Day 13: December 31, 2009
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This place was just across the parking lot from my room. It sure looks like a one-of-a-kind independent but I saw signs advertising Pitt Grills in near by towns so maybe it's a local chain. Any place that offer both hash browns and home fries gets extra points from me although I'll almost always go for home fries.
I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I heard of Ricky Nelson's death. It wasn't that I was a huge over the top fan. I was a fan but my memory is helped by the fact that it was New Year's Eve and I was out celebrating. I can't be certain that I would have made the short side trip on any other rainy day but it almost seemed a requirement on a rainy New Year's Eve. Ricky and six others died on December 31, 1985 when his plane crashed into a field near De Kalb, Texas. I learned of this artifact from Roadside America though they raise some doubt as to whether it is the real thing. Others websites simply say that this is the tail section from that plane.
Approaching Texarkana's (Love that name!) United States Post Office and Courthouse from the north, you see water spouting from the ground where the states of Texas and Arkansas touch. On the south side, the relationship is clearly illustrated and name tags provided for the two states. From a vantage point a few yards further south I got a Civil War monument, a Christmas tree, a US Courthouse, and parts of two states in a single picture and there is a World War I monument behind the tree. The tree and monuments are all in Texas. The orange fence in front of the courthouse protects a concrete map that will make a nice photo op once the paint is dry and the fence is gone.
The reproduction oval office carpet is in the museum next to Bill Clinton's first home in Hope, Arkansas. I had some time in the museum but didn't get to tour the house as it and the museum closed early today. I believe it was because of the year end holiday but it might have been to give me the opportunity to photograph another closed thing.
Later in life, Bill Clinton was associated with this is building in Little Rock. It's Arkansas's very attractive capitol.
A second full moon in a month is called a blue moon and that's what we have tonight. It was sometimes completely hidden by clouds. I got this picture during a fairly exposed moment although some thin clouds and mist make things a bit fuzzy.

There have been many versions of the song Blue Moon but once the Marcels did theirs, all others became insignificant. Blue moons are, as you know, synonymous with "infrequent" and ending a decade with one is really unusual and very cool. Blue, blue, blue, blue moon. Dip da dip da dip.

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