retreat to fort davis

Last weekend was the 8th grade leadership retreat to Ft. Davis, Texas (population 1050). We stayed at the historic Prude Ranch and enjoyed scenery such as this:




I guess these are the "mountains" of southwest texas...

Anyway. there were 4 leaders (the j.high pastor, mark and i, and one other girl) and 10 students (5 guys and 5 girls) all entering 8th grade in the fall. they were a great group of kids and it was awesome to have a chance to get to know some j.highers as we haven't had much time with them.

our second night we went up the mountain to the Macdonald Observatory and sat out in the parking lot after everyone had gone home worshiped under the night sky. there weren't many stars out because it was semi-cloudy. but there was a beautiful full moon that completely lit up the sky. i'd never in my life seen a moon so bright! away from all the city lights, it brought new meaning to "You are the light of the world" and "He made the moon and stars to govern the night" and being "a light in a dark world". super super cool.

the next morning, before departing for home, we stopped at a local establishment to have breakfast. the Chuck Wagon is listed as the #1 rated restaurant in Ft. Davis...out of 9 restaurants. yeah...our server was a local chap whose name i can probably guess was either Bubba or Billy Bob. he was very friendly and funny. mark and i enjoyed observing the dress of the local people coming in and out of the restaurant. let's just say that this was where the real cowboys live.

we were especially amused when a pickup pulled into the parking lot (really just a gravel pit next to the building) with a bumper sticker on the back that said SHERIFF. we watched two gentlemen emerge from the truck and come inside. they had the hats, the boots, and...the BADGES. this was a real live county sheriff and his deputy. the sheriff was a little older and had an epic white handlebar moustache and the deputy had a telltale dount gut.
mark and i could not stop staring/chuckling. the suggestion was raised that we should go get a photo with them as proof that people like this really do exist. were were debating over who was going to get up and go ask when Billy Bob the waiter came back to the table and overheard our conversation. he said that those guys were really easy going and he would go ask for us. oh great. Billy Bob returns to tell us that unfotunately the sheriff and deputy could not pose for a photo because it could compromise national security and something to do with terrorist threats.

wow.

so we left the Chuck Wagon photo-less. tho later down the road we thought that we should have gotten a photo with Billy Bob because he was equally as interesting. oh well.
before leaving Ft. Davis we stopped at a local gas station. the store was very small. the pop was in cans (not bottles) and they were selling mexican ponchos and horseshoes as souveniers.
oh yeahhhh!