Texas Independence. A road trip on which to model the year.

It seems that Texas History is forever being talked about, and disputed. One thing that all us Texans know, however, is that the Texas Declaration of Independence was signed in Washington on the Brazos on March 2, 1836 as the brave defenders of the Alamo in San Antonio were about to lose their lives.

So we took a road trip as part of the Each Month of the Year trip.

It was a pretty day, and a nice drive up the museum. Washington On The Brazos, the city, is long since gone (mainly because the good citizens of that city bet on the steam ships and a ferry crossing rather than on the railroads. Whoops!) but the site now has a museum and an old house that was once the home of the last President of the Republic of Texas. (Y'all knew we used to be a republic, right?)

We did get a t-shirt:

and saw some heritage pigs:

One interesting aspect of the museum is that they are not trying to sweep the legacy of slavery under the rug. They talked openly about how one of the causes of the Texas Revolution was the desire for the Texians to keep slaves. Mexico had outlawed slavery in 1833. Most of the Texians raised cotton, and they had no desire to do that without slaves. (Although the "Free Labor" movement epitomized by the German immigrants who came to Texas were able to survive without slaves)

Here is a recreated slave cabin:

and the Big House was not that big:

They had turkeys and ducks, Beeves and pigs.

The museum had some nice stuffed animals:

and a literal ball and chain.

This pecan tree, that MSEL is hugging, is 200 years old. It looks it.

That is the Brazos in the background. There ain't no more cane on it.

A recreation of the room where the Texas Declaration of Independence, as well as the Texas Constitution was signed.

On our way home, we stopped by the Texas Antique Rose Emporium, where they had a rose named after MSEL!!!

Then we drove home. We pushed the Tesla a little, and drove into the garage with 70 miles to spare.

A very fun day.

Comments

Wyoming. Where family has to take you in!

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Home again, home again.

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Driving Home New Mexico to Amarillo, Amarillo to Waco.

Leaving Colorado was hard. We had another long drive in front of us, and I was a little worried about driving through New Mexico. I had heard that they were stopping cars at the state line to enforce COVID quarantine. That was not the case: That is one beautiful state. This is near the Ghost Ranch, around Abiqui. The colors are dumbfounding Everywhere you look it is beautiful. New Mexico was the second state that have a "You are leaving" sign. The other was Kansas Home again. We did go to the Big Texan It is a whole "western cowtown" Complete with EMS on site for heart attacks. We stayed in this cute little house in the Wolflin neighborhood in Amarillo. It was quite nice Then we drove the next day to Waco, where we stayed in this very wonderful farmhouse. They had sheep Then we drove home, One more post coming with final thoughts.

The Year of Months

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