Oct 05 2016 Where is Charlie's stump?

Morning view from next to our campsite.

What was trying to get into our 'van last night?

Early morning bike ride around the park turned out harder than we imagined.  Plan was to go to the end of the road, take the  Coyote Run Nature trail down to the dam - back across the dam to the road and back to base.  2 problems.  First the path was a lot rockier and hillier that we guessed.

and second those paths dont connect.  When you get to the dam there is a massive deep spillway in the way - it hiding under the dot on the map.  So it was hotter and longer than we expected but we had a nice shower at the end so all was well.

Back in Cleburne we went to the museum in the courthouse.

Clare's other job is a safe cracker

Faces in the marble....

some of the wonderful murals in Wright Plaza...

And finally the mystery of Charlies stump.   One of the stories told in the museum is about a large tree stump that was brought up from down south and used in the local BNSF yard to hammer the large copper sheets used to make train boilers. It had just the right amount of give for the craftsmen to perfect their trade.  It was used for many years and even survived a large fire - though that cracked it so it was reinforced with a pair of steel rings.  After Charlie retired the stump went into storage then was sold a few times but eventually ended up on display in the next town over "between the cow pasture bank and the police station"   That sounded like a good place to end our trip.   The cow pasture bank is no more, but the old lady in the feed store told us to find the nice shiny Wells Fargo bank that took over the cow pasture bank..   The Wells Fargo folks of course knew nothing about Charlie but told us that the actual cow pasture bank was a few doors down. Sure enough an abandoned  bank was there - next to the locked police station, and  between the 2 was an old cabin.  Behind the cabin was an empty concrete slab and an empty plaque.  Is this where Charlies stump was?  We may never know...

stumped!