March 28, part 2

Spectacular, gorgeous day!!!!! First of all, before we went to slep last night, Helen and I went out by the pool and lay in the pool chairs to look up at the stars in the sky that we had learned about at the Observatory. We could recognize the Big Dipper and Orion, we saw one satellite, and a bat kept flying overhead! Sheila also told me stories last night about her 7-week stay in Lindau, Germany. It was an interesting conversation. Also forgot to mention that the driver who drove us up to the Observatory told us that it had snowed there 1.5 weeks ago. Have we been lucky with the weather! I also learned that Lady Bird Johnson used to have a room reserved at the Indian lodge (Ft. Davis) so she could do her wildflower studies. Besides that, I learned that a lot of European cycling teams come to Indian Lodge to train in the Texas Hill Country. I didn't sleep too well, but when I got up there was a tailwind, so I didn't care. We started out for Marathon, 60 miles away. Not only was it nice to have a tailwind, but the trees were lovely in their spring green colors and the sun was shining. What a great way to ride. There were a couple of Methodist Hill-type climbs, but otherwise we lost 1,000 feet in altitude from Ft. Davis to Marathon. I don't think I even had to pedal the last 20 miles! I stopped at the first donut shop I find along the way in Alpine (Texas now. Not California.). The owner was Korean and we had a very nice conversation about where she had been living in the US and what she was doing in Alpine, Texas. I had great donuts and coffee. I was trying to meet the others in Alpine for some pie, but I found no bicycles parked out in front of any of the shops, so I just kept going. It turned out that most of them had stopped at McDonald's and I missed them. So I got into Marathon in about the middle of the pack and I heard people calling me. Most of the group had stopped at the MArathon Cafe, so I went in too. The owner talked to Sunnye and me for a long while. It turns out her 96-year-old mother-in-law, Maisie Lee, is a spectacular artist. She does wonderful woodcarvings and paintings. She carved the doors of the Catholic Church last year at age 95 and had already done the doors of the Methodist Church. Since my room wasn't ready when I got in, I did a little tour of the town (pop. 450). Most of us are staying at the great Gage Hotel but some of us have to stay at Eve's B&B. It is also gorgeous! It's painted with many bright colors and really looks gorgeous. I have lots of pictures. Then I walked to the two churches so that I could take pictures of the doors that Maisie had carved. I happened to see the library so I moseyed over. (Doesn't that sound like cowboy talk?) A woman coming out started talking to me. She told me that she and her husband had moved here from Oregano 9 years ago. They love it here. She said there is an elementary school and a high school. There are 40 kids in K-12! Can you imagine that? But lots of them go away to college and other opportunities after they graduate. She also told me there is a guy in town who collects rattlesnakes. I went into the library and asked the librarian about the guy. He told me where he lived, I went and knocked on his door and asked if I could see his snake collection. The guy was super-nice and let me in. Originally from Florida, he used to worked at the LA Zoo and did lots of interesting things in his life. He told lots of interesting things about Marathon. He said there are a lot of artists/educators who have moved here. Although there are many different types of personalities in the town, everyone seems to get along. And yes, the town does have a marathon race every year. Supper won't be until 6 45 tonight, so I'm getting the blog done now. I might go out and walk around the town again. What a great day!__________________ Wir floggen nach Marathon mit dem Rueckenwind. Die meisten von uns sind im wunderhuebschen Gage Hotel und die anderen sind in Eve's Bed and Breakfast verteilt. Es ist genau so huebsch. Da mein Zimmer nicht fertig war als ich ankam, bin ich durch's Dorf spazierengegangen. Traf eine Frau die mir erzaehlte, ein Mann der Rattelsnakes sammelt hier in Marathon lebt. Aha, denke ich. Ich frage in der Bibliothek wo er wohnt, wandere dahin und frage, ob ich die Schalangen sehen darf. ER war supernett und zeigte mir seine Sammlung und erzaehlte mir vieles ueber Marathon. War wirklich ein ausgezeichneter Tag.