This is the story of Three-Legged Willie. He lived in Anahuac, TX.
Alabama released us after we drove west, discovered there was a problem with the new brakes. We pulled into a campground for the weekend and licked our wounds. Then it was back to the repair place when they opened at 6:30 a.m. on Monday. They determined one of the rotors was warped and tried to sell me a new one. I pushed for them to grind it. They didn't have the equipment to do that, but found a brake specialist who did the job in an hour.
We were released around 5 in the afternoon and were determined to head west to Mississippi. We made it over the state line and then got into a parking lot on Interstate 10 for more than an hour. We got off as soon as we could find an exit.
As we rolled west the next day (Tuesday). I thought about the four things we would remember about Mississippi. Jo thought and said, kindly, she would remember the poor people in the RV park who left for work at 5:30 in the morning. She thought the parking lot on the highway was something to forget. I'll always remember the guy who walked through our RV resort as dusk fell. He was shouting, “Come back here, you black nigga. Come here.” I popped my head up from the sofa and discovered he was not berating his girlfriend. He was shouting at his black dog that wouldn't respond to his command. And I'll remember that when I plugged in our electrical cord, the safety device I carry warned me there was an open ground at the power pole – just a little bit on the dangerous side. This is why we carry this expensive piece of equipment. This is the third time it has protected us.
We found the most amazing little city campground in the town of Lafayette, Louisiana, on the western side of the state for our next stop. We found it with our mapping software. The park, in the center of the city, had about 30 sites and provided electricity, water and a sewer dump. We parked in a leafy glade and relaxed to the happy singing of happy birds.
In the morning, we headed west, across the Texas border and came to the mouth of the Trinity River where we pulled in to a hardly-used campground in the old Mexican town of Anahuac. There used to be a fort here. Now it looks like so many hundreds (thousands) of one-horse towns which make you question their reason for existence.
We did find an historical marker which talked about a man named Three-Legged Willie. His real name was Robert McAlpin Williamson. He had a withered leg and strapped a wooden prosthetic device to it, hence the name. He became a judge in the town and when a ruffian was brought before him, the thug pulled a Bowie knife and told the judge, “This is the law.” But three-legged Willie pulled his revolver and told him, “This is the constitution which overrules the law.”
Houston is 45 miles wide and is the most labyrinthine city in terms of flyovers and over- and under-passes. It is a stressful ride to fly through the city on highways that can carry 10 lanes of traffic one way. But we squirted out the other side after an hour. We pulled off the highway (what have they done to the rest areas?) for lunch and then made our way to an auto parts store to replace the flasher on our turn signals. Then it was onward, down Interstate 10 to the west. Jo is beginning to panic for her bird books all end their coverage in the center of Texas. She has been having a great time discovering new species (to us) and I know there's a stop somewhere in San Antonio where we'll be buying a book about western birds.
The highways are coated in multi-colored spring wild flowers...just beautiful. These were encouraged by LBJ's wife, LadyBird. And they improve the long and winding road.
By the way, we are 1,200 miles into our journey thus far.
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