Man, all of a sudden this feels like Spain, the Meseta, boarderline desert here where we are. I was up at six before the sun and made breakfast, went for a little hunt and back to do the dishes. I signed on as cook on this trip.

I was awake before dawn and spent a couple hours looking at the sky. I was toasty in my sleeping bag and had a good angle on the moon and the Big Dipper. All was quiet except for maybe a mountain sheep kicking some rocks loose.

The moon is in the final crescent so we see it early. There it was hanging above the horizon. And below it, as if it wasn’t pretty enough was another bright body, a planet maybe.

I just drew that on the IPad, all kind of by accident. Sometimes I just luck out.

But it was the Big Dipper that stole the show. When looking at this constellation you have to be impressed by its usefulness. The two stars that form the sidewall of the cup away from the handle point to the North Star. This being the most important star in the night sky. This is the same as True North. It saved my butt more than once.

The slaves escaping from the South on the Underground Railroad were told to follow the Drinking Gourd, their words for the Big Dipper. But beside its usefulness there is the beauty of the darn thing. There it is setting there like it has for millions years now.
What a treasure.

I was looking at the structure of it, the seven stars. It looks so perfect if not slight worn. So many have used it, yes it’s bound to be a little battered. The cup is in pretty good shape but the once elegant handle has a little bit of a crook in it. Well not anything to worry about really, just reporting. It still all points to the North Star, which is the important part.

And what if that was the really really important part. What if Christ, the Living Water, is pointing the way for all of us. What if that has been hanging there all this time to show us. Well I am not saying I made some important discovery but it will never be the same for me from now on.

Who knew science could be so fun. And who said the sky is science anyway. OK, time to figure out lunch I see the boys half a mile away and they are looking hungry.

Felipe with reports from the field, Me.x