Waco - Who Knew?

We had no set plan as we headed to Sedalia, Missouri for the Escapade. Looking at a friend's Facebook page we learned there is a new national park site in Waco, so we decided to check it out. When we arrived I posted where we were and got several responses about what to do while there. Who knew this East Texas city had so much going on?

We stayed at Airport Park, a Corps of Engineers campground on Lake Waco. This was our view for our stay.

The Waco Mammoth National Monument site just became part of the national park service in 2015. It has been run by the city of Waco and a foundation since the original discovery of the bones was made by two young boys in 1978. The dig has been conducted by scientists from Baylor University. 

The Columbian Mammoth were the largest of the megafauna of the Pleistocene Epoch. These mammoth grew to 14 feet tall and weighed up to 10 tons. Their tusks could be 16 feet long and weigh 200 pounds. I think Nanc may be standing at the wrong end of this beast. 

Here is a comparison of the size of the Columbian Mammoth, its distant relative the Woolly Mammoth found in colder climates and modern day African and Asian elephants. 

Since 1978 24 mammoths have been unearthed at the site. It is believed that they died about 68,000 years ago, possibly being trapped in a flood.

The dig shelter is built over the the fossils of six mammoths and an ancient camel. These are the remains of a large male. 

The mural shows how a flood may have caught the mammoths. The adults are trying to save a young mammoth and a camel is caught in the raging water. 

These are the remains of a female. The sex can be determined by the shape of the pelvic bones.

You can see the teeth of this female. A mammoth would have had as many as four sets of teeth in its lifetime. This helps to determine their age. 

The remains of a camel. These camels are different than modern ones as they had no hump. They did not need one because they lived in an area with plenty of water so they did not need to store water.

These are the tusks of a young female. The dirt is what was dug to expose these remains. They know there is at least one more mammoth buried here. As more money is put into the site, the dig will continue. 

Left is the size of a human femur, middle is the femur of a Columbian Mammoth compared to the size of a modern human on the right. The Waco Mammoth site is a very interesting stop for anyone with any interest in prehistoric times.

With our limited time in Waco we had to choose between touring the Texas Ranger Museum or the Dr. Pepper Museum. As you can see we chose Dr, Pepper, not the best choice. For the cost of $8.00 each for seniors, it was way over priced.

This is the drug store where Dr. Pepper was invented. 

The animation of Dr. Alderton tells the story of the invention.

The biggest part of the tour was all about the brands that the Snapple company sells in addition to Dr. Pepper. At this point I was feeling thirsty, but not one little sip was included in the admission.

An old truck, 1924 Ford, used for delivery.

An old bottle washing machine. Remember when you were a kid and would collect pop bottles and return them for two cents each so you could buy candy?

The old bottling machine.

The well was an interesting tale. It was once used for the water to wash bottles and make the soda. After the city banned the use of the urban well, the workers began to throw broken bottles in the well. It was then covered up and forgotten until they renovated the building. An archeologist from Baylor did a dig and of course found many old broken bottles.    

The office of W.W. "Foots" Clements, a salesman who is given credit for increasing sales of the soft drink. 

In another building they have the old Holt Beverage Company 7UP bottling line. I guess I am not a Pepper because, overall, I did not think this was a tour that was worth the cost. They do have a soda fountain where, of course, you could purchase a taste of the company's many products.  

As I said, my Waco education continued when I put on Facebook where we were. Several people said we had to go to the Silos. Apparently it is a business run by a couple who are on HGTV.

We were told to try the bakery but the line was too long so we checked out the store Magnolia. This is as close as I got. This is not a place for someone who lives in a house on wheels.

Magnolia has all the STUFF anyone could possibly want for home decorating. To my surprise they do not even use the silos but plans are in the offing. This is now one of those been there done that places. Nanc did say her shopping buddies would have loved it.

We did find an interesting place to eat, Twisted Root Burgers. The food was good, veggie burger for Nanc and the beer was great, but no wine for Nanc.

Overall, we enjoyed our short stay in Waco with an interesting park service site and a great COE RV park. It is a much neater city than I expected. 

LBJ Home and Library

The Hill Country of Texas is the birthplace of the 36th President of the United States. He was born on August 27, 1908 on a ranch near Stonewall and died on the same ranch 64 years later. He was president during some of the greatest upheavals in American history, from the Vietnam war to the civil rights movement and the riots in American cities after the assassination of Martin Luther King. We visited both his homes in the Hill Country and the Johnson Library in Austin.  

Seems I have been meeting with presidents on a regular bases lately. I have always felt close to LBJ since his policies led to me being drafted and being stationed in Texas. We started our tour at the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park which includes sites in Johnson City and the LBJ Ranch.

The home where Johnson was born. The original house was rebuilt in 1964 as a guest house for those visiting the ranch.

When he was four he learned to read at Junction School, a one room schoolhouse. He returned here in 1965 to sign the first Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

When he was five the family moved fourteen miles to Johnson City. He lived in this house until he was married to Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Taylor.

Beautiful wildflowers on the ranch. One of Lady Birds signature projects was highway beautification which included planting flowers along the roadsides.

Johnson made over 70 trips to the ranch during his presidency, spending about one-fourth of his time at the Texas White House. He would fly to Austin on Air Force One and then on one of these smaller jets to the ranch. Johnson referred to these Lockheed Jet-Stars as Air Force One-Half.

The Johnson's bought this house from his aunt in 1951. It was originally a small one room home that is now nearly 8,000 square feet including his office. The oak tree in front of his office is known as the Cabinet Oak because he held so many meetings there. Lady Bird lived in the home until her death in 2007. Then the house and 600 acres were donated to the park service which has restored it to its 1960's style. No photos are allowed. 

When he was president the hanger was turned into a meeting and press room where they would show movies and hold news conferences. I loved this old Seeburg jukebox. My dad's vending business had several of these.

Johnson always said "All the World is Welcome Here" and when famous people visited he would have them sign their names on these friendship stones. Very neat! 

Lyndon and Lady Bird are buried in the Johnson Family Cemetery on the ranch. I find it amazing that this man who rose to the highest office in the land was born, lived, died and was buried all within a couple miles in Texas Hill country.

The LBJ Presidential Library is on the campus of the University of Texas in Austin. The mission of the library is best stated in the words of LBJ at the dedication in 1971,“It is all here: the story of our time with the bark off...This library will show the facts, not just the joy and triumphs, but the sorrow and failures, too.” Those words from a man who came to the office after one of the greatest tragedies of my lifetime, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963 and who was forced by the tragedy of the Vietnam War to not seek another term in the 1968 election. 

This limo that looks like the president's was purchased by Johnson after he left office. While it looks like the official limo, this one only weighs 5,000 pounds compared to the real one that weighs 10,000 pound with its bullet-proof armor.

This exhibit on LBJ's humor not only had the political cartoons but a speaking Lyndon telling jokes.

LBJ's first job was teaching Mexican-American children in a segregated school in Cotulla, Texas. The experience of having these students, who often came to school hungry, helped shape his ideas about the need for the government to help the poor and downtrodden.

The positions held by LBJ before he became president, from a member of the US House to Vice-President under Kennedy. He honed the political skills in the leadership positions in the Senate that he used to pass his domestic agenda as president.

Building on the legacy of Kennedy and his landslide election in 1964, Johnson signed nearly 1,000 pieces of legislation into law during his five years in office. 

LBJ's legislative agenda, the Great Society, was to be a continuation of FDR's New Deal. This picture is Johnson signing Civil Rights legislation into law in 1964. Laws banning discrimination in public facilities, interstate commerce, housing and the workplace were passed. The Voting Rights Act prohibited requirements that many Southern states had passed to stop Black Americans from voting. 

Other major legislation included Medicare and Medicaid. In education the ESEA and Head Start were passed. Johnson visited the Head Start program in Stonewall with treats so often the kids called him Mr. Jelly Bean for the candy he brought. In arts and environment, laws establishing the Public Broadcasting System were passed and new National Park sites were added to the system. In immigration, he signed laws that encouraged immigrants from areas other than Europe.

Mural with the various presidents Johnson worked with before he became president.

Other legislation was called a War on Poverty that helped lift many into the middle class through education.

This large exhibit show the struggle he had with the Vietnam War. He grew to believe that the war was not winnable, but did not know how politically to withdraw. This was the greatest flaw of his presidency.

Johnson was eligible to run for another term because he had only served 14 months of Kennedy's term. While he had planned to run in 1968, the events of the country turned against him so he announced his decision not to seek another term. This is a photo of Johnson addressing the nation and the manuscript used on the teleprompter. 

The Oval Office as it looked during his time in office. This seems to be part of every presidential library.

Also part of every library is a display of gifts the president and first family received while in office.

The special exhibit; Get in the Game, The Fight for Equality in American Sports is at the library until January, 13, 2019. The exhibits honors those who broke barriers and spoke out for equality in sports. The Washington and Jefferson College sweater belonged to Pete Henry who was an athlete and then athletic director at this Washington, PA school.

The exhibit has displays about the Negro league and Jackie Robinson becoming the first Black player in the Majors.

The Gold Metals won by Jessie Owens at the 1936 Olympics that was held in Nazi Germany. Hitler plan to show that Aryans were superior to others did not go so well.

The Tennessee Tornado, Wilma Rudolph, overcame a sickly childhood where she had to wear a leg brace, to compete in the 1956 Olympics. Then, in the 1960 games, she was the first American woman to win three gold metals in one Olympics. 

Cassius Clay before he became Mohammad Ali. He won the heavyweight championship and then gave it up because he refused to be drafted during the Vietnam War. This was an interesting exhibit that came right to the present with a display about Colin Kaepernick's protest against injustice.

Visiting presidential libraries is always interesting, especially how they handled the bad things that happened during their time in office. The LBJ Library did a very good job of balancing the good and the bad.

At the top of the hill near the RV park was this unique building, the Arc de Texas. It advertised wine and views. We thought it was a winery but it is an Inn and bar. 

We stopped for a wine, a Texas beer and a great view of Hill Country. It was an interesting place and well worth a stop for the view from the top.