New Orleans and the Mississippi River

I had a hard time getting my head around the fact that the Mississippi flows through New Orleans from west to east rather than north to south. The river dominates the city. It actually winds through the city in a “u” shape. The right side of the “u” actually flows south to north. They don’t use the cardinal directions: north south east west. Instead they say up river downriver toward the river and away from the river. They also talk about before aKatrina and after Katrina. I took a riverboat down riverfive mikes to where the Battle of New Orleans was fought in 1815. I took some pictures along the way including the dukes that are supposed to keep the river under control.

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Day 4, Monday

We slept in at a small motel in Johnson City. Then we visited the LBJ stuff in Johnson City. That took about an hour. Then we drove west to the LBJ ranch, where we visited the gravesite and the ranch complex. It was quite an extensive thing, hundreds of acres. We followed that up with a visit to a peach stand. Peach pie, cobbler, and ice cream, which we ate at the LBJ roadside rest Then we drove to the Cedar Lodge Resort on Lake Buchanan for the Skar reunion. We were the first ones there. The test of the Rolf Skar branch trickled in and we had a delicious pasta supper. The younger, more handsome Brian Skar’s wife, Tonya, is super organized and did a great job with the meal. 100 degrees temperature. The ranger in Johnson City informed me that the name of the lake is pronounced “Buckanan”. I told him I taught history for 30 years and if the lake was named after the 15th President it was pronounced Byoochanan. He informed me that “Texans like to do...

Highways

I find it interesting to come across a highway number down here that is the same as a highway number up in our neck of the woods. Yesterday, we spent some time on Highway 281, which is the same U.S. highway that goes through Jamestown and crosses Highway 2 at Churches Ferry. I-35 splits into I-35 W and I-35 E as it passes through Ft. Worth and Dallas, just as it does in the Twin Cities. Many years ago in North Carolina, I was on U. S. 52, which runs from Portal SE across America, sometimes disappearing for hundreds of miles, swallowed up by highways that get more respect. On the way down here we crossed U. S. 30, which is known as the Lincoln Highway out east because it passes through Gettysburg and Northern Illinois. I don’t know who devised the U.S. highway system, but they made it interesting.

Dallas where JFK was assasinated

I am standing on the sidewalk reading the historical marker. Out in the street behind me is a white X painted where the Presidential limo was when Kennedy eat hit with the fatal head shot (the third shot). Farther up the street to my right an X marks the spot where the second shot hit him high on his back. This was the “magic bullet” that went through JFK’s back and then hit Connelly. That billet actually caused seven wounds. Beyond me is the Texas Book Drpository. Oswald shot from the far right window on the sixth floor. That window is behind the tree. Only the seventh floor can be seen from this angle. Ruth is standing next to the stone pedestal in which Zapruder stood and made his famous video of the assassination. Dealy Plaza is across the street behind her. This was taken up in the Sixth Floor Museum. This is the window Oswald shot three shots from. The boxes are arrranged just as they were on 11/22/63. This is the X on the stre...

Pastor Skar

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