A Morning at the Museum

Bullock Texas State History Museum near the Capital Building in downtown Austin was immersed in children on school tours today when we arrived.  We persevered to see and enjoy very well done museum exhibits learning several new facts of Texan history in the process.

I came away with awe and admiration for the persistence that settlers had for making their way through what was then literally uncharted territory and a harsh environment.  There was no wood to even build homes as they knew them, so dugouts were created in the soil initially to provide shelter that according to the account of one settler "was always wet."  There were rattle snakes and hostile occupants of the land who were unwelcoming to the new settlers threatening their lives constantly.  The dust bowl of the 1930's yielded eleven hour dust storms.  Locusts swept down upon the new settlers like fog to devour all of their crops.  Why anyone stayed through all this is beyond my modern day comprehension of survival!  But they started a club called the "Last Man's Club" and convinced members to commit to staying the course through the Dust Bowl helping each other through hardships to collectively survive.

And yet settlers eventually made towns and roads, built railways, found oil and utilized the marshes to eventually grow almost 100 percent of the rice consumed in the United States.  Early Texans had a spirit that was unbreakable allowing them to grow into the strong and proud state they are today.  I would highly recommend this museum to anyone who visits Austin.

We followed this adventure with lunch, joining our friends, Mary and Bob, again.  Tomorrow we head further west again crossing Texas as far as Fort Stockton where we will spend the night.  Weather coming into California now is expected in the Texas Panhandle by Sunday.  We are hoping to be south of it, but time will tell.  We'll leave early, fuel up the coach and keep our fingers crossed for a good crossing over this same land that tested the settlers.