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FISH OBITUARIES (RESURRECTED)
 

Sidewinder Tour Blog Post #11.7: THE ALAMO

AMERICAN HISTORY

Parking was $15 so we circled for a $5 lot.

The stone walls were thick, admission was free, the giftshop was made in China with a diorama in the middle of tiny men climbing up tiny wooden ladders up the tiny slits at the top of the walls. A few trees. Enemy encampments at the edges, who is the enemy? One man was shot in the minute ear, barrels, wagons, tents by the creek running down the center of the grounds (can't have a fort without a creek), firewood stacked for the 12 day siege, tiny horses rearing, tiny cattle penned, tiny dogs. The men fought hand-to-hand, the uniforms and weapons were painted with care. "See this cannon? Come take it!" Santa Anna did.  Read More 
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Sidewinder Tour Blog Post #11.6.5: TEXAS: BUDA

DOWNTOWN BUDA (daytime)

BUDA, TEXAS: I 35 south of Austin to exit 220 past the giant Cabella's to the train tracks. Wait for the freight train, wait in the signals bells -- Buda people are used to them and the whistle. Wait, though the blinking red separates you from a mattress. It is Buda tinted red at 2 am, Buda delirious after BookPeople, then a "tone" chat across the table between bottles of beer, between musicians on one side and and writers on the other, amid warm night city-breezes, then cherries with Kirk and Donna somewhere on a dark Austin hillside -- more about  Read More 
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Sidewinder Tour Blog Post #11.6: CHISHOLM TRAIL #2

COWS, HORSES, COWBOYS

Dallas to Austin: THE CHISHOLM Perspective #2:

When you live a day on the Chishom Trail
You watch the gas gage.
Drive south where cows once walked -- Cowboys followed
with tunes and whips
to Fort Worth -- the Stockyards --
Then onward, like all of us.
The Chisholm (in a car) is not
Dusty / muddy.
Hills
as if Vermont had been pulled tight at the edges.
Vistas and dips  Read More 
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Sidewinder Tour Blog Post #11.5: TEXAS: CHISHOLM TRAIL #1

not the most direct route, but prettiest

DALLAS to AUSTIN: CHISHOLM TRAIL: Perspective #1

198 miles, an easy day.
South again.
35W S was most direct
did not take it
121 to the airport to Grand Prairie
Fort Worth just over there
Hidden Creek Parkway
To Cleburne to Hamilton to Hico
The largest styrofoam cup was $1.19.

The storm cloud loomed for 50 miles.
A sheet of gray to the ground.
A  Read More 
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Sidewinder Tour Blog Post #11.4: TEXAS MODERN

The Fort Worth Museum of Modern Art:

It was ( I think)

A very long branch

Split up the middle then

Pegged together

Made me think of Jim White's

Long ladder -

The one he built

to explore the caves

though this ladder went

the other way

up and up

as if to bust

on through
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Sidewinder Tour Blog Post #11: TEXAS / PART I

DALLAS:

It was 96 degrees at 6 pm when I left the farm just south of Manhattan, Kansas. I had just workshopped a new story so my brain was on fire not just my skin.

The cicadas.

The turtle in the grass.

Deep Creek Road to I 70 to Rt 77 to I 35 through Oklahoma City and onward  Read More 
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Sidewinder Tour Blog Post #11.1: TEXAS: THE GRASSY KNOLL

AMERICAN HISTORY

DALLAS:

On the 6th Floor of the Book Depository, no cell phones are allowed to ring.

The boxes are stacked in front of the Perch. BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS.

Was Lee Harvey Oswald a Patsy?

They have Jack Ruby's hat, Jackie in color and in black and white.

There are gargoyles  Read More 
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Sidewinder Tour Blog Post #11.2: MHC DALLAS

MARY LYON STAMP

DALLAS:

Met with the DALLAS Mount Holyoke Club Book Group. Thanks Karin Wilber '68, Jane Mayo '71, Dori (?) '74 and Janet (?) '71 for reading the book and sharing questions, your home and a lovely night.

Wine.

Shrimp.

Apple pie.

THANK YOU!

So far it's been MHC Hartford and a very wonderful meeting with Tiffany Chatham Smith '87 of La Jolla in San Juan Capistrano Austin is next tomorrow night.

Reading at MHC roommate Melissa McAllen Guerra '87 at THE TWIG BOOK SHOP, San Antonio, TX @ 7 pm.

Mel says were are going to have a skype reunion at the reading...

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Sidewinder Tour Blog Post #11.3: WILD DETECTIVES

BOOKS IN DALLAS

Dallas: museums / presidents / Love Field
Tex-Mex /
tour guides with conspiracy theories/
margaritas / SMU
cheese and olives /
apple pie /
warm at 10 pm / breeze /  Read More 
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Sidewinder Tour Blog Post #10.5: TRIP MAP #1

WESTWARD

Mid-West, USA: Thunderclouds left and right /Lightning / Dry roads / No curves /Mark Twain in Hannibal / The Illinois, then Mississippi, then Missouri River in Kansas City / Illinois 150, to I 55, to I 72 to Missouri #36, to I 35, to I 70, exit right at Deep Creek Road (gravel) /Cicadas and dogs, a few lights /Cherries in the fridge /America the Beautiful.

RIP, you deer, you coyote, fox, opossum. RIP Read More 
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