As our year of The Great American Adventure draws closer to an end, we seem to be moving along more quickly. Maybe we're starting to get anxious to put down roots again and give up this nomadic lifestyle!
Since we left you last month in Arkansas, we have passed through Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and are now in New Mexico. You would think that with all that driving, we wouldn't have had time to see anything, but we've really done a lot.
One of the most moving things we've seen on the entire trip was the Oklahoma City Memorial and Museum. If you haven't seen this, it should be on your list. The Memorial sits on the footprint of the Alfred J. Murrah building. A peaceful water feature replaced the street in front of the building and two granite monoliths at each end display the time one-minute before the bomb went off and one-minute after, changing that city forever. 168 bronze and glass chairs inscribed with each name, are arranged in 9 rows for the nine stories of the building and where each victim was found. Very compelling.
The museum is equally well done and was developed with input from families, survivors, rescuers, local citizens, and government officials melding the viewpoints of all who were a part of this horrible incident. We really liked the way it was presented, starting out with "just another day" as people headed off for work and school. Then you are sitting in a water board meeting when the bomb goes off. From there the chaos of the next several days is dramatically shown, and finally all of the aftermath. A tough subject but handled extremely well.
We were similarly impressed with the Museum in Dallas in the Book Depository where JFK was shot. The street scene has not changed since 1963, and you can really feel what happened that day.
On a lighter note, this was a musical month also. We visited Branson and saw three wonderful acts there, and hit The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville for an evening of toe tapping on their live weekly radio broadcast. The Opry is amazing in that you see about 25 acts in just over 2 hours. Each person/group only sings one or two songs, then the stage hands are out there changing microphones, amplifier connections, etc. -- out with the old, in with the new, and on to the next act! Controlled chaos.
We enjoyed St. Louis and Kansas City, doing the usual tourist things, but as for the rest of the heartland, it is mostly miles of fields with an occasional town interrupting the peaceful deserted roads. We went through a couple of audio books as we rolled through state after state of flat farmland!
One of the small town interruptions that we did enjoy was Abilene,
KS. Home of Dwight David Eisenhower and the end of the Crisholm
Trail where cattle were brought in droves from Texas to load onto
rail cars bound for eastern markets. This was a very colorful
place for many years and the story is told throughout the town
that hasn't changed much since those Wild West days.
Eisenhower's boyhood home still stands on its original site and
in the exact condition it was left when his Mother died in 1947.
A very small house for 6 rambunctious boys to have lived in!
A small chapel with brightly colored stained glass has been built
on the site, containing both his and Mamie's graves. An interesting
Museum of their lives and the Presidential Library are also on
the property.
The visits to our National Parks also consumed much of our time this month, with Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, Big Bend and Guadeloupe Mountains in Texas and Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico all on the agenda. Of course, Carlsbad Caverns is the granddaddy of all the caves, and was interesting, but we particularly enjoyed our time at Big Bend.
This is a park you really have to want to go to - it is hours from anything even remotely resembling civilization! But what a treat when you do arrive. Three distinct areas - the mountains, the desert, and the Rio Grande river valley. Spring was in full bloom in the desert, delighting us with spectacular flowers and the gnarled mountaintops jutting above the desert floor into the bright blue sky. A real feast for the eyes.
We wanted to experience one of the 3 canyons of the Rio Grande in the park on a float trip, but the water was already too low for rubber rafts. We ended up on an all day canoe trip - 3 miles upstream, a hike, and a float back. Sounds easy, right? Wrong! Now, I will admit part of the problem was that Phil and I are not accomplished canoeists and inevitably expended much more energy than necessary keeping that darn thing where it belonged! We had to portage around sandbars and gravel bars, fight head winds going up and run small rapids coming back, and I was worried about dumping my camera in the muddy Rio Grande (we were the only canoe that didn't take a swim!).
As it turned out, the trip was spectacular--1500 foot cliffs on both sides of us with a narrow lush valley between. The quiet and beauty made us forget our aching muscles most of the time. A nice tailwind and the slow current coming back allowed us a lot of time to just gawk at the majesty of Santa Elena Canyon.
Upon our return to Lajitas, the outpost where we were staying, we were greeted by a fierce dust storm. Sometimes you couldn't see 10 feet in front of you. We were concerned about the Rolling White House being sandblasted into the next county, but the morning dawned clear and sunny with no damage.
It's been quite a month, but we are looking forward to home,
family, friends and golf. One more Villager article and we'll
be there! See you all soon!