Thousand Trails Medina Lake RV Resort, Lakehills, Texas – Day 7

Mary remains at home in California tending to medical issues. She had successful carotid artery surgery on Wednesday, November 14th,  returned home the following day and is in the process of recuperation.

The motorhome is parked at Thousand Trails about 40 miles west of San Antonio.

Two days ago I took the Bronco and drove the about 20 miles back to Bandera, Texas. I say back to, because I drove through Bandera on the way to my current parking spot at Thousand Trails with the motorhome, but did not stop.

Bandera calls itself…The Cowboy Capital of the World. You can read about Bandera by clicking this link…
http://www.banderacowboycapital.com/index.cfm

Since I’ll be at Thousand Trails for another about two weeks and all I have to show from there are deer photos, I’m going to stretch out the photos I took in Bandera over three days. For this second day, some photos of downtown Bandera…

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

The major intersection of Bandera…

where they still ride horses on Main Street…

where, if you’ve nothing better to do,, you grab your guitar and sing songs for passers-by…

where If you are hungry, you wander into the O.S.T. (Old Spanish Trail) Restaurant that has been there since 1921…

where they have saddles for seats at the no-liquor or beer eating bar…

where they have a Chuck Wagon buffet bar…

where they are still doing a lively business in the mid-afternoon…

and where I enjoyed a great tasting Tex-Mex meal of two chicken Chalupas…

Enjoying Cowboy towns is another joy of the full-time RVing lifestyle!

The red dot on the below map shows my approximate location in the State of Texas. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…
http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

FORT HUACHUCA

You are looking at the historical site of Fort Hauchuca, the buildings are newer but the beautiful mountain frames the very spot where Captain Whitside brought new recruits to live in their tents and fight the Indians.

They sang, they trained, they marched and accepted their lot.

During the grueling Apache campaigns, officers decided  a soldier could live on 3/4 pound of slab bacon, or l 1/4  pound of fresh beans; 1 1/8 pounds of flour or 1 lb of hard bread; 0.15 pounds of dry beans, or 0.10 pounds of dry rice; 0.10 lb of coffee and 0.15 lbs of sugar.  An Irishman might lament a diet of beans and bacon and did so in song:

“We wint to Arizona, got to fight the injins there, we came near to be made bald-headed, but they dint git our hair. We lay among the ditches, in the dirty yellow mud, but we never saw a turnip, an onion or a spud.”

And then, later, they  built their own quarters.

Women joined their husbands after permanence came to Fort Huachuca.

It wasn’t easy for the enlisted men’s wives and they, too, put their woes to verse.

By this time the Mexican border skirmishes were subdued but Pancho Villa lived to fight another day.

The fort, along with 70 other forts between Texas and California, saw settlers into the Western regions and secured and expanded the borders of the United States.

In 1886, Captain Lawton, and Lt. Charles Gatewood rode into Geronimo’s camp and asked him to surrender. These photos are from his first surender when he signed a peace treaty. A magazine cameraman got the first photos of Geronimo during the negotiations for that first surrender.

The cameraman was intent on his work and would ask Geronimo, stand here, turn your foot that way.  Much to the officer’s surprise, Geronimo did as the cameraman suggested.

Eleven years later, the army was using the Apache’s for scouts.

An Arizona regiment of  Buffalo Soldiers came to the fort in 1892. They had been stationed in Arizona since 1885. They were much admired by the Indians who referred to  them as “buffalo soldiers” because their wooly hair resembled the curly buffalo hair between the horns. The soldiers liked and accepted the name and went with it. The Buffalo Soldiers fought the Indians, Mexican insurgents and proved their metal in many ways. They didn’t get the acceptance they wanted after the Civil War, but they didn’t give up. They were indispensable foot soldiers in  WWI. Several men received France’s Crosse de Guerre,  during battles in France fighting with the French army. One man stood out above the rest, Corporal Eddie Stowers was recommended for the United States Medal of Honor for his heroic actions. The paperwork conveniently “got lost.” African Americans didn’t get the acceptance they had earned as hard fighting Americans then, either.

Nor after World War II. In fact, Corporal Stowers didn’t get his metal awarded to his family until 1991. Click on his story to read about his heroism. What a blot on the American conscience to have so treated a heroic soldier in this manner, and the still overt and subtle racism we have today.

The fort was predominantly home base to the Buffalo Soldiers for 38 years, with various regiments in and regiments out. At times, they were the only soldiers on post.

The Apache served again, not only as enlisted men, but for the use of their language for codes during WWII that the enemy could not break.

Modernization came. Most of those 70 forts are gone but Fort Huachuca is still a vital link in the service of our country. It has seen every war. It closed briefly after WWII and for seven months after the Korean war. It was revamped as an intelligence center. In 1954 it became the electronic warfare proving ground and test center and is still used as a vital part of our defense today.  A separate museum depicts early army intelligence.

I like museums but sometimes they overwhelm. This one gave its story in an easy flow, without miring you in minutiae. Besides the people of the Fort, there are wonderful paintings, drawings and sculpture. The grounds have much history and archeology to view as well. Well worth a stop if you are traveling in this area.

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM FAR AND NEAR

As a kid, growing up in rural Michigan, I never thought I’d become a world traveler. It still boggles my mind.
And looking back at this wonderful year of traveling across the United States and back, the wonderful experiences I’ve had, the amazing places and things I’ve seen, I’m in awe of my great good fortune to have met a ramblin’ man who seeks to be an adventurer and pulled out of the ruts of life to follow his dreams.

I mentioned being a world traveler as well. Before I retired, I was interested in the world, other cultures, other peoples, other customs. It was my good fortune to become acquainted with the Republic of Indonesia via an exchange student who became an integral part of my life and introduced me to a whole new world of experiences. And, today I received greetings from Linda Djamaludin, one of the nicest, most interesting women I’ve ever met.

This is Linda, third from left, in costume, with some of her friends.
Below is Linda experiencing snow for the first time, at Bear Valley, something rather rare in Indonesia. (Photo from 1986).
Linda, who is muslim, also sent me the words to a song, Stand Up For Love. There are words worth repeating:
There are times I find it hard to sleep at night,
We are living through such troubling times.
And every child that reaches out for someone to hold,
For one moment they become my own.
If we all stand together this one time
Then no one will get left behind.
Stand up for life
Stand up for love.

If we could see the world as a world full of people who all want basically the same thing. Love, friendship, family, good health and the ability to have free choices, what a peaceable world this would be. Which is, by the way, my wish for the New Year. A WORLD FULL OF PEACE AND LOVE.