Two RV Gypsies: Full-Time RVers
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The two RV Gypsies
at Frontier Texas Abilene
625 B. 1st Street
Abilene, TX
September 12, 2022

Welcome to Abilene sign
 

Frontier Texas Entrance

Frontier Texas Abilene banner and statues

Below: The two RV Gypsies inside The Frontier Texas General store that has Texas souvenirs, books, t-shirts, jewelry, canned goods and unique items made by local artisans. But since the two RV Gypsies live in their RV (or sometimes in their daughter's garage), they do not have room for souvenirs other than things that can hang on their Christmas "Travel" tree. But they like to browse.

statues inside Frontier Texas Abilene
The two RV Gypsies

Below: The two RV Gypsies at a Buffalo statue outside.

history (below quote from http://www.frontiertexas.com/exhibits/buffalo-hide-trade):
"The discovery that buffalo hides were suitable for industrial leather created an industry that transformed frontier Texas. Soon after the Civil War, eastern capitalists ordered as many buffalo hides as could be supplied. Hunters responded, first decimating the herds on the Northern Plains, and then coming after the millions of Texas buffalo. A government treaty protected the Texas buffalo for Indians, but hunters ignored it. The military “looked the other way” as the loss of buffalo would force the Indians onto reservations. Texas buffalo were killed out in less than a decade." - so sad !!!!

buffalo statue The Two RV Gypsies in front of the buffalo statue
flower flowers
flower
flowers flowers

Below: The outside area alongside of Frontier Texas Abilene.

buffalo wind vanes and a buffalo skull Karen Duquette at the buffalo wind vanes and a buffalo skull

Below: A zoomed-in photo on the water tower that can barely be seen in the background of the above photos (photo taken from a location around the corner, of course).

water tower

Below: Buffalo wind vanes - so yes, they do spin in the wind.

Buffalo wind vanes and the big buffalo skull
Buffalo wind vane

Below: Karen Duquette beside the World's Largest Buffalo Skull, weighing two-tons, and stretching 26-feet across. It is an iconic symbol of the old frontier cattel trails. The skull was sculpted by Joe Barrington in June 2012 from steel salvaged from old Texas oil tanks. This spot was once a vast buffalo bone yard. The skull is finished without rough edges so kids can climb through its eye sockets and slide out its nose. Karen passed up on the "sliding" part.

the World's Largest Buffalo Skull Karen Duquette beside the World's Largest Buffalo Skul
music notes divier bar

The two RV Gypsies then took a short walk to see the famous "Singing Ringing Tree". They did not choose to try to cross a lot of heavy car traffic to get closer to it, because there was no crosswalk, or any place they could see across the street to drive to and park. So they photographed it from across the street.

It is constructed of varying thickness of metal pipe. The 54,000 pound sculpture uses wind energy which passes through the precision-fabricated pipes with special holes in specific pipes to create musical notes. Unfortunately, there was NO WIND on the date that the two RV Gypsies were here, therefore they did not get to hear the amazing sounds. Very disappointing.

The wind-powered sculpture won the National Award of the Royal Institute of British Architects for architectural excellence in 2007. This project took four months and was built in Cypress, TX. This Singing Ringing Tree was also featured in the October 2020 issue of The Welder Magazine.

The original “Singing Ringing Tree” is located in Lancashire, England.

So take the opportunity to learn more information on this amazing piece of art, go to https://jkwelding.net/the-making-of-the-singing-ringing-tree/ - But be sure to return here, to continue on with the Two RV Gypsies' travels in Texas and more.

The Singing Ringing Tree
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please continue on to the next adventure of the two RV Gypsies Continue on to Storybook in downtown Abilene, Texas

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