Postcard From The Last Picture Show & Beyond

(Continued from road trip post 7)   (Go to the first post of this series)

The wives were expecting us home in a couple of days and we were about 500 miles away with more planned stops along the road ahead so we got up pretty early, ate a quick breakfast and headed west to the nice little town of Eastland, Texas.

From 1957 until 1968, Marene Johnson Johnson ( yes, that's her name) served as the Eastland postmaster. For seven years, once all mailboxes were filled and the packages delivered, Marene worked on her pet project - a giant mural made entirely of postage stamps. When she was finished, she gave up her postmaster job and left the mural, all 11,217 stamps of it, for future patrons to gaze upon and admire.

The Eastland Post Office Mural

The centerpiece of the mural is a replica of the United Nations seal surrounded by stamps from around the world. She also created portraits of Abraham Lincoln and Benjamin Franklin (America's 1st postmaster general), a map of Texas and the Confederate flag. Putting a final touch to her work, she surrounded all of it in a frame of yellow roses. It's not a thing that blows your socks off, but it sure is interesting to stand there and contemplate how much work went into it, how much patience and perseverance it must have taken and what a unique talent Marene Johnson Johnson possessed. 

Putting Eastland in our rearview mirror, we headed west on Hwy 6 for a short 10 mile drive to Cisco and the site of the infamous Santa Claus Bank Robbery. At the time it occurred, the Santa Claus Bank Robbery led to the largest manhunt ever seen in Texas.

On December 23, 1927, around noon, ex-cons Marshall Ratliff, Henry Helms, Robert Hill and Louis Davis held up the First National Bank in Cisco. The four men met in Wichita Falls while planning the crime and on the morning of the 23rd, they stole a car and headed for Cisco, about 120 miles away. Arriving just before noon, they were ready to make themselves some easy money.

During this time period, three or four Texas banks a day were being robbed. In response, the Texas Bankers Association offered a $5,000 reward to anyone shooting a bank robber during the crime. This reward helped turn a simple bank robbery into a deadly crime. As the group neared the bank, Ratliff donned a Santa Claus suit he had borrowed from Mrs. Midge Tellet who ran the boarding house where they had been staying in Wichita Falls. Ratliff got out of the car several blocks from the bank and a few minutes later, followed by children attracted to Santa, he joined the other three in an alley and led the way into the bank. As Santa entered, he drew all eyes toward him as a distraction. Several seconds later, the other three drew their guns shouting "This is a holdup!" While they covered the customers and employees, Santa grabbed money from the tellers and forced one to open the vault. Mrs. B. P. Blassengame and her daughter entered the bank while the holdup was in progress and seeing what was happening, she grabbed her daughter's hand and ran back out of the door. She began screaming for help, alerting most of the citizenry as well as Chief of Police G. E. (Bit) Bedford, who just happened to be nearby.

Several minutes later, Santa (Ratliff) had filled his sack with money and came out of the vault. Seeing someone outside, Hill fired a shot through the window. A shot was returned. Hill fired several more shots and then a fusillade of gunfire began as many citizens who owned guns were now outside the bank. The robbers forced all of the people in the bank out the door towards their car. Several of the hostages were wounded as they emerged into the alley, but most managed to escape. Two small girls, Laverne Comer and Emma May Robertson, did not break away and were taken as hostages. In a shootout in the alley, as the robbers tried to get to their car, Chief Bedford and Deputy George Carmichael were mortally wounded. Ratliff, still dressed as Santa, was slightly wounded while Davis was severely wounded.

As the four began their escape with their hostages, they realized they had neglected to get gas for the car and it was almost empty. To make matters worse, before exiting the alley, one of the tires was shot out. They drove to the edge of town, pursued by the mob, and attempted to commandeer an Oldsmobile belonging to the Harris family. Fourteen-year-old Woody, who was driving, gave them the car but ran away with the keys. The robbers transferred their things to the Oldsmobile in the midst of gunfire which wounded Hill, only to realize they could not start the car. Davis was by then unconscious and close to death, so they left him in the car and moved back to the first car with their two hostages. It was not until later they realized they had left the stolen money with Davis.

The First National Bank of Cisco building still stands today

The mob found Davis and the money and temporarily gave up the chase. The money, $12,400 in cash and $150,000 in securities, was returned to the bank which had an estimated 225 bullet holes in the walls. Besides the two police officers, there had been six townspeople wounded in the shootout, but no one was sure whether the robbers or the mob was responsible.

The robbers abandoned the bullet-ridden car and the two girls several miles from town and continued on foot. They stole another car the next morning and managed to evade the search parties for a while, until they wrecked the car near Putnam. They commandeered a vehicle driven by Carl Wylie, forcing him to drive and taking him hostage for twenty-four hours. They then let Wylie have his car back and stole another car.

The two wounded men, especially Ratliff, who by now had discarded his Santa suit, were doing very poorly due to their wounds, lack of food, and the icy, sleeting conditions. Eventually, the threesome was ambushed by Sheriff Foster of Young County at South Bend as they tried to cross the Brazos River. Another car chase followed with a shootout in a field as the three tried to make their escape. Cy Bradford, a Texas Ranger, hit all three men with his 6 shots. Ratliff was hit and fell to the ground. Helms and Hill were both wounded, but they managed to escape into the woods. Several days later, after dodging an intense manhunt assisted by an airplane, the two made it into Graham and peacefully surrendered. Two more men had been wounded in the manhunt bringing the total number of wounded to eight, not counting the three surviving robbers.

Helms, Hill, and Ratliff had several wounds apiece and had not eaten for days. All survived however, and soon faced trials. Hill pleaded guilty to armed robbery and in March was sentenced to 99 years in prison. He escaped from prison three times but was recaptured each time. After settling down, he was paroled in the mid-1940s, changed his name, and became a law-abiding citizen. Helms was identified as the one who had gunned down both lawmen and was given the death sentence in late February. After an unsuccessful insanity plea, he was executed by electric chair on September 6, 1929. "Santa" Ratliff was first convicted of armed robbery on January 27, 1928, and sentenced to 99 years in prison. On March 30, he was sentenced to execution for his role in the deaths of Bedford and Carmichael, although no one could testify to having seen him fire a gun in the bank. Ratliff appealed his case, going for an insanity plea. He had begun acting insane the day that Helms was executed, and thoroughly convinced his jailers that he was. His mother, Rilla Carter, filed for a lunacy hearing in Huntsville. However, the citizens of Eastland County were infuriated that he had not been executed yet, and even further aggravated to know that Ratliff was attempting the insanity plea. For his safety, he was transferred to the Eastland County jail. While there, he convinced his jailers that he really was insane as they had to feed him, bathe him, and take him to the toilet.

On November 18, Ratliff attempted to escape, killing Tom Jones in the process. He was quickly recaptured and put back in jail. A crowd began to gather the next morning and by nightfall had grown to over 1,000. They began demanding Ratliff be given to them. The sheriff refused but was overpowered as the mob rushed in and found Ratliff. Dragging him out, they tied his hands and feet and headed for a nearby power pole. The first attempt to hang him failed when the knot came loose and he fell to the ground. The second time, however, the knot held. Ratliff was pronounced dead at 9:55 P.M. on November 19. Jones' death brought the total number of dead, including three bank robbers, to six. No one was ever tried in association with the lynching, even though a grand jury was formed, as nobody came forward as a witness. The whole town declared they had not seen anything.

Leaving Cisco, we jumped on Hwy 183 north for 29 miles to Breckenridge to see a large mural painted on the side of a building. Tiny mirrors were mixed with the paint so the sign would sparkle in the sunlight. We also intended to see Breckenridge Aviation Museum's collection of World War II airplanes and memorabilia. Plus, there was an intriguing little sculpture generally known as a "Purple People Eater" thingy in a farmer's field just outside of town. I love road kitsch, offbeat Americana, roadside attractions. How could I pass up something with a name like that? Plus, in general, it's on our back roads route home so why not?

Where's the sparkles?

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. We arrived on a Sunday only to find the museum is not open on Sunday unless you call several days ahead to make arrangements. We did find the mural and it was indeed very large and it did indeed have little, tiny mirrors embedded in the paint. I expected to see this really cool, sparkling painting, but I'm afraid it didn't live up to my expectations. Even in bright sun on a cloudless day, the sparkles were minimal and you had to get up close and tilt your head on an angle to see the sparkles at all. Maybe in it's youthful heyday it was much more, but now that it's older, it has lost some of its vitality and sparkle. And we never saw the Purple People Eater thingy. I later found out the last time somebody reported seeing it was three years earlier and it had started to rust. A lot of things can happen in three years. I'm sure Breckenridge is a wonderful town with a lot of wonderful, happy folks living there, but I'm afraid we drove there excited and drove away disappointed.

The Royal Theatre

We took Breckenridge in stride as we are road tripper experienced enough to know not everything is as exciting when you get there as it was when you were just thinking about it. Sure enough, our mood began to lighten again as soon as we got on our way to our next destination - Archer City, home of Larry McMurtry and the town where "The Last Picture Show" was filmed. "The Last Picture Show" earned 8 academy award nominations and won two. The movie has been rated as a top 100 movies of all time. The film critic Roger Ebert gave it four stars out of four and named it the best film of 1971. He added it to his "Great Movies List" writing, "the film is above all an evocation of mood. It is about a town with no reason to exist and people with no reason to live there. The only hope is transgression."

We had another disappointment when we found McMurtry's bookstore was closed. Over a few years, he opened four bookstores in Archer City and stocked them with over 400,000 fine and scholarly books he had hand-picked for his personal collection. When he turned 76 years old and none of his children expressed any interest in operating a bookstore, he decided to sell 300,000 books at auction. The auction was a huge success and he closed 3 of the stores. Now there is only one left which contains between 150,000 and 200,000 books. As most of the sales now come from online orders, he also reduced the time the store is open to only 4 hours per day, Thursday through Saturday . 

The blinking yellow light

The Royal Theatre, which plays a major part in the movie is still there. At least the front is. Not many people know in real life, the back half of the theater burned down in 1965 and it has never been rebuilt. With its closure, the heart of the town was lost. The movie, released in 1971, used the front of the movie house, but filmed the interior scenes in a theater in Olney, a town a few miles south of Archer City. The blinking yellow light is also often seen throughout the movie and it is still there, still blinking. The whole time we were there,  we saw just three or four people and very few cars. Even on a Sunday, with a population of 1,700, you would think there would be more life, but when the oil crash hit and McMurtry closed his bookstores, I got the feeling the town has actually taken on the rather sad life of Anarene, the name given to it in the movie. If you haven't seen "The Last Picture Show," I strongly recommend it.

Always happy on a road trip!

 And with that, it was time to head back home, a distance of about 475 miles. It was already afternoon by the time we left, so we'll stop in Wichita Falls, Texas for a bite to eat and find a hotel room for our last night on the road. Between Archer City and Wichita Falls however, is the interesting little ghost town of Mankins. We had just enough daylight hours left to stop by there. Why go by Mankins? Because it is the only place in Texas, perhaps even the nation, where a monkey crossing the road was hit and killed by a car! To read all about Mankins and that poor monkey, click here.

Postcard From The Middle Of Nowhere Texas

Continued from (road trip post 6)    (Go to the 1st post here)

The Fredericksburg Comfort Inn was actually better than expected and at a decent price - clean, good wifi, good shower and a comfortable bed. From our experience, Comfort Inns range from good to "never again" so this one goes on our "Acceptable" list. Of course, the fact that it was rather late when we checked in after a frustrating afternoon and evening (see previous post here), plus the fact we were both very tired probably had some bearing on a good night's sleep. After partaking of the pretty decent "free" breakfast and a fill up for the truck, we pointed her northwest on Highway 87 to Koockville where we caught Hwy 29 to Menard and then jumped on Hwy 83 North toward Eden. An interesting side note about Eden, Texas - the population is 2,560, but about 1,300 of those residents are inmates at the Eden Detention Center, a for-profit prison under contract to the Feds. Once past Eden, staying on Hwy 83, we might not have been in the middle of nowhere, but we could see it from there.

The pasture in front of the museum with a couple of
railroad cars and inoperable windmills

After miles of open spaces and seeing almost no other cars, we came to the intersection with FM 765, a little 2-lane black-top road. Going west on this road, after a few more miles of nothing but stunted mesquite trees, widely dispersed farm houses, a few cows and wide open spaces, it became just a hard-packed dirt road. Now we were definitely in the middle of nowhere! We eventually saw a sign nailed onto a fencepost that announced we would reach our destination after a short drive down a private, dirt road past a herd of Longhorns - The Barrow Ranch Museum. 

So far out in the boonies that you have to be going there to get there, we had found a most fascinating collection of "stuff." Ernest and Dorothy Barrow constructed 3 very large metal buildings around their house to hold over forty years of collections from their extensive travels and donations from their many friends. Ernest and Dorothy are both gone now, but before their passing, they set up a non-profit foundation with a Board of Directors in order to keep the museum open to the public and to provide funds for its upkeep. To that end, entrance is free, but a donation is requested.

Pulling up to what appeared to be a working ranch house, we parked in a small gravel parking lot. Besides a few longhorns milling around watching us, it appeared we were the only living things in the vicinity. There were a couple of railroad cars and non-functioning windmills sitting in the field with the longhorns, several old tractors and a good bit of old, rusted metal pieces from farm implements just laying around the grounds. It was eerily quiet. There were no signs saying "Enter Here," no doors marked "Entrance" and nobody to greet us. Just as we were about to get back in the truck and leave, an older gentleman came from the house and asked if we were there to see the museum.

He introduced himself as Gary Glass, caretaker of the ranch and museum. Gary has worked on this ranch for over 40 years, helped build the museum buildings and has many interesting stories to tell, which he is more than happy to do. He gave us a personal tour of each building and talked about most every item. Except for a few questions, we rarely were able to get a word in, but he was so interesting, we didn't mind. I can understand that. It's very quiet and must be very lonely out there. He said there's very few visitors so he really enjoys it when somebody shows up.

He invited us to follow him into a huge metal building which we found held an amazing amount of, well, of "stuff." It can only be described as a hoarder's vast collection of things. From early-American dining rooms to a 1950's soda fountain to old pump organs, antique washing machines, radios, record players and archeological artifacts, the groupings made no sense. The world's largest collection of Indian arrowheads (about 15,000 in all), old west rifles and guns sit next to gems, mineral specimens and sea shells.

Once we made it through this building, Gary led us to a large second building (he told us that when they ran out of room in one building, they would just build another one) that was just as full of things as the first! A vast collection of china and Oriental carvings was displayed next to World War II memorabilia which included captured German and Japanese flags.  Old dolls and dozens of Hummel figurines sat next to medical and dental tools and stuffed animals. The 3rd building contained mostly farm implements, drilling equipment, old cars, an antique fire truck and odds 'n ends such as some kind of farm implement embedded in a tree stump which had grown up around it. As we finished this last building, Gary led us outside and pointed out what each of the rusted items in the yard were along with a few more stories about life on the ranch.

The old soda fountain inside the museum

We were there for about 2 hours and enjoyed all of it, but even today, I still am overwhelmed at the number of items in those buildings. Just as we said goodbye to Gary, another car with a man and woman drove up an parked next to us. Gary's face seemed to light up and with a smile he asked the new arrivals, "Are you here to see the museum?"

Seeing as how it was time for lunch, we headed to Balinger and the infamous haunted Gonzalez Restaurant for a good Tex-Mex meal. Bad, bad decision. When we arrived, the only customers were just one family of 4 in the whole place. That normally is a big warning sign, but what the heck, Chip and I both love Tex-Mex cuisine and we're here so we might as well partake of the buffet and who knows, maybe we'll even see the ghost everyone calls Norton.

Entrance to Gonzalez Restaurant

According to legend, a local outlaw was spotted in town and the police gave chase. He ended up hiding inside the restaurant, but the police found him and when he pulled a gun, they shot him dead right there inside the building. Since then, staff and customers have claimed to see a ghostly apparition wearing cowboy clothing, sometimes walking through walls. Norton also moves things around, especially dishes, silverware, salt shakers and cooking implements. Often, people will experience unexplained cold spots within the building and some have reported an invisible hand touching their necks and arms.

As we walked in, we were greeted by an older Hispanic lady who showed us to a table. We ordered tea and said we would have the buffet. I cannot tell you in strong enough terms just how bad the food was. The crumbled beef was a sickish, gray color and it tasted like wet chicken feathers. The chicken looked disgusting enough that I didn't touch it. The refried beans were the same color as the beef and was the consistency of soup. The lettuce for a salad tasted like it had been cut and then left open in the refrigerator for three days. The best thing on the whole buffet was the rice, which was passable. When we returned to our table, we found a bowl of cold, greasy chips and a bland salsa that was obviously straight out of a can.

No customers at 1:00pm on a Saturday should
have given us a warning

I have dozens of road trips under my belt as well as numerous vacations and hundreds of business-related travels where I have eaten at least 2 and often 3 times a day in restaurants, cafe's, dinners, hotels, bars, bowling alleys and dance halls. This one stands out above all those places as the number one worst meal! And the really weird thing was the one lady who was the greeter, waitress and cashier (we never saw another staff person) sat down across the empty room and stared at us the whole time. She never came over to check on us, never said a word, rarely blinked...just sat there staring at us.

The buffet line

I'm not a picky eater, but I couldn't eat most of the buffet food so I made a small meal of rice and flour tortillas. Chip didn't think the food was as bad as I did, but I noted he didn't go back for seconds. When we got up to leave, our staring friend got up and took our money. She never smiled, but at least she did say thank you. We left feeling ripped off, still hungry and we never did see Norton.

Backtracking south on Hwy 83 for about 12 miles, we then went east on Hwy 1929 until after a few twists and turns on several other small 2-lane Farm-to-Market roads, we reached the town of Mercury. Founded in 1904 when the Fort Worth and Rio Grand Railroad reached this point. Mercury soon became a bustling livestock shipping point and by 1914 it had over 550 citizens and a number of commercial businesses. A major fire burned down most of the town's buildings in 1919. In 1929, just as the town's business came back to where it was before the fire, another fire once again destroyed most of the buildings and the town never recovered. Growth stopped and when a major highway bypassed the community in 1938, Mercury began to decline. By 1940, the post office was discontinued and most businesses closed. The final nail in the town's coffin came in 1949 when the Mercury schools closed. Today it is a virtual ghost town with a scattered population of about 150 people living in the area.

So why did we drive through Mercury? Because just south of the town is the geographical center of Texas! Being a native Texan, I just couldn't resist. There is a historical marker on Hwy 377 about 2 miles south of Mercury, but the marker is not exactly where the center of Texas is located. The actual center is at N 31° 23.492 W 099° 10.238 which is about 5 miles away, but you can't go there because it is on private property and in Texas, that means no trespassing or you just might find yourself trying to outrun a load of buckshot! Neither Chip nor I got to be as old as we are by being fools so we made it to the historical marker and called it good enough.

We had just enough time left in the day to visit a place on my Texas bucket list - the Regency Bridge. If you are as big of a fan of the TV show Texas Country Reporter as I am, then you are familiar with the Regency Bridge because it is the bridge they drive over during the opening and closing segments of the show. The 325-foot, one-way, wood-surfaced  bridge is located in a very rural area at the intersection of two gravel roads - Mills County Road 433 and San Saba County Road 137. It's another place where you have to be going there to get there. You most probably won't find it by accident. The local farmers and ranchers call it "the swinging bridge" because as you cross, it swings from side-to-side and rolls up and down - rather disconcerting, but evidently safe as it has never collapsed. I posted an earlier blog entry about the bridge which you can read here.

Regency Bridge aka The Swinging Bridge

We were done for the day and it was about time to head on back home. We'll be stopping at a few more interesting places along the way, but for this night,  there was a room waiting for us at the Holiday Inn Express in Stephenville.  

Postcard from the Painted Churches of Texas

Continued from (roadtrip post 5).    Go to the (first roadtrip post).

Another night in a decent Best Western and another "free" breakfast. Breakfast is pretty much the same at all Best Western hotels and we're starting to get a little tired of eating the same every day so tonight we'll try to find a different brand. It's just us two guys so as long as the hotel is reasonable in cost, safe and clean, we're not picky. Planned for today is a drive to the little town of Schulenburg to take a tour of the  famous "Painted Church's of Texas."

In the mid-1800's, Czech and German immigrants came to America fleeing poverty and settled in central Texas to chase a new dream. Although they embraced their new lands, they retained their traditional values, culture, food and faith. They settled near each other in communities of 600 families. Each community worked together to build their own church, painting the interiors in colors and symbols which reminded them of their homelands and pooling their money to buy statues for donation to the churches. From the outside, they look nice, but go inside and you will find a European-styled painted church with stained-glass windows, incredible statues, and elaborately painted interiors of brilliant colors. Today, fifteen of these churches survive and four of them can be toured during the week.

St. Mary's Catholic Church: High Hill is at 2833 FM 2672, Schulenburg, TX. 78956. Built in 1906, this is the crown jewel of the Painted Churches. The altar is particularly elaborate. There is a beautiful chandelier and a pipe organ provides accompaniment for the songs of praise each Sunday. Stations of the Cross were imported from Italy and there is a reproduction of Michelangelo's "Pieta." 

The apse (the large semicircle arch containing the altar) is painted a pale blue accented in gold leaf with marble painted with turkey feathers. There are eighteen stained glass windows portraying biblical scenes. Each of these were purchased from Germany by separate families and each window contains the name of the family that purchased it. There are only 85 local parishioners, but the church receives numerous visitors for the services.

The apse with the altar

Stained glass window in St. Mary's

Just a few miles away at 4148 FM 1383 in the town of Dubina is Saint Cyril and Methodist Church. Dubina (derived from the Czech word for "Oak Grove") was settled in 1856 and is considered "The Mother of Czechs in Texas" as it was the first community in Texas whose residents were all Czechs. Many of the citizens, particularly the older ones, prefer to be called "Bohemians" since Czechoslovakia did not exist until the end of World War I and the region where the original settlers came from was called Bohemia.

The first church was built in 1877 with an iron cross on top which was forged by a freed slave named Tom Lee. That building was destroyed by a hurricane in 1909. In 1912, it was replaced with the salvaged iron cross back on top of the building. Within a year however, that building, along with nearly all of the town's commercial buildings, was destroyed by fire. The church was once again rebuilt with the once more salvaged iron cross back on top. Unfortunately, most commerce was being relocated to the larger cities and only one of Dubina's commercial buildings was rebuilt. The lack of commerce has restricted growth since then and the town remains mostly a farming community. In 1952, conservative church officials decided the bright colors inside was a distraction so they had the interior completely white washed. Fortunately, in 1983, a church member who happened to be a county judge led an effort (endorsed by a large majority of the members) to remove the white wash and restore the original colors. For a number of years, every Sunday after services, church members themselves worked on the long and tedious restoration.

Today you can see the the historically accurate recreation of the brilliant blue ceiling with gold stars, floral stenciling and hand-painted frescoes of angels. The inside is bright from the many large, curved windows which let the sunshine in. Colorful patterns of stylized vines and flowers trace the outline of the windows. 

On the west side of the church is the Saints Cyril and Methodist Cemetery. Owned by the church, it has been in continuous use since Dubina's founding. The entrance to the cemetery is marked by a large, stone cross dedicated to the original settlers. Many of the old-style headstones date to the 19th and early 20th centuries with inscriptions written in Czech. It provides an interesting historical perspective for the town and church.

St. Mary's Catholic Church in Praha was our next stop. Originally named Mulberry in the 1840's, the community was populated with outlaws and misfits. The first Bohemian settler, Matej Novak, arrived in 1855. Soon, more Bohemians arrived and began ridding the town of undesirables. By the end of the Civil War, the town was fully populated by Bohemians and Moravians and they changed the town's name to Praha (the Czech name for Prague, the governing city of Bohemia). By 1882, there were 200 families, two saloons, a post office, café, herb center, liquor store , blacksmith shop, wheelwright shop, meat market, dance hall, a cotton gin and a school.

A small stone chapel was built in 1865 which was replaced by a larger wooden structure in 1876 and that one was replaced with the current structure in 1892. The beautiful, ornate ceiling and walls were painted by the famous fresco artist Gottfried Flurry. The parish holds an annual well-attended homecoming, "Prazda Pout" which is held every August 15th. A Veteran's Day Memorial Service is also held every year in honor of the nine native sons who lost their lives in World War II. 

I have taken dozens of road trips and enjoyed every single one. Generally, our fluid itinerary consists of a starting point on a specific date with a number of places to see before a vague end date. You never can tell what interesting thing you might run across while traveling back roads so there is no real schedule set and rarely are reservations made until my traveling partner and I agree it's "done for today" time. After all, the point of a road trip is to be spontaneous and enjoy the journey. This sometimes leads to an interesting predicament. Actually, I have never taken a road trip where everything went as expected - sites unexpectedly closed, particular stores or restaurants we wanted to visit recently gone out of business or driving into the late night trying to find a hotel with a vacant room. This trip did not break that string. 
To say the rest of the day didn't go as planned would be to engage in careless understatement. 

Our next intended stop was the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. I know, looking at flowers doesn't sound very manly, but Chip and I are both comfortable in our heterosexual manhood, flowers are pretty and you can take some really good photos so that's where we headed. Unfortunately, the Wildflower Center is on the southwest side of Austin, we were on the northeast side and we entered Austin city limits right at rush hour. I'm a native Texan. I got my degree from the University of Texas. I used to love Austin. But that was before it became "the place to be" and grew into a gridlocked metropolis of a million people, each with their own car and all of them driving at the same time on streets that were barely adequate for the city 25 years ago or roads that are perpetually under construction. In stop-and-go traffic (mostly stop), it took us 2 hours to get across town near the Flower Center only to find the road into it was closed due to construction. By the time we kind of sort of figured out how to get to it, it was closing time! 

OK, so now we're both tired, worn out and frustrated. To heck with it, we'll get a room and settle in for the night. Well, that's what we thought we would do. We stopped at a Marriott, a Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn, LaQuinta - no room anywhere. As I drove us west, Chip was on the phone calling every hotel we could find. Finally found a Comfort Inn with an available 2-bed room in Fredericksburg, 80 miles away. We jumped on it. The room was a decent price. By the time we arrived, we would have paid more! I'm pretty sure I fell asleep before my head hit the pillow.

Postcard from East Texas Backroads

Continued from (roadtrip post 4).    Go to the beginning (roadtrip post 1).

After leaving the Prison Museum, we grabbed a bite to eat and then spent an unremarkable night in another unremarkable Best Western hotel. Neither of us were all that sleepy, but there wasn't anything interesting on TV so at 10:30, we turned off the lights, climbed into our respective beds and lay in the dark trying to go to sleep. We finally gave up and so we lay there talking lies and telling sad truths we hoped the other would think were lies. The talking finally wore us out and we drifted off to sleep.

After partaking of the hotel's "free" breakfast, we headed out in the cold and very overcast day to the charming town of Columbus, Texas and the famous Columbus Court Oak Tree. Columbus is the oldest plated town in Texas. It was plated in 1823, but in 1836 during the fight for Texas independence, both Columbus and the nearby town of San Felipe were burned to the ground rather than have them fall into the hands of the approaching Mexican soldiers. After the Texans won, the town's settlers returned to rebuild. Logs were ordered to be floated down the nearby river which were to be used for the building of a courthouse, but a heavy rain flooded the river just before the logs reached Columbus and they floated right on by in the swift current.

Until a courthouse could be built, trials were held under a large Oak tree in the middle of town. The judge was Robert McAlpin Williamson, a.k.a. "Three-legged Willie" who received his nickname due to having a good leg, a crippled leg which was permanently bent at the knee, and a wooden leg which extended from his crippled knee to the ground. 

The earliest recorded case held under the Court Oak Tree was in May, 1837, when William Babbs was charged with Grand Larceny. He pled guilty and threw himself on the mercy of the court. Unfortunately for him, Three-legged Willie wasn't feeling particularly merciful that day and sentenced him to receive 39 lashes and his right hand was branded with a "T" so everyone would know he was a thief.

Of course, a proper courthouse was eventually built, but the massive oak tree continues to give shade. At 70 feet tall, a trunk circumference of 329 inches and a crown spread of 111 feet, it is estimated to be over 500 years old and is the second largest Live Oak in the state.

We left Columbus headed to the little unincorporated town of Kenney. With an estimated 200 residents living in the extended area, the community of Kenney is one of those little towns that's nothing but a wide place in the road between "Litter Barrel" and "Resume Speed." However, it is the location of The Kenney Store, a bar/saloon/cafe/dance hall establishment famous for live music, its ancient dance floor and great downhome cooking. With a motto like "It is what it is," we just had to check it out.

Built in the late 1800's, the building has previously been a general store, post office and a beer joint. Now you can enjoy the delicious made-from-scratch burgers, meatloaf, roast beef, pork chops, and mouth-watering pies while listening to talented local bands in jam sessions and popular well-known bands performing every Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.

It sure didn't look like much from the outside, but we walked in to an iconic Texas saloon, dance hall, restaurant kind of place. Friendly staff greeted us as we walked across the well-worn wooden dance floor to a table and our waitress arrived about 10 seconds later. The food is made to order so it took a little while, but that gave us time to enjoy the atmosphere over a glass of sweet tea. Soon enough, I had a huge, perfectly cooked jalapeno pepper jack burger and a whole lot of hand-cut fries sitting in front of me. I have to say, that was one of the best burgers I've ever had! I managed to devour most of the burger and a lot of the fries, but I had to give up and push the plate back, unable to finish it all. I had my mouth all set for a slice of pie, but that was before the burger and fries. Pie will have to wait for next time.

Independence, Texas was our next stop. The Independence Baptist Church organized on August 31, 1839, is the longest continuously active Baptist church in Texas. However, that was just one of the reasons for our visit. Sam Houston, often called the father of Texas, the man who served as the first and third president of Texas, and was the leader of the Texan forces who defeated Santa Anna's Mexican troops to secure independence for Texas, joined this church in 1854 and often attended services here.

In 1840, Sam married his 3rd wife, Margaret Lea. Margaret and her mother, Nancy Moffette Lea were both deeply religious and they worked hard to restrain Sam's carousing, drinking and cigar smoking. He is known to have complained about their constant harping at him. However, their unceasing efforts to lead him to a more settled and devout life proved to be at least partially successful as he would be in attendance for church services most of the time when he was in town. He had a favorite pew where he always sat and after he died of pneumonia on July 26, 1863, it was preserved and marked. The pew is still marked for people to see and is still used today during services.

Sam and Margaret had a home in Huntsville and when he died, he was buried there in Oakwood Cemetery. Margaret moved back to Independence where she died of Yellow Fever in 1867. Due to the danger of contagion, her body could not be transported to Huntsville to be buried next to her husband so she was buried next to her mother in the family cemetery on church grounds. With 60 miles between Sam, his wife and her mother, perhaps he is finally resting in peace.

On to Schulenburg for the night in another Best Western Hotel. Tomorrow is slated for us to tour four of the famous "painted churches." 

The Lea-Houston family cemetery on the
church grounds

Postcard From Huntsville, Texas

Continued from (roadtrip post 3)

In case you are entertaining a trip to Huntsville, Texas and wondering about where to stay, be aware that the Best Western my road trip buddy and I stayed at is pretty much a hit-or-miss. The location is good, the price was less than $90 and the room was clean and decent sized, but the wifi was slow when it worked and would periodically drop. The "free" breakfast was just ok, the ice machine was broken and the pool was full of green water. I doubt we would stay there again as there are a number of other like-priced chains that might be a better option. Just my opinion from this one stay.

We were headed to the Texas Prison Museum, but first we stopped at an interesting home - the famous "Boot House."  There’s probably no other house quite like this one. Only in Texas does a boot-shaped home seem fitting.

Boot House on the right

The "Boot House" is a design of the world-famous artist Dan Phillips who works with The Phoenix Commotion, a group that builds with recycled materials. This 700-square-foot home stands at an impressive 35 feet tall and while it seems more like a huge work of art than an actual house, the interior is very cozy and livable. Inside, there's a working kitchen, a loft for the bedroom, a full bath, and an extension which adds plenty of room to the boot house. Even more impressive is the attention to detail inside the boot: granite floors, a fireplace, and a bright red spiral staircase. There’s even a roof deck located at the very top of the boot, offering an impressive view of the town. If you are interested, the boot house can be rented for $1,200 a month.

Disappointed that we couldn't tour the Boot House or even walk around it (private property and heavy rush-hour auto traffic on the road in front of it), we drove to the Texas Prison Museum. Huntsville is home to five state prisons and is the headquarters for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). Located just off Interstate-45, the red-brick museum is where most of the existing memorabilia for the whole Texas Corrections System is housed. The five prisons along with two county jails make incarceration Huntsville's largest industry.

Upon entering the museum, after paying the $7 per person entrance fee ($5 for seniors), you watch a short video about the Texas prison system and improvements — like offering education and job training — it has made over the years. Then you are free to wonder around and see the many interesting artifacts on display, all of them the real, actual items. There's a gun that belonged to Bonnie & Clyde which was retrieved from their death car. There are many contraband items, like a knife which had been hidden in a flip-flop sandal, a coke can with a false bottom and dozens of "shanks." When a person is desperate, has limited resources and unlimited drive and time, they can do some pretty innovative things. The museum shows how anything can be turned into a shank if you have enough time. They have shanks made from toothbrushes, plates, trays, paper, glass, almost anything you can think of. There is also an art display which shows what else inmates create with time and limited materials: a jewelry box and cross made from matches, a rosary made from pencils, a hand-drawn game of “Prisonopoly,” patterned after a Monopoly board with real estate named for Texas prison units.

One of the most moving item is a wall of pictures of inmates and members of their victim's families along with quotes from the condemned just before they are put to death and from the victim's family members who watched them die. A few of the condemned are just plain mean, bad individuals to the very end who made the world a better place with their demise, but most seem genuinely  sorry for their bad deeds, don't make excuses and accept their punishment as deserved. Of course, when you are facing imminent death, I guess it's natural to get religion, tell your loved ones how sorry you are to cause them such pain, and want forgiveness from those you've wronged.

Probably the most interesting item on display is Old Sparky, the actual electric chair which was used to kill 361 people. It sits in a replica of the red-brick death chamber at the Huntsville Unit prison less than 3 miles away. The inmate-built oak chair glems beneath a spotlight with its leather straps curled around the chair's arms and footrests. Metal housings for the electrical works wrap around the side of the chair. It's pretty darn sobering to stand just a few feet from that chair and think about all the people that died in it.

There is also an exact replica of a jail cell you can enter and shut the cell door behind you. I did that and almost immediately opened that door and came back out. It only took a few seconds to confirm what I was always sure of - jail is not for me!

On the way out, there is a small gift shop mostly filled with products the inmates themselves have made. The $25 nickel key chains reading "Death Row" are very popular. Also for sale are t-shirts, some with the image of Old Sparky and reading "Home of Old Sparky." For $4 you can buy an Old Sparky shot glass or for $2 you can get a box of "Solitary ConfineMints." A portion of the money made from the sale of an inmate-made item is credited to their commissary account. A visit to this museum seems to be a bit dark, but it is interesting, for sure.

After leaving the museum, we naturally had to visit the inmate cemetery nearby. The official name is the Captain Joe Bird Cemetery, but most people know it as "Peckerwood Hill." Peckerwood is derived from an old African-American insult for poor white trash people. Since most of the graves hold poor people, the nickname stuck. This is the place where the bodies of prisoners who were not claimed by family are buried. Within its 22 acres are about 3,000 graves of convicts who were buried by other prisoners who serve as pallbearers, chisel names in headstones and dig the graves using shovels. A lot of the graves are only marked by concrete crosses with prison ID numbers and date of death. Some have names and birthdates inscribed. Headstones of executed prisoners have ID numbers that start with "999," the state designation for a death row prisoner, or a simple "EX" or just an "X." 

There is an empty grave located here that stands out. It is the grave of a Native American, Santanta (White Bear), the famous Kiowa war chief. He was born around 1820 during the height of the Plains tribes power and was one of the best and last Kiowa chiefs. He established an enduring alliance with the Comanche and fought with them at the First Battle of Adobe Walls and in many engagements and raids against the encroaching white men. Finally realizing it was futile to continue fighting, he negotiated a treaty and promised his people would move onto a reservation. Unfortunately, his people had to hunt for food and prepare for the move first, so when they didn't move to the reservation fast enough, General George Custer arrested him and held him hostage until the move was accomplished. 

In early 1871, with white men hunting on their reservation lands, Santanta led a raid on a wagon train and killed several men. When he returned to the reservation, General William Sherman assembled a large force of soldiers and arrested him along with two sub-chiefs. Santanta was taken to Jacksboro, Texas to stand trial for murder, the first Indian to be taken to trial. He was found guilty and the judge ordered the sheriff to "hang him by the neck until he is dead, dead, dead." Before that could happen though, Edmund Davis, the governor of Texas, commuted his sentence to life in prison. He was a model prisoner and was paroled in September, 1873. 

A few months after his release, members of his tribe attacked and killed several buffalo hunters who were hunting on their reservation. Santanta was blamed and even though all the members of the tribe said he was innocent and not even at the fight, he was found guilty of violating his parole and once again sentenced to life in prison. He was taken to the state penitentiary in Huntsville to live out the rest of his life. Forced to work on roads and building railroad tracks as a member of a chain gang, he gave up hope of ever being free. His spirit was broken and he spent hours looking through the bars of his cell's window back toward the north, the hunting grounds of his people. 

On October 11, 1878, he was taken to the prison hospital which was the top floor of a 3-story building. Deciding not to spend the rest of his life in a white man's prison, he commited suicide by throwing himself out of a window head-first. He was buried in the prison cemetery, but in 1963, his grandson, an artist named James Auchiah, received permission to move his remains to Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Out of respect, his former grave has been marked and maintained. 

An interesting side note of Santanta, the character of Blue Duck in Larry McMurtry's book "Lonesome Dove" was partially based on his life and death.

Youree Chapel & The Oldest General Store in Texas

Continued from (roadtrip post 2)

Highway 2198 through the Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge is a pretty road, lots of Pine trees and it took us just long enough for my road trip buddy and I to get into a lively discussion about why there is no underbrush among all the trees we passed by. One of the reasons I love having Chip accompany me on these road trips is because, every now and then, with a totally straight face and full of absoluteness, he makes some "statement of fact" that I find outlandish BS. We can "discuss" these statements for hours, coming to no resolution before dropping the subject and then we'll pick it back up where we left off 6 months later during the next road trip. I have yet to positively determine if he is convinced of the truthfulness of his statements or if he is just having fun at my exasperation. It's one of the benefits of being best friends for going on 50 years!

Youree Memorial Chapel

Connecting onto Highway 43 toward Marshal and then taking several little backroads, we came to our next destination, the Youree Memorial Chapel. Built in 1904 and fashioned after a chapel in England, it has a hand-carved interior with windows by Tiffany. The chapel was built by the parents of Will Youree after he died at age 31 of yellow fever. It is still used today for funerals and the occasional wedding. The historical Scottsville Cemetery joins the chapel property.

The beautiful grounds of the cemetery contain some of the largest and most elaborate, and no doubt, most expensive, gravestones to be found anywhere. One of the first things you'll see is a 25-foot statue of a Confederate soldier, commemorating those who died in the Civil War. Just beyond the statue is a pond a number of ducks call home and a really nice gazebo. The graves are shaded by many pines and shady elm trees giving the whole cemetery an aura of quiet and peacefulness.

Scottsville Cemetery

Unfortunately, the chapel is not open for public viewing. When we arrived, there was still snow on the ground, the temperature was in the 20's and that oh-so-cold wind was still blowing. After just a few minutes outside the warmth of my truck, we decided to forego our usual routine of respectively walking around the grounds and viewing the headstones. Just too darn cold.

Next stop - the tiny crossroads community of Jonesville. Located at the confluence of Hwy 134, County Road 2729 and County Road 2727, it's called a community because calling it a town would be ridiculous. It's one of those communities so small that the "Entering" and "Leaving" signs are on the same post. So why was this little hamlet on my "must stop" list? Because that's where the oldest general store in Texas can be found. The TC Lindsey store first opened in 1847 and it hasn't really changed since. Part store, part museum, the moment you walk in you are transported back in time. Only open Tuesday thru Thursday 10:00 - 2:00, Friday and Saturday 10:00 - 4:00, we had to beat feet to get there before closing time.

The ceilings are tall and the old time-worn wooden floors creak as you walk. The shelves are stocked with lots of old cans, bottles, and boxes, some just old empty relics, some you can buy and actually use. Many items used by the homemaker of years past are still in stock. It's amazing how much "stuff" there is - from clothing to history books to iron skillets. There is also a large selection of locally hand-made jams, jellies, salsas, and honey. In the middle of the store, just past the books and knick-knack shelves is a seating area with a couple of tables. At the counter is a cheese cutting block, the type you see only in museums or movies. Ask for a chunk of cheddar cheese and some crackers, get a soda and have a snack while you have some interesting conversations with the very friendly folks who work there and any other customers. 

On the left side of the store is the hardware section filled to the brim with farm implements, hand tools, empty old soda bottles, oil cans, and leather goods of all ages. There is even the last bale of cotton that was baled at the gin many years ago. In the back corner is the old Jonesville post office (now closed). Look close and you will also find some amusing, odd items for sale - like cans of dehydrated water - something in all my travels I haven't found anywhere else.

There have been 10 movies which made this store a part of their movie productions and you can find a list of them on a wall. The store has also been featured on several TV shows like 60 Minutes and CBS Morning News.

I bought a few items I just couldn't turn down, including a can of dehydrated water, along with some road food - a couple of peanut patties, several other candy bars, a bag of chips and a book. Chip bought a few items himself and it felt good to support a small business like this one even in a small way.

The TC Lindsey store is a throwback to how Texas used to be, a time many of us remember fondly. It was definitely a good, interesting stop on this road trip. If you are ever in the area, make a special effort to stop, browse and remember. 

After an interesting, if cold, day, we headed to Huntsville where a Best Western hotel was holding a room for us. Time to find a place for a bite to eat and rest up for the next day's adventure.