2023 Trip 8: Flagstaff, South Texas, and Mississippi River: Jan. 10-11

Posted on January 11, 2024 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Iowa City, Iowa Jan. 11, 2024


Interstate 80 in eastern Iowa Thursday morning


We will be returning home a day earlier than planned as we travel between two snow events. Both St. Louis and St. Paul have missed, and will be missing, major snowfalls. The geographical area in between is another story as central/northern Iowa gets hammered with snow. On Wednesday, north of St. Louis we started seeing snow on the ground and while roads were clear, there were numerous cars and trucks still in the ditch. Just as we got to Iowa City where we are spending the night, the roads were icy and/or snow covered. On Thursday morning, leaving Iowa City, Interstate 80 was littered with cars and semis, particularly semis, in the ditches. Thursday night to Friday morning another 3-5 inches are predicted so we plan to reach St. Paul this afternoon Thursday, Jan. 11.




Driving through Missouri Wednesday


Yesterday we visited our two last National Park units of this trip. At Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site we saw their video, had a tour of the home, and visited the excellent museum exhibits. The combination was informative and well done. I had not been sure what to expect here but I would recommend this spot to others to visit. The house, which was called White Haven, was his home for only a short period of time, from 1854-1859.

Grant dropped by the home as a bachelor Army officer stationed in St. Louis to visit the family of a fellow Army officer and West Point grad. There he met Julia Dent, sister of the other officer. White Haven was a plantation with slaves and Julia’s father a strong Southern sympathizer. Grant and Julia fell in love, which survived a four year separation as he had a tour of duty out west, and were then married.

After several years, Grant surrendered his Army commission but had a tough time making a living managing the plantation and other jobs he had to pick up. They moved to Galena Illinois to work for Grant’s father. When the Civil War broke out, he signed up with an Illinois volunteer brigade and moved up the ranks quickly. Hopefully you know about the Civil War, his Presidency, and post Presidency life.

Grant’s views on slavery were at odds with Julia’s father. During Grant’s Presidency, he made a major effort to reunite the country and to implement the promises of equality for all. He had partial success but after his terms ended, the equality efforts ended.

Our next NPS site, our 13th of this trip, was across the Mississippi River again in Illinois. This is a new NPS unit whose site is not yet fully developed. New Philadelphia was the first town site platted and recorded by an African American. However, the railroad bypassed the town in favor of the nearby “white” town of Barry, Illinois and eventually New Philadelphia died away.


Our effort to learn about the site was hampered since some of the displays are in the Barry Public Library-which was closed due to the snowfall the day before. The walking tour with audio displays and an augmented reality app didn’t pan out as the site was covered with snow. The Barry City Hall did help a bit with one brochure, the NPS stamp, and directions to the site-about four miles east of Barry.

We had lunch back in Barry at the only restaurant open downtown. It had two large Trump banners prominently displayed on the rear wall facing the door.

We recrossed the Mississippi River back into Missouri and drove to Iowa City. Today, as mentioned above, we finished this road trip back in Saint Paul. 25 days, 6,464 miles, 13 National Park Service sites, 14 states and we crossed the Mississippi River eight times.

Ed and Chris

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2023 Trip 8: Flagstaff, South Texas and Mississippi River: Jan. 8-9, 2024

Posted on January 9, 2024 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

St.Louis Missouri

Crossing the Ohio River

Monday, January 8, we crossed both the Mississippi and Ohio rivers at Cairo, IL. The rivers are large here with monumental bridges and with barge traffic still functioning on the rivers below. Our destination is a NPS site home to two rivers.

The Current River

Ozark National Scenic Riverways in southern Missouri protects two unspoiled rivers, the Current and Jacks Fork, in the Ozark mountains and forests. (Before we got here, I thought there must be some river named Ozark River.) This site was the first National Park unit to protect a river system in its wild, undammed state. Congress established this in 1964, before the 1968 Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.

The Big Spring

Karst topography is prevalent here, leading to caves, springs, underground rivers, etc. The largest spring, Big Spring, pumps out an average of 286,000,000 gallons per day.

Visitor Contact Station for Ozark National Scenic Riverways. The contact Station had been built by the CCC.

This area is heavy on gentle recreation, fishing, camping, hiking, canoeing, etc. Since we visited in January, park usage was light. The fact that rain and snow showers were coming later this afternoon probably played a role in keeping people home. I know the weather impacted our decision to only visit a portion of the park.

Our lunch diner in Van Buren MO

This was really our only activity of the day, besides driving. We had a late lunch/dinner and made it back to the hotel before the weather was too bad.

Today, Tuesday was more active. Our first stop was the American Tractor Museum in Perryville MO. What started as a hobby has grown to a museum with almost 150 full size tractors and another 100 toy, riding tractors. In fact, when we visited today, contractors were working to double the exhibition space since they only have space to display half of the collection.

Staff were happy to show us around and answer questions. All of the tractors are in working condition and have been meticulously restored. There are numerous rare tractors and a handful that are over 100 years old.

Leaving Perryville, population just under 9,000, we headed up to St.Louis, metro population of 2,800,000. Destination, another quirky museum, the World Chess Hall of Fame. Now Chris does not play chess and my skills are so rudimentary I don’t admit I ever played. But we managed to attend an hour long guided tour, only held once or twice a month. Two topics were covered, “Where Music Meets Chess” and “T.S. Elliot, a Game of Chess”. About 30 people were in attendance. For each exhibit, a fancy printed booklet had been produced.

Katy Perry with two knights and below, two of the costumes

The music portion showcased musicians who played chess, chess masters who play music, chess moves and designs in music, etc. In a modern example, the 2015 Super Bowl half time show featured Katy Perry with her dancers dressed as chess pieces performing on a huge chess board.

A combined chess board and piano

The renowned poet and playwright T. S. Eliot was born in St. Louis and lived here for 17 years. The exhibit focused primarily on his well known work, “The Waste Land”. The chess references in that poem are both overt and subtle.

Leaving this small museum, we went to the Saint Louis Art Museum. I had a specific purpose, a bit lengthy to elaborate on here. In essence, the Saint Louis Art Museum is the only repository of a panorama of the Mississippi River. This is a 7.5 foot by 348 foot painting of the Mississippi River which they recently restored (in a process visible to visitors to the museum) and had it on display. I talk about it during my volunteer time with the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area. I wanted a few photos to help people understand its immense size, range of topics, and uniqueness.

The only problem, it is no longer on display but is in storage! Chris and I spent half an hour talking with museum staff about the panorama, its value to me, and how to convince the museum to display it again. We will pursue a few angles but I would guess it will be in storage for the rest of my lifetime.

Dinner at Charlie Gitto’s on The Hill

After the museum we checked in to the hotel and had dinner at an Italian restaurant on “The Hill”, the Italian section of St. Louis.

Ed and Chris

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2023 Trip 8: Flagstaff, South Texas, and Mississippi River: Jan. 7

Posted on January 7, 2024 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Paris, Tennessee (forgot to post this, posting on Dec. 9)

Several years ago my GI doctor recommended visiting Fort Donelson, a Civil War battle site in TN. We finally got there.

It is 300 miles from Little Rock Arkansas to Fort Donelson, Tennessee. It was a sunny, breezy, cool day as we played tag with the semis along Interstate 40. Once again we crossed the Mississippi River, this time at Memphis, going east.

The Confederate batteries were guarding the Cumberland River.

Fort Donelson was constructed over a period of months, perched on a hillside overlooking the Cumberland River. A companion fort on the Tennessee River was not finished in a timely manner and Union troops and iron sided gun boats easily took that location. The Union expected another easy battle but the Confederates put up a stiff fight.

The Union, under the leadership of General U.S. Grant, did win the battle at Fort Donelson. Like many battles, individual courage tells only part of the story. The South had more poor decisions that changed the outcome of the battle. In the end, 13,000 Confederate troops surrendered. The Union victory in February 1862 opened up the interior heartland of the Confederacy through the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers.

The surrender papers were signed at the Dover Hotel.

This battle brought the attention of the North of General Grant. When the South sought to negotiate their surrender, he wrote back that the only terms would be unconditional surrender. Thereafter, Northerners said his name of U.S. Grant stood for Unconditional Surrender Grant.

Our evening meal was a great Italian dinner at Moustos Pasta and Grill in Paris TN.

We ended the day in Paris— Paris Tennessee
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2023 Trip 8: Flagstaff, South Texas and Mississippi River: Jan. 5-6, 2024

Posted on January 6, 2024 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Little Rock, Arkansas Saturday Jan 6

Crossing the Mississippi on a rainy day.

We are driving back and forth across this part of the South due to: a. Our desire to focus on visiting National Park Service units we have not seen previously, and b. These lesser visited park units are closed on varying days of the week making a logical touring route impossible.

We have traveled most of these roads in earlier trips. Our first few years we did not have such a strong focus on visiting NPS units. But there are only so many times you can visit an art museum or a flower garden. NPS units cover such a wide variety of topics, we can keep going for a few more years.

Friday we left Vicksburg, MS for Jackson, MS, a one hour drive. Our destination was a new NPS site: Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument. Older readers will recall that Medgar Evers was a nationally recognized civil rights advocate in Mississippi. He was assassinated in the carport of his home in Jackson on June 12, 1963. The high powered rifle bullet that killed him went through his body, broke a window, passed through a wall, and ricocheted off the refrigerator. The hospital where he was brought initially refused to treat him because he was black.

The Evers home
The Evers children beds were on the floor to lessen the chance of a bullet hitting them. Medgar also taught them how to belly crawl low on the ground, drawing on his military experience.
The white square is the bullet hole where the bullet came into the house after hitting Medgar.

His murderer was arrested with his fingerprints and rifle found at the scene. He was set free after two all-male, all-white juries deadlocked. After one of the trials, the then Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett stood by the murderer’s side and shook his hand.

31 years later, new evidence convicted the murderer. Myrlie continued the fight for civil rights she and Medgar had worked so hard for. The home reflects the life and battles fought not only by the Evers but by black families throughout the South and the entire U.S.

Leaving Jackson we drove 2.5 hours north through modern Mississippi evidenced by the Nissan car factory and then through rural Mississippi with poverty and agricultural lands. We passed the Ross Barnett reservoir, “central Mississippi’s largest recreational area and one of the most desired residential locations in the state.”

Our destination was Sumner MS, site of the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument. Emmett Till was a 14 year old boy from Chicago visiting relatives in Money MS who was kidnapped and lynched in August 1955. His severely mutilated and decomposing body was found in the nearby Tallahatchie River.

The sheriff tried to have Emmett’s body quickly buried but Mamie Till-Mobley insisted the body be brought back to Chicago where the open casket viewing shocked people and raised awareness of vicious injustices suffered by American blacks.

The county courthouse where the trial was held.
The courtroom, jam packed every day of the trial.

The two white men arrested were acquitted of all charges by an all male, all white jury. Later in a magazine article they confessed to the charges but could not be re-tried.

Both of these sites were small, in not impressive facilities with no fancy technological graphics, not appearing to attract throngs of visitors, etc. but the impact was huge.

The afternoon was wet and windy. We spent the night in Clarksdale MS a blues hot spot. We spent 90 minutes in the Delta Blues Museum. No pictures allowed. Other than Muddy Waters and B.B. King, most of the names of musicians did not ring any bells. Both of the two locations we had been considering for music and food were closed in early January. We ended up having bar b q at Abe’s, a 100 year old joint that reeked of atmosphere and friendly, talkative people.

Sidenote: We talked with St. Paulites while in Vicksburg while Chris was doing the laundry and in Sumner while visiting the Emmett Till interpretive center.. Not snow birds but just travelers.

Today we crossed the Mississippi River again, westward into Arkansas this time. First stop Arkansas Post National Memorial. This off the beaten path location had been a trading post with the Quapaw Indians under French and Spanish rule, was the site of Revolutionary War and Civil War battles, and the capital of the Arkansas Territory.

The flags that flew over Arkansas Post
Using the words of the state’s declaration of secession, the NPS shows slavery was the primary reason for the South to secede from the Union.

Today it is in an isolated area, cut off from the rivers that initially sustained it due to changes in river channels from flooding and creation of dams. The facility is well done and the ranger knowledgeable; I think he was happy to have some visitors to talk to. Going in we had no expectation of the wealth of new knowledge we would pick up.

From the eastern side of Arkansas to its western side we traveled next to the birthplace of President Clinton. This was the home of his first years. The house was rehabilitated and given to the NPS by friends and citizens of Hope AR. We were given a personal tour by a park ranger, followed by a video of Clinton’s formative years.

His home at birth
Kindergarten photo, growing up in Hope made lifelong friends for Bill Clinton
The family used playing cards to teach Bill numbers and colors
Hope community calendar with the birthdays of the white residents.

It was all very positive, not touching on the convoluted family tree aspects of his life. We were not over whelmed and if this was not an NPS site, would most likely have skipped it. We had visited the Clinton Presidential Library years ago and that gives a more nuanced presentation of his life.

Tomorrow, Sunday, we cross the Mississippi River again, going east into Tennessee.

Ed and Chris

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2023 Trip 8: Flagstaff, South Texas, and Mississippi River: Jan. 4

Posted on January 4, 2024 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Vicksburg, Mississippi Thursday Jan. 4, 2024

What a fantastic day! It reinforced why we travel as we do.

We left Leesville Louisiana for a one hour drive to Cane River Creole National Historical Park and its 9 AM tour. It was the only tour scheduled for the day so we had to make sure we got there in time.

Oakland Plantation main house

Our Ranger guide had been at this park for 14 years, and was a wealth of knowledge. First off, we had to make sure we knew the difference between Cajun and Creole. As I understand it, Creole is a culture and tradition, while Cajun refers to French people who were forced out of Canada after the French lost the Seven Years War to the British. Many of them landed in the southern portion of the United States. Creole people have ancestry going back to people here before the 1800s whether it be of European settlers, enslaved Africans, or those of mixed heritage, including African, French, Spanish, and Native American influences.

Overseers House
The pigeonnier- the pigeon roost; building one in a highly visible location was a symbol of status and wealth

This historical park preserves and protects two long-standing plantations in the area, Oakland and Magnolia. Sidenote – Magnolia was closed due to inaccessibility because of road construction. The Prud’homme and LeComte families had these two plantations in continuous family ownership since before the 1800s. The historical park is here to demonstrate the full range of history, people, and activities in this region for a 200 year period. It is not intended to be simply a Civil War era plantation.

I have been admonished by multiple sources that I don’t need to re-cap and retell the full 75 minute tour given by our guide this morning. Needless to say, the tour was quite informative, and Chris and I came away with knowledge and appreciation for the area.

After the tour and walking around the site, Chris and I headed out for a three hour drive to Epps, Louisiana, in the northeast corner of the state. Located here is Poverty Point World Heritage Site. (The name comes from the farm where the archaeological site is located, it has nothing to do with the economic state of poverty.) Poverty Point is one of only 20 UNESCO sites in the United States.

Poverty Point- the beige color is the central plaza, the white rings are the ridges homes would have been built on.

Poverty Point is the site of monumental earthworks, the largest constructed in the Americas until Cahokia in Illinois. However, Poverty Point predates Cahokia by over 2000 years. This site preserves over 400 acres of earthworks that were constructed by a hunter gather society starting around 1650 BCE. There is a central plaza of around 43 acres, six semi circular oval ridges totaling about six miles in length that are 4 to 6 feet high where homes were built around the central Plaza, and several earthen mounds. The mounds were constructed probably for ceremonial purposes with the highest mound still at 72 feet.

A view of part of what would have been the central plaza
At the far left and right are what is left of the ridges after plowing by modern farmers, the homes would have been built on these elevated ridges

The earth moving endeavors must’ve been enormous. It is estimated that the earth needed just for the tallest mound would equal 15 1/2 million, 50 pound baskets of soil. And archaeological research indicate this mound was built in just 90 days!

Mound A, the tallest mound

Poverty Point is an active archaeological site today, managed by the Louisiana Department of Parks. This state has an unusually large number of mounds and earthworks, with the first mounds dating back to 5000 BCE. The museum here has displays of jewelry, weapons, cooking devices, etc.

We spent 2 1/2 hours here, with 1/2 of that time on a guided tour on a tram, taking us throughout the site. It is difficult to imagine the site without that overview, but the photos give our best effort to provide you with some perspective. The tour provided fascinating details about the archaeological research and the way the entire site was built over a period of time.

Tonight we are staying in Vicksburg Mississippi. We visited here in 2014, tonight is just lodging, no sightseeing.

Ed and Chris

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2023 Trip 8: Flagstaff, South Texas, & Mississippi River: Jan. 2-3

Posted on January 3, 2024 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Leesville, LA

A typical 75 mph road in Texas

Setting the proper speed limit on a highway normally takes a traffic engineer with years of experience. But it doesn’t seem that way in Texas. Two lane roads, one in each direction, little or no shoulder, multiple driveways and cross streets coming directly out into traffic equals a 75 mph speed limit. A 4 to 6 lane road, 2 to 3 in each direction, limited access, wide shoulders, not in an urban area, seems to call for a 65 mph speed limit. Go figure.

Of course, then you drive into Louisiana where that 75 mph road is now 55 mph. But at least in Louisiana we’re seeing real trees, not the usual scrub brush that has been so ever presented in South Texas. Okay, at the eastern edge of Texas we did start to see some real trees.

Yes, we are back on the road again. Tuesday, Jan. 2, was a rainy day in the Corpus Christi area. We used the day to get a mid trip oil change for the Subaru, and to visit the Art Museum of South Texas. The museum is small but it still had its Christmas tree display up. Schools or classes from this metro area used a book to set a theme for their Christmas tree.

We observed numerous books that we recognized, Cat in the Hat, Good Night Moon, The Hobbit but most were titles we had never heard before. It quickly became evident our daughters are many years from being in school.

The past three days when we crossed the water to go to Corpus Christi, we used the southern route with its soaring bridge and causeway. Leaving today we took the northern route with its short ferry ride across the ship channel. It was so quick we did not have time to take decent pictures. Four to six ferries operate constantly but the lines in summer can involve a hour or more wait. We drove right up, they closed the gates and off we went, even though the ferry was only half full.

Today was just driving, through downtown Houston plus miles of scrub brush scenery north and south of Houston. Tomorrow will be two different sites to visit. I am sure you just are itching to discover what they are.

Till then,

Ed and Chris

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2023 Trip 8: Flagstaff, South Texas and Mississippi River: Dec. 30

Posted on January 1, 2024 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

South Padre Island

A lazy day by the ocean, oops, Gulf of Mexico. Slept in and then walked across the street to the South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center. We were informed, by a birder, that this place is known worldwide by birders. We came because it is across the street from the Hilton Garden Inn where we are staying.

A boardwalk takes one through marshland out to the edge of the tidal waters. We skipped the alligator portion to focus on birds. As we told one male birder from Michigan, we just enjoy looking, we are not knowledgeable. So rather than listing the bird names below, we will just throw in a few pictures.

We went to the beach, took a nap, went to a crowded church service with a lousy homily, and had a great German dinner listening to a local band and finished up with ice cream.

So to my journalist nephew who prefers the blog with more pictures and fewer words, I hope this gets your approval.

Ed and Chris

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2023 Trip 8: Flagstaff, South Texas & Mississippi River: Dec. 31-Jan.1

Posted on January 1, 2024 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Port Aransas, Texas Monday Jan 1

End of 2023 and the beginning of 2024. Not a time to plan to visit local attractions. We are in Port Aransas for three nights, it is on barrier islands across the bay from Corpus Christi Texas. Before we left South Padre Island Saturday, we visited Sea Turtle Inc. Sea Turtle is a sea turtle rescue facility (rehabilitating injured sea turtles) that also works to help turtle eggs hatch and make it safely into the sea. The facility has several rescue sea turtles for viewing. 



Another claim to fame was their work in 2021 when Texas had a deep freeze, and the Texas electrical grid crashed. A lesser publicized event from this storm was the “cold stunning” of sea turtles. The ocean water turned so cold turtles went into shock. A new “record” was set with an estimated 12,000 stunned sea turtles up and down the Texas coast. Sea Turtle on South Padre Island and its hundred of volunteers played a major role in rescuing them. Even though only an estimated one-third survived, those survivors would not made it without human intervention.


Today’s only excursion was to Padre Island National Seashore. It is the longest, undeveloped barrier island in the world at 70 miles. It has sand and shell beaches, ocean waters, windswept dunes, endless grasslands, and tidal flats. We hiked on the beach and on a nature trail and sat on the veranda of the visitors center in rocking chairs talking to another couple from Minnesota.

Like many of you, we finished up the day watching college football.

Ed and Chris

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2023 Trip 8: Flagstaff, South Texas, and Mississippi River: Dec. 29

Posted on December 29, 2023 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Holy Moly! Brownsville Texas is waaaaay down south. It is farther south than Miami Florida. It is at the southeastern edge of Texas where the Rio Grande RIver dumps into the Gulf of Mexico. It took us six hours of driving today to get here from Del Rio Texas.

What did we see? More scrub brush. Some hills. A few sheep and goats. Lots of wind turbines. Some oil pump jacks. Very few cars on the first eastward, back roads leg of the journey but lots on the second southward, Interstate highway leg of the journey. And around Uvalde Texas-the winter garden of Texas-fields of cabbage, spinach, carrots, onions, etc.

We are here in Brownsville to visit the Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park. When Texas was annexed by the United States in February 1846, disputes over its boundaries and ownership pushed the U.S. and Mexico toward war. US President James Polk claimed all of Texas, including its Rio Grande River. Mexican President Mariano Paredes insisted Mexico still owned Texas, and its border was the Nueces River. The Nueces is about 150 miles north of the Rio Grande.

The battlefield terrain is not much different today than it was in 1846.

Palo Alto Battlefield is the site of the first skirmishes and battles of this two year war. When the war was over, Mexico had lost one half of its pre-war land, including what is now Texas, New Mexico, Nevada, California, Utah, Arizona, and parts of Colorado. What an impact this war had on the futures of Mexico and the USA!

For the next two nights we are staying at South Padre Island. It reminds us of so many Atlantic Ocean beach towns with hotels, bars, restaurants, T-shirt stores, miniature golf, etc. except it is in Texas.

Ed and Chris, South Padre Island, Texas, Dec. 29

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2023 Trip 8: Flagstaff, South Texas and Mississippi River: Dec. 27-28

Posted on December 28, 2023 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Del Rio Texas, Dec. 28

The second phase of our trip has begun. Phase one was time with family in Flagstaff, Arizona. Now begins two plus weeks of travel to see 13 new (to us) National Park Service units.

Yesterday, Wednesday, was driving all day. Flat scrub brush usually framed by mountains north and south. The day bookended by the largest road runner statute in the U.S. located in Las Cruces NM and the second largest road runner statue located in Fort Stockton TX (made by FastSign in Sparta WI).

Road runners, Fort Stockton left, Las Cruces right

Leaving Fort Stockton this morning, our destination was Amistad National Recreation Area. Amistad means friendship in Spanish, appropriate for this park named in 1990 but created by a joint U.S. Mexican dam on the Rio Grande. The dam was completed in 1969 to control flooding issues from heavy rain storms in the area.

Pecos River

The park itself extends 81 miles up the Rio Grande River, 14 miles up the Pecos River, and 25 miles up Devils River. Water recreation is a main focus as Lake Amistad is the fifth largest lake in Texas.

A view of a portion of Amistad National Recreation Area

We did not fish. We did not boat. However, Amistad and the state run Seminole Canyon State Park protect the Panther Cave archeological site, one of the largest collections of pictographic art in North America. We were unable to view the pictographs directly due to low water restricting NPS boat tours and limitations of the state park tours.

Full size re-created pictographs in Seminole Canyon park exhibits

Exhibits at Amistad and Seminole discuss the pictographs and the development of the area, with an emphasis on the impact of ranching and railroads. Sheep and goat raising are important in this part of Texas, the largest wool raising state in the U.S., although we only saw two small herds as we zipped along US 90.

Seminole Canyon

Seminole Canyon State Park was named after the U.S. Army’s Seminole-Negro Indian Scouts who, between 1872 and 1914, patrolled the western frontier. Seminole Canyon has impressive cliffs, formed solely by rain water erosion over the eons, it does not have a consistent water course.

The Judge Roy Bean Saloon where trials were held inside the saloon and on the porch

On our way to Amistad, we broke our promise to skip the Judge Roy Bean museum in Langley TX due to the scarcity of rest room facilities along our route. We were pleasantly surprised by the modern museum, with its helpful and informative staff, and a modestly entertaining 1960s era video about Roy Bean and the completion of the Southern Pacific Railroad through this section of the country. The rivers and canyons and short mountains provided a challenge that was met by immigrant labor.

Tomorrow, driving day down to the tip of Texas at Brownsville.

Ed and Chris, Dec. 28

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