Remembering Archer City, Deception Pass & Skinny-Dipping With Cybil Shepherd

I had not, of late, made note of the daily Microsoft OneDrive memories which show up in my email.

Today I learned the reason I had not, of late, made note of the daily Microsoft OneDrive memories, was because those memory emails have been going into the Promotions folder, which I tend to ignore, instead of the Primary folder, which is the folder where the email I pay attention to goes.

Today's OneDrive memories from today are of Archer City, here in Texas, and Deception Pass, in my old home zone of Washington.

It may have been in June that I drove from my old former location, in Fort Worth, to Archer City, during the period of time I was making my Eyes on Texas website.

It was a long drive from Fort Worth. From my current Wichita Falls location Archer City is about 20 miles to the south.

Archer City was where The Last Picture Show was filmed. The Last Picture Show was based on a book with the same title, by Larry McMurtry.

Archer City was Larry McMurtry's hometown. Eventually he opened a Booked Up bookstore in Archer City which became a destination tourist attraction.

I made the Archer City webpage in Black and White because The Last Picture Show was a rare, at that point in time, black and white movie.

There is a scene in The Last Picture Show which takes place at a pool party, an indoor pool party.

This scene was filmed in a Wichita Falls house which is in the area slightly to the north of my location, which I refer to as the Wichita Falls Beverly Hills.

I have never learned which of the Wichita Falls Beverly Hills mansions is the one in which Cybil Shepherd did her famous skinny-dipping scene.

As for this June memory of Deception Pass. I have zero recollection of being in Washington, in June, since I moved to Texas. So, a June memory of Deception Pass would have to be from some point in time in the previous century...

Has COVID-19 Lost Us Our Freedom To Wonder About Trump & Romans 8:38-39?

A few days ago I took my driving lunch of McDonald's cheeseburgers to Archer City.

Driving around the thriving metropolis which was the location for The Last Picture Show, along with Larry McMurtry's bookstores, I saw for the first time those giant banners proclaiming "KEEP AMERICA Great TRUMP 2020", which in the days which followed I saw also at those embarrassing Liberate America protests where herds of right wingnut redneck yahoos identify themselves as moronic idiots.

I have yet to see one of those banners stuck on someone's house or in someone's yard here in Wichita Falls. I suspect if I drove around enough I would see one. Or two.

And then yesterday I rode my bike to Sikes Lake. On the way, pretty much almost right across the street from my abode I saw that which you see above stuck to a local's house.

COVID-19 HAS CAUSED US TO LOSE OUR FREEDOM
BUT WE STILL HAVE FAITH HOPE & LOVE
BELIEVE IN ROMANS 8:38-39

Biblical scholar that I be I immediately knew the content of the bible verses being referenced. Okay, truth obviously is, I had to Google it to find out that...

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

I admit I am an extremely stupid person and that I have no clue what the point is which the above bible words are trying to convey, or what they have to do with COVID-19 or our supposedly lost freedoms, the loss of which is supposedly caused by the viral pandemic.

I guess it has been a tad inconvenient not to go the grocery store or a restaurant whenever the whim strikes. Or get my haircut. Or a new tattoo.

But, for some reason I do not feel any less free than I felt before the pandemic began to impede upon my mobility. I do feel real free to be part of helping stop the spread of this pandemic, so that we can get back to what passed as normal in pre-pandemic times.

Trump regularly reads my blog, among all the other regular reading he does. So, I expect at today's Trump Show he will now cite Romans 8:38-39, pompously, arrogantly, as if making some sort of point, and thus cause yet more Americans to come over to the side which thinks our Dear Leader to be insane with obvious mental health issues of the malignant narcissistic personality disorder type.

Meanwhile, stormy weather is preventing any bike ride discovery of any other embarrassing house ornaments today...

In Archer City Thinking About Skinny Dipping With Cybill Shepherd

This last Saturday morning of the 2019 version of September I decided to get out of town and head southwest from Wichita Falls, on Texas Highway 79 to the sprawling metropolis of Archer City.

Earlier this century, when I was in the midst of building my formerly massive Eyes on Texas website, I was lured to Archer City to check out Larry McMurtry's Booked Up bookstores.

That and to see if I could see a movie in Archer City's Royal Theater, which way back in 1969 was made famous in a movie called The Last Picture Show.

Well, the Royal Theater was no where closer to showing a new movie than when I was last at that location and webpaged what I saw in Archer City way back then. I did not bother taking new photos of that which I had photographed the first time I was in Archer City.

I did take a couple photos of a couple new things I had not seen on that previous visit. Such as that mural you see above, which is located on the west side of Highway 79, at that highway's intersection with Highway 25, also known as Main Street.

Adjacent to that mural is that which you see below.

An historical information installation the likes of which I had not seen before. The text was cut through steel. What sort of complicated piece of machinery creates such a thing?

Above is the section of the informational signage which is about the filming of The Last Picture Show, telling those who where not aware of it that Archer City's native son, Larry McMurtry wrote the novel upon which the movie is based.

There is a scene in that movie where the Jacy Farrow character played by Cybill Shepherd is lured to a pool party at a home in Wichita Falls where one of the most famous skinny dipping scenes in movie history takes place. I think I roll by that house every time my bike takes me through the area I refer to as the Wichita Falls Beverly Hills.

That was a nice drive in the country today. I must do this more often.

I sort of have a back log of blogging fodder which I seem to avoid bothering with. The main instance of this is an expose in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about that town's shocking sidewalk shortage.

I'm sure I will get to those notorious Fort Worth sidewalks sometime soon...

Walking In The Village Creek Shade While Thinking About Going To Archer City, Nacogdoches & Over Nooksack Falls

When I felt the need to commune with nature today I opted for the shadiest nearby spot I know. That being Village Creek Natural Historic Area.

The temperature was in the high 90s. Even with the shade I got HOT and turned into a sweaty, wet mess, going through 4 bottles of water. All this HEAT is turning me into a very heavy drinker.

This morning I took a virtual trip out west, to Archer City, to check in on Larry McMurtry's Booked Up bookstore. Biggest used book store in the world in a little town that still looks like it did in The Last Picture Show.

When I was done looking at Archer City I headed back east, all the way, virtually, to Nacogdoches. I have had trouble spelling that town's name all day long.

Switching from Nacogdoches to up in Washington, I heard from my oldest sister yesterday. She told me about kayaking over in North Eastern Washington on the Pend Oreille River. And coming to a rapids section or two that made her nervous. I don't know if she knew there are a lot of waterfalls in that hilly/mountainous zone.

Anyway, hearing about kayaking some rapids triggered a recurring nightmare I've not had in awhile.

People in Texas don't have to worry about accidentally going over a waterfall. I think the state must have banned them like they did the Indians.

In Washington there are a lot of waterfalls. There is one called Nooksack Falls. On the Nooksack River. Most of the Nooksack's water comes from melting snow. Nooksack Falls is always running a lot of water. But when the snowmelt is strong, Nooksack Falls shakes the ground.

There are trails where you can hike down the face of the falls, well, along side of. This has also triggered my acrophobia. The Nooksack River narrows and begins moving very fast as it gets near the falls.

In my nightmare I am floating along on an inner tube. The river starts moving faster. I'd gotten in the river way above the falls. I'd planned to get out well before the falls. In my nightmare I realize I am nearing Nooksack Falls. I can hear the roar, the river picks up speed, I can not pull myself to safety on the big boulders lining both sides of the river. I then come to the point of no return, where I know I am going over the falls. I have hit the drop off point, I don't know how many times, in how many nightmares. I don't know what happens next, because I always wake up in a panic.

No one has ever survived going over Nooksack Falls. I'll see if I can find a picture. Found one, and a blurb from Wikipedia. "The water flows through a narrow valley and drops freely 88 feet into a deep rocky river canyon. The falls are viewable from the forested cover near the cliffs edge. The falls are a short 2/3 of a mile drive off the Mount Baker Highway."

Also in the Wikipedia article there are details of a power plant on Nooksack Falls. Operating to this day. My memory of Nooksack Falls goes back about as far as my memory goes and I remember no power plant, let alone the other buildings shown in a photo in the Wikipedia article.

I must look into this Nooksack Falls power plant mystery. It sounds like blogging fodder for my Washington blog.

In the meantime, it is a bit past 4, this Sunday afternoon, and I am so exhausted going to bed sounds tempting. Very very tired am I.