Smoke and Fire, Wigwag & Wires - Part 2, Wed., Oct. 4, 2018

Continued from Part 1...

When Bob returned, we relaxed in the 5th wheel for the rest of the afternoon. At 6:00 p.m., we had a Meet 'n' Greet at Prude Ranch, about 3 miles from Davis Mountains State Park. We had to sign waivers for tomorrow's walk at Davis Mountain Preserve managed by The Nature Conservancy.

Quite a few people were at the Meet 'n' Greet. Some people were registering who hadn't pre-registered. Those who had Volksmarch books were getting them stamped for credit, myself included, and there were tables selling items as well. Here are photos from the evening...

Fellowship

Friendly conversations and sales.

Yep, still working on the jigsaw puzzle.

Waiting to register.

Volksmarch books being stamped.

When we were finished at the Meet 'n' Greet, we headed back to the 5er and made chicken salad sandwiches and loaded up sandwiches, veggies, cookies, and water into the truck. A picnic atop Skyline Drive in Davis Mountains State Park was our plan for dinner. We wanted to watch the thunderstorms in the distance from the scenic viewpoints.

With all the rain that has been falling recently, the wildflowers are blooming again. Following are the photo impressions of our Skyline Drive evening. Another bonus, we would have internet and phone service at the top of the mountain so we brought our phones to connect with the world and see what we've been missing.

Wildflowers blooming in October.

View from the scenic overlook at the top.

Zooming in on the McDonald Observatories.

Another of the observatories.

One of the trails the 20k walkers will be on Saturday.

Thunderheads building up.

Just before sunset. Indian Lodge in the distance.

Zooming in on our 5th wheel from the top
of Skyline Drive.

Bob on top of the world.

Very active sky.

Views in all directions!

All kinds of scenery.

Zooming in on Mitre Peak.

Zooming in on Indian Lodge.

Happy flowers.

The Old CCC Trail - another part of Saturday's
20k walk.

Me with basaltic columnar jointing ridge in
the background.

Lots of rocks.

View through a lookout window (CCC built, I believe.)

More healthy, happy wildflowers.

A picnic area at the end of the road.

A bit of a rainbow.

Great rock formation views from up here!

Here's another viewpoint if you want to get up higher.

Going up?

He can't live without his sports scores.
(And I can't get by without my Scrabble games.)

Thunderheads building up...

...higher and higher.

Our 5th wheel - Rigamarole.

Sunset from the top.

Pretty cloud color (see the observatory?).

More thunderheads forming.

We headed down the mountain when it was almost dark. Two deer ran in front of the truck and two more were looming large on the side, but those two waited to cross. Smart!

Time to read and get some shut-eye before tomorrow's Davis Mountains Preserve walks. Nighty night.