Schulenberg, Texas

Wednesday, November 11, 2009 – Veterans Day

Good-bye Bastrop. We unhooked and headed east on Hwy 71 – then south on Rt. 77. The terrain was lovely, rolling hills – tree lined fields – smooth highways – beautiful Texas!

Our destination of Schulenberg, Texas was only 51 miles away, and at 11am we arrived at the Schulenberg RV park – a private park with full hookups, cable TV and WiFi!! There’s no Wal-Mart – just private businesses. We went to the local market , Harlan’s for milk and then to a Germ-an Meat market that makes it’s own sausages. They are very garlicky. Yum!

The weather is sunny, light breeze and 83 in the shade – in other words, perfect. We’re here to see the PAINTED CHURCHES.

Thursday, November 12, 2009 – Schulenberg, TX - another perfect day

This morning we drove the car into the real countryside to see The Painted Churches. There’s a lot of small ranches that raise beef cattle. Each ranch has it’s own little lake and the grass is green. It’s very, very picturesque.

All the churches are active Catholic churches – dating from the late 1800’s and are beautifully maintained. From the outside, they look like many American country churches built around the turn of the last century -- arched Gothic Revival windows, facades clad in white frame siding or in stone, lone steeples rising up into the Texas sky.

THE PAINTED CHURCHES OF TEXAS Check local listings for times in your area.

Cross the threshold of these particular Texas churches and you'll encounter not a simple wooden interior but an unexpected profusion of color. Nearly every surface is covered with bright painting: exuberant murals radiate from the apse, elaborate foliage trails the walls, wooden columns and baseboards shine like polished marble in shades of green and gray. These are the Painted Churches of Texas.

Built by 19th century immigrants to this rough but promising territory, these churches transport the visitor back to a different era, a different way of life. Inscriptions on the walls read not in English, but in the mother tongue of those who built them: German and Czech. The story of these buildings is the story of a people striving to succeed in a new country and still preserve the values and culture of their homelands.

In 1984, 15 of these churches, with their unique style of art, were listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Once taken for granted, the painted churches of Texas, and the people who built them, are now capturing the interest of designers, historians and ordinary tourists, both in Texas and out of state. (The above from the internet.)

Back in Schulenburg, we stopped at the local Bakery and bought 2 cinnamon buns and a loaf of bread. Everyone here sells “kolache” – a small bread roll with various kinds of fillings – very Czech. They even have Kolache festivals here in Texas.

Friday, November 13, 2009 – to Riviera, TX

We took Rt. 77 south – a very pleasant Texas highway. I had heard about this County Park years ago and always had it in the back of my mind to stop someday. I had also heard that there was a good restaurant – so that settled it. Sea Wind RV resort is part of the huge Kleberg County Park that is right on the bay. There’s a fishing pier, beach, huge playgrounds, at the park and the campground has over 160 electric sites. It took about 3 ½ hours and we arrived around noon. We have a nice pull-thru with water & electric and can see the water from our motorhome. Many folks from the north spend the whole winter here, but we’re heading even further south tomorrow. Alamo Palms is another 2 ½ hours away and we’ll arrive there tomorrow (Sat). Then I’ll start another journal.

But first, I must comment on our dinner at the King’s Inn – just 1 ¼ miles from our park. There are no menus – all orders are 1 pound – or with shrimp you can get ½ pound. The tartar sauce is homemade and unlike anything that we have ever had – and absolutely delicious. The salad dressing is another winner. Don had fried oysters and I had ½ pound of fried shrimp (which I couldn’t finish) – we had a salad, a plate of tomatoes and a pound of onion rings. A feast for $40.00. The place was packed – good thing that we got there early!

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Bastrop, Texas

Sunday, November 08, 2009 – to Bastrop , Texas

Heading south on I-35, we stopped for gas at the Flying J - $2.42 a gallon. The rest of the trip was on Rt. 77 south – all nice, rural Texas highways. We saw long horned cattle in the fields and a huge pecan grove.

Bastrop was founded in 1837 and Main St is on the Colorado River! We’re camping at Bastrop State Park and using our new Bluebonnet State Park Passes. We have full hookup at our pull-thru site. This park has a nine hole golf course and a huge swimming pool. It rained this afternoon and so we just stayed in and took it easy.

Monday, November 09, 2009 – Bastrop, TX- nice day in the 60’s

Don treated us out to breakfast this morning. The historic downtown area has a cute, old place called “Maxine’s on Main “. I had my first breakfast taco since last winter and Don had the special – eggs, sausage, toast & potato fries -$3.99. Our waitress was young and very nice.

We found the new Best Buy and Don bought a small TV so that we can see the news, but the antenna wouldn’t pick up the signal here in the park.

The Bastrop Library is new and very inviting. We spent time on-line – catching up.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 – Bastrop, TX

A beautiful day – high 76 degrees. Bastrop State Park was built by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) back in 1936 as part of FDR’s recovery plan from the Great Depression. They built the cabins using local red sandstone rock and hand crafted much of the furniture that is still in use today. You can rent these rustic, but timeless cabins. I enjoyed walking around and taking photos of them. We drove the perimeter of the 3,550 acres thinking about the young men that built it without modern machinery. Amazing!

We took the small TV back to Best Buy for a refund – and then made a short trip to Wal-Mart.

We noticed lots of cars (mostly trucks here in Texas) at the Roadhouse Hamburger eatery and thought we’d give it a try for lunch. The food was very good and as “everything’s bigger in Texas” – we should have split one.

We walked off some of it by touring the Old Town Main St.. Lock Drug is an 19^th century – still operating – drug store and has an old fashioned ice cream parlor. I also took photos of along the Main St. and we bought apple fritters at the bakery. A very enjoyable town.

Waco , part 2

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Friday, November 06, 2009 – Waco – sunny with a light breeze

By looking at the Corps of Engineers map, I figure that Waco Lake is about 13 miles long. This lake has many parks and 3 of them with camping.

The Chisholm Trail went through Waco and the original suspension bridge (for cattle) over the Brazos River is still in use as a foot bridge.

We are very impressed and will certainly stop here again.

I got out the turkey roaster and am cooking pork ribs. Doing it outside, keeps the RV cool and I’m “cooking out”. I made a pizza for lunch in the convection oven.

We toured the Dr. Pepper Museum in downtown Waco in the afternoon. The museum is in the original 1906 bottling plant. Dr. Pepper soda was invented here in Waco back in 1885. Rating - Just an OK museum.

Saturday, November 07, 2009 – Waco, TX – another nice day.

This is our last day here – and it’s been a wonderful week. We found a real Barber Shop for Don’s haircut this morning. Then it was back to Sam’s Club for more shopping – there won’t be another Sam’s until we’re in the Valley.

We had lunch at Jason’s Deli – one of our favorite chain restaurants. Their sandwiches are almost ( but not quite) as big as Slick’s in Schenectady.

Back to the lake after lunch – to soak up some sun – and get a head start on packing up for tomorrow. My parsley, rosemary and geranium plants were happy to be outside this week – but back in the car (greenhouse) they go. God gave us a beautiful last evening send-off sunset.

Waco, Texas

2009-11 – Travel Journal

Sunday, November 01, 2009 – sunny, beautiful

We left Canton, TX this morning and headed west on Rt. 20 to Dallas – then south on I35E – to Waco, TX.

As we traveled, we saw a fox hunting along side the road – and much more agriculture in this fertile area. After several attempts - we finally found the Corps of Engineers Park – Airport Park – on Lake Waco. Don and I agree that this is the most beautiful campsite we have ever had. It’s lake front, with a covered shelter, a pull through site with water and electric. It’s so peaceful and quiet and beautiful here. 

The peace and quiet ended when Don spilled a half glass of red wine into his computer. I was blamed for putting the computer where it was – and the computer is ruined.

Monday, November 02, 2009 – sunny, warm, beautiful

In the low 80’s today. When we woke up – the electric didn’t work! No hot water or furnace – half the motor home was dead. No showers – bummer. I could make the coffee and we had cold cereal for breakfast. Then Don got to work and found the relay switch – outside – in back of the compressor (which he had to remove) – and voila – we now have electric! He also switched the wires around on the TV so that we can use the DVD’s. We don’t have any TV here, but we watched the original “Oklahoma” this morning!

In the car – we turned on the GPS and went to Burger King for lunch. Then to Best Buy and where Don bought a new Sony Microsoft 7 laptop computer. Next stop was the Laundry Mat – where I caught up on my pile of sheets, towels & clothes.

Back home to Waco Lake – we had to put on the air conditioning for a while. The sun is setting over the lake, as I write this. It’s much cooler and time to cook supper.

Tuesday, November 03, 2009 – Lake Waco – another lovely day.

I’m adjusted to the new time change and waking up just before 7am. Our little piece of Lake front property is so nice that we decided to extend our stay until Sunday. At only $10.00 a night – it’s the best of the best!

On the recommendation of the campground hosts, we went to Zeb’s for lunch. We split a very tasty hamburger and enjoyed their homemade potato fries.

We toured the Texas Ranger Museum – a history of the Texas Rangers. The Texas Rangers date back to 1823 – with 10 original men under the leadership of Steve Austin. We saw a 40 minute history film and Don enjoyed seeing all the guns.

We shopped at HEB – it’s good to be back in Texas and shopping at the HEB grocery store that has wine!

Wednesday, November 04, 2009 – Lake Waco

After all the rain that they have had here lately – this is a perfect Waco Week. Don just wanted a “day off” to enjoy our campsite, so we didn’t go any where. There’s plenty of sunshine, quiet and no wind – an amazing combination. In the morning, I did some ironing and cooked up the fresh cauliflower. I started reading “Audition” a Barbara Walters Memoir and I’m really enjoying it. No Wi-Fi – no TV – no problem!

Thursday, November 05, 2009 – another beautiful day in Waco.

Today we did some sight seeing. We wanted to find a Library for internet access.The first one that we went to - had moved. We found the next one in the old downtown section – a very 50’s design. The whole internet access was difficult and not much was accomplished.

By then it was lunch time and we went to McDonalds. The “dollar” menu is a great savings.

We toured Baylor University. Baylor is the oldest university in the state and the largest Baptist University in the world. I wanted to see the Armstrong Browning Library which has 59 stained glass windows and the largest collection of Robert Browning’s works. As we entered the second floor, we heard classical music being played by the students in the Meditation Room. The acoustics were marvelous in that room with such a high and rounded ceiling. Here’s photos from the Browning Library:

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The Mayborn Museum was our next stop on campus. It’s a Natural History museum and geared toward teaching. One side is just for little children – the other for more advanced learning. I bought a “frog” – 9 piece puzzle in the gift shop. Here’s photos from the Mayborn: 

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We went to Sam’s Club and bought a cooked chicken for supper. Maureen called and told us about the shootings at Fort Hood, which is only 60 miles from Waco. A terrible tragedy.