracks, a guardhouse, and storehouses were raised and by the end of the 1880s Fort Davis harboured more than 100 structures and quartered more than 400 soldiers, including the famed Buffalo Soldiers.

After Fort Davis we drove to a town named Alpine which should be nice and …..

Yes it was but when we where there no one of us knew/remembered what we should look at. The town had a huge university though and it looked really beautiful.

After this we headed for Marfa which are famous for the light play which occurs on clear nights. As for today no one can explain this phenomena.

Here some info about the Marfa Light:

Referring to the Marfa Lights View Park east of Marfa, James Bunnell states. “you might just see mysterious orbs of light suddenly appear above desert foliage. These balls of light may remain stationary as they pulse on and off with intensity varying from dim to almost blinding brilliance. Then again, these ghostly lights may dart across the desert…or perform splits and mergers. Light colors are usually yellow-orange but other hues, including green, blue and red are also seen. Marfa Mystery Lights usually fly above desert vegetation but below background mesas.

Then we went to the McDonald Observatory Center which is close to Fort Davis up in the mountains. On our way there we even got stopped by the police due to speeding (I was not the one driving) It was a Georgia guy.  Anyway the drive up there was beautiful and the view when arriving was nice but it was quite cold and everything was closed so we could not go in for a guided tour.

After this we all was tired and went back to our hotel for a 2 hours brake before dinner. It was a wonderful day and it is nice to drive around and see the nature in West Texas.