Day 3548 - 9/11

I'm still living in the same house, sitting at the same kitchen table, watching the same TV at breakfast as I was on this day eighteen years ago. I haven't forgotten. Memories fade though. With each passing year, more and more people will never remember this day as I do. They weren't here. There are young men and women serving in the military right now who weren't even born when the twin towers fell. I don't think these people and those who come after them will ever realize how much has changed.

When we were visiting The National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg recently, I remember thinking how little I really knew about World War II. This is understandable because I wasn't born until three years after the war ended. I never learned about all the sacrifices my Mom and Dad made. They didn't talk about those days much and high school history classes gloss over a lot of things. My Dad would have experienced this museum much differently. He was a Navy man and served in the Pacific during World War II.

I only have one picture of the World Trade Center. It was taken out of my hotel window at the UN Plaza. I used to stay at this hotel when I worked in New York. Although I have never lived in Manhattan, the city was frequently a destination during my ad agency days. I've walked on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. I've taken the express elevator to the top of the South Tower and looked out over the city from the rooftop observation deck. When I watched the towers fall while eating breakfast at our kitchen table I felt like the world I was familiar with was ending. In retrospect, this feeling was surprisingly accurate. The world hasn't been the same since.

I'd like to see a day when the country is unified again the way we were the day after September 11. We're a long way away from that now. When you look at the divided country we've become, it almost seems like the terrorists won. Hopefully, we will find our way again and discover a way to come together. Tribalism and petty bickering is slowly destroying us.

I don't spend a lot of time thinking about the state of the world. Day to day life is challenging enough for me. Today, Janet and I started to clean out the greenhouse so repairs can begin. What a lot of broken stuff I've managed to accumulate. Instead of fixing old lawn mowers, it was easier to just buy new ones. I kept the old mowers though, thinking that some day I might get the urge to fix them. This same perverse logic is why my storage warehouse is still full of old, obsolete computers. If I lived in the country and had a lot of acreage, there's a good chance that every old car I ever owned would be covered in rust out in the front yard.

The long awaited successor to the Land Rover Defender has finally arrived. What were they thinking? After Toyota completely botched the reintroduction of the iconic FJ40, its almost like Land Rover couldn't wait to say "hold my beer." I loved my old Defender. Not so sure about this complex, high-tech replacement.

I doubt that it matters. After we finish fixing up the house and yard, I won't be able to afford a new car anyway. At any rate, life goes on. I did my five mile walk this morning. I drank my fruit smoothie while watching TV pundits talk about 9/11 and then wrote a letter to my sister. Next year I'll probably do exactly the same thing.

Shadow is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 3535

We're home. Texas has a little bit of everything. We traveled from some of the most congested areas of the country to some of the most remote. While we were in Fort Davis I kept wondering why people keep retiring there. The entire population seems to be retirees. As we navigated lunch hour traffic in Austin and a little later the evening rush hour on our return to Dallas, I had my answer. West Texas offers the antithesis of city life. People willingly deal with wells that occasionally run dry, problematic septic tanks, bears, forest fires, 40 mile drives to the supermarket, and a dearth of entertainment just to get some peace and quiet. The Davis Mountains were one of the most peaceful places I've been in my life. I'm sure the people who live there have plenty of problems, but they aren't city problems.

Fredericksburg is charming, but it definitely is not remote. The place is almost a suburb of Austin. We couldn't figure out whether the place was growing or shrinking. A lot of businesses were boarded up and we saw plenty of vacant buildings, but there was also a lot of new construction going on. The place reminded me of Gatlinburg without the Smokey Mountains. The main reason to return would be the museum. If you are a history buff, The National Museum of the Pacific War is like going to The Louvre. Before leaving town this morning, we returned to see some of the areas we failed to see yesterday. Someday we might return to see the rest.

I doubt that we'll return to Luckenbach any time soon. You almost have to go there though. If you live here you've heard the song a million times. It's one of those earworm songs. Willie, Waylon, and Kenny Chesney all sang it. I think Alvin and the Chipmunks did too. We wandered around the general store looking at tourist junk, thought about having a beer, but didn't, and then headed for home. We also stopped in West, Texas to pick up some Kolaches at one of the town's many Czech bakeries. That's also something you do if you live in Texas.

While we were in West, I used my phone to turn on the air conditioning at our house. We usually leave it off while we are away. By the time we got home, the place was nice and cool again. Even though I'm an old school analog kind of guy, I'll be the first to admit that today's technology is kind of amazing. I'm hooked. I would never travel without GPS anymore. I can write the blog from anywhere in the world. Having a watch that can take an electrocardiogram is pretty cool. So is being able to control your appliances from your phone.

Life is complex. Everything involves some sort of a trade off. I'd like to have all my advanced gadgets, but still live in an isolated place like Fort Davis that is so remote that some of these gadgets won't even work. One thing about a long road trip through Texas is that you realize you have a lot of options. Texas is huge and if there is something you like, I suspect you can find it here. I've found my place walking around a little lake in Dallas. I might start spending a little more time seeing other places though. Why not?

Duke is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 3534

I've decided that I like the hilly parts of Texas a lot more than the flat parts. The Davis Mountains were beautiful. We had breakfast this morning at Indian Lodge. This adobe hotel was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the 1930's in the most scenic part of Davis Mountain State Park. It has been well maintained over the years and has the look and feel of those grand old lodges you see in some western national parks. The Big Bear Restaurant was superb. A hearty breakfast at this place was a great way to start the day.

The Texas Hill Country is pretty nice too. We are in Fredericksburg now. This picturesque little town is noted for it's German heritage and the many wineries that surround it. I hope more people learn about the National Museum of the Pacific War as well. I guess I'd heard of this museum, but I didn't know much about it. Since the museum was near our hotel we decided to visit. Janet and I were blown away. This is a world class museum worthy of anything you'd see at the Smithsonian. Why is it here?. I guess this location was picked because Fredericksburg was the boyhood home of Admiral Chester Nimitz. If you are interested in history you've got to put this amazing museum on your bucket list. One of the docents told us that it can take up to six hours to view the entire exhibit, but that we were welcome to come back tomorrow if we ran out of time. Maybe we will go back tomorrow.

I wish my Dad had a chance to see this place. He served in the Navy during World War II and was stationed in the Pacific for most of the war. Although he seldom talked about the war,  I'm sure he would have seen this museum as a tribute to the men he served with. The weird thing to me was how much of this history was new to me. Like anyone my age, I took American History and World History classes in school. We knew about Pearl Harbor, Iwo Jima, and the atom bomb but there was so much we never learned. What an awful, brutal war.

I don't think most of us realize how lucky we are today. I have lived my life in relative peace. My parents didn't have that luxury. World War II was so massive and all encompassing that it affected everyone. It's sad that the history of civilization is basically a history of war. I wonder if we will ever get beyond this?

The trip continues. If you have to drive across Texas I would try to take I-10 instead of I-20. Today's drive was much more peaceful without all the huge oilfield equipment on the road. I still wonder why anyone would want to live in Midland or Odessa. I had reservations about taking a long road trip, but the experience has been a lot more enjoyable than I expected. Even though I rarely travel further than the post office, the drive hasn't been that bad. I'm actually a pretty good long distance driver.

Our only plan for tomorrow is to avoid Austin at all costs. Janet and I have enjoyed the serenity of driving on empty roads. You're not going to find that in Austin. I imagine I'll return to Fort Davis someday. I like wide open spaces. If I return, Indian Lodge seems like a nice place to stay. Especially when the skies are clear.

Mandy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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