BRANCH DAVIDIAN HISTORY 3/7/11

After we left Lake Whitney Preserve we headed south to Waco, TX.  Back in 1993 Ann and I remembered being spellbound for 50+ days as a splinter group of the Seventh Day Adventists that lived somewhat of a communal life under the leadership of David Koresh were in a standoff with the FBI.  It ended violently in a gunfight and the compound being burned to the ground.  Several FBI agents were killed in the eventual assault and 80+ members of the religious group were killed.
We decided, seeing as how we were in the area, we would try to find the place.  With a little internet work we found the location and drove out to it.

 

Not only is the location still there, but we found a memorial and the Branch Davidians still have a place there with a church and many buildings.We were surprised at how our memory of the place from all the news we watched on the incident was still in tact and how familiar it all looked!

The memorial was simple, but it told the story from the Davidian's perspective as opposed to the news we were in memory of.

We will never know, ourselves who was in the right and who was in the wrong, but in fairness to the Seventh Day Adventists, this splinter group and their members were excommunicated from the SDA when they first broke off from the church years ago and are not affiliated with the church, though they claim similar spiritual linage.

The bottom dollar to us is that this place is a piece of our history that we remembered from our younger years.  Granted, a tragedy that could have been prevented if the sect would have been obedient to following the laws of the land.  But, their end was a fulfillment of their apocalyptic beliefs.

BEEN READIN' SOME

 Since we left home a year ago this month, we have read a few books.  Yesterday, Ann and I were discussing some of the books we have read lately.  We began digging through our book cases in the trailer to find the ones we have read and found these below.  We were amazed that many of the books we read in Canada and Alaska are no longer with us as we left them in Medford when we were there in October.  These pictured below, some were read by Ann, some by Wayne and some by both of us.  A few, like the maps and scriptures are an ongoing process, but all the books, we have finished.

 This book we want you to make into a movie, Jed.

That's all folks!!

HEADED TOWARDS LAKE WHITNEY, TX 3/3/11

 We left our little birdie and headed south towards our next stop.  We like to take the back roads and following Wayne's "instinct" we ended up down a dirt road and then back in the hinterland, having to turn around on a ranchers back field.  But, we saw a lot of beautiful country and eventually ended up in Wills Point.

Chaircow of Wills Point welcoming committee!!

The town was well worth exploring as its few streets were paved with brick.

 It had 2 stop signs and one stop light!!  We walked the streets and completely enjoyed the small townishness!

 Then we headed out of town on another small road, Hwy 34.  WE enjoyed the leisurely drive through green fields and small farms.

 Several small communities had thoughts of grandeur at one time, as reflected in the names they decided to hang on their wide spot in the road.

 Finally we arrived in the county seat of Hill county, Hillsborro.  As with most of these small, old county seats here in Texas, the court house sticks out majestically above all the other old shops in town.

 This one caught our eye and then as we walked around and looked at it, some of the finer details hit us.  This monument is dedicated to their Confederate soldiers!

 Here is what was written on it.  We have to realize, we are in the south and Texas is a very independent state!

 Another thing that grabbed us is display of the constitution.....

....placing "In God We Trust" in several prominent places......

 ...and even using scripture from the bible!!!!

 As we have toured Texas, we are struck with the friendliness of all the people and their fierce independence.  It actually is the only state in the union that is allowed to fly its state flag at the same height as the Stars and Stripes!  That is because it came into the Union as an independent country.  Before it was Texas the state, it was Texas, the country!

We were also surprised that this little town had the oldest pharmacy in Texas too!  It is amazing all the things you learn as you just wander the town!

 So, we pulled into the town of Whitney and drove 5 miles out of town to Lake Whitney Thousand Trails Preserve and set up for a few days.  We were here to pay bills, prepare taxes, just relax and go to church.  Speaking of church.  While at church today as we introduced ourselves and said we were from Oregon, some guy spoke up and said, "Hey, isn't Oregon up in the upper panhandle of Texas?"  Another guy said, "No, I think its one of those territories we annexed in to Texas a while back."  Another said, "Nah, that's that country up north where they have all those hippies and other liberals."  Then there was some serious banter about people from Oregon.  I got the final word in with, "Well, when any of you goat ropers wanna see what real beautiful country looks like, come on up north and we will show you a good time."   We will leave here tomorrow, Monday to head further south.