Random Thoughts and Things; A Few Pictures

Location: Blanco State Park; Blanco, Texas
(click pictures to enlarge)

It's been sprinkling rain, off and on, for the last two days. Storms had been predicted for last night but they passed a little to the east and I only caught a little of them. The weather is suppose to be clearing and the rain should be gone for a while. My plans for today is to go to San Antonio and visit the Alamo. I was there as a young child and remember nothing about the place. There are still a couple of locations that I'm searching for in some "before" pictures. I know one is the Alamo, the others are unknown. Maybe I will run into the past today as I wander around San Antonio. 

A few pictures as I was wandering around between rain showers.

This type of flood gage is used a lot around here. Apparently
heavy rains produce high water quickly but it also recedes
just as quickly. To save a bundle of money, Texas puts in
these culverts with a flood gage instead of a bridge. Great idea
using common sense. Your tax dollars working the way they should.

This is a picture of Luckenbach, Texas. The town from the song. I had heard it was nothing much to the place and I was still somewhat disappointed. I'm not sure what I was expecting but it was little more than a "tourist trap" general store/post office. During better weather, there must be some good musical concerts here because all of the field around here have been converted to parking lots. There must be parking for a few thousand vehicles. The day I passed there, I was vehicle number 5, so it was a slow day for them.

This is the swimming pool that is attached to the dam in the state park. It is still in use during the warmer months. Remember, this dam and pool dates back to the 30's when the CCC built them.

Just a tree that I liked.

The following are some Random Thoughts and Things:

1) Cuba is in the news lately. I do not agree with the actions the president did and is about to do concerning normalizing relations with Cuba. You can call the political system in Cuba whatever you want; communist, socialist or dictatorial. Whatever you call it, it is oppressive and evil. The sanctions were placed on Cuba back in the early 60's to put pressure on them to change their political system. Cuba was a pawn in the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Although our President didn't mention it at all when he announced his change in policy, Cuba sided with the Soviet Union to place nuclear armed missiles in Cuba. We could not allow that then or now. After we placed sanctions on Cuba, the soviets knew Castro would not be able to survive politically so they sent money and material to Cuba to compensate for the sanctions. That kept Castro in power so he could give his anti-American speeches before the U.N. This continued until the Soviet Union itself fell apart in the late 80's. Russia, the heart of the old Soviet Union, continued to support Cuba. Then came a new player to help Cuba. Venezuela, a new anti-America country, started helping support Cuba. All the while, Cuba was sending its soldiers to every hot spot around the world trying to stir up stuff. 

Within the last few months the Russians and Venezuelans are having major financial problems in their countries. Each, foolishly based the majority of their economies on oil, the price of which is falling dramatically. Neither will be able to support Cuba in the same manner they have been for the last several decades. That means Cuba will very likely be going bankrupt which will cause the people to revolt against the people in power, the Castros. In place of Castro, there could be a Democracy on the island for the first time in its history. The sanctions were just about to work because the cash that Castro needed to stay in power was about to dry up. For some unknown reason, our president decides now is the time to lift the sanctions. Doing so will allow multi-millions of dollars to flow into Cuba, of which Castro takes his cut. This will allow the Castros and their hand-picked successors to remain in power indefinitely. WHY would the president do this at this time? It makes no sense. One of the reasons they use to justify his actions is they say sanctions don't work. If that is so, then does that mean he will work towards lifting the sanctions that are on Iran, North Korea and Russia? This administration talks out of both sides of their mouth. 

Whether you think the president's actions are good or bad, the main problem is that he did it ALONE. He did not consult Congress or the American public. Changing policy that has been in place for 50 years should be debated openly in Congress so both sides can state their case. It should not be done by one man, even if it is the President of the U.S. He has unilateral power over certain things, but this kind of change in policy should not be one of them. My Representative and Senators were left out of this discussion, so far. Hopefully they will weigh in heavily in the next Congress. 

It is scary to think of what he will do next.

I had some other Random Thoughts and Things but this rant ran long, so they can wait until another day.

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.  

Blanco State Park (part 1)

Location: Blanco State Park; Blanco, Texas
(click pictures to enlarge)

I arrived at Blanco State Park yesterday in the early afternoon. I knew it was going to be a nice park by the one-lane, low water bridge that you pass over to get to the campsites. Anyone even remotely familiar with the work of the old Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) would immediately recognize their work as you enter the park. As I have said in previous posts, although I disagreed with most of the New Deal, the CCC was the best program that it produced. Just a quick recap, in less than 10 years the CCC built over 800 parks nationwide and mostly by hand without the routine use of heavy equipment. But the building program was secondary to the education of the young men in a marketable trade and outstanding work ethic. It is understandable that the CCC would not be needed during World War II and prosperous decades that followed, but it would be a comforting feeling if it was around today. 

After getting Liberty set up, I went into town for something to eat. There are a lot of little cafes, but no Taco Bell :(, oh well.  I picked one that looked promising; Oak Creek Cafe. The brisket was very good but the soup was outstanding. It was Baked Potato Soup. That is the second time I've had that soup. The first time I had ever heard of the soup was at a truck stop in Duson, Louisiana. Both times it has been excellent. I don't see it on the menu very often but I'll definitely order it when it is available. 

I'll be here at Blanco through the 26th and if a vacancy occurs, I'll probably extend through the first of the year. I haven't decided where I'll head when I leave here. It may be to the Gulf coast for a couple of weeks or I may just take off for the west coast early. Decisions, decisions, just like when I was working, but these decisions only affect me and that is a big difference. 

Here are a few pictures from around the park. I'm sure more will be taken for future posts.

This is the one lane bridge going into the campground. It is a
combination bridge/dam. As the water rises, it passes
over the bridge. Rain is predicted in the next few days so I'm
curious to see it in action.

A picture of the bridge on the right and the dam on the left.
This picture is taken from a point about 30 feet in front
of my campsite.

A closeup of the dam. The square structure at the end of it
is the swimming pool. Remember, this was built in 1934 and still
functioning great. The CCC did great work.

Looking back at Freedom and Liberty

A pretty view taken from the Pavilion area.

This goose, duck, bird walked up to me while I was at the
pavilion. He stared at me for a while as if to say, "Hey buddy,
got any food". 

Now this is a picnic table. Made of stone and big enough to
seat the Walton's times 10. This was also built by the CCC and
I'm sure they enjoyed many meals here. 

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.  

Cold Moving Day, Nice Texas Museum, Lunch with RV Friend

Location: McKinney Falls State Park; Austin, Texas

(click pictures to enlarge)

It's almost 8:00 a.m. and I'm waiting for it to warm up some inside Liberty before taking a shower. It got down to the uppers 30's last night which was about 10 degrees colder than I expected. I had left one ceramic heater on low last night which kept Liberty in the upper 50's. I have a second one going now in the bath/bedroom area but am having to be careful since I only have 30 amp service at this campsite. If I turn each heater on high, they will draw a combined amperage of about 26 amps which leaves only 4 before tripping a breaker. Therefore I have each set on medium and have my fingers crossed that the water heater doesn't trip the breaker. In the past whenever I was restricted to 30 amp service, I always used propane for the water heater because of the amp draw the A/C units would pull. This time, since I knew I wouldn't be using the A/C, I flipped on the electric option for the water heater. So far, so good, no breakers tripped and it's warmed up to 63 degrees in here. I'll have to turn off one of the heaters before I turn on the coffee pot. Aw, the joys of RV living. :) 

I'll be moving today to Blanco State Park in Blanco, Texas. It is a small state park next to a small town but it is centrally located to the places I want to explore. I will be there through Christmas. It will be a very short tow of about 1 1/2 hours so I can pull out of here as late as noon today. McKinney State Park has been nice and peaceful. I walked some of the trails and saw both the upper and lower falls. I wasn't able to cross the lower falls to see some of the other sites but I was OK with it. The massive limestone cap rock is impressive.

Campsite Number 1, McKinney Falls State Park

The view out my door

Wide walking paths in this park

The lower falls.

The swimming hole at the lower falls

The gulleys cut into the limestone at the falls

This is at the upper falls with a deep cut

The overhand has been cut out by erosion. It is off limits
today due to it being unsafe, but you can easily
picture people in past seeking shelter here.

The upper falls with the overhang in the background

More upper falls

And one more of the upper falls

This is just part of the very large limestone cap rock in the area

I visited The Bullock Museum of Texas yesterday. It is a nice museum with plenty of exhibits. I was there for almost 3 hours and time just flew by. I have posted about some of the history of Texas in the past and will try not to repeat any of it here. A few things did stand out to me in the museum. One was the recovered ship of the French explorer LaSalle. He originally explored the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. On his next trip to America, he planned to establish a colony near the mouth of the Mississippi River but due to bad navigation and maps, he ended up in Matagorda Bay, Texas. It was a bad place to try to establish a colony and it failed miserably. LaSalle was eventually killed by his own men as he was attempting to reach some of his old exploration areas in the Illinois area. One thing his exploration party left to us was the sunken ship, La Belle. It sank in Matagorda Bay in 1686 and was recently re-discovered and recovered from its sandy grave. Artifacts and parts of the ship are on display in the Bullock museum. The possible story-line of LaSalle in Texas is that if he had succeeded in establishing a colony in Texas, then Texas may have been aligned with the French as Louisiana was instead of with Spain/Mexico. It is an interesting display. I met two nice ladies that work for the museum and they were interested in my RV'ing so I gave them the address to the blog. One has already commented, so I know they are reading. I'll have to be careful not to mis-state any facts or I may be called out on it. :) LOL

Nice looking museum and if someone wasn't sure
about the reason for the museum, well, the
big Texas star is a give-away.

The keel of the LaBelle which was salvaged
from Matagorda Bay. Pretty good shape to
be about 250 years old.

This display represents what may have been the
beginning of the Texas Revolution. The Mexican
Army was sent to Gonzales, Texas to retrieve
a cannon that was loaned to the Texans for defense
against the Indians. The Texans refused to give up the
cannon which sort of set the tone for the revolution.
Note the words on the flag. The Texans kept the cannon.

This is the American flag after an additional star was added
due to Texas becoming a state in December of 1845. It was nice
because the star cluster formed a star as if it was the Texas
Star. The shape of the stars only lasted for about a year until
Iowa became a state, then it changed.

Comparison of homes. The pioneers "dog-trot" cabin on the left
and a plains Indian teepee on the right.

Large shot of several displays

More displays

After visiting the museum, I had lunch with another full-time RV'er. Her name is Malia Lane and she has been full-timing since 2001. She has an extensive web-site/blog dating back 13 years. If you have a few days to read some of it, one of the addresses to a couple of her webpages is www.maliasrv.com. That one will get you started from the beginning. I began reading her site many years ago when I first began thinking about RV'ing. The food was so-so, but the conversation was very good. 

Well, it's warmed up enough in here to shower and get ready to roll on down the road so......

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road. 

Before and After Pictures

Location: McKinney Falls State Park; Austin, Texas
(click pictures to enlarge)

I arrived at McKinney Falls State Park in Austin, Texas Thursday afternoon. 

When I was visiting with my sister a few weeks ago, we went through some boxes of old pictures that were taken when we were children. Some seemed to show us on a trip somewhere. Neither of us could remember where it was but the buildings looked official. Since my family lived in Texas until about 1958, I thought it may be either Austin or San Antonio, so I headed to Austin first. I was hoping to find the locations where the pictures were taken nearly 56 years ago. I went to the state capital grounds and although it was like a scavenger hunt to find the locations, I was able to find three of them. I tried to take the picture from the same perspective that my folks did. Standing close to the same spot they were standing. Some of the Before pictures aren't dated, but judging by the size of the chubby baby (me), and the bare trees in the background, it would have been late 1957 or early 1958. Later on in 1958 is when my father started working for Al Johnson Construction Company and the family started moving around the country from project to project. But at this time, my sister and I believe we were living in Port Lavaca, Texas, which is only a few hours away from Austin/San Antonio. If my parents planned it right, we could have made a day trip of it. It was fun tracking down the spots and visualizing my parents with 3 kids wandering around the place where I was visiting. I wondered if we packed a lunch and ate on the grass which would have been common back then or if we splurged and ate at cafe. Were we laughing, fussing, whining? Did they get tired of carrying me? Was it chilly that day? Surely we three kids fell asleep during the car drive back home. These things we will never know because it is just my sister and me who are left, and neither of us remember. We all believe what we want to believe, and for me, that day was full of laughing and having a good time. It was a good day then and it was a good day today.    

Before (about 1958/57)
This is a memorial to the Texas
Cowboys located on the
southwest corner of the
capital grounds.
 Sitting dangerously on
the base of the statue are my 
brother (age 11 or 12),
me (age 1 or 2) and my 
sister (age 6 or 7). 

After (12/12/14)
They planted a lot more shrubs
around the statue now. 

Before (about 1957/58)
This cannon is located at the
southern entrance of the capital.
I assume it is symbolically pointed
Mexico.
As to why I'm not in this picture,
I can only assume my brother
and sister had been mean to me
since I was "the baby". Judging
by the cocky pose my sister is doing,
it is a good bet she was the culprit.
:)

After (12/12/14)
Noticed they put a cover over the
end of the cannon, the mailbox
is gone and there is a handicap
sign. 

Before (about 1957/58)
My brother and sister must have
pulled me out of the cannon
because I'm back in this picture.
It is a statue of liberty located
somewhere on the grounds. 

After (12/12/14)
This is the statue but the base it
sits on has changed. Apparently
they relocated it and changed
the foundation. I couldn't find
the old foundation.

Those were the only three pictures I could match up to the state capital grounds. There are several more and I hope some of the remaining ones are from the San Antonio area which is where I'm heading next. If I can not find the locations, I'll post the pictures on facebook to see if anyone recognizes the background. 

There is one more set of pictures I want to post here, but it isn't in Texas. As I was going through the pictures in the box, one seemed familiar. After a while, it came to me. It was a picture of the Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. I had been there back in August of this year and took a picture at almost the same spot.

Before (fall of 1959)
This is a picture of one of
the American locks in Sault Ste.
Marie, Michigan. The picture is
dated Jan of 1960 but that would
have been the date the picture
was developed, not taken.
Judging by the water not being
frozen, I would assume it was
fall or early winter of 1959.
 

After (8/21/14)
The big difference between the
before and after is the bridge in
the background of the After. The
bridge isn't in the Before, because
it hadn't been built yet.
The reason we moved there was
because my father was working
on the bridge project.

This is a wider view of the same picture.

  

It was nice back-tracking my parents. It would have been nicer to have been able to show them the Before and After's and ask them the questions that were going through my head as I was taking the After's. So, if your folks are still around, ask them your questions while you still can. 

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll cya down the road.

Moving Day, Father of Texas and Relaxing

Location: Stephen F. Austin State Park; San Felipe, Texas
(click pictures to enlarge)

I pulled out of Beaumont around 10:00 yesterday morning. It was a short tow of about 130 miles but it was through Houston which had me a little bit worried as to traffic. I had towed Liberty through Houston about a year ago and was very surprised by the amount of traffic. It had parts of me puckered up pretty good. Yesterday was the opposite. Except for a few times when it got a little congested, I slipped right through on the I-610 loop around the north side. I got to this state park about 12:30 and was given the choice of about 50 campsites. I chose one, set up and went back to the office to finish the paperwork. A park ranger was coming out of the office and said they were closing early and I could finish checking in, in the morning. It seemed strange since there were 2 park ranger vehicles at the office and I had seen no less than 3 "camp hosts" inside the park. But it didn't bother me too much and I went on to Walmart to get a few groceries. Before shopping I stopped at a Whataburger and had a great hamburger and fries. I wonder why other places haven't started offering spicy ketchup like Whataburger? I picked up a couple steaks and headed back to the campground. 

There isn't a lot to see and do around this area. One of the things I had planned was to do the factory tour for Blue Bell Ice Cream in Brenham which is about 30 miles away. Lucky for me I checked online and found out tours weren't being offered on the days I'm going to be here. Oh well, I guess I will just kick back and relax until I pull out on Thursday. 

Empty lanes going through Houston. I got lucky with no traffic

My campsite in Stephen F. Austin State Park. I have my own little tree with autumn colors.

I picked this site because of the open western sky. Once the sun goes down it gets chilly and the setting sun helps keep Liberty a little warmer.

The view out my door.

My new back yard, with lots of spanish moss hanging from the trees.

This is a road inside the park. About 6 deer had already crossed and this guy was bringing up the rear. He wasn't in any hurry and stopped to stare at me for a little bit. 

My sister made me pancakes for breakfast when I was in Lafayette a week or so ago. I had a hankering for them so I picked up some of these individual size packages of Bisquick. I guess the days of me making them from scratch is over.  

This historic site is just outside of the park. It honors Stephen F. Austin as the Father of Texas. He organized the first colony of Anglo's into what was then country held by Spain. Before he was able to move people into the area, Mexico won it's independence from Spain and Austin had to deal with them instead. The deal was made and Austin brought 300 colonists into what is now southeast Texas. 

He was the leader of the colony and established their political system, laws, courts and militia. Several of the future hero's of the Texas Revolution lived in the colony. This is also the place that Jane Long moved to after leaving Bolivar Peninsula (see older post about her exploits). Austin made his home in San Felipe which is where this park is located.

Another view of the historical site with a nice tree and obelisk.

This state park has some great hiking trails. They are well defined and no one using them since the campground is almost empty. I flushed some more deer and other animals on my walk. 

This intersection of two paths reminded me of Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken". The final lines are:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Of course that was pure B.S. for me today. There was no way I was going to take a less traveled path to who knows where. I was going to stay on the path that I knew exactly where it was going. There won't be any headlines in the newspaper saying, "Crazy old fat man found along less traveled path". 

It was a nice walk. The weather was perfect with the temperature in the low to mid 60's and very low humidity. Notice I'm not using the word "hike". Hike sounds like work to me, so I just went for a walk. 

This deer posed for me on my walk. He stayed there for the entire time I was photographing him. He was still there when I walked away. I guess the deer around here have gotten used to dumb humans gawking over them. I wish I had taken my big fancy camera for a zoomed in shot, but oh well, maybe next time.

I will be leaving here on Thursday morning for McKinney Falls State Park in Austin, Texas. I will be there for 5 days and use the park to explore the capital and some of the surrounding area. After I leave McKinney I'll be heading for Blanco State Park which is located sort of in between San Antonio/Austin/Fredricksburg/Kerrville. I will be there through Christmas and leave on the 27th for some place I haven't thought of, yet. 

Ya'll take care of each other. Cya down the road.