I Love My Life

I love my life. I am so grateful that I am able to travel.

Today, though, I am not traveling. I am stranded in the Black Hills of South Dakota in a blizzard. We have 10-12” of snow outside. I’m staying here until the snow stops and melts enough for me to travel the roads. There are lots of sites I want to visit in this area. Most of them I have seen before, but want to check on again. So this is a great time to continue my blog, which I have ignored for a while. I’ll highlight some places I loved.

I stayed in the Redding/Red Bluff area of California for a time waiting for a part to come to get my rig fixed. California is so desperately in need of water. One of the parks had little pools of water that the ducks usually enjoyed. There were signs with warnings about using the pools. They didn't need them this year because all the pools were dry. The ducks pretty much ignored the signs anyway.

One of the sites in the area was the Lasson Volcanic National Park. It has all 4 types of volcanoes within it. The last to erupt was Lassen Peak. Since it was winter, a number of the roads were closed, so I couldn’t get to the geysers and bubbling pools. I thought the roads might be open because the snow cover this year over the park was a fraction of a normal year.

In the years  1914 - 1917 many small explosions took place after a 27,000 year-long sleep. Then on May 19, 1915 a large explosion sent hot lava blocks down the side of Lassen Peak. On the 22nd of May, 7 men including a photographer were examining the devastation from the explosion, and 5 hours after they left Lasson Peak exploded again.

Volcanic ash and gas rose higher than 30,000 feet. Hot rocks were thrown a long distance from the peak. One man was awakened by his dog. He got up thinking there was an animal outside and when he looked out the window, he saw the lava moving down the sides of the volcano and rocks being thrown out the top. Time to leave!! The explosion devastated a huge area, which is now, uniquely enough, named the Devastation area. You can see all these lava rocks sitting around. One in particular was quite large.

I mosied down to Sacramento and spent a day with my cousin. That’s another great thing about traveling. I hadn’t seen my cousin for about 20 years. We spent a great time talking and talking and then visiting the state house.  What a beautiful building! Later my cousin’s husband joined us and we had dinner and saw a play. It was so great seeing them. Cousins are very special.

I visited Columbia which is a great little town representing a gold mining town in the mid-1800s. It had a blacksmith shop, a barn for carriages, a place to pan for gold, and more. What I liked most was the Wells Fargo office. They had all these old packages and trunks from the mid-1850s. They also had a mission bell from the El Camino. Valerie and I had seen these and wondered what they were. And here I found out.

I’ve realized that I like to visit trains and fish hatcheries. Was I a fish-eating conductor in a past life? I went to Railtown in Jamestown, CA.

This location features one of 2 continuously operating steam locomotive roundhouses in the U.S. It also features the Sierra Railway #3 - the movie train. Its movie credits include  High Noon, Back to the Future III, among others. Its TV credits include “Gunsmoke,” “Petticoat Junction” and many more. I lucked out because the day I visited they were getting the locomotives ready for the summer, so I saw them blowing their steam.

I traveled to the desert, staying a couple weeks in Desert Hot Springs. The campground was great - they had hot springs galore - about 7 of them in my section.  It was right near Palm Springs, and I took a tour there.  I thought it was more than celebrities’ houses, but it wasn’t.

I did get a kick out of Liberache’s mailbox - a piano, and the fact that we saw that Leonardo Di Caprio was getting ready for a party. None of us got a kick out of the fact that owners hired gardeners to wash down their driveways. Do they not know there is a water crisis?

Next on my agenda was Colorado. I stayed near Boulder and Denver, in Golden. I visited my niece and her fiancée quite a bit. That, of course, was fantastic. We took advantage of a few Happy, Happy, Happy Hours, and brewing establishments. I like Boulder’s atmosphere.

I’ve taken a few walking tours of homes this trip, a lot of them Victorian. One I went into in Denver was terrific, because of the owner, not the home. It was the home of Molly Brown. What a woman!! She got the name the Unsinkable Molly Brown when she survived the sinking of the Titanic. On the Titanic she was helping others get into the lifeboats, using her knowledge of many different languages.

She put all her clothes on, and then took off layers to keep others warm. She was literally picked up and put in a lifeboat. Molly Brown constantly fought for the rights of others, particularly miners and children. She ran for Senate 3 times before women even had the right to vote. As I said, what a woman!!!!

I've also visited quite a few museums. One I enjoyed very much was the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver. I like his work from the 1920s into the 1940s, before he was a full abstract expressionist. I also loved the Jim Gatchell Memorial Museum in Buffalo, WY. You can’t take pictures there since many of the articles are very meaningful to different people, and recording the images dishonors their contributions. Jim Gatchell was a most interesting and honorable man. He opened a drugstore and was an equal friend to the white settlers and the native Indians. He was known to them as a medicine man, dispersing some of the medicines from his pharmacy. There are so many stories attached to each of the articles in the museum. I think I spent 3 hours there and didn’t see everything. There were boards and boards and boards of old pictures which were unique and informative. They had a mounted head of a jackalope and a story of a few guys who finally got this elusive wildlife. I first heard about the jackalope (half jackrabbit; have antelope) in Jackson Hole, WY 45 years ago.  I was very impressed to read this long story and see the trophy head.

In Cheyenne, WY I stayed at the Terry Bison Ranch. I played the washboard in the band and went out to feed the buffalo during the day.  I told Tawny she should have one of those tongues. They also had camels at this ranch - started with 5 about 5 years ago, and now have 6. One of the cowboys said if they drop a baby in the winter it wouldn’t make it. He said the camels were too tall for the barn. I told him they should build a taller barn.

I was very glad I stayed for a few days in Buffalo, WY. I ate and drank at the Occidental Hotel which Butch Cassidy, Calamity Jane and other well-known outlaws frequently visited. I also followed the cattle wars and the cavalry-native Indian wars. Then I went to Sundance and got wrapped up in The Sundance Kid’s exploits. But the most interesting site to me was the Vore Buffalo Jump.

When they were building Rte 90 through Beulah, WY they found a mass of bones, stopped digging and called the archeologists. One of the ranchers gave the highway department some of his land to move 90, and the site of the buffalo jump continued to be researched. Between 1550 and 1800 a number of tribes used this location to trap buffalo. At the time they hunted by foot, not horse, and it was difficult to kill as many buffalo as they needed to get through the winter. The tribes joined forces and tricked the buffalo, sometimes posing as one, to stampede toward this sinkhole with high walls. The buffalo jumped off the ridge and into the pit. The natives then went down into the pit, made sure the buffalo were dead and took pretty much everything off the buffalo for food, clothing, grease, tanning oil, etc. They found 21 different layers of bone. Through oral histories as well as the archeological findings they recreated what happened so many years ago. I found this fascinating. And I really lucked out because they were not due to open for weeks but they had a group of students and the board members came out to show them the site.

Now I’m in the coach in the middle of a foot of snow, listening to a man play songs on his tuba. Could it get any better?

Sea Lions Take Over

Blog Draft – Mar 1, 2015

I haven't written on my blog for quite a while. Why? Who knows? I'll skip around some to touch some spots I remember.

Valerie and I enjoyed the California coast, driving along the shore – Pacific Grove, Monterey, Carmel, Big Sur. We went along the 17 mile drive which started in Pacific Grove and continued through Monterey and beside Pebble Beach.   And we drove the windy coast by Big Sur – without the rig, which was my choice. I would do it now, though. I have taken it over many windy turns since then because I had no choice.Just how many pictures can you take of the beautiful California coast?

I keep seeing great wave explosions, rock formations and silly little seagull poses. I'm fortunate that I had opportunities to spend time at the ocean – the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Indian. My choice was never to buy a place; nor could I afford what I wanted. But as I have been traveling the Pacific, that yearning to have a place by the sea returns frequently. I also keep wanting to go back for a few months to this great place by the ocean in South Africa, which was quite reasonable. This trip I have spent much time driving the coast, walking on the beach, watching surfers, and thoroughly enjoying the ocean.

While Valerie and I stayed in San Francisco, we took some time to see the city. One day we drove in to Pier 39, in the Fisherman's wharf area, where there are stores and restaurants galore and you can see Alcatraz out in the bay. As we were checking out the stores we started to hear all this noise – argk, argk, argk. We went around a corner and there were hundreds of sea lions “hauled out” on Pier 39's K-Dock. In October, 1989 following an earthquake that hit San Francisco, a few California sea lions started flopping up onto K-Dock. They thought this was great.There was plenty of food in the bay, and California laws protect them, so they had no predators hanging around trying to feed on them. Thus, they put out the word. Within a few months there were 300. In November, 2009 they hit a record high of 1,701. These sea lions have migration patterns from Vancouver to the southern tip of Baja, but many of them stop in San Francisco to check out the tourists and provide a little show. In the summer and early fall naturalists provide information. All we got was a brochure and lots of argk, argk, argk.

The last day of Valerie's stay we went to Muir Woods. This is an old-growth, un-cut stand of coast redwoods. The coast redwoods are the tallest trees around,found on the California and Oregon coasts. Sequoia redwoods, also found in California, but on the interior, tend to be larger in girth, but not as tall. There is one more type of redwood, found only in China. These trees are big, and since they are so tall they provide a redwood canopy of shade. The fog and moisture are also prevalent in this ancient forest. I followed the redwoods up the coast, stopping to see one of the trees through which cars are driven. No. I didn't drive my rig through it. I saw many trees that were old, even a few claimed to be over 1,000 years of age. The trees weren't claiming that; the naturalists were – just to be clear.

Redwoods are beautiful. Often you can't see the top, and you have to be careful about falling backwards as you try. Or at least I do. Redwoods have burls all over them. These burls will often sprout and you will see a family of trees in very close proximity with children from the burls. While I was on the northern shore I heard on the news that burls were being stolen. These are also sold and used for carvings. The talk on the radio was urging a large fine be attached to any burls being taken off trees. Many of the trees have withstood fires and lightning strikes, but losing their burls limits the regeneration of trees and increases the risk of disease, pests, etc. Luckily we have some preservations like Muir Woods to allow future generations to see these redwoods which once covered California coastal valleys.

I visited a sea glass museum outside of Ft Bragg, owned and managed by a man who seemed to be one of the world's experts on sea glass. At Ft Bragg, they used to throw the trash in the ocean. I know!!!! How could they make the seacoast a dump??!! The sea took all those glasses and bottles and polished them and sent them back to the beaches. Ft. Bragg was well-known for its sea glass beaches, but after all these years they've been picked clean. Thank God, the coast was cleaned up and no longer used for a dump.

The next day I went back to Ft Bragg and took a train up through beautiful redwood forests. I didn't make a reservation because it was winter and their schedule was dramatically shortened. I'm glad I didn't wait for the conductor to call "all aboard" because I got the last seat. Quite a few people brought their dogs, which surprised me. There was an observation car and a food car and people were walking about. It's a good thing because if a dog were sitting on my last seat available, I would have asked the dog to move or pay me the money for the ticket. This was called the Skunk Train.In the olden days they used one type of fuel to run the train and another to run the “kitchen.” The combination created a train that you could smell before you could see. This train also takes campers out to camp “on the NOYO.” You have to stay at least 2 nights. The 

tents, cooking kits, canoes, kayaks, etc. are all provided. You can ONLY arrive and depart by the train. If you stay a while the train delivers your groceries too. We went past a 1000+ year old redwood which survived through the first cutting of this forest. It had a huge scar down one side which was probably caused by a lightning strike. That ugly scar kept it alive for who knows how many more years. We went by an orchard and found out the owner of much of the land who had cleared many acres was trying to get settlers to move to the area. He offered land to families who would plant a crop and raise cattle or sheep. (In the old west wasn't it cattle OR sheep?) Apples grew well in the area and this was one of the original orchards still going strong.

I continued up the coast to Eureka. I never found out for sure, but I think a fellow was panning for gold, found a big nugget, and yelled “Eureka!!” And thus a town was born!! On one of my short drives along the ocean I was really glad I wasn't driving the motorhome. I wasn't sure the car was going to make it. The road was narrow, slanting toward the ocean, and consisted of soft dirt, so I was sliding around a bit. But we made it! And on the other side I found a number of surfers parked. This was a spot where the surfers changed into their wet suits and climbed down the rocks/path to surf. Of course they all came in from the other side. It was a beautiful spot. I drove up to Oregon that day just to make sure the coast was just as beautiful as in California, and it is. 

That same day I was driving back to my home away from home, and spotted a herd of elk. I pulled over to watch them for a time, and then continued down the road and saw another herd. I guess they travel through these meadows at dusk. I love seeing wildlife in their own environment. I feel privileged.

I visited a hatchery in Blue Lake. They had just let loose a huge number of trout into the river, and there were many fisherpeople out trying to hook them. There were also a couple blue heron hanging around the hatchery with the same idea. Fishing is big business in this area. The hatchery raised rainbow and steelhead trout. They have a fish ladder to bring the steelhead trout up.They then by hand take the males and squeeze out the sperm. They take a syringe and push the sperm into the females. Ughhh!!! The little trout get their nourishment off the egg sac until they're on their own and get bigger and bigger until they are released. I had many questions without someone around to answer. So I have to look this up and learn more about this hatchery.

I was in Crescent City at low tide and decided to cross over to the Battery Point lighthouse. I have so much trouble now keeping my balance, I'm sure I provide onlookers amusement as I try to stay on the rocks with my arms waving, and then just give in and walk in the water. It was a nice walk and once again a beautiful view. When I got back I felt like I was back in Alaska or the Maritimes. A guy asked me if I saw the whale. I should have been there “10 minutes ago.” Of course, the whale is gone now. I sometimes think these people hang around for an hour telling everyone they should have been there “10 minutes ago.”

The last few days I have been in Redding. They have a beautiful sundial pedestrian bridge over the Sacramento River. It was designed to carry all the weight above the water and not place columns down into the fish spawning area under the bridge.
It is the tallest working sundial in the world, made of a glass deck, a 217' pylon and massive cables. It was designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, and is quite beautiful.

I also went to the Shasta Dam. Massive!! This was built between 1937 and 1944, by 5,000 people. Shasta Lake when filled by the dam covered 6-7 towns and villages. It was a critical need for the war effort. In a videotape they talked to some of the people who worked on the dam. You could see how proud they were of their work. They had a Shasta Dam village with all the services. After the dam was completed many of the houses from that village were bought by local people and transported to their land. It is considered a great success - stopped the flooding, provides hydroelectric power, provides water for irrigation. There is also a hatchery attached to it and it has managed the temperature of the water for the fish.

A Rookery for Elephant Seals

The day after I went to Silver City I went back to Silver City. I was going to the Gila Cliff Dwellings beyond Silver City, but the fog was very thick. I turned the corner just before Silver City and then turned back. Even though I had my binoculars just in case I didn't think I could climb the cliffs, what help would they be if you couldn't even see 2 car lengths ahead? So I visited Silver City again and went into the pink store. 

A much bigger version of this store is in Mexico, and people at LOW's go there once a week to eat, shop, dance, etc. They had a great skeleton for the Day of the Dead. I walked around, had lunch, and waited until 3:00.  Still foggy, so I gave up. 

I figured I had 3 days to get to the LA area. But, I figured wrong and arrived a day before I was due. If I had calculated correctly I would have spent 1 night in Quartzite. That was where I began to feel warm. They found me a site for that night. Then the next day I moved to the assigned site. I spent a great time with Sean, April, Quentin, Mason, Chuck and Tyler. I also met April's parents, and enjoyed their company and our conversations. Sean, April, I and the four kids went to Venice Beach.

We saw a few muscle men, lots of street performers, skateboarders and people, people, people. It was Martin Luther King Day so we celebrated the holiday together with the kids. 

The next day Sean, April and I toured a Russian submarine and the Queen Mary. I think the Russians left quite a few submarines in our water. As Valerie and I toured further up the coast we saw another Russian submarine. Of course the Pacific coast is closer to Russia. I remember Sarah Palin could see it from her back porch. The Queen Mary was one, if not the, biggest and fastest ships at the time it was built. And it was beautiful!!!! I would have enjoyed cruising the Atlantic on such a beauty. During the war, it was transformed to a troop carrier, and then back to a cruise ship. Quite a history. It claims to be haunted, and we looked hard for ghosts, to no avail. But we thoroughly enjoyed our day on the Queen Mary. 

The one thing I regret not doing with the LA gang was playing pitch. We always have some good games. I guess next time.

After LA I went to San Diego. My friend Valerie flew in and we went to see what I think is the best  zoo I have ever seen.

San Diego Zoo is so nicely laid out, and has good space for the animals. As soon as I started viewing the animals I was missing South Africa. I really do want to go back there. As in South Africa, I liked the big cats best. Probably because I can see the same traits in my little cat.We also took a tour of San Diego. I love the hop on - hop off tours. We went to the Seaport village, the Gas Light village and ate at a great old hotel and saloon. 

And, of course, if you're in San Diego you have to go to Tijuana, right? So now both of us can say, "Been there; done that!" 

The next day we drove and drove - more than 8 hours. We found the most tremendous campground in Paso Robles. It was clean, had great services and amenities, and accepted Passport America, so we paid half price. It was a long day and just as we were going to our respective beds, we couldn't find Tawny. We searched the coach and found a window open in the cab. So off we go in our pajamas, carrying flashlights. We found her in about 45 minutes, but by then the adrenalin kept us up for a while.

I had said that I definitely wanted to see the Hearst Castle this time in this area. We planned for that the second day. On the first day we started driving along the coast, going north. There were plenty of ooohs and ahhhhs. The California coast is absolutely eautiful. I can see why so many people want to live here. We saw a sign for elephant seals with an arrow toward the ocean. We went there and read some of the information. There were many people on a structure beside the beach. As we started to walk toward the beach we saw many rocks on the sand. As we got closer, we realized these rocks were elephant seals. We had come across a rookery for elephant seals.  

 I learned that in late November, December the male seals come to this beach and fight for sections of the beach. Then in January, pregnant females come to the beach, decide which section they want, and join the harem around the male who won that section. Then the females deliver a pup, and turn their teats to the pup's mouth, and the nursing begins. The pup nurses for about a month. Then the female seal mates many times and goes into the ocean for a few months. The pup stays for a time and builds up muscle and skill. When ready, the pups go into the water also. A few months later the mothers and juveniles return to the beach to molt. And then later in the year the whole process begins again.

Watching these seals was fascinating. One little pup kept trying to nurse from a big alpha male. He wasn't too happy with that. This made my day; made my trip. Who wants to go to Hearst Castle when you can stay by the ocean and see things like this?

The next day we saw another miracle of nature. We went to Pismo Beach and saw the Monarch Butterfly grove. This grove is home for thousands/millions of Monarch butterflies every winter. These butterflies come from the western parts of the states and Canada. The eastern butterflies go to Mexico City. All the orange specks on the tree pictured to the left are butterflies. 

I knew that butterflies migrated, and about 40 years ago saw some wintering in a tree in Pacific Grove, CA. What I didn't know and found fascinating was that it is the fifth generation that returns to Pismo Beach to winter. I realize that butterflies don't live that long, so 4 generations have died before it is time to  go south, but how do they know where to go? 'Tis a puzzlement!!!!!

After viewing the butterflies we walked to the end of the pier in Pismo Beach, and spoke with a fisherman fishing for sharks. He had a 3/4-prong gaff which was huge. If he hooked a shark he was going to lower the gaff to grab the shark and take the fight out of it. We left wondering how he was going to pull all that out of the water. Here's hoping there were a lot of people on the pier to help him if he did catch a shark. He said they tasted great and it was worth the trouble and risk.

When Am I Going to Be Warm?

I know that in January it may be chilly, but days on this trip have been downright cold. While in Dallas Sue and I went to the Nasher Sculpture Center. There was a terrific exhibit of designs for varied environments by the Heatherwick studio, a design company in England. We saw roll-up bridges, community halls which fit right in with their location, the new bus for London and many other structures. And...spun chairs. They were so much fun. I wore 5 layers of clothes. We went in to the museum and I took off 4 layers. We went back out and those 4 layers went back on before I got out the door.

As always, being in Dallas was fantastic. My cousins have a party on Christmas Eve with a Yankee Swap. It provides many laughs through the evening. I started with a French Press coffee pot, but that was soon gone. Next I picked up an Elvis Presley piggy bank, and that was taken away very quickly. Then I picked 2 dessert shooters, which I took home (to my RV parked in the driveway). Since I was heading next to New Mexico I might have gotten more use out of them if they were desert shooters. Leaving Dallas is always sad although I'm looking forward to whatever comes next. This time I delayed my departure by a day because of ice reports and highways closed.

I got as far as Abilene, and the traffic was stopped. They were pulling us off the road because the highway was still closed. At least 2 tractor trailers were involved, and there had been a fire. Once we got back on the highway you could see the damage caused by the icy roads. Tractor trailers and cars were by the side of the road or in the median, laying on their sides or their roofs. Cargo was spilled all over the place. It took me an extra day to get to Deming, NM. When I got there I had the dirtiest car with a cracked windshield.

I took a trip up to Silver City from Deming, and checked out Billy the Kid's cabin - well, not exactly.

But I was thinking Billy the Kid could have been robbing a stagecoach right where I was standing. Butch Cassidy hung out around here also. He and his gang worked at an area ranch. I wouldn't mind running into him, particularly if he resembled Paul Newman. I wonder if they have reenactments.

Silver City has some interesting quirks. At the information center I asked where Main St was. I had seen some pictures of it, and wanted to meander down the street. The gentleman pointed to a river called the Big Ditch. There was soil erosion, which increased to water coming up to the thresholds of some stores. Then in the early 20th century the water eroded the banks and the result was a 60 foot ditch. Even now there are some elevated sidewalks on other streets to keep the waters from entering the businesses.

The Road to Dallas

I used to make all my deadlines, or at least most of them. I used to always be on time, except when I was early. But those times are in the past. I planned to leave on Monday. Sunday night I knew I had about 3 more hours to go, and I just didn't want to do it. I decided Tuesday was just as good a day as Monday. This gave me time to go get some more cuddles from my grandniece Anna.

Tuesday morning I thought, "I'll be on the road by 8:00". Around 9:30 when I did get on the road I was happy because now I would miss the traffic in Hartford. Yes, I am a half-full kind of person.

The first day I just drove. In the afternoon it started to rain. When it also started to get dark I decided to bed down for the night and found a truck stop. I enjoy seeing my little rig parked in the middle of the monster trucks.

I realized my coach batteries were not holding a charge. Another repair for the not-too-distant future. An RV is like a boat, old house, etc. ($$$)

Wednesday I was up and on the road early. Again I drove steadily, except for one short nap. The speed limit for most of the road was 70. I was in 4 lanes of traffic all going 70 mph and a small car which was stopped in one of those no traffic striped areas edged out into my lane. I hit the brakes, but knew I would not stop before hitting the car. I nudged out as little as possible into the next lane, and waited for the crash with the car and probably another crash with the vehicle in the lane to my left. Three semi trucks passed me on the left and one laid on the horn complaining that I had moved into his lane. But no crash. Thank You, God!! Another near miss. Tawny may have 9 lives but I swear I've already used more than that. Towards the end of the day I really didn't want to drive any more but kept plugging. Then I started looking for a truck stop and did not find one until night had fallen. I don't like to drive at night and avoid it whenever I can.

The next morning I was on the road early again. I stopped after a few hours to have breakfast at a well-known chain, Cracker Barrel. As I was cashing out I asked if they had any audio books. When I first began RVing I always listened to audio books. The last couple years, not so much. I thought maybe that was why I was so fidgety and wanted to stop so often.This chain lets you borrow an audio book for a week for a fee. It worked. I was ready to drive straight to California.

But I was off the road by 1:00. I had been driving through the mountains of Tennessee, and climbing many hills. All of a sudden my preglow indicator lamp (whatever that is) came on and my engine light. I thought maybe the engine was overheating or stressed out in some way. I pulled off to the side for a short time but it stayed on. I saw a camp ground at the next exit, and pulled off. I called around until I found someone who worked on Sprinters. He said I could continue to drive it until it was easy to get it fixed. So on to Dallas. I need to come back to TN in the spring or fall. I love Nashville and want to see all the other cities and sights.

The shower felt great that night. And I slept well.

The next day I did do some sightseeing. I went to Franklin, TN and drove to the Carnton Plantation.

On November 30, 1864 there was a huge battle in the area - the Battle of Franklin. The Carnton Plantation was turned into a confederate hospital, along with other homes in the area. Since this was the 150th anniversary, a major re-enactment was performed and true to history it continued for many days. When we toured the house there were still beds, mattresses, piles of fabric placed throughout the first 2 floors, as well as temporary doors, tables, and floors set up as surgery sites. Most of the surgery was amputations.

I've toured many civil war locations. I always find this history extremely sad. The knowledge that our country was fighting with itself, brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor, hurts my heart. The Carnton Plantation also gave 2 acres of its land as the final resting place of 1,481 confederate soldiers. Care of the cemetery and the books of names and dates, as well as inquiries from those looking for their loved ones, continued to be handled by the inhabitants of the home.

The soldiers were buried by state platoons. Sometimes a soldier had a piece of paper in his pocket stating his name and state; sometimes there was a friend who recognized him; or someone had seen him with a certain platoon; but 900 of the 1,481 buried there were unknown.

After this I went to find the Natchez Trace Parkway and later the state park. I have read a number of Nevada Barr's books about Anna Pidgeon, including the one when she was working in this area, and I wanted to see it. After that I found a truck stop, and bedded down for the night.

The next day, Sunday, I just drove. I found a nice campground although it was 10 miles off the road. I wanted to get 2-3 hours from Dallas, so I could get there the next day fairly early. And Dallas here I come.