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| Entrance to Cleburne State Park built by the CCC |
My three days spent at Possum Kingdom State Park were
just what I needed. Since leaving Liz’s house I’d been on the go non-stop. I
needed time to catch up with labeling photos, writing and relaxing.
I left the park in the morning and set my TomTom
navigation system to Handley, Texas where my great grandparents had married and
lived from 1879 – ca. 1886. While navigating the rather intense Fort Worth
freeway network I lost faith that it knew where it was taking me, so I pulled
off and tired, I decided to head for Cleburne State Park for the night. That
evening I had difficulty connecting with Dianne on Facetime and could not get
my AT&T personal hotspot to work at all. I could not connect to the
internet but attributed the failure to dense tree cover and the windy
conditions.
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| Handley where my great grandparents lived is now a designated Historic District that has merged into For Worth |
After checking my paper maps I headed out the following
morning towards Handley. I had a CGS Capital Campaign meeting scheduled for
11:00. When I arrived I plugged into my new solar powered electrical outlet,
since I was not in a campsite and not connected to regular power. Starting up
my laptop I found I still had no internet connection so was unable to access
the conference call-in number. No problem, I simply telephoned Jane and asked
if she would initiate the conference call. She did and that worked fine. But,
when our meeting started an hour+ later I found that my laptop had run out of
power – my solar adaptor had failed, so I was unable to access my meeting
agenda and had to take notes with paper and pencil!
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| Jada's Boutique - one of the older commercial properties in Handley |
I was a bit distressed to find I had no source of power,
my laptop was completely run down and I had no internet access. But I figured it
was all temporary and would somehow fix itself so I continued with my day
hobbled but not out.
I explored the Village of Handley looking for buildings
that might have existed in the early 1880s. Most of the homes appeared to be
built in the 1920s and 30s. I stopped to chat with a resident out tending her
nice garden and asked where the commercial district was. She directed me. These
buildings were clearly old but not likely from my time period. I went into one
very nice paper products/wedding shop to ask about where I could learn more
about the town. She directed me to Betty Cormer who sent me across the street
to the antiques shop. The shop keeper suggested I check the library at TUA
(Texas University at Arlington). I headed that way but after driving further
than I’d anticipated from his directions I decided I’d had enough and should
look for a place to spend the night.
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| Handley feed store - a likely candidate for my great grandparent's era |
That is when I discovered that my camping app also was
not working. I tried just entering “camping” on my iPhone map function and my
phone showed that I was near a campsite but it would not provide an actual map
or any directions. OK, now I was stressed – nothing was working.
Roger to the Rescue
One of the nice things that happened at Possum Kingdom
was that I met Roger Miller and his partner Galinda. Roger walked over to my
site one evening and introduced himself. I invited him to sit down and the two
of us enjoyed a varied and rich conversation for about an hour. The next day I was about to walk over to ask
for a suggestion of where to stay in Fort Worth when Roger was back. This time
we talked for about an hour and a half. Roger is not what you might envision
for a native Texan. He is as liberal as I am, maybe more so, and would fit in
perfectly in Oakland or Berkeley. I enjoyed his company so when he left and said,
“let me know if you need anything while you are in Fort Worth – feel free to
come and stay in our guest room”, I accepted it as a genuine invitation. Of
course at that point I had no expectation that I would need anything. But here
I was struggling with my technology, tired and with no place to stay, so I
called Roger and just said, “I need help”. He responded without hesitation
giving me directions to his home.
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| The train came to Handley in 1876. My great grandparents James and Carrie Pattillo were there by 1879 |
As soon as I arrived he connected me with the internet
and tried to troubleshoot my tech problems. When that failed I called Computer
Courage in Berkeley who provided a simple solution – reboot my phone. I had
rebooted my laptop repeatedly – a cold and hard boot but neither helped. It
never occurred to me to reboot the phone but CC explained that since I’d moved
to a new location I needed to let the phone seek different satellites to make
my connection. I did what they suggested and bingo, everything worked and I was
back in business.
Roger told me where I could get the power converter in
the motorhome fixed and invited me to go out for dinner. I accepted insisting I
would pay for the meal. Then after dinner he gave me a personalized tour of
downtown. That helped to reduce my anxiety about driving through their freeway
maze the next day. I camped that night in Roger and Galinda’s driveway and in
the morning headed off feeling oh, so much better. Thank you Roger and Galinda.
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| One of the oldest homes in Handley but not from my great grandparents era |
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| Handley Community Park and gazebo |
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| Concrete stamp in Handley dated 1868. When my great grandfather moved to Los Angeles he had a concrete contracting business. His son, Lewis Pattillo, my grandfather and his grandson Bert, my uncle both took up the same trade |
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| The same train tracks in Handley are still there and in operation |
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| A typical 1920s era Handley home |
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| Note the wonderful live oak trees that were throughout the neighborhood |
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| This gate post and stone wall are one of the few things I found in town that may be from the time period when my family lived there. |
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