Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Moving west through the Midwest

In July of 2017, we headed out west again but this time through the Midwest. Our first stop was Ft. Payne, AL and Little River Canyon National Preserve. The preserve is known as "Nature's Sanctuary". The Preserve protects 15,288 acres of land and many rare, threatened and endangered species. Year round beauty and all types of recreation abound. Fossils from the Paleozoic era are located in the sandstone cliffs and canyon walls. There is also an exceptional education center. 





We stopped for lunch a very interesting restaurant.



Next stop, Nashville. You know Nashville; music, Tennessee sippin' whiskey, and great barbecue.  But do you know about Stones River National Battlefield? Located in the town of Murfreesboro. Now a suburb of National, Murfreesboro was the state capital from 1818-1826. By the 1850's, Murfressboro boasted schools, stores, churches, a railroad, nearby estates, and over 2,000 white residents. Many of those residents owned enslaved workers. That all changed on Dec. 26, 1862, when General William Rosecrans marched with his Army of the Cumberland targeting Murfreesboro and General Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee.  From Dec. 31, 1862 to Jan. 2, 1863, the two armies viciously attacked each other.  Each Army lost 1/3 of their men. The Confederates left the battlefield while Rosecrans marched into Murfreesboro and declared victory. An extensive fort and supply deport was built and became a launching point for campaigns that slashed through the heart of the South and dealt a deathblow to the Confederacy,  The battle was the touchstone that shifted the war's aims from restoring the Union to remaking the nation. 81,000 men fought on those few days and produced Union casualties of 13,249 and Confederate casualties totaled 10,266. Over 20,000 soldiers died and I had never heard of the battle. Shame on me. The term, "Hell's half acre" was coined for this battle. Confederates charged Union artillery and 1,800 men died in minutes. 





It was a sobering visit.

We next headed to Independence, MO and the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and National Historic Site. The site has numerous buildings including the Truman home, the Truman family farm, Bess Truman's family's homes and all are accessible. He was the most uncommon common man. Born and raised in Independence, married there, served in World War I as a Captain in the artillery, elected a senator, and then became Vice President to Franklin Roosevelt. His Presidency was nothing like what we have now. He announced the end of the war in Europe, attended the Potsdam conference with Churchill and Stalin, authorized the use of the atom bomb that quickly led to Japan's surrender. He established the CIA, desegregated the Armed Forces, ordered the Berlin airlift, and was elected to a second term. His popularity waned as the Korean War dragged on. The Korean War ended and when his term expired, he retired back to Independence. He died in 1972 at the age of 88. He is buried at the Presidential Library. 


Next time, the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library.


Wednesday, March 14, 2018

More from Texas

So there we were in January of 2017 back in Texas. We found a pretty interesting National Monument in of all places, Waco, TX. No, not the Branch Davidian compound, but rather the Waco Mammoth National Monument.  The monument is managed jointly by the National Park Service, the city of Waco, and Baylor University. The monument is the only paleonotological site in the nation that has a nursery herd of Columbian mammoths. Two men discovered an unusual bone in 1978 that they took to Baylor University's Strecker Museum. The staff identified it as a Columbian mammoth femur. A team was organized and worked for 20 years that uncovered a nursery herd of Columbian mammoths that appear to have drowned together in a single event 65,000 to 72,000 years ago. Surprisingly, this very dry area was a swampy, highly vegetated area. The monument is a covered building with a high walkway that gives excellent viewing of the fossils. 









Next we headed to east Texas and the woodlands. We decided to stay at Triple Creek Music RV Park as they advertised music. Arriving at the entrance of the park, we noted that it was a pretty much one lane dirt road. We turned left and started driving down what turned out to be a 3 mile ride. Joanne said that she hoped the park was actually at the end of the road as there was no way to turn around. Low and behold, there it was. We knew where we were by the confederate flags and trump signs. The park itself was interesting with some very cool wooden sculptures that were done by a resident.







The music, kind of a local blue grass jam session, was interesting, but the park was a bit much for people with a "resist" sticker on the back of their RV. We stayed two nights and left.

The reason we went there was to see Big Thicket National Preserve. The preserve protects 15 different remnant areas of what was once 112,000 acres. The preserve has longleaf pine uplands, slope forest, arid sandylands, wetland pine savannah, palmetto hardwood flats, cypress slough, bottomland floorplain, baygall and estuarine wetlands. Animals and plant life abound but it appears to be a lot of swampland.  But to be fair, we were not there in the season of wild flowers.






Birds and bugs were everywhere.



Next stops, Louisiana and Mississippi.

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Sunday, March 11, 2018

Back on the Texas Trail

So in December of 2016 and January of 2017, we headed back to Texas, our oldest son and his family and LBJ. Lots of fun eating places, The Monument Diner in Georgetown.

And the Noble Pig in Austin:



Both were Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and both were great local places.

Our first real adventure was to Johnson City and the boyhood home of LBJ. He was maligned in office for the Vietnam War and chose not to run for reelection. He was very unpopular at the end of his Presidency, but he had achieved much. He was a rough and tumble guy but compared to what we have now, he was an angel. To the best of my knowledge, he never called the media fake or said that the host of Meet the Press was an SOB. And, he was the President of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He was a senator, two-time Senate Minority Leader, two-time Senate Majority Whip and spent six years as the Senate Majority Leader before becoming the thirty-sixth president. He was vice president for two years before his presidency. His Great Society legislation upheld civil rights, brought in laws governing public broadcasting, environmental protection, Medicare and Medicaid, abolition of poverty and aid to education. He  brought in the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968 that ensure equal housing and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He appointed the first African American Supreme Court judge. He did more for civil rights than any other President with the exception of Lincoln. 

President Johnson set up the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts. He initiated food stamps, Medicare, Medicaid, Work Study and Head Start. He oversaw the Apollo 8 program, the first manned flight to the moon.  He brought in the Immigration Act of 1965  which allowed non-Europeans an easier route to immigrate to the United States. Yes, I liked the guy as he was a stand up, honest, hard working President who had the best interests of the American people in his heart and mind. I struggle everyday to see how far we have stepped back to a time before LBJ.

Boyhood home:



The LBJ Ranch and Texas White House:






Air Force 1/2:



The last resting place of LBJ and Lady Bird.

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Friday, March 9, 2018

2 Home Visits

We headed back east for a while to attend a wedding and visit with family. Jo's sister, brother and mom still live in the Philadelphia area, so we spent some time with soft pretzels, cheese steaks and Tastykakes.  In addition to visiting family, I took a ride out to Valley Forge National Historical Park. I haven't been back since our kids were very little. That's probably 30 years.  A lot has changed including a new, amazing visitor's center.  









Next we were off to visit friends in Sullivan County, NY.  Known as the home of Dirty Dancing and Woodstock, we had a great time sightseeing and just bumming around.  Here's a view from our friend's backyard.


 And then on to the quintessential Summer of Love-Woodstock. It certainly doesn't look like the mud pit of 1969. In fact it is now manicured rolling lawns and a permanent music venue. A beautiful spot.





Our last stop was at Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area for a stroll through the woods by the water falls. Another beautiful day....







Visiting more friends in Pottstown and then back on the road. Next a second trip to Texas.