Ok, we are a little bored after 6 hours of driving. We are at 813. There were some history plaques at the rest stop, so I skimmed them. I have been to the site of the embassy of the Republic of Texas in London, so I knew Texas had briefly been an independent nation. But I know nothing about it. In a 10 minute stretch break I gathered that it was originally part of the new country of Mexico, which wanted to stop the flow of immigrants into Mexico from the US as well as the flow of slaves into Mexico. Irony, from today's perspective. Then there was a random small incident that resulted in a battle that ended with an independent Texas for 9 years, concluding with annexation into the US. I am struck by how contingent many facts of history turn out to be. Texas could as easily have been Mexican as American. Some things are inevitable and would have happened one way or another. Other things could hardly have happened, and yet they did, and have such far reaching implications. ...
Monday, June 19, 2017
Texas
Left our well-appointed quonset hut this morning for a long day of driving. By 2:30 we left Louisiana for Texas: "drive friendly." Hmmmm...sounds like a good idea. Our first exit number is 875....in Florida it is 380, for comparison. We are heading right through the widest part of Texas, on a single highway, with no turns. We are listening to the first of our books on tape: The Last Gunfight, the real history behind the legend of the shootout at the OK corral. Wyatt Erp was a childhood hero, along with Daniel Boone, Kit Carson, and the other mountain men. My brother had a coonskin cap and we both had our own toy 6 shooters. I am sad to hear my hero's documented stories. The author keeps comparing the stories to the legends of Camelot, but because the problem with the Arthurian legends is a lack of documentation, the truth doesn't tarnish the shine of the tales the way it does in this book. I sort of wish I didn't know, but the picture drawn of the west is fascinating.
Louisiana was waterlogged, but Texas so far just seems flat. The traffic is interesting. We passed a gigantic pipe that I could walk upright in, a modular home complete with venetian blinds, and big fans, the kind you see in movies where the hero has to slip through the slowly revolving blades. In Texas maybe everything is big.
Sunday, June 18, 2017
Bring out your dead
A quick tour of one of the many cemeteries on our way to find a famous New Orleans snowball. The creepiest one was the tomb containing Evelyn Kissler with EK scratched into the base. Our EK is standing in front of the initials.
Zombies
You can recognize a zombie because their feet never touch the ground. If you feed them anything with salt, they will know they are dead and return to the grave. They are also afraid of sea toads. Don't fear the apocalypse!
Saturday, June 17, 2017
Waking up in New Orleans
Our AirBnb is a quonset hut fashioned as a shotgun house. We think there is a body buried in the floor, though there is a cemetery across the road. There is also a cabinet in the bathroom with airholes drilled into it. All very New Orleans. Who needs a ghost or cemetery tour?
2017, the Southwest
Our 2017 trip started Friday afternoon, after Leslie shepherded her new freshmen, including some of Jeremiah's classmates, through orientation and Ellie had her field trip from LaVilla drama camp to Sweet Pete's where she loaded up on candy for the trip. We made it to Pensacola where we did out annual test camping. Lessons learned: always stake your tent, always bring an emergency dinner, don't wake the small child until the lightning is actually upon you, don't throw pizza crusts into the fireplace unless got want a dawn wake up call from grateful birds. Remember where you left your glasses. Don't get so distracted with last minute packing that you stub you toe on the couch. Gulf Coast beaches are gorgeous. Only pack oatmeal packets, not an oatmeal cylindar.
This morning we swam and packed up, and had lunch at a 50s dinner that reminded us of thy Nifty Fifties in south Philly.
