Storms

Bay City, Texas

Weather: low 57 degrees in La Grange, high 72 degrees in Bay City, cloudy early, strong thunder storms in Bay City

When we got up this morning, we checked the weather to see what effect it would have on us leaving La Grange. After discussing the different scenarios that the weather folks talked about, we decided to leave La Grange and travel to Bay City. The primary reason for leaving was that the winds are supposed to be up to 35 mph tomorrow, and I don't like to travel with that much wind. Overall, driving conditions were good, with mostly light winds and scattered showers around El Campo. We made good time and were set up in Bay City before the rain started. Late in afternoon, the sky opened up with high winds, heavy rains, lightning, and thunder. I am glad we were not on the road.

We expect to be here at least a week, and may have to move after that time because all the RV parks are full because of pipe line work and outages occurring at the different plants in the area. In the meantime, I have an appointment to see our CPA tomorrow about some tax matters. UGGGHH!!

After dinner, we went to our daughter Lori's house to see her and her family. It was great to see them again, and everyone is doing well. Zoe seems taller every time we see her. Julian was working on his algebra homework. Good kids. We will see them more later on this weekend and over the next week.

Yesterday, I promised I would tell you about our visit to the Monument Hill/Kreische Brewery State Park. As I mentioned yesterday, a young lady named Dorothy at the park welcomed us and told us a little about the park. We had a nice conversation with her, and we found out she is the mother of twins that are 16 months old. Wow!! That is great.

The state park is actually two parks combined into one. The Monument Hill part of the park is devoted to the memory of early Texans who died at the battle of Salado Creek, a battle that was carried out to push the Mexicans out of San Antonio in 1842, and the Mier Expeditions. The Mier Expeditions were Texans who were captured by the Mexicans in 1843 and transported to prison in Mexico. Approximately 180 of them escaped but were recaptured. General Santa Anna decided that all the men involved in the escape would be executed. The governor of the Mexican state refused to carry out the executions. At that point, Santa Anna modified his command and placed 17 black beans in a bag along with approximately 163 white beans. Each escapee had to draw a bean. The men who drew a black bean were executed before the day was over in what became known as The Black Bean Episode. The leader of the escape did not draw a black bean, but was executed later on by special order from Santa Anna. The bodies were buried in Mexico, but were returned to Texas later on. The state placed them in a mass grave at Monument Hill with a monument to mark their sacrifice.



Here's the view from the monument. It is a great view of the Colorado River and valley.








The other part of the state park is the Kreische Brewery, the first brewery in Texas and was built in the 1860s. The site includes the ruins of the old brewery, which stopped producing in the late 1880s, and the Kreische homestead, consisting of the old house, smokehouse, and barn. The house is situated on a bluff overlooking the Colorado River and the valley below. The first floor of the house is built into the side of the bluff. It was fun imagining what everything would have looked like when the farm and brewery was a busy place. Below is a picture of the ruins of the brewery.

Next is two pictures of the old house.

More later, be safe.

Today's Town - Bainbridge, Georgia: Georgia At Its Best

Not all who wander are lost.

Fayette County Courthouse

La Grange, Texas

Weather: low 45 degrees, high 78 degrees, clear skies, light breezes

Today was a great day for getting out and seeing the area. Our first stop was at the historic Fayette County Courthouse, located in La Grange. We went inside and admired the craftsmanship that was obviously used in erecting this beautiful building. A new courthouse was erected in 1890 because the one being used at the time was in such bad shape that it was a hazard to the people who used it. The cost was $90,000. Four types of Texas stone was used, along with granite. The building is still being used today, and business was being conducted in the courtroom when we were there. Check out the floor, which appears to be granite.

A unique feature of the courthouse is an atrium in the center of the building. This was something that had been done very little when the courthouse was built. Now you see them in hotels, malls, office buildings, etc.

Across from the courthouse is Hermes Drug Store, the oldest drug store in Texas. It was built in 1856 and has been in use since then.

After touring the courthouse, we walked around the square. We noticed a bakery and couldn't resist walking in. They advertised pigs in a blanket, so we bought a couple, plus coconut macaroons made in the store. We were disappointed in the pigs, since we are used to smoked sausage links wrapped in biscuit dough and baked. These pigs consisted of ground sausage in a roll and baked in bread dough. The sausage was dry and did not have much taste, and the bread was chewy. Not what we expected. On the other hand, the macaroons were very good.

Continuing our walk around the square, we found a plaque that showed the high water mark for a flood that devastated the town in 1913. The high water mark was about four feet up on the buildings, and even the courthouse had water in the first floor.

In our drive around town, we noticed a house that seems typical of some of the finer homes in the area. In addition, it appears that the town is trying to save their old oak trees. Several of them are in the roads.

There seems to be quite a number of houses based on this type of design. I'm not sure if this is something that the European settlers brought with them, or if it was developed to suit the types of building materials available.

We went to Monument Hill/Kreische Brewery State Park this morning and had a nice conversation with a young lady named Dorothy who works there. Since it is getting late and I have already put a lot into this post, I will tell you about our visit to the state park tomorrow. Some interesting history there.

More later, be safe.

Today's Town - La Grange, Texas: Hometown, Texas

Not all who wander are lost.

We Made It To La Grange, Texas

La Grange, Texas

Weather: low 32 degrees in Waco this morning, high 70 degrees in La Grange, clear skies, light winds

Today's weather was totally different from the last two days in Waco. It was cold this morning, but clear. It was the type of day that makes a person want to be on the road. We left Waco a little after 1000 hours this morning and were in La Grange with the RV set up by 1300 hours. The RV park we are staying in is Colorado Landing RV Park on the Colorado River. The park is combined with a mobile home park, but it is clean and quiet. They have a room for activities with a large screen TV, DVDs for rent for $2.00 each, books for trade, newspapers, and magazines. It looks like this park will serve our needs adequately while here.

After eating lunch and resting for a short time, I walked five blocks to the Visitor's Center for information on what the area has to offer. The Visitor Center and Chamber of Commerce are located in the same building, which happens to be the old jail. When I first saw the building, I thought it might be an old courthouse because the architecture seemed so distinctive. Imagine my surprise when I asked the lady who helped me what the building was used for and she told me it was the old jail.

This is a picture of the outside of one of the old cells. The inside was only about five feet wide and eight feet long. Most of the cell was taken up by the bed.













This is a picture of another cell door in the
old jail. I have a feeling that prisoners' rights
did not mean as much at that time as they do now.









I walked around the courthouse square, checking out the old buildings, which are still being used. As I have said before, I really like these old Texas towns. Below is a picture of one side of the square.

When we arrived at the RV park, the manager suggested a Mexican restaurant, Las Fuentes, for dinner. He said it was the best restaurant in town, with good service and great food. We followed his suggestion, and were glad we did. The restaurant is clean, bright and cheerful, the service is excellent, and the food is outstanding. We ordered the mixed fajitas with chicken and beef for two. The meal included the usual chips and two types of dips as appetizers. The chips and drinks had not been on the table more than five minutes when the fajitas arrived with a sizzle and great aromas preceding them. Along with the fajitas, the meal included pinto beans that were more like bean soup ( they were very good), Spanish rice, all the trimmings for the fajitas, and handmade tortillas that were so thin that you could almost see through them. This meal was so good! We ate all we could, and still had a carryout box full of food to take home, along with a box of tortillas and chips. Whew!! I am still full. I was tempted to get a margarita, especially since they were only $.99. Next time, a margarita will have my name on it.

Tomorrow, we will be doing some sightseeing in the area. The main focus of the next post will be about the beautiful old courthouse, which is still in use.

More later, be safe.

Today's Town - La Grange, Texas: A Hand On The Past, With An Eye On The Future

Not all who wander are lost.

No Service

Waco, Texas

Weather: low 35 degrees, high 47 degrees, rain most of the day, winds to 35 mph, cold

We woke at 0500 hours this morning to the sound of thunder, high winds, and heavy rain. A front came through with winds up to 60 mph. At that time, the temperature was 47 degrees and it got colder as the day passed. There is a forecast of snow showers tonight. Since the weather was so nasty with heavy rain and high winds, we decided to stay another day here in Waco. The weather is supposed to be better tomorrow, and if it is, we will be moving on.

With the weather so bad, we stayed indoors all day, keeping warm, reading, surfing the net, meditating (at least I was - Carolyn took a nap). By the late afternoon, we were getting a little stir crazy, so we decided to go to Red Lobster for dinner. It has been a long time since we went to a Red Lobster, and we were really looking forward to it.

We found the Red Lobster easily enough, and found a good place to park. We went inside and were seated right away. The table was not clean, so it had to be wiped down. We sat there for 10-15 minutes waiting for someone to at least take our drink order. Finally, we got tired of waiting, and walked out. The restaurant wasn't busy, so I don't know what their problem was. We have decided that we don't have to put with bad service, and won't do it anymore.

We were still interested in eating out, so we started looking for something we might like. We found a bar-be-que restaurant named the Rib Crib that looked interesting. Total turnaround from the service we received (or didn't receive) at Red Lobster. We were seated as soon as we walked in and our drink orders were taken at the same time. Since we had never been there before, it took us a few minutes to decide what to get. The waiter came back every couple of minutes to see if we were ready to order. I ordered the pulled pork, which I had not had since leaving Florida, and it was terrific. Carolyn had the sausage and smoked turkey (not chicken fried steak), which was also good. We brought about half of our dinner home because we couldn't eat all of it.

After dinner, we came back home and settled in for the night. Tomorrow we should be able to move on. We like Waco, and can see us spending more time here in the future.

More later, be safe.

Today's Town -Texarkana, Arkansas: Twice as Nice

Not all who wander are lost.

Windy

Waco, Texas

Weather: low 64 degrees, high 73 degrees, cloudy, winds 20-30 mph from the south, with gusts to 35-40 mph. Heavy rain is expected tonight with high winds continuing. Tomorrow's forecast is calling for the possibility of snow.

We were going to leave Waco today, but the high winds out of the south helped us to decide to stay at least another day. We don't like to drive into winds as high as what we saw here today. When we do leave, we plan to go to La Grange for a couple of days.

Since we have been fairly busy the last few days, we decided to stay at home today. However, in the afternoon, we went for a short drive east on state road 6 to see what was out that way. Not much, at least for the distance we drove. Then we drove down US 84 toward Gatesville. Once we got to McGregor, which is so typical of the many little towns we have been to in Texas, we turned around and drove the back roads back to the RV. Driving through the countryside helps us to understand how this area was so desirable for farming when the first settlers moved in. The land is obviously very fertile, and there is still a lot of farming being done.

That's about it from us. If the weather is good enough for us to get out some tomorrow, we'll try to have something of interest to write about.

More later, be safe.

Today's Town - Hartford, Connecticutt: New England’s Rising Star

Not all who wander are lost.

Dr Pepper

Waco, Texas

Weather: low 48 degrees, high 83 degrees, cloudy in the morning, partly cloudy and windy in the afternoon

We went to the Dr Pepper museum today. One of the things we learned in the tour was that the correct way to spell Dr Pepper is to leave the period off the Dr part. The museum is located in the same building that Dr Pepper was bottled in the early 1900s. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, Charles Alderton created the flavors for Dr Pepper while working at the Old Corner Drug Store in 1885. When local people wanted one of the new drinks, they asked for a "Waco", because it could not be bought outside the city of Waco. Later on, the drink acquired the name Dr Pepper and started being sold everywhere. The formula has not changed over time except for the sweetener used. The original, which is still being bottled in Dublin, Texas, uses Imperial Cane Sugar, while the drink being sold elsewhere uses corn sweetener.

The museum concetrated on the history of Dr Pepper, but it also had exhibits remembering the history of the soft drink industry in general. One poster we liked was about RC Cola and a Moonpie. How many people remember that? The first soft drink that was a success commercially was Hiers Root Beer, and of course root beer is still a big favorite. How many people know that it is flavored with sassafras?

Dr Pepper is owned now by Cadbury/Schweppes, a company in England that is famous for their chocolate. Many personalities have been spokespersons for Dr Pepper over the years, including John Wayne, Garth Brooks, David Naughton, and Barry Manilow, among others. Barry Manilow wrote the theme for Dr Pepper.

Dr Pepper is especially popular in Texas. When we were at the museum, most of the visitors were young people. If Texas had a National Soft Drink, it would be Dr Pepper.

Our Internet signal is still not strong enough to upload pictures we took today. I'll try to send those out when we have a better signal.

After visiting the museum, we drove around the town, getting familiar with where everything is. Before going home, we went to WalMart to pick up a few things. Since the truck needed servicing, I had that taken care of. After all that fun, it was time to go home and rest.

More later, be safe.

Today's Town -Gainesville, Florida: Where Nature and Culture Meet

Not all people who wander are lost.

Sightseeing in Waco, Texas

Waco, Texas

Weather: low 57 degrees, high 80 degrees, cloudy, light breezes

We had an early start ( for us), out by 0930. We stayed so busy we didn't get home until almost 1500 hours. The primary focus of today's trip was to visit downtown Waco so we could see some of the famous landmarks and get pictures of them. In addition, this trip was intended to familiarize us with Waco, and figure out how hard it is to get around. We think the town is laid out in such a way that it makes it easy to go wherever you want. By the end of the day, we had a pretty good idea of how to get just about anywhere we want to go.

Our first stop was in the free downtown parking just across from the Civic Center. We noticed that there seemed to be a high number of law enforcement officers, as well as some soldiers. The soldiers were using dogs to search vehicles and the bushes. Parked in the back of the center were several remote TV broadcast trucks with their satellite dishes deployed. I walked around the east side of the center on my way to the river to get some pictures, and noticed Mike Huckabee's bus parked in the parking lot. Aha, I thought. Huckabee is here for an appearance. Wrong, he was here yesterday. Eventually, I made my way around to where I could see a marquee for the center, and everything was explained. The wife of the past president of the US was due here at noon for an appearance, and all the security was for her safety. People were lining up with their signs and hats, even though it was still almost two hours before the junior senator from New York was due to arrive. We made sure we were finished with what we wanted to see in the area before the throngs made it crowded. That is, if there was a throng. I'm not sure how popular the junior senator is in this area.

First on my list of things to see was the ALICO Building, which was the tallest building west of the Mississippi and south of the Mason-Dixon line when it was completed in 1911. During the tornado of 1953 which destroyed much of Waco, this building came through with virtually no damage. The building is still in use today. I took a picture of the building, but my Internet connection is too slow to upload it. I'll try to pass the picture on when we have a better connection.

Next, we saw Waco's Suspension Bridge, which was the longest single span bridge west of the Mississippi at the time it was built in 1870. It provided the only pedestrian and wagon span across the Brazos River. At this time, it is only used for pedestrian traffic.

The McLellan County Courthouse was just down the street, and I took a picture of it's dome.

Some historical facts about Waco: The town was named after the Waco Indian tribe that lived in the area.

The town was incorporated in 1857, but lots were being sold as early as 1849 for $5.00 each.

Dr. Pepper was developed by pharmacist Charles Curtis Alderton in 1885.

Baylor University, the largest Baptist university in the world, was moved to Waco from Independence, Texas in 1886.

The area around Waco has very fertile soil, and it was renowned for the the amount of cotton grown. The first Cotton Palace Exhibition was held in Waco in 1894.

One of the deadliest tornadoes in Texas history struck Waco 5/11/53, killing 114 and injuring 1097, damaging 850 homes and destroying 96 buildings. Property damage totaled $51,000,000. Imagine how much that would cost now.

Prehistoric mammoth bones were discovered in 1978, with 24 mammoths excavated so far.

After visiting downtown, Carolyn wanted to visit a couple of craft stores. That took a couple of hours, after which we went over to Sam's Club to pick up a few things we needed. Then it was time to go rest. Later on, we took a short ride west of town on US 84 to see what was out that way. By the time we got back, it was time to settle in. Tomorrow, I want to go to the Dr. Pepper museum.

More later, be safe.

Today's Town - Crawford, Texas: Home of the Texas White House and President George W. Bush

Not all who wander are lost.