I do so enjoy discovering things.
While looking into the Merci Train we both had the feeling that they were familiar, but could not place where, or if we had seen one before, So I returned to the Merci Train website and checked more carefully the locations of the boxcars in all states we have passed through. Using Google maps, satellite views and Street view I could then cross reference the locations with our photos. I looked again at Jackson, we were so close to that one. The boxcar in Bristol, Tennessee was close to us, we may have driven past it, but the map shows that it's location cannot be seen from the road. Lastly I looked at Louisiana. The boxcar was displayed at the Old State Capitol, well we had visited the new State Capitol, but could not recall going to the old one. However as soon as I brought it up on Street View I recognized the building, so then checked on our blog archive - found it on 21st October 2012. We had heard about the Downtown Friday Concerts, a series of concert held in a public square, just by the Old State Capitol Building Friday evenings, this week was to be Zydeco! So we had driven into Baton rouge after lunch and parked the car nearby. As we arrived early we had toured the Old Capitol and then gone for a coffee. I re-read the blog. But while I have recorded our visit to the Old State Capitol, there was no mention of the Merci Boxcar and no photos of our visit. In fact I had been quite dismissive of the exhibits there, with the exception of the fine staircase.
So I then checked the Photo Albums on Picasa and lo and behold, there was and album showing our visit and a careful search showed that in the background to a couple of the pics and one video is the Louisiana Boxcar!! More than that, I then searched through our photo archive and found it! We had actually had a look at it and examined it close up, but I had not included the picture in the blog. So here are those pictures.
Oh I am so easily pleased!!! But I had tracked down that little niggle. Yes!
Great journey from Tombstone, in AZ, to the Napa Valley, in CA...............................................Including Jim and Connie's Party!
What we did!
This is the blog of our 12th Trip to the U.S.A.
On this trip we arrived in March and spent a week with our friends Connie NA Jim at their Bluegrass Party, in Florida.
We then flew to Phoenix, where we collected our rig and then explored Southern Arizona, from the cowboy city of Tombstone in the East, to the desert City of Yuma in the West.
Travelling north along the course of the Colorado river we visited the London Bridge at Lake Havasu before exploring the Mojave Desert, including some more of Rout 66 and Calico Ghost Town.
Moving North West through California we shared in the CBA Bluegrass Campout in Turlock, before visiting Bodega Bay to follow The Birds. After sampling the delights of the Napa Valley we joined in The Fiddle Convention at Cloverdale before storing our rig and returning home after seeing some friends in San Leandro, near San Francisco.
This blog gives a day to day record of many of the things we did on this trip.
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Whoa! so much information! - I've read about the Harvey Girls - fascinating, the boxcars and all the info in Phoenix ( not a city we ventured into - as you know our love of cities is sadly lacking)
ReplyDeleteYou must get wifi much more than we do - I seem to spend my time cathcing up with friends, doing blog and checking bank accounts! We are, as you say, well and truly chilled, enough to perhaps venture near to Houston to see NASA - perhaps!