LOUISE? IT'S ANNA!

We arrived at the Tyler Art Gallery, where we came to see The Art of the Brick, by New York Lego artist Nathan Sawaya. A school football team was practising next door.  So hot outside at only ten in the morning, but the gallery was welcoming and cool.

There were three dimensional "sculptures" and also these flat "portraits" which were also amazing.  The gallery man told me 150 of his works will be debuting in the Sydney show at the Powerhouse Museum.  

The art space next door featured five East Texan modern artists.  I was not a real fan of their work, but I did like the gentle rural scenes by Diane Frossard.

Next we toured a house that started as a four room building and was added onto.  Only three families ever owned it and the last had no heirs, so left it, all the contents and the surrounding gardens as parkland for the people of Tyler.

Do y'alI need huge skirts, sun hat and a fan to look like I belong here?

Next we headed to Nacogdoches, the oldest town in Texas.  We intended to head for Natchitoches, oldest town in Louisianna after, but had no idea of the connection between the two.  Two warring sons of an Indian chief each travelled a day's journey and each established a town.

In Nacogdoches, the visitor centre was very friendly.  He suggested we visit one house, now a museum, where both Sam Houston AND Davy Crockett had stayed!  A young archeologist showed us round, as his girlfriend is studying here, and museum work is the nearest he can find to his field.

Texas is divided into several geographically distinct areas.  It is not all oil fields and prairies.  East Texas is very wooded and lush. This vegetation was right at the edge of the road for miles. We travelled through some scenic countryside today.

We crossed the huge Sabine River, where there were actually small white caps on the choppy water, along a long, narrow bridge. 

Louisiana lay on the other side, where the speed dropped from 75 to only 65 mph.  It felt so slow!  We had driven through slight rain, where the outside temperature dropped twenty degrees, and steam rose from the hot roadway!  So here we are in Natchitoches tonight.