Go West - Go West Young Man or actually "not so young man" - 1

    The heading under the photo or header states this is a blog about canoe trips, camping trips, occasionally fishing and other excursions; this particular post and those that will follow about this trip will be in the "other excursions" category.
     Growing up in Denmark I was, like most Europeans at the time, fascinated by all things Western, especially "Cowboys and Indians", a game which we would play quite often, except when we were playing soldiers in which case the "krauts" were getting their heinies whipped. Remember we had just come out from under the shadows of five years of occupation by the Wehrmacht and Herr Hitlers finest, the SS and Gestapo (which by the way when translated directly means "Homeland State Security Police", if that doesn't scare you I don't know what will).     Anyhow this is not about the war years but the years after. We played cowboys and indians, we read western books which were properly called "cowboy books". And of course it all took place in Texas, the only place with real cowboys (and I suppose cowgirls, but we were still too young to consider that aspect).
    Then one day I saw a movie which made all the difference in the world. I do not remember how old I was but it can be calculated using simple math and deductive reasoning (according to a google search the movie was made in 1960) in which case I would have been 14 years old, but the numbers do not make sense because if memory serves me correctly, which is not a very likely proposition at my age, we were living in Bregninge when I saw the movie at the Horbelev Hotel which turned its dance / banquet room into a movie theater once a  month when the "picture show" came to town. We moved from Bregninge in 1959 so something is not quite right here. I will have to consult my brother Max about when we saw this movie and where we lived at the time.
     The movie was "The Alamo" with John Wayne, Richard Whitmark and others. Sitting there on the folding chairs set up, sitting next to the girl from school and my class I had a crush on, Birthe Ravn. I decided if ever the opportunity presented itself to visit Texas I had to go to San Antonio de Bexar to see the Alamo. By a turn of fate I now live just 200 miles away from the Alamo.


Horbelev Skole (Horbelev School). This particular building housed 1st and 2nd Grade.
To the left and out of view were the apartment of Mr. Jensen, one of my favorite teachers.
He taught History (Religious, World, Political) as well as Geography (Social Studies) and Math.



Anther view of Horbelev Skole. This building in front housed 3rd, 4th and 5th grade.
The windows on top are teacher apartments.The building on the right housed 6th and 7th grade as well as the "home economics" class room and the science class room and again teacher apartments.
The school district closed the school some years ago and when I visited last in 2007 it had been purchased by a group of parents doing home schooling



The house in Bregninge Falster where I grew up. I do not know who lives there now but they have nade a great number of changes to the facade.. It used to be "bindings vaerk", and I do not seem to be able to find a proper translation so the last photo on this post will be a similar type house. The house is several hundred years old.

That flimsy thing growing out front of the house is not what we had in front of the house. We had a proper cherry tree and my brothers and I would spend many a summer day in the tree eating cherries. Of course the best ones were always out on the thinnest limbs.

 


Horbelev Hotel where we had our school plays and were the "picture show" came once a month.
The banquet room is at the two windows to the right of the door. The hotel is now closed and for sale.
It is directly across the street from the SNSB railroad station (Stubbekoebing, Nykoebing, Sakskoebing Banen), also closed now.



This house looks like the one I grew up in and this one has a bit of a connection because I had an Uncle and Aunt living in a similar house right next door.

     Because of teacher Jensen I developed a serious interest in history and "geography". One of the fascinations is of course Texas and its colorful history and another is the work of the Spanish Missionaries, mostly Jesuits, that came into Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Utah, Colorado, etc. from Mexico City.
     Therefore this next few posts will be of a trip of the "missions" in West Texas and New Mexico as well as visits to other places along the way.