Mammoths

Thursday, May 28, 2026

Saturday, we headed to Waco. Lisa had given us three options, 1) go to a craft show at a Christian compound, 2) go to a Mammoth museum and 3) go to a Texas Rangers museum. We made it to the compound and the Mammoth museum but ran out of time before we could go see the Rangers.

The compound was fascinating. A religious group in New York wanted to live simple lives, bought some property near Waco and moved there.

They built houses on the property, and they do their best to live simple lives and make what they need themselves.

They were selling things like leather goods, blacksmithing, candle making, wood working and home-made clothing. It is the kind of life that I think I would enjoy. The most interesting thing to me is that they have the only water driven mill in Texas that is in operation and milling flour. It was working while we were there.

The mill was built in 1760 in New Jersey and fed the American army led by George Washington during the revolutionary war when they were starving during the winter of 1780-81. In 2001 the mill was moved to Texas and restored.

We then headed to the Mammoth museum; it was also fascinating. The first mammoth was found in 1978 and since that time around 30 mammoths have been found all in a very small area.

They figure that a herd of mammoths, including several babies, were watering at the creek and were caught in a flash flood. They refer to the herd as a nursery heard. The owner of the property wanted to support the discovery, so he donated this portion of his land to the city of Waco in 1996 and in 2009 they built a shelter over the site and opened it up to visitors. It was a genius decision because they now have an income from the visitors, they have an air-conditioned shelter where they can work, and the bones are protected from the weather. We all enjoyed the air conditioning immensely. It is an active archeological site.

They told us that they are looking at everything around the bones including what spores are in the soil so I knew it must take a long time to remove all the dirt. I asked how long it took to dig out the bones, and the guide told me that she was there for eight hours when I guy was working on it and after an eight-hour day he had removed a half inch of soil in the small area where he was digging.

On our way home I got to visit my first Bucc-ee’s store. It really is quite amazing. They have everything you could want at a gas station. They must have had fifty islands with gas pumps, and the store was more like a Wal Mart than a gas station. They have everything from clothes to some rather amazing food. Once we got home Sydney headed off to a couple of graduation parties she wanted to attend and we played in the yard and ate some of Brandons amazing brisket.

--------------------trivia--------------------

Birth rates in the 1980's was about 70 births per 1,000 women. Today it is 11. Teen births have dropped by 70% and the age group most likely to have a child are women in their 30's.

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