Baby Jessica House (and the well!) are for sale!

3309 Tanner Drive is for sale!

For only $80.000, a rare piece of American could be yours (or mine!). Don't think I'm not seriously considering buying it and turning it into a museum/performance space. But that means I'd have to hang out in Midland a lot more. With all love and respect, I don't think Midland is my town.

But you should buy it! And let me visit!

WAIT A SECOND! If I bought this house, I would be the owner of the single largest piece of Baby Jessica Kitsch EVER. It would be like buying Baby Jessica herself.

(Thanks to my reader, Brian, for the tip.)

The Middle Land of Texas

Adrienne made this video of our pilgrimage.

Midland Fire Station

We happened to drive by the Midland Central Fire Station, which I believe was central to Jessica McClure's rescue. Also, I am obsessed with firemen and I really wouldn't put it past myself to make up the whole Baby Jessica play just as an excuse to get to chat up some firemen. We didn't see any firemen, but the fire museum was open. Strangely enough, there were plenty of pictures of Midland's biggest fires over the past century, but there was no mention anywhere of the Baby Jessica rescue. There was however, this awesome fire truck and a real fire pole, which I took full advantage of.

Rude Awakening

Just as Adrienne and I were getting up this morning, we were disturbed by a knock on the door. It was the Secret Service needing to sweep our room with their dog. There were cops all over our floor. Adrienne and I figured it was either Dubya coming to visit his hometown, or some oil sheik. Regardless, we didn't think it was a good idea to stick around all that mess, so we bounced. Turns out, it wasn't Dubya, it was the President - I mean, vice President - in town for a fundraiser. Yup, we were thisclose to being suitemates with Cheney. Good thing I left our complimentary bottle of vinegar-masquerading-as-prosecco behind for him.

Before Adrienne and I left Austin, we were a little nervous about traveling through so many "podunk" towns, because, well, Adrienne and I are, to put it nicely, a little hard to miss. However, here is a little tip from me to you:

If you are nervous about being in a podunk town because you are most certainly not from around there, wear hot pink. People in podunk towns have too many manners to kill anyone wearing pink.

Jessica's House?

The address I had for Baby Jessica was definitely is not a car wash. No one was home and the paper was still on the front lawn, so we are going to try again tomorrow. In other news, Adrienne's windshield is filthy.

Jessica's Well, or, Where It All Went Down

The well is located in the backyard of a house where Jessica's aunt lived. It was a sort-of-daycare situation. Several people have lived there since. When we pulled up to the house, the owners' cars were in the driveway. We drove around the block, and discovered the back alley. This is the back fence.


Who knew Baby Jessica's Well had a guard dog? I didn't. He was pretty ferocious for St. Bernard. Adrienne and I pretended to read road maps until he lost interest in us.
This is a video I made while trying to look through the fence without alerting St. Vicious.

Finally, I got a glimpse of the well through a crack in the fence.

Here is a closer look.

After the rescue, the rescuers put a cap on the well that says:

For Jessica 10-16-87 with love from all of us

And here is the well with the swingset in the background. I wonder if this was Jessica's swingset.

Just after this photo, St. Vicious caught on to me, so Adrienne and I hightailed it out of there. We're going to go back tomorrow to see if we can get better documentation.

Jessica McClure memorial

Photo by dustdevildiver.

The inscription reads:
Nothing the heart gives away is gone
It is kept in the hearts of others

I'm going to Midland from February 25-26. This is the kind of stuff I want to see.

Baby Jessica's Well

Thanks, Google Maps!

3309 Tanner Drive

It only took me 2 hours of Googling, but I finally figured out the current occupant of the home at 3309 Tanner Drive where Baby Jessica fell down the well. I just composed a letter to the residents. I hope hope hope they let me visit.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

"Midland Texas is the home town of President George W. Bush. " From the Midland Texas Visitors Site.