Journeys

In the dark, love points the way.

Enchanted Rock

My son and I have been going to Enchanted Rock between Llano and Fredericksburg west of Austin for a few years now. I told a story about it on Caterpillar Goo. It’s a meaningful once or twice a year adventure that I’ve conflated with my divorce and the changes in me and in my life since the divorce. In April, Flora and I went together for the first time, with her kids and mine. Her kids bravely scrambled through the cave with us, but it didn’t mean as much to them, and it didn’t mean as much to my son, either. I think he’s done. It doesn’t have the same challenge or mystique it used to. The magical cave isn’t quite so magical anymore, but that’s OK. It was a joy to share it with people we hadn’t before, and there is always new magic out there in the world waiting to be discovered.

Stephen F. Austin State Park

Also in April, Flora and I went just the two of us to Stephen F. Austin State Park for our annual Spring Renewal Ceremony. We chose it spontaneously based on availability on short notice. I love this spontaneity thing. It’s not something I did for most of my life. To go from “we should go somewhere” to “let’s go here” to “here we go!” on short notice with little planning makes me ridiculously, disproportionately happy. But sometimes when you do that, you end up in a state park that’s not very wild, surrounded by children in a scout troop, and when you go for a romantic hike alone, the trails don’t wander very far from camp, and the kids are everywhere. Just everywhere. But still, it was beautiful. And it was cool to discover that the Boy Scouts of America, of which I was a part for many of my childhood years, now has a co-ed brand. Yay!

Trees bearded with Spanish moss, like Ents.

The trees here were draped in Spanish moss. We could see places where it had fallen to the ground in sheets. We wondered aloud if the birds were spitting on the plants here and there until we learned about the spittlebug. The world is weird and full of wonder.

We found a quiet place for our ceremony, and the world paused to give us our moment. While we played the songs that we had picked for each other and danced, and while we fed each other something bitter to remind us to be loving through the hard times and something sweet to remind us to make each other laugh and to be kind, no other hikers intruded on our spot. And as soon as we were done, hikers appeared again. The timing was perfect. Then we went back to camp, watched the fireflies sparkle as they flirted with each other, and listened to scouts all around us sing their campfire songs and chase each other through the woods.

Seminole Canyon State Park

This past weekend, we saw The Avett Brothers play Whitewater Amphitheater in New Braunfels in a mild drizzle that had been forecast to be a drenching, flooding thunderstorm. We went anyway, because maybe it’ll be fine, and it was fine. Better than fine. Then we drove 5 hours into a sunny, 80-degree day that was perfect for hiking, and a cool 60-degree night that was perfect for sleeping in a tent. Sometimes I am overcome with a sense of awe and gratitude at how well my life works out when I don’t worry too much about the details. I live now on the philosophy that “it’ll be fine, and if it isn’t, we’ll do something else.” And almost always, it turns out amazing. Even a 5-hour drive is a joy when you spend it talking and holding hands with someone you love.

Somehow it looked bigger in real life.

We’re so cute. Especially her.

We find hearts everywhere.

We hiked the canyon rim, and this time, we saw not a single person, except a guy with a camera who was talking on a cell phone as he went back towards camp at the very beginning of our walk. We saw lizards and millipedes, but no snakes, despite the sign that advised us to watch for them. We saw huge, gliding vultures cruising slowly over the canyon like the dragons of Daenerys Stormborn, First of Her Name. We were out of the Hill Country and into the Plains, with no trees, and no shade. It was easy to imagine a lonely rider crossing this daunting landscape on horseback, escaping from or moving toward or returning to something or someone. We made it back to camp tired and hungry, removed the rain fly from the tent, and lay looking up into the night sky with the moon and stars looking back at us. And the next day, we left early and drove straight home, so she could spend Mother’s Day with her kids.

There was a time in my life when worry about the details and planning ahead to avoid everything that could go wrong killed much of the joy in trips, excursions, vacations. I’m grateful that a time has come for me when spontaneity is possible and laughter rules when things go right and when things go wrong. We enjoy each other’s company, and we can adjust for everything else. And she doesn’t even think it’s weird or annoying to stop for historical markers.

Historical Markers

We laughed when we realized we’d stopped for one we already saw on the way to Big Bend 2 years ago. We’ll be covering entirely new territory when we go to Palo Duro in a couple of months. I wonder what stories we’ll find along the way then? My favorites seem to be stories of the natives slaughtering the white settlers and colonists. It seems only fair, given the wholesale massacre, disease, and land theft they had to put up with in return. This time, my favorite was the story of Dolores, an “ill-fated Rio Grande colony” whose 59 colonists fled the Mexican army only to be killed by the Commanches. These stories are much more captivating than the “a rich man bequeathed this land to the city 100 years ago, so we have preserved his name here” stories. Oh yeah! I’d forgotten about the guy who was killed by angry neighbors for sheltering Indians in his home. Maybe Paul Harvey can tell me the rest of the story. Also, did you know “drouth” is a real word meaning “drought”, and not a typo of the word “drought”? I didn’t either. But it is! So, for the completists among you, from the roadsides on the way to and from Stephen F. Austin and Seminole Canyon, we have:

#4354: “JAMES J. ROSS: Born in South Carolina in about 1787, James Jeffres Ross was a member of the "Old Three Hundred." He arrived in Stephen F. Austin's colony in late 1822 or early 1823, moving onto the league granted him near Eagle Lake in Colorado County. In 1828 he moved to the S. A. Anderson League and built a home about one mile southwest of this site. Col. Ross, as he was known, soon assumed a position of leadership as captain of the militia of the Colorado District. He was a delegate to the second convention at San Felipe in 1833 and was one of those appointed in 1834 to help obtain Austin's release from imprisonment in Mexico. He helped establish a stage line and a stop that became the town of Fayetteville. An important figure during the early years of settlement in this part of the state, Ross was a successful farmer, rancher, trader, and merchant. Ross Prairie and Ross Creek, both in this vicinity, bear his name. He was killed by angry neighbors in January 1835 for sheltering Indians at his home and was buried in nearby Ross Cemetery. His home, which came to be known as the Ross/Martinek House, was owned by Czech immigrant Joseph Martinek and his descendants for nearly seventy years.”

#4536: “SAN FELIPE DE AUSTIN: First Anglo-American capital of Texas. Came into being on July 26, 1828, as capital of the Austin Colony, by decree of the Mexican government. Father of Texas Stephen F. Austin had begun under the 1821 grant from Mexico the settlement of more than 1,000 families. The original colony ran from the coast on the south to the old San Antonio Road on the north, and from the Lavaca River on the west to the San Jacinto River on the east. In this first American town in Texas lived Austin, William Barret Travis, Sam Houston, David G. Burnet and Jane Long. All settlers crossed its threshold for land grants. After the organization of other colonies, this continued to be the recognized center of Texas. It was capital of the Mexican Department of Brazos, site of the Conventions of 1832 and 1833 and the Consultation of 1835 where Texans aired grievances and tried to reach understanding with Mexico. The provisional government created with Henry Smith as governor in 1835 functioned here until it gave way to the convention declaring Texas independent of Mexico on March 2, 1836. (1964)”

#11707: “EARLY ROADS TO SAN FELIPE: During the mid-1820s, when Stephen F. Austin was founding this town, the only roads in the area were wagon ruts of beaten trails marked by notched trees. Within a decade, however, the village of San Felipe, one of the first Anglo settlements in Texas, had become a hub from which 8 or more roads projected. Many of these were small, intra-colony routes, but the main trails extended to major towns or joined "highways", such as the San Antonio Road (El Camino Real). A main route which passed through San Felipe was the Atascosita Road, connecting Goliad with the United States. It took its name from Atascosa (Spanish for "boggy") Spring near Liberty, which once was its main terminus. The Gotier Trace, another travel artery, was laid out about 1830 by pioneer James Gotier. It joined the northern and southern parts of Austin's colony and was used for decades. The San Felipe Road proper, which ran to Harrisburg, transported goods inland from the Gulf Coast. Even the main thoroughfares, however, were dusty trails in the summer and impassable quagmires in the winter, often flooded by knee-deep water. Not until well into the 20th century did Texas begin to develp her present, outstanding highway system. (1969)”

#2678: “J. J. JOSEY GENERAL STORE: Built by John Crutcher in 1847 of the Plaza de Commercio in San Felipe, this was the last store built in the town after its 1836 burning by military order. Purchased in 1867 by Dr. J. J. Josey, it was in continuous operation as a store until 1942. The building has been relocated a number of times. Josey, in 1880, moved the store one mile east to a new location on the Texas Western Narrow Gauge Railroad. In 1962 the structure was returned to its original site and restored for use as a museum. It was moved to the Stephen F. Austin State Park in 1969. (1962, 1987)”

#12143: “D’HANIS: In 1847 Henri Castro established D'Hanis, his fourth colony, 1.5 miles east of this site, named for a Castro Company official. Alsatian immigrants endured great hardship to build a community that thrived for over 30 years. In 1881, when the railroad bypassed the town, D'Hanis moved with it. Aided by the railroad, new D'Hanis flourished, sending cattle, cotton, and brick to markets. From 1900 a strong Mexican-American community grew in the town, contributing to its fortune. The new area survived despite crop failures and the Great Depression, becoming known simply as D'Hanis. (1997)”

#13491: “LAUGHLIN ARMY AIR FIELD: With the need to train more pilots for military service during World War II, the U.S. Army established an air field east of Del Rio in 1942. The region's year-round good weather and vast areas of open ground offered near ideal flight training conditions. On July 2 of that year, the Army activated the field as what the local press called a "jaw-shattering title": The Army Air Forces Transition Flying School, Medium Bombardment. Lt. Col. E.W. Suarez oversaw construction of the base, which was accessible by U.S. Highway 90 and by the Southern Pacific rail line. Col. George W. Mundy became the base's commanding officer on December 26, 1942. Earlier in 1942, Del Rio native and Army pilot Lt. Jack Thomas Laughlin died in military action, becoming the first pilot from the community killed in World War II. He was shot down over the Java Sea while flying a B-17. Local citizens and U.S. Congressman Charles L. South petitioned the Army to name the base for Laughlin, which the Army agreed to in 1943. Laughlin's widow and the young daughter he never met attended the field's dedication that year, and Maj. Gen. Gerald C. Brant delivered a dedicatory speech. Instructors at the field trained experienced pilots on the Martin B-26 medium bomber, which was also known as the Marauder, the Widow Maker and the Flying Prostitute. Laughlin pilots went on to fly missions in both the European and Pacific theaters of the war. The Army closed the base at the end of the war but reopened it as Laughlin Air Force Base in 1952. (2006)”

#13495: “LT. JACK T. LAUGHLIN: Born in Del Rio on Sept. 17, 1914, Jack Thomas Laughlin graduated from Del Rio High School and earned a degree from the University of Texas. In 1940, he joined the Army Air Corps and the following year received his pilot’s wings at Stockton, CA. On Jan. 29, 1942, during World War II, his B-17 Flying Fortress was shot down over the Java Sea in the Indonesian islands. The U.S. Army established an airfield in Del Rio that year, and citizens and officials requested it be named for Laughlin, the first Del Rio-born pilot killed in the war. Despite the official policy for naming bases, the idea prevailed, and in March 1943 Laughlin Field was dedicated with the pilot’s widow and daughter in attendance. (2006)”

#3372: “MILITARY AVIATION IN VAL VERDE COUNTY: In 1911, eight years after the Wright Brothers' historic flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Galbraith Perry Rodgers landed his plane at Del Rio while on the first transcontinental flight across the United State. The arrival of a plane in Del Rio was a major event then, but it became a common sight in later years. During World War I, the town was a center of aerial patrols along the United State-Mexico Border. In 1919 planes were dispatched to the area in reaction to Pancho Villa's border raids. One pilot stationed here to fly border patrols was Lt. James H. Doolittle, who later gained international attention in World War II. In the 1940s Del Rio was chosen as the site of an Air Base because of the flat terrain and the mild climate. Opened as the first B-26 bombardier school, Laughlin Air Force Base was named in honor of Lt. Jack T. Laughlin, the first pilot from Del Rio killed in action in World War II. Later a pilot training school, it closed after the war. In 1952, through the efforts of local residents, it was reopened. Laughlin has been utilized for Astronaut Training, Strategic Air Command U-2 reconnaissance missions, the development of Air Training Command's undergraduate pilot training mission, and other important innovations.”

#13695: “RUDOLF ANDERSON, JR.: U.S. Air Force pilot Rudolf Anderson was the only American airman shot down during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Born in 1927 in South Carolina, Anderson joined the military in 1951 and soon began flying reconnaissance missions during the Korean Conflict. Stationed at Laughlin Air Force Base by 1957, he was here when the Cuban Missile Crisis developed in October 1962. On October 27, while piloting a U-2 plane over Cuba to provide surveillance of a medium range ballistic missile site under construction, antiaircraft fire hit his plane, killing him. The Air Force decorated Anderson posthumously and in 2001 renamed Laughlin's operation building Anderson Hall. He is buried in South Carolina. (2006)”

#1243: “DOLORES TOWNSITE (about 8 miles south): Only settlement founded in John Charles Beales' ill-fated Rio Grande colony of 1834-1836. Beales (1804-1878) -- empresario of 70,000,000 acres in present Southern and Western Texas and New Mexico -- was Texas' largest known land king. In 1833 he and a partner brought 59 settlers here to colonize a town to be named for Beales' Mexican wife. Indian raids and drouth soon took their toll, but the death blow came in 1836. As the group fled the Mexican Army during the Texas Revolution, Comanches killed all but 7 of one party. This ended the town's existence. (1970)”

#3377: “MILITARY ROADS IN TEXAS: The routes that moved troops in early Texas often followed old Indian trails, usually were little more than deep wagon ruts. This one, the Chihuahua Road joining Ft. Clark with other southwest posts -- was widely used, 1850-1880. The Comanche War Trail, part of the Chihuahua Road, carried women, children, and horses stolen by Indians from Mexico to the north. The Spanish era opened El Camino Real (the Old San Antonio Road) in 1691 to join Louisiana to Mexico. After 1836, Republic of Texas settlers demanded forts for safety from Indians; a main 1840 supply road followed present Austin-Dallas highway. Central National Road, 1844, linked Trinity and Red Rivers. (Its rules required all trees to be cut 12 inches or less from ground). From 1848 to 1860, surveys by U.S. led to a network of military roads in west central Texas. In 1849, Capt. Randolph B. Marcy blazed a West Texas trail used by California gold hunters. Famed U.S. 2nd Cavalry made Ft. Belknap - San Antonio Road a military artery in 1850s. During Civil War, supplies moved from Mexico to Texas over the cotton road. The Indian campaigns of Capt. R.S. Mackenzie in 1870s opened trails across the staked plains; but by 1881, the railroad had begun to replace Texas' once-famous military routes. (1968)”

#921: “CLINE COMMUNITY (1/2 mi. s. of this site) First settler, Celeste Pingenot came to this area in 1870. He built first house on south bank of Turkey Creek, 1871. Established stagecoach stand, store and inn; named it Wallace. He was first postmaster, commissioned, 1878. Community protected from Indians by small detachment of soldiers billeted at "The Spring," nearby. August Cline was employed by Pingenot to operate store and stagecoach stand. When railroad came in 1883, built rock house and post office on north bank. Became postmaster. Renamed community, Cline. (1967)”