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Another view of the memorial trees.

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Memorial marker for David Koresh, their leader.

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They really did a remarkable job designing and maintaining.

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A closer view of the bus.

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Driver's area of the bus. I really don't know anything about the bus other than it is here, but I'm if it didn't mean anything it would have been taken away.

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Inside of the bus.

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A car which apparently remains.

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Our truck, with the memorial trees behind.

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As we were leaving the grounds we noticed the visitor's center was open. We spent a few minutes talking to the caretaker, a man in his mid-30's. He's a hired hand, responsible for mowing the lawn and so-forth. He isn't a Branch Davidian. I think he said he's a Messianic Jew, which is (or similar to) the "Jews for Jesus" group heard about now and then. Anyway, this is a model of the compound before the fire. The visitor's center is a sparse room with various artifacts, and books for sale about the seige, disaster, and other related topics.

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Ok, onto another Waco-area location - Crawford, Texas, home of George W. Bush. Crawford is a tiny town about 30 minutes from Waco, in a different direction than the Branch Davidian site. We had a little Bush-related fun here but we don't want any trouble so just ask for the photos... (Bush isn't exactly our idea of a great President.)

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The local businesses take full advantage of this being Bush's hometown. The catch is he only moved here in 1998 or 1999, at the tail end of his time as Governor. This is the sign at a deli/gas station where we stopped to ask for directions to his ranch. We got vague directions with the comment "you can't see anything from the road anyway." But that didn't stop us from trying.

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The Bush ranch isn't really in Crawford at all, but in one of those areas in-between towns. Apparently when he moved here Crawford and one other town disagreed over the claim, but Crawford obviously won. This is on the road in that general area.

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We knew we were getting close when we saw the bright orange signs telling us No Stopping.

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And here we are, at least very nearby. I took this while driving a huge black pickup truck, half expecting to be stopped. I suspect this is the Secret Service office adjacent to the Bush ranch. I'm not sure if this is the entrance into the ranch or not; nothing else was obvious in the area, and as told we couldn't see anything obvious from the road. I wasn't even expecting this much!

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The local restaurant, the Coffee Station, was our stop for dinner.

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Also in the restaurant was a gift shop, loaded with Bush merchandise. Now here's the kicker - the longtime Mayor of Crawford is a Democrat, and the local paper (the Lone Star Iconoclast) just (9/2004) endorsed Kerry for President. But business is business, and having a local guy as president sure is good for the town.

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This is the "Crawford Peace House." When Bush started talk of invading Iraq, a local peace activist bought this house and turned it into a meeting place for those against the idea of a war. It makes the news now and then, most recently when they helped organize a local showing of Fahrenheit 9/11.

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Back in Austin it's not hard to find those who dislike their local President.

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And our last photo from Austin - cheese! This in a local grocery store, a one-thousand-pound block of Wisconsin cheddar.