Good Timing

There are times that simple luck or just being out of the wrong place at the wrong time is beneficial. We have been in Willis Texas for a week now. The weather has been cooperative without a lot of rain and some nice sun. There has been some rain, some cloudy day, and quite a bit of fog. We are not far from the large Lake Conroe so the fog is understandable. Some of the areas that we were in just before we came here have been getting extreme amounts of rain, up to twelve inches in a day. We have seen the pictures of flooded streets and submerged cars and all the other stuff that goes with that much rain. Our timing has served us very well by getting us out of those areas. It is good timing.

We have had one thing here that we could have done without. There was evidently a massive hatch of some small flying insect happened shortly after we got here. These little insect were just slightly larger than gnats. Most of the insects were black, perhaps five to ten percent were either white or almost colorless. We stayed inside unless we really needed to go out. Whenever we did the insects swarmed inside. It did seem that most of them would land on the ceiling and then stay there, most but not all of course. Evidently there is a spider that is living in the cabinets at the front of the Vectra. While I was working on the computer one evening I saw a jumping spider creeping across the ceiling toward one of the insects, it crept slowly to what it determined a proper attack position and suddenly it would jump and grab its meal, and then go back to the front cabinets. Over the period of the evening I think that spider grabbed at least a dozen of the insects. Normally I would have caught the spider and put it outside, but in this instance it was so fun to watch that we allowed it to stay.

Over the time that we have been traveling there have been several times that we have had spiders that would make a web from the windshield wipers to some convenient location. When we started to drive the spider would run to a location that was safe from the wind, sometimes it took up to fifty miles for the spider to seek shelter. When we would get to a new location it would come out and rebuild the web. At least one spider traveled with us for several relocations. I did not know that we had a spider web built on our wiper here until the insect hatch happened. We opened the curtains at the front and saw a spider web with most of the radials and the spirals marked with insects that had been caught by the sticky web. I have been tempted to try and count the insects that have been caught on the web, but I think I have other things more valuable to do. I will just say that there has to be several thousand.


INSECTS CAUGHT ON THE SPIDERS WEB
(Double left click on the picture to get a bigger view.)

In the week that we have been here we have not done a lot of sightseeing. It has been nice to be able to catch up on some of the computer work that I needed to do. For the first time in (likely) over a year I have all my pictures labeled and have written the description of them in the word document that goes with them. Now I have time to write other things, like a posting to Uncle Ducks Tracks and even put out another POTR. One thing that I noticed is that over the last almost five years is that my word processing descriptions of the pictures has made a rather subtle change. In the beginning I might write, "This is a building on the Jones Farm." Now I might write, "This is the cantilevered barn that was built by William Jones in 1893 to protect his cattle ---------- and it is the -------- which is the last standing ------. In other words I have graduated toward a much more informative dialogue. I have to wonder if the writing that I do will ever be read or appreciated by someone besides myself. It is enough to be written for me. It has given me solid information to support my beliefs about travels that we have done when there is a disagreement with my wife. Also it have proved me wrong a time or two. But then it has sharpened the memory of both my wife and myself.

Before I close here I want to thank all of you who have left comments in the blog or written me e-mails with a comment. I enjoy sharing with you and it increases my pleasure when I know that others are reading my offerings. I have been told that over two thirds of all blog are laying fallow and I do not doubt the authenticity of that statement. I also saw a tee shirt that says a lot about blogs. It said, "More people have read this shirt than your blog!" He was probably right.

Till later this is Uncle Duck

Half A Million Dollars

We got through with our week in Vicksburg and have moved to the Lake Conroe, Texas area. We are back in a campground that we have been in before and will never forget. Slightly over three years ago when we were here we were awakened by sirens. A motor home was on fire just down the street from us and the fire fighters were getting it under control. The lady that lived in it was severely burned and taken to the hospital. We never heard how she was, except bad, before we left. We asked if there was more information when we checked in. It was bad for sure. The burns of the lady became infected and caused her death. The worst part was that we learned that she had gone back into the motor home to get a roll of money and because of that her husband had to drag her through the flames to get her out at all. Sometime after the fire was put out and someone went through the ashes the roll of money was found. The bank was able to replace all the partly burn money. She lost her life for a roll of money that was replaced. The only thing that was good that we heard was that the husband recovered from his burns and has gotten life back together and is actually camping here in the resort now. I am thinking that I might go see him. I liked him when I met him before the fire. The thing that keeps going through my mind is that the things that are lost in a fire are replaceable, but the life that might be lost is not. I don't know what I would think in a similar situation, but right now I plan to run FAST and FAR.


THE RV THAT BURNED IN 2006 NOT A WHOLE LOT LEFT

Have you ever seen a half million dollars, or a million dollars. I have never seen it in an intimate way. I have seen a million dollars worth of gold in the Denver mint. I have also seen over a million dollars in twenties in the Bureau Of Engraving in Dallas, Texas. At neither place was very close. I was closest to the gold, it was perhaps eight foot away, behind a very thick glass window. Both piles were rather small. In Jackson, Mississippi I saw a half million dollars that was a pretty good sized. But then it was all in pennies. That was impressive and I was closer to that than I have been to any other large amount of money. Right across the street from the Capitol Building was a display, I guess that is what it was, that was made of Plexiglas and had fifty million pennies in it. It was impressive to say the least. I could not help but wonder about the time that a car or truck misses the corner and plows into it. That is going to be a lot of pennies to pick up. I also hope that I never get the job of putting all those pennies into rolls to take to the bank. It will take a million rolls to do that. No one will ask me to help.


FIFTY MILLION PENNIES IN A DISPLAY IN JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI

The last week has been a problem week with my computer. It would start up, run a minute or two, and then shut down. It took a while but I think I have solved the problem. I have been working today for several hours and it is still running. Knock on wood for me. But be sure you only wake up the good spirits.

Till later this is Uncle Duck

River Murals

Today is Sunday and we are in Vicksburg Mississippi. We have been here for three days now and have been keeping busy. We are camped next to some people that made an interesting comment to me. "There is nothing to see here." I guess that I simply have a different outlook on life. To me there is a lot to see here. There is the Vicksburg Battle Ground. The Mississippi river. Not far away is the only petrified forest east of the Rocky Mountains. There are many antebellum homes and plantations. I don't know how many, if any, we will visit, but they are here.

We are only a few miles from the Mississippi River. It is one big river. In the downtown area there is a river wall set up for flood control. Along the street side there are thirty two murals that depict different aspects of the culture and history of Vicksburg. A lot of the history of the area can be learned just by looking at the murals and reading the signs that are with each one. It is a great panorama of murals. One of the murals is about the Vicksburg garden club.

We looked for a restaurant to go eat Sunday dinner. There was one called Walnut Grove that sounded good. When we got there it was in an 1860 or 1880 house. We walked in and they asked, "Do you want a round table or table for two?" A round table seated maybe ten people and had a lazy Susan in the middle. You would sit at the table with other people, possible strangers, and eat family style from bowl that were place on the lazy Susan. There was something like four meats, eight vegetables, a couple desserts and everything was all you could eat. The other gave a choice of three vegetables, a meat, and dessert for about 2/3 the cost. We chose that option and still had more than we could eat. While we sat at a table for two we were next to another interesting couple at a table for two. (Now you notice that I said "another interesting couple. I hope that they found us interesting) We started sharing conversation and found out the lady had been been one of the speakers at the dedication of the mural of the garden club. This is such a small world. What are the chances of meeting a person like we did. We get lucky at times.

My picture of the Garden Club mural did not come out well so instead of it I will show you one that i thought very impressive. From 1885 until 1930 steam trains were taken across the Mississippi River aboard steam powered paddle boats. The ferries operated day and night. Prior to that time the trains were off loaded to the boats and reloaded to trains on the other side. In 1930 the first highway rail bridge was built across the river.


THE TWO TRAIN TRANFER RIVER BOATS ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER

Later this afternoon we went a ways to the north to the Tara Wildlife Refuge. It was a beautiful drive through the farms and along the mighty Miss', but we did not see any birds or animals that were worth photographing. Tara is a privately owned refuge that apparently allows the public to at least visit. The refuge was gated, but the code to open the gate was written on a professional sign along the road. We punched in the code, drove in and looked around. When we got ready to leave the gate would not open. There is a joke that I have heard since I was a small boy that goes something like, "You can get in for free. It costs a dollar to get out." Also there was an exit fare on Boston's Metropolitan Transit Authority subways that inspired the 1948 MTA song lyrics, "When he got there the conductor told him, "One more nickel" Charlie could not get off that train. " This song became a big hit for the Kingston Trio in 1959. As it turned out we did not have to pay an exit fee, but my wife had to crawl through the fence and activate the entrance code to open the gate so that we could get out. I am glad that we did not have to spend the night there.

Till later this is Uncle Duck

Signs

Along one of the Interstates that I traveled within the last week there was a large sign that said, "Fasten Seat Belts -- Next Million Miles." I have been in favor of people wearing seat belts long before seat belts were anything more than an add on that people could put on cars themselves. I had a 1949 Plymouth that I added seat belts to with parts from a auto supply and a drill that I borrowed from my brother to put holes through the floorboards. That was in 1962. My next car had brackets for the belts but you had to get the parts from a auto supply and install them yourself. There are many signs that fit with exactly what I believe.

Today I saw a sign that I really hoped was wrong. We were again on an Interstate, but this time we were moving at perhaps 5.2 miles per hour. Maybe we going 5.3 MPH I forgot to check for sure. Along the side of the road there was sign that said, "Speed Reduction Ahead." Oh how I hoped that the sign was wrong. If the speed was reduced any more it would have to be to a dead stop. I wanted to get to the campground before dark. Fortunately in about 15 minutes more the traffic broke free and we did get to a camp near Birmingham, AL.

As to the third and last sign I saw I really have to wonder what the person that created the sign was thinking. It was a sign on the column of a bridge that said, "Trust Jesus." It can be said the the spirit of the sign is good. There are a lot of people that believe in Jesus and try to live by the precepts that he set forth. Most of these people also try to convert others to those same beliefs. But it seems to me that there is nothing in the Christian creed that says it right to go out and deface the property of others, even if those others happen to be the state highway department. A Christian has the responsibility to act as the teaching of Jesus Christ are laid out in the Bible. As far as that goes I do not think that any person has any right to deface any property unless they own it themselves.

Every once in a while in our travels we go through a cemetery for some reason. In November 30, 1864 the battle of Nashville was fought between the North and the South near the town of Franklin. On December 1 the 900 residents of the town awoke to find almost 2500 dead soldiers in the farmers fields. The Union bodies were buried by their comrades without consideration of their identities. Most of the Union bodies were removed by to a Union cemetery or claimed by their families. On the other side the Confederate bodies were buried with great care by burial details that collected details like name, rank, and regiment and company. Each grave was marked with wooden markers. These grave were prove to be temporary. In the spring of 1866 the markers were fading, some of the markers had been taken for firewood. The identities of the soldiers were in danger of being lost. A local farmer gave land for the interment of nearly 1500 soldiers of the Confederate army. He and four helpers disinterred the bodies from temporary graves and moved them to this permanent place. Each body was placed in an area that was designated for the mans home state. The work of moving the bodies was "done in order to have removed from fields exposed to the plow-share, the remains of all those who were buried," In 1890 funds were raised to replace the wooden markers with stone. Each and every stone is a sign that represents a tragedy that we call the Civil War.


THE McGAVOCK CONFEDERATE CEMETERY IN FRANKLIN, TENNESSEE

It was not really our intent to visit cemeteries this year. But they are interesting at times and they have a lot of history "buried" there. Yes pun intended. When we were in Charleston, IL we went to the Last Farm Of Abraham Lincoln's father and mother. It was a very interesting place to visit with reenactors, gardens, and some animals. On the way back to Charleston and Mattoon we stopped at the cemetery where Abraham's father Thomas was buried. We looked around the old gravestones and also we drove through a newer section. One of the stones was decorated in a manner that I have never seen before. It did not seem to be engraved or painted. I would be inclined to say that it was decorated with a laser in some manner. There is no indentation of any of the letters or roughness in any of the design. Within fifteen foot of this stone was another done the same way. I was very impressed with the work.


GRAVESTONE IN CHARLESTON CEMETERY

We took a couple trips up in Smoky Mountain National Park. It is a beautiful place. There were a lot of families that lived in the mountains there. In driving around the two areas we visited I was never able to figure out what the "actually" did to make a living. Every place that we visited was called a farm. I have made many jokes about farming in the hills with a crow bar and a shotgun. The crowbar is used to lift the rocks and the shotgun is used to plant the corn under th rock. That no longer is a joke. I do not know where there was a piece of ground that a kernel of corn could be planted. If there was a semi-flat spot there was a house or barn on it. And even then there were boulders the size of a VW poking out of the ground. Yet these people had fully functional farms, stores, home industries, a dozen or so tub grist mills, schools, many churches and all the other things that make up a community. I was never able to figure out where they could have had a single corn field. On one farm there was a double corn crib with a drive through section in the middle. Each of the cribs could not have held more corn than my father would have put in one wagon load of corn. It was indicated that one of this farmers neighbors quipped that he likely never grew enough corn to fill the cribs. Even if he could have grown that much corn I am not sure how he would have gotten through the passage way because of the large rock in the middle.


A DOUBLE CORN CRIB ON A SMOKY MOUNTAIN FARM

I would have liked to spend some more time in the area but instead I spent the day driving to Birmingham, Alabama today and will go on to Vicksburg, Mississippi tomorrow.

Till later this is Uncle Duck