Comanche Moon

This past week featured at least two nights of "Comanche Moon". These evenings are almost bright enough to convince you there are some invisible floodlights in the hazy night sky, creating an eerie, yet well lighted landscape. These nights are legendary in novels by the famous Texas writer, Larry Mc Murtry. In his "Lonesome Dove" series of novels, he explains that these noctural events were perfect raiding opportunities for the Comanche war parties that crossed the Rio Grande at Laredo. Ranchers, especially, needed to keep careful watch on Comanche Moon nights, and often they or their cattle might still not survive until dawn. The nature trail at the LCC Environmental Center leads down to the river at one of the most used historic crossing sites.

Today, we can just enjoy these special evenings, especially in the cool, but not cold, Laredo evenings.