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.