A Trip Update...

Right. We flew; predictably, the airline lost my bag, with my C-PAP machine in it; it took them until the next day to manage to bring it.

TSA, you see, thought my air machine was a bomb, or some such, and took so long inspecting it that it didn't make the flight, and the next connecting flight was on Saturday.

And someone in TSA spilled their food all over my (previously) clean shirts. Bastards.

James was remarkably well-behaved on the planes, and frankly dealt with three flights in one day with better equanimity than either of his parents did.

However, Marfa, TX has been conquered by the mightiness and overwhelming kawaii of my son; Grandma was delighted to see him, and is having a blast with him. I think we introduced him to every single person in town in the last two days, LOL. Tara and I went to the ranch, and took about 120 pictures and 15 minutes of video, including the 4 1/2 foot rattler in the cellar, who informed us that that was his mouse-hunting ground and he wanted us to LEAVE, and we walked the creek that gives the Perdiz Creek ranch its name, about 5 miles of rocks, hardpan, and sand, interspersed with plants with ridiculous thorns. We got pics of that too.

Now, bearing in mind that I won't be posting the video and whatnot until we get back to Pennsylvania, I'm gonna tell you a story.

The Perdiz Creek ranch is the site of a great mystery's answer. See, back in the day, the Apaches used to raid the settlements all along the Mexican border, and when the raiding parties would find themselves being pursued, they would simply disappear. Even after the Apaches were either treatied onto reservations or killed, the raids - untraceable and deadly - continued, just less often, and finally petered out.

At that point, the U.S. military was more than curious, and they basically pestered the Apaches until they agreed to tell them the secret of the Amazing Disappearing Raiding Parties, and so here it is: Perdiz Creek, or the area that became Perdiz Creek, has on it the only artesian well in Presidio. Said well is in a canyon - the Perdiz Creek of the ranch's name - and is totally, completely hidden from even as close as 100 FEET.

Next to it is a flat rock shelf, hidden in a depression, on which the Apaches could build a campfire and set up bedrolls, completely hidden within the arroyo walls. The Apaches related to the cavalry officers stories of times the pursuit had come within earshot of the raiders without ever having a clue they were there; often within mere yards of the hidden spring.

That spring now lies on the Perdiz Creek ranch; Tara and I walked out into the desert and looked at it today, and took pictures and video. I have no trouble believing the Apache accounts; if you didn't - as I do - know exactly where it is, you would, frankly, never find it.

We also stopped at the place where my father's ashes are interred. The ranch was the life-work of the single man in the world my father ever respected; when my grandfather died, my father was too grief-stricken to do anything besides weep. The two of them had plans for the ranch that tragically were cut short by my grandfather's death, and later permanently shelved by my father's.

One day maybe I'll find a way to make those plans a reality. I think they'd both like that.

Marfa, TX, is the site of the famous Marfa Lights; sadly, due to a fairly immense windstorm and its associated dust clouds, we're not going to get to go look for them tonight, which is a shame; I have seen them, but Tara has not. It's also the place where one older, and two recent movies, have been filmed - Giant was filmed here, as well as No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood. Another film, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, was actually filmed in and around the Perdiz Creek ranch, and features a good bit of footage of the ranch house and facilities that my grandfather built with his own hands.

The desert is beautiful, even if those of you living in greener climes might not find it so.

Maybe you'll see some of the beauty to be found here in the footage and pictures Tara and I bring home, hmmm?

Tomorrow, we're off to San Antonio, there to visit the Alamo, and take pics of the plaque commemorating my ancestor - Patrick Henry Herndon - 's death during the defense of the Alamo against Santa Anna's forces in 1836, as well as wandering the Riverwalk, watching a movie, and hanging out with two of my cousins and their associated straphangers.

Before we leave, we're picking up some paperwork from the Marfa courthouse, that'll take three days to take effect; I'll leave you to guess what that's for until we get to Houston on Wednesday.

That's all you get for now; I'm going to play with my (very noisy) son.