Oddfellows and Sunsets

 Location: Liberty Hill Campground (COE); Dawson, Texas. About an hour south of Dallas.

This is my third time to this campground because it seems to be perfectly located on my travels from Central Texas back to Louisiana. I've also been pretty lucky at seeing some descent sunsets here. I had thought my last visit would have been my final one but after leaving I found out about a place that I should have explored. I promised myself I would return. This visit is keeping that promise.

This is serve as the road picture. I think they were harvesting winter wheat, but not sure.

There was one other camper on this peninsula. He was a 75 year-old guy with one leg. He promised his doctor when he lost his leg several years ago that he would go camping by himself when he was 75. The was tent camping in a blow-up tent with a portable A/C unit inside. 

Nice campsite with water/electric. Those two things in the distance are thinking benches.

From the thinking benches looking back toward Freedom and Liberty

These were reclined thinking benches. They were surprisingly comfortable.

I noticed the 75 year-old packing up to leave. That was a surprise because he said he was leaving the same day as me. I walked over and he said his wife had called an their granddaughter had a program the following. This was already late in the afternoon. I thought I may offend him by offering to help his pack up be he was very grateful. He said he could do it himself but that it would take he several hours. I said no problem and we had him on his way in a short-short. 

On my last visit, while exploring the small town of Dawson, I was told about a building that was built by the Independent Order of Oddfellows. I think it was an orphanage, but not sure. I had never heard of that organization, so I did some minor checking into it, but only minor, since I had already moved west. I did learn that the Texas Grand Lodge for the Oddfellows, with a museum, was located in Corsicana, about 30 minutes from the campground. If I had known, I surely would have went. As I promised myself years ago, I returned to explore the Grand Lodge/museum and learn a little more about the organization with the strange name.

The Oddfellows is a fraternal organization whose motto is Friendship, Love, Truth. If you see three interconnected circles with FLT, then it's an old Oddfellows building. By the way, they are not associated with the Masons, Shriners or other such organizations. It was formed in the U.S. in 1819 and grew to over 3,000 lodges throughout the country. One of the things that interested me the most was their work in building and maintaining orphanages. At their peak they ran 62 of them in the U.S. and 72 worldwide. The Grand Lodge of Texas was the Administration building for the local orphanage, school and old folk's home. It included dormitories, classrooms, a dairy, power plant and was an independent school district within Texas. It closed in 1991 after having cared for over 5,500 kids. 

If you're curious like I am, I wondered when orphanages were phased out. Come to find out, the Social Security Act of 1935 provided funding for the Foster Care system. Once that happened, it was only a matter of time before orphanages closed down. The number of kids in Foster Care peaked at about 567,000 in 1999. Currently, it is about 350,000. It's unclear to me which is the better program but since Foster Care is now basically the only show in town, I sure hope someone is vetting the heck out of Foster Care Parents. It is worrisome to hear about rampant fraud in many of the federally funded programs.

The Oddfellows fundamental missions are to "elevated the character of mankind through humanitarian efforts, including visiting the sick, relieving the distressed, burying the dead and educating the orphaned." During my former career, I learned to recognize "weasel words", but I get good vibes from their mission statement. 'Nuff said!!!!

This is a picture in the Oddfellows museum showing how large their facility was in the day. Impressive.

In case you thought they were "warehousing" the orphans, this is a picture of the orphanage. Pretty ornate and fancy, uh?

One of my favorite reasons for traveling is to find and learn about things like the Oddfellows. I considered myself blessed to be able to see and learn things while I still can. I can do that without traveling, but traveling just exposes more things in some great places. If you really want to go down a rabbit hole, google "orphan trains". 

Camping on this peninsula puts you in a good position to see some nice sunsets. Here are two from the first two days here. 

Sunset Day 2

Sunset Day 2

Sunset Day 2

Day 2

Sunset Day 1

Tomorrow is moving day and I'll be headed to another COE campground. It will be my last one before arriving back at my homebase on the 23rd.

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

 

 

   

Argentine Ant Invasion and Evolution vs Creationism

Location: Kimbel Bend Campground (COE); about an hour southwest of Fort Worth, Texas along the Brazos River

Today is day three of three at this campground. 

Road picture from the edge of the Texas Hill Country

The view from the top of one of the hills. It was a pretty day.

Pre-sunrise on day two. That's the Brazos River in the background.

Sunrise, Day two.

The Corps of Engineers web page warns campers that Argentine Ants are in the area. That area is anything within a 100–150 mile radius of the Dallas/Fort Worth area. I’ve stayed in many COE campgrounds within that range but never had a problem until now. Over the years, I have pictured in my mind that Argentine Ants were giants capable of carrying off small children and animals. Come to find out, they are what I’ve always called “piss ants” or “sugar ants”. They look similar but the difference is how they nest. The Argentine Ant has “super colonies” with hundreds of queens and interconnecting tunnels. This super colony can stretch for many miles. They don’t fight each other, so they just merge colonies into a bigger one. When I arrived at the campground and inspected my campsite, there were not any obvious ant hills. But come to find out, they don’t mound up like normal ants. They nest underground with only scattered hole openings in the area. Apparently, but unknown to me, there was an opening near my campsite. After setting up camp, I sprayed my jacks, power cords, tires and steps with ant spray and thought all was good. On day two I noticed a couple of ant trails inside Liberty, so I put out some Terro Liquid Ant Baits. I’ve had great success with that product and routinely carry some with me. I figured after putting out the baits in the afternoon the ants would be gone by the morning of day three. When I woke up, they were still “snacking” on the Terro, so much so that their dead bodies were clogging up the traps. I put a few new ones out and went outside to see if I could find where they were getting inside. There were two locations. One was the cable from my Starlink to Liberty and two trails leading under Liberty to a weed that was touching her underbelly. I sprayed the heck out of both locations and withing a few hours they were gone from inside. I’ll keep a watch on the outside locations until I leave tomorrow. I plan a stop at Walmart on the way to the next campground. I’ll use it like an ammunition dump and resupply my ant spray and Terro baits. I’ll get some food too. 😊

The Creation Evidence Museum

I came here for one purpose. I had heard about a museum for years from many different people and I wanted to see it for myself. It is the Creation Evidence Museum in Glen Rose, Texas. I didn’t come here to be convinced that evolution is hog wash bulls*#t evil wrong incorrect and creationism is right. I already knew that since I was a teenager. I’ve been to many museums that talk about things from a million years ago but this one talks about things in biblical timelines. That the earth is only about 6,000 years old, not 10's of millions. I’m not going to post a long justification of creationism over evolution but will simply post a couple of things that should make a person go,,,”hmmmm”.

First, footprints that have been found locally, and documented, that have a dinosaur and human together at the same time. Overlapping each other. Evolutionists say that can’t happen because dinosaurs lived a very long time before humans showed up. Evolutionists say the footprints are fake but can’t say how. Remember, the term dinosaur only started being used in the 1850’s, before that they were referred to as dragons. Dragons are mentioned several times in the bible. I wonder why some people started calling them dinosaurs while at the same time saying dragons were a myth. hmmm.

Second, evidence of Noah’s flood is everywhere but often is not recognized. Evolutionists say it took millions of years to produce coal and natural gas from plants that decayed and formed under high pressure. There are things in the museum that bring those thoughts into question. Such as, an iron hammer found inside solid rock, or a metal bowl inside a coal seam, or tall trees standing upright without roots and going through different strata such as limestone and coal of different ages, or a log laying horizontal in a coal strata that is oval shaped because of a huge weight on top of it while the tree was still green. All these things are evidence of a world-wide flood which created the sedimentary layer quickly, not slowly. It also explains how the Grand Canyon was created and what happened to all of the material that was washed out of it. hmmmmm. If ya’ll wonder about such things, this is a place to explore.

This is a replica of a tree that was found standing up and going through to different strata. If it took millions of years for those strata's to form, why didn't the top of the tree rot or erode away.

The museum has one set of only five known sets of Hebrew scrolls documenting Genesis through Malachi. Pretty impressive for such a museum in a small town.

This isn't a replica; it is the original London Hammer. 

The footprint and dinosaur print found locally. It is only one of many found.

Tomorrow is moving day and I'll be returning to a campground I stayed at a couple of years ago. I found out about something that needed exploring but only after I had moved farther west. I said then that I would be back. Tomorrow and for two days afterwards will be that time.

The view out my back window. 

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

Cow Bridge, Statue Walk and H-E-B

 Location: Airport Beach Campground (COE); Waco, Texas

First, Waco is on my list of "good vibe" places. I guess I need to post that list one of these days. I'll also post the list of places that I expected to be good vibe places but fooled the heck out of me. By the way, a "Wow" place does not mean it's a good vibe place. I don't think I'll post the list of places that were bad vibe, bad ju-ju, jinxed, spooky, haunted, feeling of Rougarou nearby, being hunted, uncomfortable. I won't post that list because to do so gives that side power.

This road pick is a typical road in this part of Texas. I don't remember if it is a Farm to Market or State Highway.

This is my third time in Waco and my second time in this campground. In fact, the campsite I'm in is the same one I was in back in January of 2020. I'll post the addresses to those old posts. Back then I explored the Dr. Pepper Museum, Texas Rangers Museum, Mammoth National Monument and the Old West Suspension Bridge. This time I revisited the Old Suspension Bridge because it was near the Waco Sculpture Zoo.

https://gozatravels.blogspot.com/2020/01/two-so-so-museums-campground-pics.html

https://gozatravels.blogspot.com/2023/03/tornadoes-medicine-and-laundry.html

https://gozatravels.blogspot.com/2023/03/cracker-barrel-exploit-texas-rangers.html

https://gozatravels.blogspot.com/2023/02/civilization-at-waco-texas.html

https://gozatravels.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-waco-bridge-from-old-west.html

That's Freedom and Liberty on the left. Same campsite from 6 years ago. 

Looking back at the campsite while on a walk. That's Liberty just past the dumpster. :)

These shelters were closed. I'm not sure why. They looked to be screened shelters for a tent or gathering. 

The Waco Suspension Bridge, once the longest suspension bridge west of the Mississippi River, was built back in 1870 to cross the Brazos River. Sidenote: as per some locals, it is pronounced Bray-zos not Bra-zos. They made it clear that people who say it the wrong way are usually Yankees. They weren't using the word "Yankee" in the friendly, kidding manner like I do, so I quickly said I was from Louisiana but knew a lot of good Yankees. That ended the conversation. As I walked away, I looked over my shoulder and said, "I'm headed to the walkway along the Bra-zos." At least they laughed. 

Anyway, back to the bridge. Back in 1866, The Waco Bridge Company, was granted a 25-year charter that said no other bridge or ferry could be operated within five miles. So, with that in their pocket, the company build the bridge and started charging a toll. After public outcry about having to pay a toll, the bridge was sold to the county in 1889, and it became a free crossing. It was finally closed to vehicular traffic in 1971, and it became what it is today, a pedestrian crossing and tourist attraction. Apparently, the suspension bridge is also the home to a few homeless people that I saw this morning. None of them were pan-handling, but I started to give one of them some money but before I did, he pulled out a nice smartphone and started scrolling. It was then I decide, he probably was probably living the lifestyle of his choice not in one by circumstance, so I put the money back in my pocket.

"Branding the Brazos" sculptures of life-sized longhorns and cowboys. 

Looking down the centerline of the bridge.

 Waco has done a great job at developing things along the banks of the Brazos River. They have a nice concrete walkway that has some memorials, such as the fallen policemen memorial. It runs for a mile or two. Apparently, it is pretty popular because I saw a couple of dozen people on it at 8:00 this morning. Some were jogging, others just walking. I didn't jog; I came to see the statues of animals called the Waco Sculpture Zoo. It was nice and worth the walk, but I rank it in third place of the other similar statue gardens I've explored. If you're curious, the first place one is in Loveland, Colorado and the second place one is in Wausau, Wisconsin.

Just a couple of the statues along the walkway.

These are positioned like they are walking into the zoo.

I can't remember when the last selfie was taken. But, I couldn't resist this one. In the background is an elephant the "thinker pose" sitting on a thinking bench. Doesn't get much better. 

In my opinion, there are two main things that every visitor to Texas must see to believe. First is Buc-ees (think Texas-sized gas station with super clean bathrooms lots of things to buy and eat). The second is H-E-B grocery store. You can find anything in there and it's reasonable priced and fresh. I made the mistake of going in there hungry on day 2 and came out with $60.00 worth of "ready to cook" meals, some soups and fresh fruit. I wish there was one near my homebase in Louisiana. 

H-E-B also has the cheapest gas in town at $3.80 per gallon. So, on my way back to the campground this morning I was topping off my gas tank in preparation for leaving tomorrow. Just as my gas pump passed $5.00 on the way to $30+, I overheard a young woman tell the cashier, "$5.00 on pump 5". Now that's a sign, uh? Her paying for $5.00 just as my pump passes $5.00. We all know that with the price of gas, $5.00 will only buy you a little less than 1 1/2 gallons. Pump 5 was next to mine. After I finished pumping my gas, I handed her a twenty and said if you need more gas, use this. She refused at first, but when I said, "or use for whatever you need and pay it forward when you can", she looked through her back glass at a child in the car and said thank you as she took the bill. It was the creation of a nice "silent echo", and it seemed as if all was well in the world at that snapshot in time.

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

Ice Cream, Independence and a President

 Location: Rocky Creek Corps of Engineers Campground on Somerville Lake about 1-1/2 hours northwest of Houston, Texas

Today is day 5 of 5 here at this pretty good COE campground. I'm glad I transferred two days from the National Forest campground to here. It's been a good basecamp to explore the area and a nice, peaceful campground.

Travel picture. Taken between the campground and College Station. I hope she still enjoys them.

Another travel picture because I like solitary trees.

A herd of deer make their home in the campground. They were not very afraid of me and that should worry them. 

That's Freedom and Liberty on the left. The rig on the right belongs to a couple that plans to hit the road later this year. Safe travels to ya'll and enjoy the freedom.

I found a "thinking bench" inside the campground but it hadn't been cleaned in a long time, so I didn't try it out. I did find a nice picnic table in a vacant campsite with a nice view of the water. It was a perfect day with the temp in 70's and about a 10-mph breeze blowing. Note, if you see just a few whitetop on the waves, the wind speed is around 8 to 11 mph. It's funny how some of that old Navy training sticks with you. 

Just like the herd of deer in the campground, there is also a flock of Turkey Buzzards. About an hour or so before I took this picture, I had poured some old bacon grease in that firepit. None of them pecked around in the pit but they knew something was in the area. They visited for about 30 minutes before going on their way. 

I was only able to get one Sunrise due to the weather and overcast. I was disappointed because I chose this campsite because the sun would be rising right out Liberty's door. 

Same sunrise from the picture above. A strong storm system blew through here last night, so I have hopes of getting a nice sunrise in the morning before moving on. 

About a half hour south of here is the town of Brenham, Texas. I'm sure they are known for many things but to me it is Blue Bell Ice Cream. They started out 1907 making butter with the name of the company being Brenham Creamery Company. Four years later they branched out into making ice cream. At that time, their top production was two gallons per day. In 1930 they changed the name to Blue Bell Creameries named after the blue bell wildflowers (not the same as bluebonnets). They kept growing and now sell ice cream in 24 states. You can visit their factory in Brenham and watch from an observation deck as the ice cream is made and packaged. You can't take pictures of that operation so don't look for any here. They do sale a cup of any flavor for $1.00. At first, I thought that was a heck of deal, but then I figured, at 16 cups in a gallon, they were charging $16.00 a gallon. Disillusion took over my body, but you know what,,,I still enjoyed that cup of ice cream.

The second exploration was to town of Washington-on-the-Brazos. First, Brazos is a river that runs from west Texas to the Gulf Coast near Freeport, Texas. The towns claim-to-fame is that it is the location where delegates from around Texas came together to declare their Independence from Mexico. The Texas version of Philadelphia. That was back in 1836. About ten years later, Texas became the 28th state. Some believe that was the ultimate goal of a plot between Sam Houston and Andrew Jackson. Anyway, it all worked out pretty good for everyone except Mexico. Texas has created a nice State Park with tons of information and a place to spend a few hours if you're passing through this part of Texas. One of the things I found interesting was the town of Washington-on-the Brazos was approached by the railroads as they were beginning to install tracks across Texas. The city told the railroad "No thanks, we will continue relying on the two Riverboats that were working on the Brazos". After a few years, they realized they made a dumbass mistake. Note, there is no railroad running through that town today, but the riverboats left more than 150 years ago. 

The entrance to the State Historic Site

This was a re-worked dog-trot style home belonging to a former President of the Republic of Texas. (not Sam Houston)

They have a working farm at the Historic Site with people dressed in the clothes of the time. They also plow the fields using a pair of oxen. 

The third and last exploration was the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library on the Texas A&M campus in College Station, Texas. As with most Presidential Libraries, they paint that President in the best light. Bush Sr., wasn't one of my favorite presidents, but I do respect the Office of the President and the positions he held in our government. Both he and his wife, Barbara, are buried on the library grounds. Side note; they were married for 73 years, making their marriage the longest of any presidential couple. I would rank the library a 4 out of 10. Of the presidential libraries I've been to, Herbert Hoover still ranks in first with a score of about 7 out of 10. Still Bush's library is worth a visit. 

This is the only picture I took of the library. Nothing really caught my interest or my eye while inside.

Tomorrow is moving day and I'll be heading to another COE campground. This will be a return visit, so I hope I don't taint good memories from the first visit.  

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

The Best-laid Plans of Mice and Men ,,,,,,,

 Two campgrounds, one post.

Cagle Campground (National Forest); Willis, Texas

Rocky Creek Campground (COE); Brenham, Texas

The title of this post does NOT come from John Steinbeck like I thought. I figured it was from his book, "Of Mice and Men". Apparently, he stole lifted plagiarized borrowed the phrase from a poem going back 150 years to Robert Burns. See what the curse of the internet does to a person. I thought of a phrase for the post and was curious as to its origin. Google AI answered quickly and I fell down that rabbit-hole for about 30 minutes or so. It sure beats having to find a World Book or Encyclopedia Brittanica like it was in my childhood. All the information in the world (except what the government hides) is available at our fingertips. Amazing times.

Anyway, back to how the title applies to me. The main purpose of this trip was to get Liberty's wheel bearings greased. Initially, I planned to go to the Camping World just west of Houston but changed to Holiday World RV in Willis, Texas. I called and thought I made it clear to Service Rep Germaine that I didn't want my wheels broken down to clean and repack my bearings. All I wanted was to have them greased through my EZ lube spindle as designed my Dexter Axles. He said "Ok, not a problem". I elaborated about the process I was wanting and told him my concerns about pneumatic grease guns applying too much pressure that could blow out the bearing seal thereby putting grease directly on the brakes. He assured me that they knew exactly what they were doing and I shouldn't worry. I got a good vibe and set up an appointment time. 

My "best-laid plan" was to camp for two days in Double Lake National Forest Campground and on the third day, tow Liberty the 20 miles to the RV Service place. After the work, I would move to Cagle National Forest Campground about 15 miles away and stay there for 3 days. Well, as I was checking in at the service center, Germaine (a young guy that probably couldn't spell the word "bearing") kept mentioning inspecting and repacking the bearings. I politely told him again what I wanted done. He called the service manager, who was probably in his early 30's, to explain it all to me. I, in turn, explained to him what I wanted. He said he understood but that they didn't do that. He said there was too much of a risk when using a pneumatic grease gun. I said, I know, that's why I mentioned it when setting up the appointment. He looked at me puzzled and said, "do you want us to use a pistol grip, hand operated grease gun?" At that point I had had enough. I didn't lose my cool like I would have in my younger days. I simply said, "No thanks, I'm out of here" and climbed into Freedom and drove off.

I figured three days in the National Forest would ease my hurt feelings as to not recognizing the BS Germaine had fed me on the phone when I set up the appointment. The campground was heavily wooded without a cell phone signal. I set up Starlink but it would not penetrate the trees enough to give a reliable signal. The connection would come and go depending on the location of the satellite it was locking on to. With the mood I was in, I wasn't staying there for three days. So, I grabbed my laptop and drove to a Burger King where I could pick up a cell signal to create a hotspot. I canceled the last 2 days at Cagle and booked those 2 days here at Rocky Creek. I was lucky about being able to add 2 days on the front of my existing reservation at the same campsite. So, I'm here at Rocky Creek COE Campground for 5 days instead of 3. That's OK with me since there is enough things to explore, if the weather cooperates. It's a great campsite with blazing cell phone and Starlink. My blood pressure immediately dropped when I saw my campsite. No more National Forest Campgrounds for me. I hope I remember that in the future.     

So, even though I'm not a mouse whose home was plowed up by a farmer, I feel as though I wasted time as my plans fell through. Oh well, looking forward, not backwards. 

And remember, everything happens for a reason.

My campsite in Cagle National Forest. The canopy was so tight it felt like a rainforest or at least like places in the Pacific Northwest. Without reliable cell/internet connection, it just felt weird. Bad vibes, not dangerous vibes, just bad. Almost like bad Ju-ju. So, I left. 

My campsite at Rocky Creek COE Campground. Peaceful, clear, open, level and near places that need exploring. "Good deal, Lucille". 

The view out my door. When it's not overcast, the sun will be rising in that direction.

The view out my back window while sitting at my laptop. At least 100 purple martin birds were flying back there last evening. They are helping make this area a "mosquito-free zone".

 We can't change the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

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

How About a National Forest Campground

 Double Lake Recreation Area Campground; Coldspring, Texas (about an hour or so north of Houston)

I'm camped in a National Forest campground. Although it's eligible for the senior discount like the COE's, it is a little more expensive. The campground is heavily wooded, duh, it a National Forest. I have an opening to the northern sky for my Starlink since I only have a weak Verizon signal. The tow here was only a little over 100 miles but my cell signal went from 5g UW to one bar. But that is the reason I got Starlink for instances just like this. I like staying in touch. Not like the Hippies,,,, but just in touch.

I took this picture while on my morning walk at Rayburn Park before hitching up. Peaceful

My road picture. The pastures were mostly empty. The set-up was very nice for horses or cattle. There has to be a story as to the lack of animals. A mystery that will never be solved. 

I chose this campground since it is only about 30 miles from the RV dealer where I have reservations for tomorrow to have some service work done. I'll arrive at around 9:00 am and figure to be finished by noon. I'll then head to my next campground that is another 20 miles away. If it all works as I have planned, it should be a good deal. 

My campsite here at Double Lake. It took two 1X8's to level side to side, but that's OK. I doubt I'll ever return, but it is a comfortable campground with full-hookups. 

I had hopes of some exploring this area even if I was only here for two days. Google Maps showed a couple of "observation spots" to see the dam, gates and powerhouse on Lake Livingston. So, with a bottle of water I headed out. I was in for a shock. As I turned into the first spot, there was a sign saying I needed a pass to get to the spot. The pass could be obtained from a gas station/convenience store nearby. I wasn't going to do that simply on principal. So, I drove to the next spot and saw a similar sign. Apparently, all of the "observation spot" were privately owned. I understood the lake was not built and maintained by the Corps of Engineers, but to block access from even seeing the lake was just plain wrong. The only place I was allowed to go was a bust as to seeing anything. I was disappointed. 

I had thoughts about ignoring the sign until I read "strictly enforced". Oh well. 

I got this picture while crossing the bridge on a public road. No Pass needed. 

I was able to get a picture of the San Jacinto County Jail that was built back in 1886. It was still in service until 1980. It's a two-story brick building with the prisoners kept on the second floor and the jailers lived on the first floor. I couldn't get in to see it because was locked up tight. Perhaps it was to keep the spirits locked inside because the online reviews of the place mentioned some weird things. I didn't pick up any bad vibes, so I was cool with the place. It definitely isn't a destination place, but if you're in the area, it is worth a stop.

The San Jacinto County Jailhouse that was in service for almost 100 years. And NO, I did not try out the bench on the right. In fact, I'm not even going to call it out as a thinking bench. 

Tomorrow is moving day and I have my fingers crossed that the service work will be done correctly.

Not much proof reading, so bear with me. 

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