Texas At Last

Thursday February 28, 2013 Comfort Suites Room 114 Palestine, Texas 6:52PM

So a pair of Texas no brains were in the room next to us last night. At 6:30 this morning they felt the need to start the diesel truck they drive for Ohlson's Foundation Specialists and go off to breakfast.  Do any of you know how noisy a diesel pick-up is????? Finally, at 7 they took off and I went back to sleep until 8:30.  Checked out by one handsome 20 something guy---black black hair and bluest eyes. They grow them Irish cute in this neck of the woods. I asked him if he was related to Casey Deen who checked us in the night before. Looked like his brother--says he gets that all the time--they are fraternity brothers. He and Bill swapped some Greek comments and off we went.

  Beautiful sunny day once more if chilly. 50 degrees at 10 as we started down Rt 6 to pick up 120 into the piney Louisiana woods and to the Rebel Site and Louisiana Country Music Museum. I was amazed at the beauty of the museum. I expected a ramshackle building, being on a very short dead end road in the middle of nowhere. It is a beautiful building in the shape of a piano, if one could get above it to see. And the amphitheatre is quite lavish and apparently brings in some nationally known country artists to perform. We were impressed. I think the pictures truly explain the museum where we spent about two hours. Got talking to Sandy, who plays music and has lived her whole life in the area. She told us to change our itinerary and meet up with her at the end of March in Palestine ( We in the South pronounce it Palesteeen!) for the three day music festival. She is planning on taking a workshop on the autoharp. Wouldn't that be fun?  But we'll be well on our way home by then. She also recommended a couple of books--Louisiana Rock--about the music and the lyrics that needed to be rewritten for public consumption that evolved into today's Louisiana music. She also is reading Unconquered which is the story of the three cousins, Mickey Gilley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Jimmy Swaggart. I would like that one, I think. We were amused by the change in Doug Kershaw's public image from his career with his brother and the solo career in which he really excelled. I can still see him, skinny as Ichabod Crane, in black tails with a fiddle under his chin, whirling like a dervish as he madly played Louisiana Man--incredibly indelible. He is a nutcase,I think, he moved from Louisiana and now has a restaurant in Colorado--who would willingly move to winter???  There was also a Guitorgan on display which I have to research. It apparently was often played by Canadians such as Gordon Lightfoot. It is quite a contraption.

The rest of the day we ran along the Sabine River to Logansport. While it was a beautiful road, disappointingly it did not give us any views of the Toledo Reservoir which is formed by damming of the Sabine. The map made it look as though 191 ran right along the shore--not so. But we turned Westward and into Texas and again, through small almost non-existent towns. Often the sign was bigger than the community--lol. There was construction on the Texas side of the Sabine so we missed 84 and wound up on Texas 7 to Center, Tx--a nice little burg. It was not a major gaff since 7 runs west also and taking 87 north about 15 miles brought us right to 84 once more. Followed it into Palestine---where we stayed about four years ago. The Quality Inn is gone ( actually, we found it is still there but is now a Days Inn) so we stay at the Comfort Suites--all suites but without a whirlpool only $76--and, of course,we were given an upgrade by Carol Nelson--a sweetie who grew up in Astoria Queens and then moved to Islip. Didn't ask how long she's been here or what brought her out. But she is a rig.

Went down to Applebee's for dinner and met Erik--a 39 Texan just returning from life in Venice Beach Ca. He is having a bit of a bad stretch. His wife has left him, taking their year old son. He doesn't know how it is all going to turn out and is up and down about what he wants. We talked about Vt with him--he imagines us living in some sort of backwoods, which was funny. Neat guy and fun to talk with. We could have spent awhile with him but the whirlpool and good TV shows call. Plus, I wanted to do the journal and pix. I've already missed half of Big Bang--ohhhh. Maybe the season is over? Ah, yes, it is a repeat--phew.

So, to explain Reklaw, Texas:

The town is named for Margaret Walker, who donated the land for the townsite, but since a Walker, Texas already existed elsewhere, the town simply spelled her name backwards.^[4] Similarly, the nearby town of Sacul was also named with a spelling reversal.

Also, Sandy tells me that Nachitoches is also pronounced Knock-o-tish and rarely, but sometimes, Knock-o-tosh. Legend has it that an Indian chief sent his daughters, princesses, of course, out into the country to find their homes. One was named Nachitoches and the other, Nacogdoches--which is pronounced much more the way it is written--Knack-a-doe-ches.  Nice legend. On that note I'm closing for tonight. Tomorrow Farm Roads--I cannot wait--my favorite way to explore Texas.  Sleep tight--KandB
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitorgan

http://www.youtube.com/w6atch?v=dEsrFreQwMs