Happy Valentine's Day

Waco, Texas

Weather: low 39 degrees, high 53 degrees, cloudy, windy, showers late in the day

We woke up to much cooler weather this morning, and my morning walkabout was cut short as a result. When I got back home, we decided to take a drive northeast of Waco to Mart, Groesbeck, and Mexia, then back to Waco. It resulted in a big rectangle of a trip. The terrain along our route tended to be mostly flat to rolling ranch land, with mostly smaller trees. Carolyn commented that the area between Waco and Groesbeck looked "throwed away", and I have to agree with her. Old abandoned houses and barns were falling down, and we did not see any new construction at all until we got to Groesbeck.

Groesbeck is the county seat of Limestone County, and that appears to be the primary reason for the town's existence. I took some pictures of the courthouse, but they are not very impressive. The courthouse is big and obviously old, but it does not have the character and beauty of many of the older courthouses we have seen.

Fairly plain, isn't it?











Continuing with plain looking.











Like most places we have been, the people celebrate their patriotism. Here's a tribute to the soldiers that fought in World War 1.


It was interesting to us that there was not a memorial to the soldiers of the Confederacy, since 4 out of 5 men in the county served, and half of those died.

When we left Groesbeck, we went down the road a short distance to Fort Parker State Park to check that out. Fort Parker was a small settlement that was attacked by Comanches in 1836. Several people were killed, and several taken captive by the Indians. Two of those taken captive were Cynthia Parker and her brother. Cynthia was held for many years and when she was rescued, she had married a chief. She had given birth to Quanah Parker, the last chief of the Comanches, and another child. She did not want to return to the world of the white people. When her small child died with influenza, she starved herself to death with grief. Her brother was also rescued, but ran away to go back to the Indians. He eventually settled in Mexico.

We checked out the campground at the state park, but it does not appear that we would want to stay there. There is not anything wrong with it, other than that the spaces are very small.

From Fort Parker, we went to the Confederate Reunion Grounds State Historic Site. This was a site that was used for many years by the veterans of the Confederacy and their families for reunions. This site is just starting to be developed, so there wasn't much to see there.

Our next stop was Mexia, named after General José Antonio Mexía, a Hispanic hero for the Republic of Texas Army during the Texas Revolution. This town has a population of about 10,000, and seemed prosperous to us. Construction on several buildings was ongoing, and a new Super WalMart opened recently. After touring through the town, we stopped at HEB to pick up a few things. Then it was back home to rest.

As I wrote in the title for today's blog, Happy Valentine's Day to all the sweethearts out there. We consider Italian food to be the food of romance. So, we had RV Italian food for supper. Here's what our plates looked like with spaghetti, salad, and Italian toast. Before anyone says anything about the salad being on the same plate as the rest of the food, we are RVers, and tend to use less dishes than most people in an effort to keep our clutter and weight down. Ummm, ummm, ummm, Good!!!



By the way, the plate on the right is mine.

Tomorrow, I'll try to catch up the blog for the rest of Friday's drifting through Hillsboro.

More later, be safe.

Today's Town - Mexia, Texas: A Great Place, No Matter How You Pronounce It

Not all who wander are lost.