Travels of Geo Nova: November 2016

THE LAST LEG

Oklahoma City proved to be a fun and sobering stop. The fun was our visit to The National Cowboy and western Heritage Museum. It far exceeded my expectations. Their collection of western art included well-known classic masters such as Russell and Remington as well as many modern artists who were nothing less than phenomenal. In addition art work there were displays of Native American headdresses, Rodeo, Cowboys, Cavalry and even an old recreated western town with sheriff’s office as well as saloon.

The sobering part was the Oklahoma City Memorial and Museum. Words can not describe the feeling one gets when you see the wreckage that resulted from that horrific attack on an otherwise beautiful spring day.

On to Arkansas, the only state in this quadrant of the country I have never previously visited. This was fall color time in the South East however given our New England background we were disappointed by the lack of vibrancy to the color change. The first night was spent camping at a small vineyard. After sampling the wine it was more than apparent that we were not in California. Next stop was a State Park outside of Hot Springs Arkansas. Hot Springs National Park showed a lost part of our past. The hot springs bathhouses were not only for recreational purposes but an important component of the medical treatment regime of the time. The hot spring water just bubbles out of the ground.

I have to mention that we found a microbrew, with good beer, in an old repurposed bathhouse.

Continuing in a southeasterly direction we visited Selma Alabama and also Tuskegee Alabama. Selma, a small town outside of the Capital Montgomery, appears to have changed very little over the last half century. The National Park has several interpretive centers along the path of the famous Selma To Montgomery Voters Rights March of 1965. In 1961 only 156 of the county’s 15,000 voting age black people were registered to vote. The displays were even more poignant given the recent political rhetoric that seemingly giving credence to racism and the fomenters of hatred. On our brief stop in Tuskegee, we visited The Tuskegee Airman’s Museum and Tuskegee Institute founded by Booker T Washington. George Washington Carver a famous professor of botany, who incidentally did his graduate studies at Iowa State University, developed countless patents here.

The last stop on our long road trip was Andersonville, Georgia home of infamous Civil Was Prison. Andersonville was built to house 10,000 prisoners on 14 acres but eventually housed 45,000 prisoners and was expanded to 22 acres. 11,000 POW’S died of disease and starvation. The National Park Service has a museum devoted to Prisoners Of War covering the entire time from the start of recorded history to now. Again a moving and well-done museum that words can’t do justice to describing the feelings one experiences.

We arrived in Titusville Sunday November 6^th and quickly learned that our HVAC system (heat/air-condition) was not working. Good news we got someone here Monday morning bad news the problem was not a quick or inexpensive fix. We have opted to go with a new and upgraded system due to the age of our existing system. It has been nice to catch up with friends that arrived before us and those that are filtering in. In the mean time we have been busy settling in.

The 2 videos are self-explanatory. Due to unreliable internet we were unable to include them previously.