17/05: On the Road Again: Apache to San Antonio, part 1
Category: American Culture
Posted by: an okie gardener
On Friday we traveled to San Antonio for the graduation of our youngest from Trinity University. From the end of our driveway to Trinity it was U.S. 281 for about 400 miles.
First past Ft. Sill, the U.S. Army's large base just south of us, the home of Field Artillery. Most days we hear the thump of cannon fire from our yard. Sounds like freedom.
Ft. Sill is adjoined on the south by Lawton, hometown of 2007 Miss America Lauren Nelson. About a year ago I ran into her at a pow-wow. I did not recognize her as I walked by until she smiled at me from about two yards away. When Miss America smiles at close quarters you notice.
South of Lawton we passed Walters, Oklahoma, site of the annual Comanche Homecoming. (This year July 17-19). A camp ground just north of this small town hosts this large gathering and dance.
Across the Red River into Texas. If you've never seen the Howard Hawk's movie of the same name, you've missed one of the best westerns--John Wayne and Montgomery Clift. Another movie in which Wayne plays a character whose "manliness" nearly undoes him and everyone else. If Shakespeare had written a western, this would have been it.
South of the Red River is Wichita Falls, home of Shepherd Air Force Base. The falls on the Wichita have been no more since the late 19th century. But, in true American Chamber of Commerce fashion, an artificial falls have been created to show tourists.
cont. below
South of Wichita Falls are Scotland (named not for the country, but for the founder Henry Scott) and Windthorst. Both tiny towns seem built on the labor of German dairy farmers, their largest buildings Roman Catholic churches.
Then through Jacksboro on the old Butterfield Stage route, seat of Jack County, which voted against secession. West Texas with its cattle did not have the slave economy of East Texas and its cotton and rice. Plus, the Comanches made the idea of Federal troops and their forts an attractive idea. Jacksboro greets visitors with a sign proclaiming itself the Home of 4-H, a disputed claim that is probably dubious. 4-H is one of the largest youth organizations in the country and is strongest in rural areas. (I was a member for several years, raising and showing cattle as my projects.)
The skyline of Mineral Wells is dominated the abandoned Crazy Water Hotel. At its height, the town was a center for the multitudes who came seeking health through its mineral water, which was even bottled and distributed nationally as a cure for most diseases of mind and body. Economic fortunes come and go, and no one was offering stimulus money when the health seekers stopped coming to the bathhouses and hotels.
First past Ft. Sill, the U.S. Army's large base just south of us, the home of Field Artillery. Most days we hear the thump of cannon fire from our yard. Sounds like freedom.
Ft. Sill is adjoined on the south by Lawton, hometown of 2007 Miss America Lauren Nelson. About a year ago I ran into her at a pow-wow. I did not recognize her as I walked by until she smiled at me from about two yards away. When Miss America smiles at close quarters you notice.
South of Lawton we passed Walters, Oklahoma, site of the annual Comanche Homecoming. (This year July 17-19). A camp ground just north of this small town hosts this large gathering and dance.
Across the Red River into Texas. If you've never seen the Howard Hawk's movie of the same name, you've missed one of the best westerns--John Wayne and Montgomery Clift. Another movie in which Wayne plays a character whose "manliness" nearly undoes him and everyone else. If Shakespeare had written a western, this would have been it.
South of the Red River is Wichita Falls, home of Shepherd Air Force Base. The falls on the Wichita have been no more since the late 19th century. But, in true American Chamber of Commerce fashion, an artificial falls have been created to show tourists.
cont. below
South of Wichita Falls are Scotland (named not for the country, but for the founder Henry Scott) and Windthorst. Both tiny towns seem built on the labor of German dairy farmers, their largest buildings Roman Catholic churches.
Then through Jacksboro on the old Butterfield Stage route, seat of Jack County, which voted against secession. West Texas with its cattle did not have the slave economy of East Texas and its cotton and rice. Plus, the Comanches made the idea of Federal troops and their forts an attractive idea. Jacksboro greets visitors with a sign proclaiming itself the Home of 4-H, a disputed claim that is probably dubious. 4-H is one of the largest youth organizations in the country and is strongest in rural areas. (I was a member for several years, raising and showing cattle as my projects.)
The skyline of Mineral Wells is dominated the abandoned Crazy Water Hotel. At its height, the town was a center for the multitudes who came seeking health through its mineral water, which was even bottled and distributed nationally as a cure for most diseases of mind and body. Economic fortunes come and go, and no one was offering stimulus money when the health seekers stopped coming to the bathhouses and hotels.
