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

Home again, home again.

It's always good to be home. We have never taken such a road trip before, and certainly never with a dog. That was an experience. She loved the long hikes in the mountains, didn't care for the car rides, especially the long one. We, too, experienced new things. We listened to a lot of books on tape (well, Audible), trying to match the words to the Landscape. So we started with True Grit by Charles Portis, set mostly in the Oklahoma Territory. One of my favorite books of all times, and it was read by Donna Tart. ( The Goldfinch , etc). Perfect book for the start of the trip, from Houston to Bartlesville. On the next two legs of the trip, to Hutchinson, Kansas and then up to Keystone, South Dakota, we listed to My Antonia by Will Cather. (pronounced, we learned, as an-tone-EEE-ah). A wonderful book for driving through Nebraska. And we were on the Willa Cather highway while doing so. As we drove into Wyoming, we listened to Rising from the Plains , by John McPhee. The story of

Wyoming. Where family has to take you in!

I lived in Kemmerer, Wyoming in 1978, working in a coal mine. Back then, when you entered the state, the sign said "Welcome to BIG Wonderful Wyoming!" It is a big, big state, and much of it is wonderful. I have fond memories of the place. Now, my oldest brother lives there with his wife, (Not in Kemmerer, but in Lander, which seems to be much more civilized) and it was just great to see them. Ah, but the sign. Now it looks like this: Let's zoom in a little: Personally, I liked the old sign better. A lot of Wyoming looks like this: That is a loading silo for the US's second biggest coal mine - Black Thunder, originally owned by ARCO, now by Arch Coal. Different mine, different technique than the one I worked it. But just incredibly huge. You drive through the mine and it just goes on forever. But there is a lot of this, too: We stopped at the Tourist Bureau in Casper to get some state maps (yes, we have been using hardcopy maps, our atlas, as well as The Google Lady o

The Revised Trip starts soon

As we all know, there has been a change of plans. The change was instigated by a pandemic the likes of which the US has not seen in a hundred years. Over 180,000 dead as I write this, and the infection mechanism still seems to be up for (a little) debate. Aerosol transmission, especially fatal if you have underlying conditions. So we stopped all our plans we had made (see below) and now have made new plans. The new plans are a driving trip, where we would like to believe that we will have better control over our environment. We are even renting a car so as to eliminate the stress of having to worry about charging up the battery on the Tesla. Our plans now go something like this: September 16, drive to Bartlesville, OK and spend two nights at the Inn at Price Tower , a Frank Lloyd Wright building that has been turned into a hotel. Head north to Hutchinson, KS to visit both a salt mine , and the Apollo 13 command module, Odyssey . Then to Grand Island, NE, where we hope that the Sand

The Year of Months

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