Back to the past

So, we had gotten to Carlsbad, NM with the plans to stay a few days and then move on.  But fate and Ford had other ideas. On the second day, we backed out of our parking space, put the car in drive and went nowhere. There was a Ford dealer in town and we had the car towed to them.  We found out shortly that the transmission was shot. The warranty covered the repairs so we got a rental car and continued on with our visits. They didn't give us an idea of time frame.

We headed to Texas again and a visit to Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Guadalupe Mountains National Park is in the vast Chihuahuan Desert of western Texas. It’s known for its bright-white Salt Basin Dunes, wildlife-rich grassland and fossilized reef mountains. The Guadalupe Peak Trail weaves up through a conifer forest to the state’s highest summit, with views of the rocky El Capitan peak to the south.

Another cold day greeted us but the photos were striking.

We were told by someone at the camp that we should visit nearby Artesia. The town is a poor, rundown place that has tried to create art in public places. To be honest, it was disappointing. Mediocre barbeque finished it off.

Our last stop in Carlsbad was at the Living Desert Museum.  A really pleasant surprise in an otherwise average town. Perched high atop a mountain on the north side of Carlsbad. Lot of animals in good exhibits.

The final stop for this blog is White Sands National Monument. Simply nothing like it. Dunes of bright white sand with interesting vegetation and surprisingly alive with animals. We did try sledding down the dunes with Jo having more success than me. Big surprise, huh? I sat down on the disc and pretty much sat still.  The walk back up the dunes was a killer.

By the way, two and half weeks and still no car.

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One step forward-two steps back

This blog is going to be a little back and forth.  We left off in our beginning travels in Odessa and Marfa, TX.  Once the snow melted in Ft. Stockton, we headed north through Pecos to Carlsbad, NM.  Our campground was north of the city, high atop a plateau. Windy and cold all in the same place.  Our first trip was to Carlsbad Caverns where we found out that the elevator was broken which meant after walking down the 75 flights of switchback stairs, you had the pleasure of walking back up those same 75 flights of steps. Jo made it 10 flights and I made it 37 before I came to the conclusion that I could make it to bottom but wouldn't make it back up without a stretcher and oxygen. As it was, the walk back took my breath away and we were pleased when we saw the sky again.  Unfortunately, a cold front had blown in, the temperature dropped and the snow started.  It was one of the longest quarter mile walks we took back to the visitor center.  On the way back to the campsite, we saw a tractor trailer actually blown off the road and lying on its side.  We were glad to get back to the rv.

So, our stay in Carlsbad was off to an auspicious start.

Back to the present....

Our second day in Americus and I headed to Andersonville National Historic Site. Andersonville actually has three features, The Prisoner of War Museum, the Prison and the National Cemetery.  I remember reading MacKinlay Kantor's book, Andersonville, when I was in junior high school.  At the time, I was unbelievably moved by the book that Bruce Canton called, "the best Civil War novel I have ever read." I had to visit and am glad I did. The visitor center contains the Prisoner of War Museum and it was awe inspiring. The museum obviously spends plenty of time on the Civil War but covers everything from the revolutionary war through World War I and II with the Bataan Death March, Korea, Vietnam's Hanoi Hilton and up to the present Desert Storm and Shield. Since the American Revolution, our soldiers have marched off to war, defending our country, families and liberties. Some have been captured and and held as POW's, subjected to torture, starvation, inadequate medical care and unspeakable conditions. Those that return home are forever changed. This museum is one of those places where voices are muted and faces are serious. A place our so called, draft dogging, president wouldn't and couldn't comprehend. 

 Although no prison during the Civil War was good, Andersonville is acknowledged as the worst. 43,000 Union soldiers passed through Andersonville and almost 13,000 are buried there. The prison was built to hold 10,000 and ended up with four times the number. No shelter, very little food, water that was disease infected. A prisoner of war was much more likely to die than a soldier in combat. The Confederacy just didn't have the funds available for the prisons while still trying to win a war. Guards too were underfed and without supplies. But the prison conditions could only be described as concentration camps without the gas chambers. The prison is gone with only a sample of the stockade, the shelters the men used, and the "deadline", a small fence 19' inside the stockade where any man who crossed was shot.  It is hard to comprehend it all as you gaze across beautiful, bucolic fields of green.

The final stop was the cemetery. 

 

 An amazing story exists about how the graves were identified. A prisoner, Dorence Atwater, a 19 year old New York Cavalryman was captured in 1863. He worked in the prison hospital where he was tasked with recording the names and grave locations of the deceased. He secretly copied this list and smuggled it out when he was released. He met with Clara Barton (a battlefield nurse who would later found the Red Cross) and together they went back to Andersonville and were able to identify 95% of the deceased.  Their work brought closure to thousands of families. The cemetery is still active and as a veteran, I could be buried there but my plans are to go up in smoke.
 
 

Back on the road again

We pulled out of Palm Harbor and headed north on our next journey.  The first night we drove back up to Tallahassee and spent the night. Next morning, we hit the road for Sumter County, Georgia.  Located in this area is Americus.  Americus is less than 30 miles to Plains and 25 mile to Andersonville National Monument.  We stayed at the Brickyard Plantation RV Park. During and before "The War Between the States" the property now occupied by Brickyard Plantation Golf Club was owned by James M. (Jim) Johnson, the great grandfather to the current owner, Mary Lillian Johnson Clark.  Today she and her husband, W. N. Clark, can trace back seven generations of ownership.  The present acreage is 800 acres of the original 7000 acres.  Until about 1950 it was farmed by mules.  Crops grown were peanuts, cotton and wheat.  The plantation had its own cotton gin, commissary, blacksmith shop, cane mill and many houses for the local labor.  Bricks were used for these houses and they were made on the farm.  A very cool RV park with tons of spaces in the middle of a field. Hotter than imaginable and overrun with black gnats. Flying in your nose, mouth and eyes. And, worst of all, in your ears. Especially if you have hearing aids. They sounded like B-52's coming through my head.

Off to Americus for a surprisingly good lunch at Lil Brothers Bistro. Located on the ground floor of the Windsor Hotel. Americus is the atypical southern small town.  Small shops, but lots of empty stores.

Off to Plains and the Jimmy Carter museum, located in the Plains High School. Now the school is operated by the National Park Service and is a testament to the man from Plains, his wife Rosalynn and the Carter Center.  1/3 of the museum covers each part. There is a splendid movie on the peanut farmer who became President and so much memorabilia from the campaign and his presidency. 

 Then off to the farm where he grew up. No electricity, a sand yard, and farm yard animals. He and Rosalynn still live in the same house they built in 1961.  You can't visit the house since the secret service stops you, but he still teaches Sunday school two times a month. He greets folks after services and will still shake hands with you and take a photo. 

That's an outhouse, by the way. Downtown Plains is much like it has always been.  The stores are now souvenir shops, antiques shops , and peanuts galore. Jimmy thought it was the big time.

And for tThose of you who remember, this is the train depot where the campaign started. Rosalynn said the depot was chosen as it was empty, big enough and was one of the only places in town that had a bathroom. 

Whether you thought he was a good president or not, he accomplished some pretty big things.  Unlike this current president, he imposed gift limits and financial disclosure rules on his appointees; slowed the revolving door of officials departing to lobby their former departments; and appointed inspectors general to root out fraud and mismanagement.

He established the Department of Education, increased tuition grants to needy students.  He ended price regulations in the trucking, interstate busing, railroad, and airlines. He established the Department of Energy, focused America on the need for energy independence and established tax credits for energy savings.

In Asia, he took on the Taiwan lobby to establish full diplomatic relations with China, completing the opening begun by Richard M. Nixon. In Latin America, he began a new era of mutual respect by turning over the Panama Canal to local control, and limiting arms sales to military dictatorships. His administration began the unraveling of the Soviet Union by embracing human rights and introducing intermediate-range missiles in Europe.

Then, of course, there was the Camp David Agreement.  And since his retirement from public office, he has established the Carter Center that has been working in world health, eradicating disease throughout the world. 

Compared to what we now have for a president, Jimmy Carter is a man of high moral character.  I doubt he could tell a lie if his life depended on it. Right now it seems that the president is a pathological liar supported by the house and congress who will turn a blind eye to anything in order top get their one sided agenda advanced. The current speaker of the house today declined to state that taking information from a foreign government in order to win an election is okay.  Jimmy Carter was a disaster in the area of economics but he was a man who would stand up for what is right. Who will stand up for what is right today?

Next time, Andersonville....

Places in Texas

So, we left off in Alpine, TX.  What's else is there do near Alpine. Well, Marfa, TX is nearby. Everyone who makes the long ride to Marfa pretty much has the same reaction. They don't get what the big deal is. The town has become known as an art mecca. But, on the day we arrived there was just big bright blue sky, some motels, a bunch of adobe style houses, an aging Dairy Queen, and empty streets. Restaurants weren't open, in fact, we ended up at that aging Dairy Queen.  The current connection with art started in the early 70's  when Donald Judd bought a block of former Army buildings and turned them into a permanent home for his art. Judd died in 1994, but the town continues to draw the international art world  and sustains a  colony of new artists who support 12 permanent galleries.  Good restaurants are in town, but not on Mondays. Still some great architecture and scenes that are reminiscent of "The Last Picture Show",

The one shining spot is the Paisano Hotel.

Beautifully restored and with the most amazing gift shops I have seen anywhere.

Jo had to head to Philly for family reasons and Odessa was the closest airport. So, we headed up there and Jack and I spent about a week as bachelors. Odessa is what you have heard. DEPRESSING! The downturn in oil has decimated this community. Hundreds of unused oil rigs and thousands of unemployed. Quite frankly, not much to see or do.

Jo got back and we headed back to Alpine for another week. We then started our drive to Carlsbad, NM and the caverns. Less than one hour out, the snow started again and it came down hard and fast. We managed to get the last spot at a campground in Ft. Stockton, TX and spent a couple of days waiting for the snow to melt.

Next stop....Carlsbad New Mexico