The first week of our TX vacation
has passed here in Garner State Park, TX.
We have done some sight seeing, some reading, me some work on the book
and a little hiking. With the exception of
one rainy night, and a cool cloudy day, the weather has been lovely –
40s-60s. We have another week at Garner
and then registered for two weeks at Casa Blanca about 3 hours south on the
Mexican border at Laredo, TX.
Part of the idea of going to
Laredo – where it is an average of 5F warmer, is to see about a Mexico cross
border visit. We remember the 1970s
trip we took and the enjoyable shopping and touristing across the border and hope
to try at least once. We need to do it
without much walking to accommodate Margo.
So maybe a tour setup up with a taxi.
When we get to Laredo we will see what can be arranged.
I have, as a goal, to put
together the information I have collected on the Wolf Creek Cemetery and spend
a few hours every other day on that.
Yesterday we went to the Leakey public library where we can get free
WIFI and I did some search and retrieve of Google drive files I want for the
book. I uploaded a great deal of my
research files as they are immediately searchable including the words within
the typewritten/printed type documents and images as well as much of the
handwritten info due to Google’s optical character recognition and handwriting
recognition done automagically.
The work yesterday was on the
Town of Sterling’s role in the cemetery – which from Township records I have
copied (most of them), show the first mentions of financial support in the
1880s and detail the transfer of the cemetery from Township to Wolf Creek
Cemetery Association in 1938.
Over the past 12 years or so, I
have taken a soldier buried in the cemetery each year and done either a booklet
or newsletter on that person. I am
finding them and adding each to the book.
I also have several family histories used in previous books prepared by
the families to add. And of course lots
of old newspaper clippings, photos, obituaries, genealogy and other items that
relate to folks in the cemetery.
Yesterday, after the library
visit, we drove the 16 miles east of Garner to Utopia, TX and had lunch
there. We had done this last year and
enjoyed it and did it again. Margo had
the hamburger (immense) and I the BLT.
We were there about 1 pm as the local lunch crowd was finishing and
visiting—a group of 6 men all seated at one of the old chrome and formica
dining room sets like we have at home – from the 1950s—the modern items then
that replaced the big old oak
tables. The Lost Maples Café was
featured in a movie – can’t remember the name, but about a golfer stuck in town
to get his car repaired and runs into a retired golfer who gets the young guy
back in playing form, solves the girlfriend problem and opines on life in general.
Utopia is about 200 folks,
isolated enough so it hasn’t died completely and maybe a couple of hours
straight west of San Antonio nestled in the hill country where roads twist and
turn their way up and down small mountains at 75mph and it is polite if you are
a tourist to pull over and let the folks driving 80 go by.
As the men finished their last
refill of coffee, they grudgingly talked about getting back to work or in some
cases retirement.
“1:30,” drawled a weather beaten
Stetson wearing smoked out rangy man, “I better get back and see if anybody
stopped in with a job to do.”
“When you worked for me, you
never was in no rush to get to work. Seems I remember you all showing up bout
time for coffee break,” drawled another heavy set mid 60s man with bold
suspenders and a sweatstained cowboy hat.”
The folks at the table all
laughed at the good natured ribbing
“Weeaaall,” drew out the first
cowboy, “I recall it different wise….bout coffee time, I called you to get you
out of bed so’s you’d order a new part we needed.”
Then the appreciative laughter
around the table. Some of the talk was so twanged and drawled it was hard to
understand.
“When you work for yourself, you
gotta work or go broke,’ commented a younger guy, “but when you work for
someone else, theys gotta worry bout bein broke, not you.”
“Yah, that’s the trouble now, the
boss wants to work you to the bone, get rich, and starve you” commented another
well rounded man.
“You ain’t done much starving,
looks to me,” commented another.
Each
comment was accompanied by appreciative laughter as the men gradually got up,
left some money on the table and moseyed out to a row of older pickup trucks,
some battered but none with the Wisconsin rust on them and scattered to find
their Utopian roles.
The movie, "Seven Days in Utopia" was set in the cafe we visited. In that story, a young golfer learns from an older one how to control his golf swing and figures out how to live his life.
Me, from my 30 minutes in Utopia, too learned the meaning of life: a long lunch with friends and laughing at their jokes whether good or not.
