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June 2006 Newsletter
Howdy folks!
I need to welcome lots of new email friends we’ve acquired since embarking on the Sesquicentennial Camel Drive. Marhaba (Arabic for welcome) and Bienvenido (Spanish for the same). This email serves as an After Action Report for the Camel Drive and is pretty lengthy, so grab something cool to drink and let me thank you now for suffering through this "Oscar acceptance" version of the monthly update!
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Whew...it’s over: The Sesquicentennial Camel Drive, and what a success it was. Let me first thank, from the bottom of my heart, the other members of the drive.
To Jimmy Hale, owner of the American Camel Company, who brought along Dee Dee and Charo: Thanks so much for putting things aside for fifteen days. The time we spent together will always remain a fantastic memory to me.
Gil T. Hernandez, great-great grandson of James Santiago Tafolla, soldier and civilian camel driver in the 19th century: Thanks for saving up all your vacation time from work to be a part of the Drive. Sharing your family’s history with us and all the folks we met along the way was so generous. Muchas gracias mi hermano.
Ernest Geigenmiller, retired Texas Air National Guard: Ernest, my gratitude to you runs so deep. You kept us safe on the road and always had something positive to say as we began each day’s journey. Aleman, yo te agradezco.
Frank Gonzales, author: Frank, thanks for taking the time to put a week or so of first hand research into your book about the historic US Army Camel Corps. Best of luck!
To Frank and D’Ann, Carolyn and Tammy, Kay, Bradley, the Mathis family, Roger Berry (www.camelphotos.com) and Diana, Sean and Ian: thanks for taking time out of your lives to give to this endeavor. Jimmy and I truly counted on each of you to help us get the camels down the road while you were with us. We hope you found us gracious hosts, our camels gentle and that you had a good time while on the Drive.
To those who couldn’t make it: Sidi Amar, Steven Evans, Dr. James Jensen and Matt Lyles. I know that each of you had pressing matters, major life changes, illness or alien abduction, but please know that you were in our thoughts and with us each day on the Drive. None of this means you’re off the hook for the 200th, though! See ya at Indianola in 2056...
To all those who sent donations before the Drive: Thanks so much. Your contributions really helped out. The phone bill leading up to the event was pretty big. Postage for all the pre-Drive correspondence with local officials was also covered and a number of the meals and groceries were purchased from these funds. To SmartShield: your skin protection products were used every single day and were an unqualified success! The camels are yours for the asking in any future advertising campaigns!
A full list of thanks, county by county, is below and my sincere apologies if I've left anyone out.
At this point, it’s probably only fair to mention that this After Action Report isn’t going to have a lot of funny camel stories. No loose camels running down the highways of Texas; no one got bitten and had to be rushed to the hospital; and contrary to 19th century US camel lore: no one was spit upon, NOR did the ejected matter burn a hole in anyone’s skin. While it’s the camel man’s ilk in life to have everything go wrong (and always at the most inopportune time), the camels were virtually unflappable. God bless them for making it such an uneventful trip.
As far as I’m concerned, the "money shot" moment of the trip happened in downtown San Antonio. We were at the Alamo and you’d think that would be it, right? Swing and a miss. We had unloaded the camels along E. Houston Street, adjacent to the old shrine and a park policeman of some type came up to me and confronted me about the camels being on the sidewalk, forcing pedestrian traffic into the street. This would not do, he clearly and less than amiably conveyed. Now, I don’t like confrontation and he also went on to chide me for the "gifts" the camels were leaving on the pavement. I was now somewhat nervous and we were under the gun to have the camels ready and in front of the Alamo by 9 a.m. Jimmy came by and asked if I’d hold the door to his trailer while he stepped inside to "look for something", code for "I need to use the bathroom". As I was holding the door shut for him, a reporter comes by, sticks a microphone in my face and starts asking questions. I instinctively latched the trailer door shut and walked away with him to check on my camels. Jimmy’s two camels were tied to the back of his trailer and the other guys were finishing up grooming mine. As I answered the reporter’s questions it never occurred to me that I’d locked Jimmy in his trailer!
To hear Jimmy tell it, he was in there for 12-15 minutes, but my version goes that it was more like 5-7 minutes. Either way, Jimmy began calling out the names of the various folks on the Drive at the time. "Doug! Gil! Ernest! Frank!" No one answered. Jimmy said the worst part of the ordeal was watching through his trailer windows as strangers strolled up to pet his camels, Dee Dee and Charo, and there was nothing he could do! His fingers "squeezed through the expanded metal that covers the vents/windows at the top of the trailer like a chimp in a cage," he said.
Finally, an old farmer responded to Jimmy’s pleas for help. "You need out of there?" the kindly gentleman asked. "Yeah," Jimmy replied. "My friends went to the Alamo and they locked me in my trailer!" Jimmy sprung out of the trailer and I immediately quizzed him as to why he wasn’t in uniform yet- we had just a couple of minutes before we had to be moving. "You locked me in my (expletive) trailer! Who’s watching my (expletive) camels?!!!" It’s the maddest I’ve ever seen Jimmy and I’m laughing uncontrollably as I write this. Jimmy, I’m so sorry I locked you in your trailer. It had nothing to do with the reporter coming by. I simply don’t like confrontation.
Get well soon emails can be sent to Jim Hale of the American Camel Company at: ygr@mcn.net
The camels being at the Alamo was pretty awesome and as I mentioned above, I was nervous as heck, so I purposely left my camera in my truck. If any of you out there in email land have any pictures of the camels from that day, I’d sure appreciate if you could send some. I’ve gotten a few promises from folks who were there that day, but I just want to cover all the bases. It’s the only portion of the Drive where I didn’t personally shoot images.
Another high point was the arrival of the camels into Bandera, Texas. This town really knows how to throw a welcome and we all certainly appreciated their efforts. The County Judge issued a proclamation that Friday, June 2, 2006 was "Texas Camel Corps Day", right on the front lawn of the Bandera County Courthouse. What a thrill!!! Hundreds of folks were there as we brought the camels down the main drag.
When we pulled into the little community of Camp Verde, our trail’s end, the reception was even bigger. Words truly cannot describe the feeling I had when I saw the crowd. Folks had lined Hwy 173 to watch the camels come in and among them were people we’d met along the Drive from the fifteen days before. It wouldn’t be until later, when I was driving home, that the magnitude of the Camel Drive struck me. At most events I take camels to, the event itself is the draw and the camels are just one part of it. For the fifteen days of the Drive, however, if anyone was there, it was solely because of the camels. The owners of the Camp Verde General Store estimated their day’s visitation at over 1,500!
All along the way, people whose families had associations with the historic US Army camels came out to share their tales. In Cuero, the Kleineckes brought out a copy of their family tree. Their ancestor, Mary R. Kleinecke, had seen the camels unloaded at Indianola in 1856. In Sutherland Springs, Norma Hyatt brought out a copy of Chris Emmett’s "Texas Camel Tales" published in 1932. In the book her grandfather, Charles Brett, is quoted as saying he was there, too. Norma even had a typewritten letter to her grandfather from Emmett thanking him for his contribution to the book.
In Camp Verde, Kathy Gaulden came by to visit. She’s the great-great granddaughter of Amasa Clark, who worked with the camels in the 19th century. He’d taken some camel hair and stuffed a couple of pillows. One was buried with him, the other is in Frontier Times Museum in Bandera, Texas. Fred Coopwood, great-great grandson of Bethel Coopwood, who bought the 66 remaining US Army camels in Texas after the Civil War, showed up, too. When each of these descendants would introduce themselves, everything else stopped and the members of the Drive would ask for a photo op. When these folks were introduced to the crowd, applause erupted. Without exception, every person in attendance recognized the importance and historic relevance this event carried with it. My heart swells as I think about it all.
One other person showed up at the terminus of our Drive: Jolene Boyd. Jolene wrote the book "Noble Brutes- Camels on the American Frontier", which was given to me as a Christmas gift in 1993. That book changed my life. Finding out about the historic US Army camels truly set me on the path that, oddly enough, brings you and me together each month with this email newsletter. If not for this book, who knows when or if I would’ve planted my feet so firmly in this, my chosen profession? Seeing Jolene again (I’d met her and begun a correspondence soon after reading her book) was such a treat. Obviously, I recommend her book to you unreservedly. For any of you out there with publishing connections, she is looking for a new publisher for the second edition with some updates and additions.
Once the crowd thinned at the Camp Verde General Store, the members of the Drive headed to the old fort that once housed the camels, just west of the General Store along Verde Creek. We had been invited to tour the private residence as special guests of the Bowman family. They’ve owned the fort for the better part of the last century and I’ve eyed the only remaining structure, the officer’s quarters, from the road numerous times before. What a warm, generous gift.
Tibaut Bowman had prepared a proclamation that read, "Know all persons that the undersigned owners and keepers of Camp Verde, est. 1855, do this date welcome and honour the arrival of the Texas Camel Corps who have today completed the journey from Port Indianola, Texas to Camp Verde, Texas by camel, travelling the same route as taken by the US Army to station camels at Camp Verde in June 1856, this being the Sesquicentennial Anniversary of said trek.
Powers Bowman, who led us around the property, said when he heard about the camels coming, he thought it was only right that the final stop be made at the fort. He showed us inside the officer’s quarters, walked us out to the foundation of the post hospital and pointed out the outline of the old camel "khan" or corral. Jimmy bent down and kissed the ground.
This small bit of history, which each of us so values, was kept the priority from the first step on the Gulf of Mexico to the last in the Hill Country. As we return to our homes and our families, the rhythm that we all got into is definitely hard to shake. The Sesquicentennial Camel Drive became a lifestyle. At times I had to remind myself that there was absolutely no motive other than the perpetuation of this great story, that the offers of assistance along the way should be graciously accepted and that every person we came into contact with was perceptibly impacted. I can think of no grander legacy.
The last couple of days on the trail did not allow any access to a computer, so images from those final stops have only now been added to the website. Please check ‘em out. As the dust settles, I’ll be moving the Drive from the homepage to its own dedicated pages. Thanks so much for following the Sesquicentennial Camel Drive.
Additional thanks:
Calhoun County
County Judge Mike Pfeiffer
Sheriff BB Browning
Commissioner Galvan
Port LaVaca VFW
Victoria County
Region III Education Service Center
Daryl Swoboda and family of Placedo, Texas
Frank and D’Ann Hurta
Students and faculty of O’Connor Elementary
Family of Wes Cole
5th Grade class and Mrs. Kubesch of Nursery, Texas
Wharton County (detour)
Louise, Texas K-12 campus and Mrs. Virginia Peters
DeWitt County
Sheriff Jode Zavesky
Cuero Mayor Buzz Edge
Cuero Rotary Club
Cuero Nursing and Rehab Center
Mr. Bowtie Brown
Family of Katy Weber and Tim Shull
Kleinecke family for sharing their family’s heritage with us
Gonzales County
The folks of Smiley, Texas
Mr. Russell and Mrs. Mary Louise Cummins
Nixon, Texas: Nathan Wheat of the Nixon-Smiley Livestock Show, Inc.
Wilson County
County Judge Marvin Quinney
Stockdale Chamber of Commerce Arena
LaVernia Chamber of Commerce Hall and Mr. Kane Mattke
Renee Vickers and the Stockdale Mission
Ghislaine Mathieu for the Lemon Meringue Pie
Merri and Larry Keeble with Love thy Neighbor Mission
Bexar County
Kyle Coleman from the Sheriff’s Department
Rudi Rodriguez and Texas Tejano.com
Daughters of the Republic of Texas
The Alamo
Charles Lara and Alamo Legacy Missions Association
Bandera County
Dan Wise, Genie Strickland and Pat Harrison County Judge Richard Evans
Frontier Times Museum
Polly’s Chapel and Mr. David Herrera
Mr. John Bruce
Jules Jourde, manager and the Fontaine Family, owners of Mason Fork Ranch
Kerr County
Clay Barton from the Sheriff’s Dept
Jamie, Melissa, Felipe, Leticia, y Sra. Grossman from the Camp Verde General Store
Bowman family, owners of historic Camp Verde
Thanks also to the multitude of journalists who covered the Drive and helped to get the word out about the camels, particularly Terri Jo Ryan of the Waco Tribune-Herald and Henrik and Karen Fagerstrom of Halmstad, Sweden and Houston, Texas.
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Summer time usually means things slow down for the camels and me and 2006 is no exception. With the Drive behind me now, I get to spend quite a bit of time with the family. The kids are all playing softball or teeball, so it’s nice to get to catch more of their games. I do have a Vacation Bible School program this Tuesday in nearby Waco, Texas. I’ll have 2 or 3 camels there for the kids to take pictures with. Easy work for the camels and I don’t have to put a lot of miles on the truck!
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Later in the week, I head back to Arizona with VisionQuest (www.vq.com) for 10 days. For those of you who are new to this email list, VQ keeps me busy for a week and a half each month working with their herd of 13 camels and the at-risk youth in their care. Summer time in Arizona can be hot, so we oftentimes head into the Chiricahua Mountains where the temperatures are a bit more pleasant. Will update upon return.
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At the end of the month, I’m looking forward to meeting with folks from a resort in Puerta Vallarta, Mexico. A gentleman and some of his associates are coming to visit my farm to discuss camel trekking near that beautiful seaside destination. The plan is to get them trekking in some very picturesque valleys not far from the ocean. From the images they’ve sent me, it looks idyllic. Procurement of the camels will be the only real challenge here as I intend on buying them overseas, already trained. Air-freighting a dozen or more camels is something I just don’t have any experience with! I do have a friend in Cairo who ships Arabian horses worldwide, so it’s to him that I’ll be looking for assistance in that area. It’s my hope that we can import the camels from Egypt (if Mexico’s livestock laws will permit this) so that my Bedouin "family" in Sinai and my urban "brother" Adel Hamza can help select the camels and be a part of the deal. Keep your fingers crossed on this one for me, please! In an interesting turn of events, I might also be headed to Jamaica this summer for a similar project with my best bud Jim Hale of the American Camel Company. I’ve probably already said more than I should, since neither deal is done, but they’re both so exciting I just had to share them with y’all!!!
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Finally, speaking of Egypt/Sinai, I have been contacted by two separate groups, of about four folks each, for trips in January and March of ’07. Four has always been my max to take at a time, so for those of you who are interested in this incredible adventure, I plan on running my regular trip on the heels of, or just before either of these groups. The Egypt/Sinai relationships I’ve worked so hard on over the past five years really blossomed on this past February’s trip and I’m always happy to share email addresses from former guests, now friends, like John Horne: jphorne@houston.rr.com, Elsie English: englishee@aol.com and Lynn Kot: lynnbkot@hotmail.com, who called from an Eagles concert in Barcelona, Spain at the beginning of the Drive to wish us good luck. I know that you’ll enjoy corresponding with these folks. Ask ‘em anything you like and tell ‘em I sent ya!
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That’s about it for this go ‘round. I hope this summer finds you all relaxed and cool and spending time with your own families. Thanks as always for your interest in my camels.
Doug
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