A Slight Change of Plan

Today is our day to fly home.  It is an early flight at 7:11.  We were up at 3:15 AM and our car was turned in and we were through security and sitting at the gate before sunrise.  Saw this aircraft being moved by a tug to take it away from the gate.

This is my view of the plane next to us from my seat as we prepared to push back.  Tug pushed us back from the gate and we awaited engine starts.  But we sat there and sat there and heard some strange noises but had no idea what was going on.  After 10 or 15 minutes the captain announced they couldn't start the right engine!  So we were pulled back to the gate and everyone got off the plane.  The short version is after an hour they still didn't know and an hour after that they took all our baggage off the plane.  Not a good sign!  So after all that delay we talked to a gate agent and because the next plane to DFW wasn't until 5 PM today, he suggested we fly from El Paso, to Chicago, and then on to New York.  We elected to do that because it seems like a more sure thing.

Here is a couple across from us trying to figure how they could get to where they were going.  The pilot and first officer left the plane and as they came through the gate area I followed them and got to ask what caused the problem, and they were really nice and explained some technical things, but they still didn't know what the problem was.  The one thing that was annoying is, we had to leave the secure area, go fetch our bags, and then start checkin and go through TSA security all over again!  

We are not sure when the mechanic arrived because some of them were working on the rear of the plane where the Auxiliary Power Unit is installed, but they told us that was not the problem.  So we watched him work for a bit.  We were no longer going to take our original flight but they kept setting back the time it would finally leave for DFW.

Then a couple of hours later this notice appeared on the screen behind the gate agents!  "Flight Canceled!"

Man oh man, we made, with the gate agent, the right decision to switch routes.  We may actually get home tonight!  More news tomorrow.  As I finish this, our aircraft is just pulling in to the gate, and we should be boarding soon!

 

A Walk to Breakfast

We left Big Bend National Park yesterday and drove to Marfa, Texas because we wanted to see and photograph some of the works of Donald Judd at the Chinati Foundation.  More on that in another post. This morning we woke and decided to walk from our hotel to a breakfast place we found.  We could not go more than 50 feet without finding something to photograph, such is the nature of the buildings in Marfa.  This is the old Godbold feed mill which has been a landmark in town forever.  It was recently sold and will become a distillery and a restaurant.  But this is a classic scene all over parts of Texas.  I photographed the first one of these I ever saw in San Angelo, TX when I went to visit my friend Ginger back in February of 2007.

 

A Night to Remember!

The first night we arrived at Big Bend National Park, the skies were as clear as could be, so we found a great place to set up our cameras after it got dark.  We went to bed at 11 PM and set the clock for 2:30 AM wakeup.  We dressed and headed to our spot, and started taking photographs as the Milky Way rose in the east.  We continued to photograph all night until dawn at 6:30AM!  I have never stayed up that long, but this seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime chance.  This is a 10 second exposure of the Milky Way.  It is a "straight" photograph and has not been enhanced at all.  THIS is what the Milky Way looks like from a really dark sky site.  The tones are pearly and there are faint colorations and it is subtle but the Milky Way does not require Photoshop work to add contrast and color.  Subtlety and accuracy of what we see is paramount.  To have a clear night in a dark sky and to stay up until dawn was certainly a night to remember for me!

And as a bonus today, for all of you who stuck with my story this far, here is a photograph of Venus rising in the east, near Casa Grande, the large black shape to the right.  You can still see stars in the ski as the dawn breaks!

 

The Sun, the Moon, the Photographers

After dinner we went back to "The Window" where we watched the sun the other night but never saw it set.  We tried again tonight along with 20 other people hoping to see the orange ball descend below the horizon.  Success!  It was fun to be with 20 other people and all of us doing something together.  There were small conversations that could be heard among some others.  So nice to have people making small connections with each other.  It was spectacular to see the sun emerge from the bottom of a cloud and then sink behind the horizon. What a joy!

As we were leaving the overlook, I saw Stan turn around and look up.  There were some trees, but they were not very attractive really.  Then I looked again, and he was looking above the trees at a very thin crescent moon!  It was in and out of the clouds but several of us managed to get a photograph, incuding one young woman who was using her mom's borrowed camera.

While we were waiting for the sun to appear from the clouds, I was looking around and saw Stan with his camera, and then in almost the same pose, saw this gentleman shooting the scene with his cellphone!  Almost a perfect match!

 

Arts and Crafts

Today we drove 40 miles from Chisos Basin, where we are staying, over to the Boquillas Canyon Trail at the east end of the park.  At this point in the park, the Rio Grande river separates the U.S From Mexico and it is pretty shallow at many points here.  We climbed up the trail about one hundred feet to the top.  This is what I saw.  People from Mexico cross the river in the morning, by canoe or boat and climb the trail and put their arts and crafts items for sale to visitors in the park.  It is on the honor system.

Here is a note from one of the people who left their wares for sale.  When I was here in March of 2018, there were only a few vendors who left their things for sale.  One man was with his crafts at the end of the trail and he said that if a Park Ranger came along, which he could see from a distance with his binoculars, he would quickly gather up everything, and toss it in his boat, and row back across the river.  The items that others had left on the honor system, would be confiscated along with any money left for the purchaces.  I did buy a walking stick from him, and then he asked if I had anything to eat that I could give him.  That's how much the sales of these small items means to them.  But on this trip there were displays everywhere, so I am guessing that these displays are now allowed, which is a wonderful thing.

This photo is taken about 20 feet from the display shown in the first photo.  This is the Rio Grande river and the land in the center of the photo is Mexico.  All the land in the foreground, and that on the right of the river in the photo, is in the United States.  Just in case you were curious, since you could wade across the river here, and there are no fences, when you arrived on the U.S. side, you would be facing a walk of 90 miles across a desert with temperatures, like today, of just over 100 degrees, and directly north to the nearest town.  Certainly not much chance people would try to enter the U.S. this way.

 

The Rays of a Setting Sun

 

We didn't actually see the Sun set this evening, but we did get to experience these beautiful "Crepuscular Rays" which are caused by shafts of sunlight shining between gaps in the clouds and as they emerge as beams of light, they strike dust particles in the air, and we get to see these beautiful rays of light.  A beautiful ending to a really nice day in Big Bend National Park.  There were about a dozen or more people gathered at the end of a walkway at a viewing site to see the famous "Window" between these massive rock formations, and there were nice conversations among the viewers as we watched this beautiful event.

Approaching Big Bend National Park

Stan and I left El Paso at about 10 AM this morning on our way to Big Bend National Park.  It was about a 7 hour drive, if you include stopping for lunch in Marfa, Texas.  This view is from quite a distance away from the park itself, but man, oh man, what a stunning landscape.  In this case, mountains on mountains.

This is a view of two mountains and some cacti shortly after we entered the park itself.  You can see how rugged these mountains are if you look closely. I wonder it these are not volcanic plugs, as Shiprock is, but I can't be sure.  I will ask a ranger tomorrow.  It can be seen as a desolate landscaper at times but it is really beautiful in so many ways.  Just a different beauty than you would expect, but it grows on you.