Friday January 18, 2008

Have added 2 more pictures from yesterday. The first is a shot of the Pecos River with its beautiful cliffs. The second is on Judge Roy Bean's saloon and courthouse (one and the same building) - he called himself "the law west of the Pecos".

We went to the laundromat after breakfast this morning and I stood around in my shorts and tee shirt while my long pants and sweatshirts were being washed - brrr - it is still chilly here. We then drove to Uvalde and visited the Aviation Museum. It stood on the site of the field where civilians were trained to fly during WWII. There were several gentlemen there who had served in the Korean war and they were thrilled to show us around. They have amassed quite a bit of memorabilia, a number of uniforms, and several planes. One of the planes is a L-4, a light observation plane used during the war, and one of the guys flies it every Friday (but not today as it was drizzling). They were an interesting bunch and had lots of "war stories" to relate. We then stopped at the local library which is brand new, but built from bricks of the old school which used to exist on this piece of land. It is a wonderful building - light and airy and they were having a book/bake sale to help pay for a new computer system. We bought a few books (surprise, surprise!) to supplement the ones we brought with us. We also bought some peanut butter cookies for munching either today or tomorrow. One of the fascinating things about this town is that there are a number of huge oak trees growing in the street - they paint the bases white up to about 8 feet and the cars just drive around them - have never seen anything quite like it. Our next stop was to the John Nance Garner Museum (now, before you read on, how many of you honestly know who he was!). It is the former home of Garner who was the vice president for two terms under FDR. It was filled with pictures, clothing (inaugural tux and dress), and letters from his time in office. There were not as many papers as there might be though as he burned his important documents when he returned to Texas from Washington. He was ticked at FDR for running for a third term - he thought that he would be the next president! I found the information about his wife very interesting - she was his secretary as well as an accomplished knitter, needle pointer, cook - she was a master of time management! There were also some letters from Will Rogers who was a friend of "Cactus Jack" Garner. All in all, we had a great time learning about someone we knew so little about. We drove around and looked at some of the houses the town boasts of, but while they were interesting to look at in this setting, many of them were built around the same time as our house was - something that is old here, is not old by our standards. We found a motel with Internet access and will go to dinner soon - the ladies at the library sale recommended one to us. We then may go to the cinema - will have to see what is playing.