Actually it did some of that on the day before as well but today it really put on a show. And I thought deserts were supposed to be hot and dry!
Today is Friday, our last day with Wandervogel and today was all about training on how to put up the Kohte. It was also, we hoped, the day we would be able to get some really good shots of the Kohte in Texas. The day started slowly, which is, as we were starting to comprehend was pretty much the way of life in Texas; things happen when they happen. Not too good for Inga's German nature. We talked more about business and the plans that Dan has for the future of his business venture and then we did some training. Once Inga has removed the jury rigged Jurte cap I took the opportunity to get some shots of the Kohte looking lost against the Texas sky. We decided to try and put up the Jurte roof first which was going to be interesting as it was going to be made of six Kohte panels and we only had six side poles (as we'd stolen the rest to make centre poles). It went up and gave them a good idea of the size and shape and I shall leave it at that. Texas is like the UK - very windy - and the soil is very poor for grasping the 8 inch nails we had as pegs. I think they're going to have to do some serious work on sourcing poles, ropes and pegs. Experiment over we moved on to the Kohte. I have to say that Derek was a delight to train, we only had to show him something once and he grasped it totally.
We, I say we, but it was Inga and Derek who did all the work, put up the Kohte again and Dan found some fishing line to use as guy ropes - we are the uncrowned kings and queens of tent improvisation! The end result looked pretty good and the Kohte finally sat in the Texas landscape looking totally cool. More photo's, for which it posed like a true camera whore, soaking up the attention with a "look at me, I'm gorgeous" attitude. Job done. All over except the back slapping and a celebratory beer. Or so we thought. The mountains slowly disappeared and the lightning started to flash down - and I mean down, no boring sheet lightning for Texas, oh no, forked lightning striking down to smack in to the hills and we had a front row seat. We sat in the "garden" and watched the stunning show that nature put on for us until the rain drove us inside where we had dinner and watched the storm push across. The Kohte flapped a bit in the breeze and I have to say that fishing twine is not a good guy rope replacement as they slipped loose. On the last trip out it seemed to be sagging slightly - most unusual and further investigation showed another problem with Texas soil. The rain dissolves it away. The sand and grit, with the addition of some serious moisture, just let go of the pegs. 30 seconds later the tent was down and laid out undercover. Not a good demonstration, but with proper pegs and anchoring the Kohte would have laughed at the wind and the rain. We left after dinner and headed for Alpine to stay the night as we had a long long drive the next day. And got stopped again by the border patrol humourless, I'm going to stare at you in an intimidating way, thugs. They questioned us as we're so very suspicious - a Brit and a German in a Louisiana car travelling up from the Mexican border - definite troublemakers. But we smiled and they were forced to release us to go on our way. More Kohte pictures as tomorrows trip probably won't have a lot of interest.
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