- Joined
- Aug 21, 2006
- Messages
- 501
This has taken ages for me to get round to doing but hopefully some of you will find it interested at least for the photos anyways.
September 2013 I thought Id bite the bullet and take a little trip across America and see the country that Id always wanted to see and hopefully pick up a few trinkets along the way to carry back.
I wont go through the whole trip but as a basic rundown the main stops of interest were:
San Antonio
Austin
Dallas
Little Rock
Memphis
Nashville
Louisville
Washington D.C.
Philadelphia
Nazareth PA
New York
In total I travelled 2663 miles over about 28 days and loved every minute of it.
The first stop of course had to be San Antonio, how could any Bowie enthusiast not go to Texas and not go to the Alamo? The day I was there, there was a historic group there in period dress showing off the skills of the time and the odd powder firing demonstration certainly gave my jet legged self a bit of a boost
Jim Bowie would be proud of this lady
They are never too young to get them involved ..
The Alamo Shrine is an intriguing place, very solemn and you can understand the reverence it holds for the people of Texas. I liked that there were no photographs allowed inside in gave you a chance to actually go round and soak in the history rather than be put off by flashes and clicks. Seeing the stuff of legends is an interesting thing you grow up with all these perceptions told to you or read about and then you come into contact with them and share in that history and it starts to click in a way you hadnt thought of before.
Of course coming to Texas you also couldnt leave without a Stetson and at least one pair of boots. I stopped off at Paris Hatters and got a nice panama to see me though the hot days and went off to the Lucchese (my pronounciation was certainly not the native one!!) but sadly I didnt know how much extra cash Id have left and couldnt justify near a $1000 on a pair of boots but hopefully someday. (and who knew you could get boots made from hippo!!)
I could be wrong but if I remember right these were $10,000
Stopped off at Collings Guitars on the way to Austin. They are like hens teeth over here in Ireland and to this day Ive never seen one over here. They normally only do tours on Friday but they gave me shorter personal guided tour. Some great guitars this trip was a real combination of my love of music and history.
Austin is Austin, Id a bit of a hotel mix-up which was amusing for the clerk but not for my wallet but the young guy did alright by me.
I was told to watch out for Dallas but just popped through on the way to see the JFK Museum and have a look round.
Little Rock was the big stop for me and certainly one of the highlights. Tad Lynch had made me a big bowie a few years back and when I asked about places to visit he kindly offered to have me over and organised a trip to introduce me to Lin Rhea at the Little Rock Museum.
We arranged to meet at the museum and theres Tad and Lin, both great guys I cant sing their praises enough for their hospitality and warmth toward me. I thought wed do a wee tour of the museum and have a chat and then Tad and I would head off. Lin took us round the Little Rock Museum. If you havent been you really need to take the trip. Especially at the moment with the Bowie Knife exhibition on ( I was really sad to have missed it) . Id say without any fear that the Museum is one of the best Ive ever been to. The permanent knife exhibition is great and the general exhibitions are great too. Get yourself down at least once and see a great museum. So we looked round at the knife exhibits saw the Morans, Fisks and few Bagwells and various other makers up in the Hall of Fame. I got to see Bowie No. 1 out of its case and I have to say I didnt think it was as big or has much of a distinctive handle/blade angle as it does.
Lin said we were going on a history detective trip to try and ascertain the providence of two old coffin handled bowies. Lin trusted me with the box for a bit and I think that was enough, dropping one of those would not have been a pleasant experience.
I was saying to Lin that we can have an awful habit of looking back at history and the skills of the past and thinking we know best now and write them off as part of the learning curve in getting to where we are now and not appreciating them. I always looked at coffin handled bowies as a bit plain and simple but the intricate detail and thought that went into those early bowies really does make them functional art.
The museum at Little Rock isnt just the building there and the displayS, what goes on behind the scenes in recreating history is just amazing. Its a museum passionate about keeping old skills alive. Lins blacksmith shop at the museum is a great spot. We didnt get the forge cranked up as it was late on in the day but it was just a fantastic shop and the stuff lying about that Lin has been forging apart from knives is brilliant. Definetly look at Lins website or his facebook page for some of the little things he can forge out with a hammer.
Theres some great work comes out of this anvil and forge
Lin gave me a lil gift of a forged nail
And hes a bit of a local celebrity
September 2013 I thought Id bite the bullet and take a little trip across America and see the country that Id always wanted to see and hopefully pick up a few trinkets along the way to carry back.
I wont go through the whole trip but as a basic rundown the main stops of interest were:
San Antonio
Austin
Dallas
Little Rock
Memphis
Nashville
Louisville
Washington D.C.
Philadelphia
Nazareth PA
New York
In total I travelled 2663 miles over about 28 days and loved every minute of it.
The first stop of course had to be San Antonio, how could any Bowie enthusiast not go to Texas and not go to the Alamo? The day I was there, there was a historic group there in period dress showing off the skills of the time and the odd powder firing demonstration certainly gave my jet legged self a bit of a boost
Jim Bowie would be proud of this lady
They are never too young to get them involved ..
The Alamo Shrine is an intriguing place, very solemn and you can understand the reverence it holds for the people of Texas. I liked that there were no photographs allowed inside in gave you a chance to actually go round and soak in the history rather than be put off by flashes and clicks. Seeing the stuff of legends is an interesting thing you grow up with all these perceptions told to you or read about and then you come into contact with them and share in that history and it starts to click in a way you hadnt thought of before.
Of course coming to Texas you also couldnt leave without a Stetson and at least one pair of boots. I stopped off at Paris Hatters and got a nice panama to see me though the hot days and went off to the Lucchese (my pronounciation was certainly not the native one!!) but sadly I didnt know how much extra cash Id have left and couldnt justify near a $1000 on a pair of boots but hopefully someday. (and who knew you could get boots made from hippo!!)
I could be wrong but if I remember right these were $10,000
Stopped off at Collings Guitars on the way to Austin. They are like hens teeth over here in Ireland and to this day Ive never seen one over here. They normally only do tours on Friday but they gave me shorter personal guided tour. Some great guitars this trip was a real combination of my love of music and history.
Austin is Austin, Id a bit of a hotel mix-up which was amusing for the clerk but not for my wallet but the young guy did alright by me.
I was told to watch out for Dallas but just popped through on the way to see the JFK Museum and have a look round.
Little Rock was the big stop for me and certainly one of the highlights. Tad Lynch had made me a big bowie a few years back and when I asked about places to visit he kindly offered to have me over and organised a trip to introduce me to Lin Rhea at the Little Rock Museum.
We arranged to meet at the museum and theres Tad and Lin, both great guys I cant sing their praises enough for their hospitality and warmth toward me. I thought wed do a wee tour of the museum and have a chat and then Tad and I would head off. Lin took us round the Little Rock Museum. If you havent been you really need to take the trip. Especially at the moment with the Bowie Knife exhibition on ( I was really sad to have missed it) . Id say without any fear that the Museum is one of the best Ive ever been to. The permanent knife exhibition is great and the general exhibitions are great too. Get yourself down at least once and see a great museum. So we looked round at the knife exhibits saw the Morans, Fisks and few Bagwells and various other makers up in the Hall of Fame. I got to see Bowie No. 1 out of its case and I have to say I didnt think it was as big or has much of a distinctive handle/blade angle as it does.
Lin said we were going on a history detective trip to try and ascertain the providence of two old coffin handled bowies. Lin trusted me with the box for a bit and I think that was enough, dropping one of those would not have been a pleasant experience.
I was saying to Lin that we can have an awful habit of looking back at history and the skills of the past and thinking we know best now and write them off as part of the learning curve in getting to where we are now and not appreciating them. I always looked at coffin handled bowies as a bit plain and simple but the intricate detail and thought that went into those early bowies really does make them functional art.
The museum at Little Rock isnt just the building there and the displayS, what goes on behind the scenes in recreating history is just amazing. Its a museum passionate about keeping old skills alive. Lins blacksmith shop at the museum is a great spot. We didnt get the forge cranked up as it was late on in the day but it was just a fantastic shop and the stuff lying about that Lin has been forging apart from knives is brilliant. Definetly look at Lins website or his facebook page for some of the little things he can forge out with a hammer.
Theres some great work comes out of this anvil and forge
Lin gave me a lil gift of a forged nail
And hes a bit of a local celebrity
?? Those are some of the most incredible guitars out there. It's unreal to play one. I wish I could swap a knife or two for one. Did you get to pick one?
