Sunshine is a wonderful thing!

Happy Friday everyone!  We just finished a nice 3 mile walk through the woods here at Stephen Austin State Park about 40 miles west of Houston.  We really like this campground and would recommend it to anyone interested.

We need to catch you up on what we've been up to the past few days.  Have a better internet connection today so hopefully I can share some pictures too.

This is what we woke up to in Cave City, Kentucky last Saturday.

 

And, the driving was very slow going.  Saw a couple accidents.

 

When we arrived in Memphis that night, Rog HAD to wash the fifth wheel and the truck

 

 

They were both filthy and thankfully it was 50 degrees and sunny when we got to Memphis.

 

Next morning we were headed west and Isaac didn't want to go into his crate.

As I mentioned earlier we really like the campground we are in now.  Here are some pictures of it.

First night we were here we noticed some very large birds.  A lot of birds.  After a closer look we realized they were buzzards!

A little hard to tell from these pictures.  When they all take off at once its really something.

Wednesday we woke up to deer outside our trailer. Tried to get a picture of them but it isn't very clear.

 Pretty darn cool though to sit and drink our coffee and watch the deer.

We read about a historical site, Monument Hill and Kreische Brewery, in the state park guide, located in La Grange, Texas.  On the way there we stopped in the small town of Bellville and picked up some fresh produce at the Farm to Market store.

It was a pleasant drive through the rolling hills of Texas farm/cattle land.  Monument Hill is dedicated to the 17 Republic of Texas patriots who were executed by Mexican President Santa Anna.  He captured 176 soldiers, filled a pot with 17 black beans and 159 white beans.  Those who drew the black beans were shot.  The monument over looks the Colorado River.  Very peaceful place.

Kreische Brewery was built by Heinrich Kreische, a master stonemason, immigrated to Texas in 1846 from Germany.  His home is still standing.  It's amazing when you consider he did not have the tools we do today.

Front of his home

Remains of the brewery

Rear of his home

Grain mill

The grounds also include a museum. 

 

Yesterday, Thursday, we drove south and east of Houston to San Jacinto Battleground and Battleship Texas historic sites.

 



 

Battleship Texas is the only surviving Dreadnought ship to have served in World War I and World War II. There was a crew of over 1300 sailors.We were able to climb all over it.  I almost felt as though I could hear the sailors.  We saw their crew quarters, laundry, mess, doctors quarters, radar, soda fountain (yes they actually had a soda fountain) and everything else you can think of.  Touring this boat really made you think about how they lived every day.

San Jacinto Battleground is where Texas troops defeated Mexican forces in 1836.  We entered the monument and road an elevator 50 floors up.  It was quite a view!

That's the Battleship Texas in the center of the picture from 50 floors up.

Today it is sunny and 70!  We are really enjoying it!  Especially after the bad and cold weather we left in Indiana and the ice storm that came through Houston on Tuesday.  Don't know what we will do tomorrow yet and of course Sunday is Super Bowl day!  Go Broncos!

Here's hoping all our friends and family in Indiana warm up soon!
Take Care!
Rog and Nita

In search of sun....

After the brutal winter that northern Indiana has been experiencing we couldn't wait to pack up our fifth wheel and head south! Corpus Christi Texas is our final destination. Little did we know Friday morning the 24th we would be "getting out of dodge" in the nick of time.  Left Middlebury around 8:30 and headed south on I69.  The wind chill that morning was -25, but, the sun was out and roads didn't seem too bad.  By mid afternoon we heard from our daughter Heather that the 20 bypass was closed.  After watching the evening news on Thursday and seeing the awful mess on I94 involving over 7 semi's and other autos we were, needless to say, a little apprehensive.

We made it to Cave City, Kentucky without any problems, it was very windy, and cold but the sun was out.  No snow there!  Exciting,,,,right,,,wait a minute,,by 7am Saturday we discovered it does snow in Cave City! Rog had to climb on top of the fifth wheel to sweep the snow off of the slides.  There was at least 4 inches.  The drive that morning was dicey.  Probably didn't go over 40 miles an hour for 2 hours.  Once we hit Nashville things cleared up and we were snow free again. Didn't really have any issues at all between there and Texarkana.  We stopped over night in West Memphis, no, didn't go to Graceland.

If you've ever wondered what's in Texarkana, don't bother.  Hopefully we haven't offended anyone.  The campground we stayed at was literally next to the freeway access road.  Neither of us could sleep much it was so noisy!

Monday morning we got a text from Kevin, Rog's step brother, that Houston had an ice storm and there was more bad weather on the way for Tuesday.  So,, we decided not to stay in the beautiful city of Texarkana another night, which we were originally going to do, and head south that morning.  .  After 3 days of being in a crate for 5-7 hours our cats, Isaac and Andre,  were really not happy with us.  We got out of there as quickly as we could, since there was a 7 hour drive ahead of us.  US59 south in Texas is a nice road.  Not near as crazy as the interstates.  We were making great time and only stopped for fuel.  We were outside Houston and after looking at the map, decided to take what we thought was a bypass around Houston.  WRONG, FM road 1960 is not a bypass!  It is 30 miles of Grape Road with at least that many stop lights.  This after 7 hours and 2 cats who are really disgruntled and letting us know!  We didn't kill each other or the cats and arrived at Stephen Austin State Park around 3:30pm. 

We really like it here.  It's peaceful and we are looking forward to getting out and enjoying mother nature.. Today, however it is 32 degrees and raining.  No ice storm.  AND no SNOW! But still a little cold for a good walk.  Tomorrow it is supposed to be 45 and by Friday 70+.  Sounds great to us! We are headed to Corpus Christi next Monday.

We have some pictures to share, but our internet connection isn't the greatest here.  So, I'll share them next time.

To all our family and friends back in northern Indiana,,,we feel for you.  Stay warm!