BLANCO'S BUGGY BARN MUSEUM (Mark)

​My dad has said on several occasions that he is proud he and Mom had raised four children and never had to see them through the bars of a jail.  

So while visiting him in Texas, we visited the Buggy Barn Museum and I gave him a view of what he had missed, standing on an elevated walkway while taking his picture.

Here are a couple of views of what your accommodations would have been if you had spent a night or two as a guest of the Texas Rangers in earlier times: 

This is one of the many buildings in the town the Museum has.  This is the entrance to the Museum's main street and historical buildings:

In addition to 250 wagons, buggies, and carriages, the Museum has a number of historical artifacts from the Old West period:

You could spend an entire day just looking at the non-wheeled displays, such as this coffee grinder; selection of brews, both home and commercial; and old-fashioned receipt holder.

But then you would need another day to see the main attraction, anything on wheels pulled by an animal.

This made-in-Czechoslovakia funeral carriage is one example of one of the more (but not most) ornate items on display.  This carriage was used in California by a funeral parlor prior to being brought to the Museum.

The Prairie Schooner, Plains Wagon, and Utility Wagon are among the more humble varieties.  Generally these are what we think of when we talk about horse, oxen, or mule drawn conveyances.

This beautifully restored Fire Department Pumper would have a crew of five men, three on the front bench and two standing on the back deck:

This Fire Department Ladder and Utility Wagon could carry any equipment needed, or a much larger crew:

This is one of the medium-sized display areas, where you can see over thirty carriages:

Each one has history attached to it, and different construction methods and materials.

Looking at this undercarriage, and appreciating the amazing ability our forefathers had to make such amazing suspension and steering mechanisms is mind-boggling.  The tools and materials they had to work with we would consider fairly primitive.  Yet they were able to master the art and craft of producing these machines.  

​This was especially meaningful to me to explore these carriages with my dad, as he was able to explain how the parts were made and assembled.

My dad is one of five, possibly six, men ever to hold both of these awards:

Very few have ever been awarded one of these.  And to have both is an amazing achievement.

If he were a baseball player he would be comparable to Babe Ruth, Henry Aaron, Willie Mays . . . .  Yes, I am proud of my dad.