Saturday, September 22, 2018

Texas Hill Country is Beautiful

At least, right now.  It has been raining so heavily that interstate 10 was closed by flooding.  Everything is either under water or green.  The lobby clerk here in Forty Stockton said that this was not typical; everything will be brown in the morning.  Well, not yet. 

The road cuts reveal astonishing limestone layers.  This alone is part of why I travel: to see things that I would not expect.  Texas is far larger than any state should be.  Independent nation does not seem so weird of an idea.

No one lives out here.  You can drive for miles on end and see almost signs of human habitation.  Of course the speed limit is 80 mph.  The Hyundai Elantra we rented is getting 31.2 mph so far; even at these speeds.    It is a very nice car, and pretty rattle free for 40,000 miles.  I will not consider this as an alternative to a Jaguar, but it is a reminder that each doubling of price gets you only about a 50% gain in function. 

The same is true in telescopes.  A 6" refractor is usually several times more expensive than a 4" refractor, but not dramatically more capable.

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