Texas Star Party 2007 & Big Bend National Park

All images copyright Gain Lee

The 2007 Texas Star Party lured us in at the last minute with emails of temptation from some of our dear friends over the pond. Gain was intending on taking a homemade, portable eighteen inch dobsonian telescope but, after pulling an all-nighter before departing on the 6am airport train, it was not to be.

Airport security at Manchester was INSANE and we were to be found knocking back our entire day's drink supply outside a cafe near passport control. Once on the plane, Gain negotiated the leg room by wrapping his legs around his neck. We were both far too excited to sleep, although Gain managed a few short naps, and we landed in Philadelphia feeling a little spaced out. We managed to hunt down a hotdog before taking another sleepless flight, this time to Dallas.

We did our usual Car hire, Walmart, IHOP ritual and then agreed to drive on to Abilene before stopping for sleep. 3am in Abilene and we figured we might as well continue on to Fort Davis with the help of some gas station coffees, all the while wondering at the incredible skies.

As we approached the Davis Mountains area we immediately came across the turkey vultures.

More unexpected encounters were with a pair of montezuma quail, a western tanager, and a red tailed hawk.

We drove up to MacDonald Observatory for our usual arrival coffee and were thrilled to enjoy the company of hummingbirds.

Tearing ourselves away, we went to meet up with old friends at Prude Ranch. With dinner at Pops, day soon turned to night and we were out on the observing field in our Texas flag chairs. The below pictures show the Zodiacal Light, with Venus shining bright and Saturn further along, and the rising Milky Way.





We were joined on the observing field by our dear friend Rex, pictured below on the right with Steve Goldberg and ourselves. Rex is a great guy. You should meet him.





We had now been awake for approximately 66 hours and persistent hallucinations forced Adele to take rest in the car just off the observing field.





Our week comprised of waking early, meeting friends, visiting the vendors, attending lectures, observing, taking a nap, then waking early to repeat the process. It was wonderful!


Image credit : Jeff Rowe

We enjoyed the hospitality of Tom and Cheryl in their fabulous RV, and were lucky enough to sample some of Clive and Beryl's delicious hazlenut coffee.






The ultra early mornings gave us opportunity to explore previously unchartered territory, i.e. breakfast! We visited Twin Souls cyber cafe in Fort Davis, a converted machine shop, and Black Bear Restaurant at Indian Lodge in the Davis Mountains State Park.







We very much enjoyed exploring the Davis Mountains State Park, taking in the Skyline Drive and coming across a pair of blackheaded grosbeak and a very photogenic male summer tanager.







Early mornings on the ranch drew our attention to a nest belonging to acorn woodpeckers, whom we had been watching on telegraph poles for a couple of days previously.





Darryl Lee led an early morning bird walk later in the week, sharing his wealth of knowledge on the subject. Unfortunately the birds seemed to interpret our eighty feet strong synchronised march as a signal to stay in hiding.





Another nest discovery was made during our many hours spent at the vendors building; four says phoebe chicks and a very hard working mother.





When we eventually made it to our motel room in Alpine it was almost 4am and we had to wake the receptionist to check in. Adele took the first of the bags and opened up the room. As she noticed with dismay the unmade bed through the gloom, it became alive with screams of help from the two mexican guys sleeping in it. They screamed. She ran. Gain laughed. The motel awarded us a free upgrade!




Becky and Shane very kindly invited us to their annual 'Festival of the Tinned Mollusc', a reunion for distant members of the Johnson Space Centre Astronomical Society (JSCAS), where we were introduced to the delights of squirty cheese. We were also introduced to Chuck Shaw, who was keen to promote the marvels of LED...





...this guy holds a very important and responsible position at NASA!





As we sat watching barn swallows fly to and from their nests in the cabins behind us, the party was priviledged to host Dennis Webb's debut performance of his ode to TSP 2007.




2007 brought us new friendships with the visiting Australians. It seems that the British and Australians have a lot in common linguistically, specifics of which should not be mentioned here! Below from left to right are John, Gary, Andrew and Anne (actually American). They were promoting a fantastic project which allows astronomers around the world to enjoy the use of large scopes over in Australia.



We were invited to join the group up at Van's place in the backhills of Fort Davis. Although the get together was really wonderful, the fun started when Tom and Cheryl had to navigate us back out of the mountainous maze in their lovely new Hummer. Still, we did get to see some deer...




On the last day we found ourselves torn between attending Becky's talk or helping Rex to load his van. When the clouds started curling and the lightning drew near, we had to send our apologies to Becky! As the last of Rex's empire was loaded into the van, the very moment the door shut, the heavens opened. We had never expected to get dime sized hail at the TSP! What a treat for a couple of storm chasers on vacation.







The clouds lingered for our last evening under TSP skies but we were pleased to enjoy the company of Steve and Amelia. They are pictured below with Jeff (centre), another JSCAS member. Steve and Amelia do a wonderful job in helping to organise the TSP each year and have been a source of support and friendship since we first attended back in 2004.




Jeff Rowe took this fantastic group image in his capacity as official TSP group photographer:

Image credit : Jeff Rowe

Farewells were difficult as ever, but accompanied by promises to keep in touch and to meet again soon.

We decided to venture 120 miles South, taking the beautifully scenic drive to Big Bend National Park. The Big Bend region is named after the 'bend' that the Rio Grande river takes in the region. The river forms a natural international border between Mexico and the United States of America. This picture is looking at the cliffs of Mexico from across the Rio Grande River.



As expected, the temperature rose as the latitude dropped. Fortunately we were armed with sunhats, shades and sun-protection cream. Unfortunately we forgot about the bug factor. We will spare you pictures of reptilian arms and swollen ankles. We went through customs with short sleeves and trousers rolled up, wearing so much calamine lotion that we looked like Mr and Mrs Blobby (For our American friends, this does not refer to us being really chubby. It's a giant pink spotted idiot from English television).





On the first night a great storm rolled in. Gain was to be found giggling on the mountainside, camera in hand. He had decided to rename 'mammatus clouds' as something more, let us say, masculine. Can you see what he could?




Terrible! In fairness, the picture cannot convey just how big an appendage this was, hanging from the sky...





It was otherwise a very romantic setting. The above picture shows Gain standing at the edge of the Rio Grande, with Mexico on the opposite side of the river. We were surrounded by exotic wildlife, from brightly coloured birds to giant, prehistoric looking centipedes.



We caught the vermillion flycatchers having a bit of a domestic..



A happier family were the pyrrhuloxia. Sitting in one of the campgrounds we watched the male and female fly back and forth, bringing interesting insects on occasion, feeding their chick in a nest just by our car!






But the very happiest bird had to be the yellow breasted chat. You've never heard such an amazing song! We managed to get a picture of it mid-melody!




We found the greatest concentration of vermillion flycatchers in a garden of absolute paradise. The field was also busy with golden chested woodpeckers, painted bunting, mockingbirds and roadrunners.










It was really tough making the decision to depart Big Bend and begin the long journey to Dallas. We were spurred on by sights along the way, such as scissor tailed flycatchers, and by the hope of realising our two-year long dream of a Cracker Barrel Country Boy Breakfast!






Back in England and we were totally wrecked. Between an extreme lack of sleep, holiday diet and insect bites that made us look like the great unwashed, we had all the symptoms of a having had a fantastic adventure!