Always on His Mind

Sort of wishing we could spend one more day in Dallas, but feeling the pull of the road, we departed the city about 8:30 this morning, headed due south on I-35E.  Interstate highway 35 stretches from Laredo, TX, on the Mexican border to Duluth, MN, on Lake Superior.  In the past, numerous interstates had E-W or N-S divisions as they traversed the country.  Now, I-35 is the lone holdout.  The highway splits into I-35 E and I-35 W as it passes through two sets of twin cities—St. Paul and Minneapolis and again through Dallas and Fort Worth.

ELLIS CO. COURTHOUSE IS CONSIDERED A FINE EXAMPLE OF RICHARDSON ROMANESQUE STYLE.

Thanks to our desire to chase letterboxes and roadside attractions, freeway driving did not deprive us of all the interesting places along the way south.  Places like Waxahachie, TX (pop. 29,621), the county seat of Ellis County.  Revered as one of the grand old courthouses of Texas, the Ellis County seat of government was completed in 1897 of gray and pink granite trimmed with Red Pecos and cream colored sandstone.  The massive building with its nine-story clock tower dominates the town square.

FACES BEFORE AND AFTER THE SPURNING

Legend has it that the chief sculptor and stone mason for the courthouse fell in love with a local beauty, who was the daughter of the artist's boarding house landlord.  So enamored was he that he began carving her lovely face as decorations on the building.  When she spurned his affections, the sculptor allegedly became embittered and his unrequited love was reflected in transforming subsequent carvings of his would-be paramour as hideously unattractive.

THE FERRIS WHEEL ALONE INCLUDES MORE THAN 10,000 TOOTHPICKS.

Another Waxahachie artist created designs not with sandstone but with toothpicks.  Before his death in the late 1990s, Venzil Zatoupil created a landscape of mechanical sculptures using hundreds of thousands of toothpicks of various types, matchsticks, and uncounted bottles of glue.  Zatoupil's children wanted his works to be exhibited in a museum, but none could promise to keep them on permanent display.  That's where local gallery owners Bruce and Julie Webb came in.  As good as their word, they have kept the masterpieces visible and lighted in the window of their storefront Webb Gallery just off the town square.

A SLIVER OF THE WEBBS' COLLECTION OF QUIRKY ART

As we were peeking in the windows at all the other folk art and antique posters and banners in the gallery, the gracious Julie Webb was kind enough to open the door and invite us in to look around.  Though the studio is open only on weekends, she happened to be in the shop preparing for a meeting.  We admired their fabulous collection of eclectic pieces by "outsider" or self-taught artists and exchanged stories of travel adventures.

HILL COUNTY'S COURTHOUSE DISPLAYS THE TYPICAL CONFEDERATE MONUMENT ON ITS LAWN.

Further west we stopped in Hillsboro (pop. 8,456) in search of a letterbox.  At the center of town, the three-story limestone Hill County Courthouse gleamed in the noonday sun.  Completed in 1890 at a cost of $83,000, the impressive Second Empire style landmark was gutted in a massive fire on New Year's Day of 1993.  Though only the exterior walls remained, local citizens were determined to rebuild, and one of their own stepped in to help, as only he could.  Hill County native Willie Nelson organized two benefit concerts to raise funds for the restoration.  Six years and $9 million later, the courthouse was rededicated in a ceremony with Gov. George W. Bush as keynote speaker.

THE QUIET MAIN STREET OF ABBOTT, TX

Since we were so close to Willie's hometown of Abbott (pop. 356),  we couldn't resist popping in to see where the roots of this country music legend took hold.  Abandoned by his mother and then his father, Willie and his sister Bobbie were raised by their paternal grandparents in Abbott.  Mail order lessons set both on the road to music careers, and their first performances were at the Abbott Methodist Church, a humble white clapboard building with a shake shingle steeple.

THE NELSONS TOOK WILLIE AND BOBBIE TO WEEKLY SERVICES AT THE CHURCH.

Abbott's population dwindled over the years, and by the early 2000s, the minuscule membership at the Nelsons' home church was no longer able to support the church.  The Methodist organization closed the church and merged the local congregation with that of the larger Hillsboro church.  A childhood friend notified Willie Nelson that the church building had been put up for sale, likely to be moved to another location or demolished.  Willie again stepped up to the plate, bought the church for more than the asking price, and paid for restorations.

In July, 2006, Willie and Bobbie rolled into town on tour buses to attend the church's re-opening service.  The small chapel was packed with locals and visitors who came to hear the siblings—with musical friends such as Leon Russell and the Willie Nelson Family Band—perform many of the gospel songs they had sung there as kids.  Willie (R) even dressed in his Sunday best for the occasion.  (Photo from www.willienelson.com).

With another heartwarming story of Willie's devotion to his homeland behind us, we continued south on I-35 toward Austin, which also claims him as a favorite son with statues and street names.  Before we arrived, our attention was claimed by a brown National Park Service sign announcing the Waco Mammoth National Monument.

SIGN AT THE ENTRANCE CONFIRMED WHAT WE'D SEEN ON I-35.

Even with our limited knowledge of paleontology, we were a bit surprised to discover that wooly mammals had lived in the area we now know as Texas.  Then again, this was Texas.  Maybe mammoth referred to the size of the national monument.  Either way, we were intrigued enough to leave 35 to investigate.

EXCAVATION IS STILL NOT COMPLETE AT THE SHELTERED SECTION OF THE SITE.

What we learned was that in 1978, some teenagers were searching for Indian arrowheads and spear points in a ravine near the Bosque River north of Waco.  Much to their surprise, they found instead a three-foot bone.  Scientists at Baylor University, where the bone was taken identified the specimen as the femur of a Columbian mammoth, which inhabited North America until its extinction about 10,000 years ago.

CAMEL REMAINS FOUND AT THE SITE SUGGEST A SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP WITH THE MAMMOTHS.

A team was organized to examine the site of the find, and for the next twenty years worked to excavate what became known as the Waco Mammoth Site.  What they uncovered was a nursery herd—sixteen adult females and juveniles—who appeared to have drowned together in a single event about 70,000 years ago.  Further investigation turned up more mammoths along with remains of additional animals of the period.  Various agencies including Baylor, along with state and local governments, have funded the project, including the construction of a climate-controlled building around one section of the bone bed.  Just last year, the site was adopted as a new unit of the National Park System.

THE DAVILA MONUMENT IS ONE OF TEN SUCH REPLICAS IN TEXAS.

Since we chanced upon the Remillard Angel in Montreal in 2010, we have had a fascination for cemetery sculptures known as the Angel of Grief or Weeping Angel.  Modeled after an original sculpture created by artist William Wetmore Storey for his wife's gravestone in 1894, replicas are now found throughout the world, including one at a Catholic cemetery in Waco.  We were alerted to it by a letterboxer who placed a box there with a beautiful rubber stamp carving of the angel.

As dusk was falling, we arrived at a Homewood Suites on the north side of Austin, happy they were serving a complimentary evening meal.  Tomorrow we plan to visit the Texas State Capitol and other historic locations in the city.

WEDNESDAY, 30 NOVEMBER 2016
    •  Started in:  Dallas, TX
    •  Ended in:  Austin, TX
    •  Miles driven:  205  (trip: 2,611)
    •  Weather:  47° to 63°, clear
    •  Letterboxes:  Found 6, Planted 1   (trip:  F50, P9)
    •  Walked:  2.6 mi.  (trip:  42.6)
    •  States:  TX
    •  Counties:   6   (trip:  80)
    •  Towns:  7   (trip:  160)
    •  Fans of Willie Nelson in Hill County:  34,823, at least
    •  Other Willie acts of kindness we heard about:  3 (must be many others)
    •  Willie Today:  83 years old (Bobbie is 85) and still performing >100 concerts/year
    •  Willie Albums:  >60 studio albums + numerous live
    •  Willie in Film:  >30 films and television appearances
    •  Willie's Awards:  too many to mention

Seeing History in Dallas

Two U.S. Presidents have had strong ties to Dallas.  Both were children of privilege from political dynasties.  Their fathers were in government service, as were their brothers.  Both attended New England prep schools, earned degrees from Harvard, and served in the military.  One came to Dallas to retire after eight years in office; the other met his death in the city before the end of his first term.

Our exploration of the city today centered around these two Presidents.  First stop was Dealey Plaza, the site of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963.  Just a couple of blocks walk from our hotel took us to this public square honoring George Bannerman Dealey, a 19th century newspaper publisher and civic leader.

BEFORE 1963, DEALY PLAZA WAS ALL ABOUT GEORGE DEALY.

Situated in the historic West End of downtown Dallas, Dealey Plaza was established as a Dallas city park with fountain and other structures completed in 1940 as part of a post-Depression Works Project Administration undertaking to employ local citizens while improving the city's infrastructure.

DEALEY PLAZA

This otherwise benign park would have continued in anonymity had it not been for the actions of an assassin, who killed President Kennedy as his motorcade moved through the square in 1963 and seared the name of this place in collective memory.  To learn more about this story, we visited the Sixth Floor Museum at the Dallas County Administration Building—formerly the Texas School Book Depository—overlooking the plaza.

FORMER TEXAS SCHOOL BOOK DEPOSITORY AT THE CORNER OF ELM & HOUSTON STREETS

Outside the building a Texas historic marker announces the significance of the location and the building.  Conspiracy theorists still abound, including one who was hawking brochures and period newspapers outside the museum.  Visitors have scratched around the word 'allegedly' to emphasize their doubt about the Warren Commission's conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in killing the president.
After so many years of hearing of this site and the tragedy that occurred here, being at the location was almost overpowering in its gravitas.  Operated by an independent non-profit organization unaffiliated with any government entity, the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza presents a picture of the social and political landscape of the early 1960s and chronicles the assassination and its aftermath.

THE AREA WHERE OSWALD TOOK AIM AT THE PRESIDENT IS GLASSED IN.

According to interpretive signs, Oswald, an employee of the book depository, had strategically stacked cases of books in front of a corner window of the sixth floor overlooking the plaza to conceal his sniper's perch from other employees walking past.  Though visitors are not permitted in this corner, one can approach the corner window directly above on the seventh floor.

FROM THE 7TH FLOOR, DIRECTLY ABOVE OSWALD'S VANTAGE POINT

One of the many exhibits relating to the investigation of the assassination is a ten- by ten-foot model of Dealey Plaza created by the FBI to assist in the Warren Commission's investigation.

STRINGS SHOW THE TRAJECTORY OF THE SHOTS FROM THE BUILDING TO THE MOTORCADE.

At street level, we visited the grassy knoll where local citizen Abraham Zapruder recorded perhaps the most famous piece of home movie film in history.  News media cameras were concentrated along the parts of the motorcade's route with the largest crowds.  No professional videographers were in the sparsely occupied plaza, so the amateur 8mm footage was the only film record of the assassination.  Though the street has been paved over a number of times since 1963, painted X's always reappear to show the approximate locations where the film showed the President being struck with bullets.

THE GRASSY KNOLL WHERE ZAPRUDER STOOD ON WHITE PEDESTAL AT FAR LEFT TO FILM.

Just a block east of the Dealey park is Kennedy Memorial Plaza, set aside to honor the memory of our 35th president.  American architect Philip Johnson was tapped for the project, and created an open tomb (cenotaph) to symbolize Kennedy's free spirit.

KENNEDY MEMORIAL PLAZA

Another piece of city history across the street from the Kennedy Memorial is Founders Plaza, celebrating the log cabin pioneers who founded Dallas County and the town of Dallas in 1841.  On exhibit in the plaza is an authentic pre-1850 cabin moved to the park in 1971.

TYPICAL OF THE ORIGINAL CABINS BUILT ON THIS SPOT WHEN DALLAS WAS FOUNDED IN 1841.

After exploring these historic landmarks, we returned to the hotel and picked up our car to drive to Southern Methodist University (SMU) for a visit to the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum.  Hoping we'd find a place for lunch near the campus, we were delighted to see a local outlet of La Madeleine Cafe when we arrived.  After a tasty repast, we took a post-meal walk around the campus area near a couple of sports stadiums before moving on to the Bush facility.

GEORGE W. BUSH PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

As is no doubt typical, the competition to host the Bush Presidential Library and Museum began shortly after he assumed office.  Initially six other Texas institutions also submitted proposals to the selection committee, but SMU, alma mater of Laura Bush, was selected.  Both Mrs. Bush and former VP Dick Cheney have served on the SMU board of trustees.

NO, THE GRASS DOESN'T NEED MOWING.

One of the most controversial aspects of the Bush Center, which also houses the non-profit Bush Institute, is its landscaping.  According to volunteer docents, visitors regularly ask when the landscaping will be installed, or why the grass hasn't been cut.  These knowledgeable volunteers will tell you "right quick," as they say in Texas, that the grasses are overgrown by design.  The classically formal building is encircled with totally informal ranch-style prairie grasses and landscape.  We appreciate the natural native landscape concept, but thought it would have played better with a more casual style building.  Why not make it look like an oversized ranch house?  (Because the rest of the SMU campus architecture is so formal, we were told.)

VARIOUS SECTIONS OF THE GALLERY EXHIBIT ARTIFACTS EMPHASIZING BUSH VALUES.

Inside, exhibits were designed to highlight the guiding principles that influenced the decisions Bush made in office.  Artifacts, documents and interactive elements illustrate the key events and accomplishments of the Bush presidency.

REMEMBERING VIVIDLY THE EVENTS OF 9/11, WE FOUND THE DISPLAY PARTICULARLY POIGNANT.

Especially moving were the exhibits related to the events of 9/11/2001.  We're in an age group that can tell you unequivocally what we were doing when we heard about Kennedy's assassination and where we were when terrorists attacked the U.S. on 9/11.  Visiting sites related to both on the same day formed a powerful experience.

Like the Carter Library we've visited in Atlanta, the Bush Center houses a full-size replica of the Oval Office in the White House.  Today it was crowded with visitors waiting their turn to be photographed sitting at the Presidential desk.

VARIOUS TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS SONGS DOMINATED THE HOLIDAY EXHIBITS.

In a temporary exhibit space, the center was celebrating "White House Christmas of 2004" featuring artifacts and decorations used on that occasion.  The walls of the exhibit hall were papered with a two-dimensional backdrop replicating elements of White House decor, including portraits of the First Ladies.

Upon our departure from the Bush center, we drove to the Dallas Arboretum and Gardens, the city's top attraction.  With only an hour to explore the extensive gardens before closing time and having already walked 4.5 miles today, we backed off and decided to pass this time and return to the hotel.  Before calling it a day, however, we walked five blocks from the hotel to Pioneer Plaza to check out another favorite spot of Dallas visitors.

THE $9 MILLION PROJECT WAS FUNDED PRIMARILY BY PRIVATE SOURCES.

A 4.2-acre public park near the city's Convention Center, Pioneer Plaza is home to an enormous sculpture commemorating 19th century cattle drives through the state.  Three oversized cowboys herd some fifty 6-feet tall cattle down a man-made ridge, through a stream and past an artificial limestone bluff in the city center.  Created in 1994, the work has been criticized as irrelevant to the city's history.  Dallas made its fortunes in banking; Fort Worth was the cattle town.  But efforts to prevent the installation failed, though funding ran out before the intended 70 cattle were in place.

After marveling at this monstrous work of art, we trudged back to the hotel to the sound of thousands, of great-tailed grackles perched in the upper reaches of trees and atop utility poles and power lines along our route, squawking out their evening serenades.

Tomorrow we'll head south from Dallas toward Austin and eventually San Antonio before turning back west.

TUESDAY, 29 NOVEMBER 2016
    •  Started in:  Dallas, TX
    •  Ended in:  Dallas, TX
    •  Miles driven:  26   (trip:  2,406)
    •  Weather:  54° to 73°, clear
    •  Letterboxes:  Found 3, Planted 0   (trip:  F44, P8)
    •  Walked:  5.3 miles   (trip:  40)
    •  States:  TX  (trip:  5)
    •  Counties:  1
    •  Towns:  1
    •  Cackling grackles:  17,158
    •  SMU students wearing shorts in late November:  87%
    •  Volunteer docents at Bush Center:  63
    •  Goats keeping grass trimmed at Bush Center:  0 (Our guess was wrong.)
    •  Indications Bush landscaping will change:  0

The Final Stretch of US-80

Heavy gray clouds loomed overhead when we left our hotel in Bossier City this morning.  Misty rain fell as we drove the final twenty Louisiana miles on US-80.  By 8:30, we were in Texas, and the cow counting began in earnest.  Within 20 minutes, I had accumulated 200 on my side (all of whom I lost shortly when we passed a cemetery, of course).

The first city of any size that we reached was Marshall (pop. 23, 523).  Home to two historically black education institutions—Wiley and Bishop Colleges—Marshall was a center of activity in the Civil Rights Movement, staging peaceful sit-ins even before the well-known event in Greensboro, NC, launched the sit-in movement in 1960.

COURTHOUSE DECORATED FOR WONDERLAND OF LIGHTS (photo from Marshall News Messenger)

The city's biggest claim to fame today is its Wonderland of Lights, an annual festival that transforms this East Texas burg into a winter holiday utopia with millions of lights illuminating the buildings and landscape downtown.  An ice skating rink springs up in front of the Harrison County Courthouse, along with a carousel and miniature train.  Horse-drawn carriage rides are offered as well as an outdoor Christmas market and live entertainment.  It seemed a waste to be driving through this time of year in the light of day.

GREAT TEXAS BALLOON RACE  (photo from Longview News Journal)

Our next stop was in Longview (pop. 80,455), home of the annual Texas Balloon Festival.  The city is also the location of LeTourneau University, founded in 1946 by an inventor of earthmoving equipment.  We visited the campus this morning to search for four letterboxes hidden there.  As we were sitting inside our car stamping into the first box, what had been a sprinkling rain turned into a torrential downpour.  Within ten minutes, the parking lot was transformed into a lake with several inches of water accumulating faster than storm drains could remove it.  Wind buffeted our car and sent waves rippling across the parking lot sea.  Relentless, the storm pounded the area for another 20 minutes.

WE KNEW THE FORECAST CALLED FOR STRONG STORMS; WE JUST DIDN'T KNOW WHAT THAT MEANT.

When the deluge finally abated, we ventured to leave.  With the hiding spot for the letterbox we were holding now underwater from storm runoff, we left it safely under a light pole escutcheon nearby and emailed the owner the location of its temporary refuge.

Early on during the storm, we shifted the car's position away from a couple of trees adjacent to the parking lot when we realized how strong the winds were becoming.  Leaving campus we saw a pine nearby that had snapped and crashed during the storm.  Such was the strength of the rain and wind that we didn't even hear the crash a hundred yards from our location.

VARIOUS SCHOOL DISTRICTS IN THE AREA BOOK THEIR CLASSES FOR FIELD TRIPS HERE.

On our way out of town, we stopped for another letterbox in the public library and saw the town's Safety City across the street.  The miniature city was built in 1991 as an instructional tool to teach school children the rules of bicycle, pedestrian and auto safety.  With 16 small buildings and child-scale streets, the village is equipped with working traffic signals and a railroad crossing.  Lessons are targeted at two age groups.  Fourth graders drive miniature cars powered by lawnmower engines, while kindergarten students ride the streets on bicycles or big wheels.  Safety City appears to be an example of hands-on learning that's engaging and just plain fun.

We found some adult-size fun further west in the town of Grand Saline (pop. 3,136).  Though it's pronounced suh-LEEN, the town's name does reference the 250 million year old massive lode of natural salt left by an ancient sea.  Estimated at 16,000 feet deep, the deposit is mined by Morton Salt, the town's largest employer.  It's one of three rock salt mines the company operates in the U.S.

ROOMS IN THE SALT MINE CAN BE AS HIGH AS 85 FEET. (photo from Dallas News)

Though safety regulations shut down mine tours in 1960,we were able to visit the town's Salt Palace situated on US-80 in downtown.  It's a small one-story building housing a museum and gift shop with two exterior walls made of local salt blocks.  Dust and highway grime have given the white salt the color and appearance of granite.  Every visitor is given a souvenir crystal of rock salt as well as a warm welcome from the knowledgeable docent of the day.  And yet some visitors will actually lick the building to make sure it's made of salt.
Ten miles west of the salt palace, we stopped in Edgewood (pop. 1,439) to check out their Heritage Park outdoor museum and look for a letterbox hidden there.   Founded in 1976, the park continues to evolve and now covers parts of three city blocks.  The local historical society operates the park, which preserves 20 authentically restored and furnished structures depicting rural life in East Texas around 1900.  Supplementing the originals are replicas of period buildings.

BONNIE & CLYDE ONCE ATE AT TOM'S CAFE(R), IN ITS ORIGINAL LOCATION.

A picket fence surrounds the park, which we learned is open only Thursday, Friday and Saturday mornings.  As we wandered around looking at the buildings from the outside—trying to figure out if we could gain entrance to obtain the letterbox—volunteer handyman Johnny was assessing recent storm damage on the park's vintage church building.  He kindly unlocked a gate and allowed us to wander around to take photos, which we did.  Fortunately, the letterbox was tucked out of sight between two buildings, and we were able to find it and log in unobserved.

SO LONG, 80!

By the time we left Edgewood, the clock was pushing 4 p.m. and we wanted to reach our hotel in downtown Dallas before darkness fell, so we decided to skip the letterboxes on our list ahead and drive the remaining 60 miles without stopping.  Eight miles before we arrived, just after we passed Dallas's I-635 perimeter highway, US-80 officially ended as it merged with I-30 going into the city.

WE'RE IN THE CITY NOW.

Over the years, the remainder of old-timer US-80 going west was first dual marked with interstate highways that took over its route and later retired completely west of Dallas.  As we continue toward San Diego, we'll definitely try to spend time on local highways but they won't be our old friend US-80.

Tomorrow we plan to spend the day seeing some of the sights in Dallas, a city we've never visited, though we've been through it and around it numerous times.

MONDAY, 28 NOVEMBER 2016
    •  Started in:  Bossier City, LA
    •  Ended in:  Dallas, TX
    •  Miles driven:  239   (trip:  2,380)
    •  Weather:  67° to 70°, cloudy to strong storms to clear
    •  Letterboxes:  Found 10, Planted 0   (trip:  F41, P8)
    •  Walked:  2.2 miles   (trip:  34.7)
    •  States:  2   (trip:  5)
    •  Counties:  9  (trip:  75)
    •  Towns:  24     (trip:  154)