Rain in Texas
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Day 17: May 3, 2018 Rain in Texas Comment via blog |
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I've been to Denison, Texas, before. It's where President Eisenhower was
born. My previous visit was on a Monday when the Eisenhower home is
closed, but it's open today, a Thursday. Tours are scheduled on the hour
with the next one happening just ten minutes after I reached the
Eisenhower Birthplace State Historic Site so it was
suggested that I do the tour first the come back to the visitors center to
check out the museum and watch a video. I drove to the parking lot near
the house and snapped a picture of Ike's statue on the way to the front
porch where I spent my time feeling guilty. The rain that had started
during the night had slacked off a little but now picked back up, and I
discovered that the guide, who I expected to be inside the dry house,
actually had to drive from the visitors center just like me. Despite me
encouraging him to stay in his truck and forget the tour, John, popped up
an umbrella and unlocked the house. The Eisenhowers were renters and moved
to Kansas when Dwight was eighteen months old so there are no family
artifacts in the building and not much family history, either. But John
made it interesting with details about the house, the family, and the
town. Back at the visitors center, I watched the video then roamed the
museum as a couple from northern Ohio signed up for the next tour.
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The rain never quite stopped, and there was no doubt whatsoever that it
would get worse before it got better. However, there was a little bit of
hope. The radar screen was captured at 11:55, just after I'd learned that
the local brewery was scheduled to open at 12:00. I could sip inside while
the sky poured down outside. It didn't happen. I reached the brewery a bit
past noon but found the door locked. I rechecked the online information
and discovered that the brewery and the wine shop next door were somehow
connected. After waiting several minutes longer, I tried the wine shop
door and it opened. I asked about the brewery. "He'll be in
later", the young lady told me. "Probably around 2:00." It
didn't seem to be anything unusual. I returned to where I'd previously
left the JH and drove on in middling rain.
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I pulled over a little west of Ector, Texas, to shoot the huge and ornate
fountain because it was sitting all by itself and seemed so out of place.
I asked about it at my next stop and learned that it is the first piece of
a planned very high-end doomsday resort filled with protective bunkers. I
subsequently found a recent
online article.
The drive-in sign is on the other side of Ector. It appears to be all that is left of an outdoor theater now used to display new and used farm equipment. |
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That next stop was the
Sam Rayburn House near Bonham, Texas. Back in Denison,
John had told me about it and described it as the opposite of the
Eisenhower House. Sam lived in the house most of his adult life and
everything about it was left pretty much intact. There's a fancy stove and
Sam's very fancy bedroom and the backdoor where most of Sam's visitors
entered. He was in congress for 48 years and Speaker of the House for 17.
A lot of people, both famous and not, walked through that door. 142
Democratic members of congress chipped in $25 each ($3550) to buy this
1947 Fleetwood for Sam when the Democrats became th minority party and he
no longer had use of the Speaker's limousine. Some of Sam's story is
here.
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The Sam Rayburn Library and Museum is just up the road in
Bonham. Those are portraits of the eight presidents he served with and the
marble rostrum is the one that stood in the U.S. House of Representatives
from 1857 to 1950. The office is a replica of Sam's Washington, D.C.,
office.
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On the right side of the first picture is a cube that somewhat blends in
with its surroundings because it reflects them. The next two photos are
from inside the cube. This is Sulphur Springs, Texas, which also has some
pretty cool crosswalk signs.
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