North Through Texas, March, 2018

We left Port A RV Park and Port Aransas, TX, on February 26.  We were among the first of our “winter Texas” friends to depart, especially to begin north! We had been here for 2 ½ months and were getting a little itchy to see something new.  Besides, we had heard some “interesting” rumors about the spring breakers arriving in Port A in March and we didn’t want to know if those rumors were true.  We prepped for our departure that morning with a little trepidation:  Would the engine start?  Would the slides come in?  Would the jacks come up?  All our fretting was for naught, though.  All was well! We were on the road about 0940…normal for us!...and had an easy 4 hour drive to Lewis and Bonnie Smith’s ranch west of Houston, in the little town of Cat Spring, TX.  

I’ve written of Lewis and Bonnie many times. They travelled with us on our boat several times and we’ve known them for years and years.  Recently retired, they built a beautiful ranch house on about 40 acres west of Houston, including a place to park Abe!  In exchange for this sweet place to park, we drank beer, swapped retirement stories, tasted bourbon, and dis a little ranch work!  

Jerry even got a bucket ride this year!  I’ve always said that there’s more than one way to skin a cat or trim a tree!  

Bonnie had a terrific plan in store for us, to break up the backbreaking routine I just described.  She had done some research about the Painted Churches of Central Texas and had put together a day’s tour for us.  First some background:

As German and Czech immigrants arrived in Texas, seeking religious freedom and economic prosperity, they established communities that paid homage to their homelands.  During the 1840's, Czech families began immigrating to Texas. The flow increased dramatically in the next decade and grew steadily until the Civil War, and immigration was resumed again following the war. By the late 1800's, south central Texas was dotted with many towns and communities largely populated by these European immigrants:  Dubina, Fayetteville, Hostyn, and Praha.  The church became a symbol for European immigrants’ prosperity in the new land. As they settled into their surroundings, they built and decorated elaborate churches to celebrate their success and keep their spirits high.  

Our first stop was the Moravian Wesley Brethren Church, in Wesley, TX.  This congregation, founded in 1864 began by meeting in homes, with congregants coming from as far as 20 miles away.  A Texas Historical Marker placed at the entrance told us that this was the first congregation in Texas of the Czech-Moravian Brethren.  The first church building was built in 1866 and constructed principally of hand-hewn logs.  Necessary lumber was hauled by ox-carts from Galveston.  Until about 1900, the church building served also as school, usually with pastor as the teacher.  As you can see, the altar was rather utilitarian but the ceilings were gorgeously painted with greens and golds and reds.  

Our second stop was at St. Paul Lutheran Church Founded in 1854 in Serbin, by Wendish people from central Europe, this beautiful blue and white church had the tallest pulpit in Texas. The two levels of St. Paul Lutheran Church were common for the time.  Men sat on the top and women and children sat on the bottom. Today, the church held services in German during major festivals. 

The next stop was at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Amansberg.  This beautiful church with the traditional steeple, bell tower, and tall cross dominated the landscape.  Bonnie and I took a moment to pose on the church steps.

We also visited Catholic churches in Schulenburg and Flatonia, each one more spectacular than the last.  What a wonderful driving trip through central Texas! Our last stop was in Shiner, TX, home of the famous Shiner Bock beer!  The church here, Saints Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church, was the most spectacular of all. From the church’s website: 

 In November of 1887, the first train rolled though the prairie village which would soon be known as Shiner, Texas.  In 1890 two acres of land were bought for construction of a church.  By the early twenties, the congregation had long outgrown the original church and the present church was built. 

We could not stop in Shiner, TX, without paying homage to Shiner Brewing.  Although the brewery was closed to tours for the day, we did find a bar with the perfect name.  Don’t know Shiner beer?  Check this out from their website:  The Shiner Brewing Association, (SBA) and was founded by German and Czech immigrants who had settled around the central Texas town of Shiner.  Unable to find the type of beer they had known in their home countries, they decided to brew their own.  It is the oldest independent brewery in Texas and one of the oldest independent breweries in the U.S.

I cannot say enough good things about the Painted Church tour, although we only saw 6 churches.  If you’re ever in central Texas and have an interest in the history of the area, this tour is well worth your time!  Doing the tour with good friends is even better.

On Friday, March 2, it was time to pull up the jacks and head north to Austin.  Just 2.5 hours away, it was a different world.  We left the bucolic serenity of the Smith ranch and landed in downtown Austin, the capital of Texas!  Wahoo.

Our city route into Pecan Grove RV Park was exciting. Rather than the smooth four-lane access to this little park we had planned, a detour took us through old city neighbor-hoods, low-hanging branches, and turns Abe could not do on his best day.  Yikes! Although we finally were settled and calmed down, it took us a few days to be brave enough to assess the roof damage (none fortunately!).  The photo is a picture of one of our neighbors in this little downtown park and obviously is a long-term resident!  

We found lots to do in Austin, and, as luck would have it, Concordia College Choir from Moorhead, MN, was performing at St. Martin’s Lutheran Church in downtown Austin on Saturday, March 3.  Yay!  It was a wonderful concert, full of music I love!  We were back at this church the next morning for their traditional service at 11:00.  This lovely old church sat on the north of edge of downtown Austin and seemed to be surviving although the attendance didn’t fill this huge sanctuary.

Sunday afternoon, we took the short stroll to Zilker Metropolitan Park to check out the kite festival.  This huge grassy open space was full of all sorts of kite flyers, from 3 year olds with a dinky little grocery store kite to masterful adults flying dragons and clowns and snakes.  The skyline view of downtown Austin was breath-taking!

Pecan Grove RV Park was south, across the Colorado River, from downtown Austin so Monday, March 5, we walked to the state capitol and took the tour.  This was another amazing and huge building full of history.  Wikipedia gave a great description:

The cornerstone for the building was laid on March 2, 1885, Texas Independence Day, and the building was opened to the public on April 21, 1888, San Jacinto Day. The capitol has 360,000 square feet of floor space (not including the Capitol Extension), more than any other state capitol building, and rests on 2.25 acres of land. The building has nearly four hundred rooms and more than nine hundred windows. The interior of the central rotunda features portraits of every person who has served as president of the Republic of Texas or governor of the State of Texas; the rotunda is also a whispering gallery. The south foyer features a large portrait of David Crockett, a painting depicting the surrender of General Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto, and sculptures of Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin made by Elisabet Ney.

After the tour we walked to “Moonshine Patio Bar and Grill” for lunch.  With great Yelp recommendations and such an interesting name, we knew this restaurant would be good.  We shared a grilled pork chop with a bourbon peach glaze and sautéed spinach…yum!  We determined to try to replicate this recipe. At the end of the day, we had walked more than six miles in our touring of downtown Austin.  Whew!  Tired but happy.  Even though the trees were not yet leafed out, heralding spring, the weather was warm and perfect for sitting outside and watching basketball.  We had caught the fever of March Madness!

Tuesday, March 6, we drove to the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library on the University of Texas campus.  Lady Bird Johnson was an alumna of UT Austin, so locating the LBJ library here at the state capital made some sense, rather than at LBJ’s alma mater, Southwestern Texas State in San Marcos.  LBJ was in office from 1962 – early 1969 and the displays brought back lots of memories for us.  We were in high school and college while he was in office. 

As we’ve seen in other presidential museums (and as you might expect!) LBJ’s shortcomings, such as his crudeness, vulgarity, and womanizing, were glossed over.  Rather, the amazing amount of social reform legislation he accomplished in his six years of office was highlighted. 

We couldn’t resist the photo opp with LBJ, demonstrating his intense, one-on-one conversational style with legislators...or Jerry...he was trying to persuade to his cause!

After exhausting ourselves a the museum, we found another microbrewery for lunch:  North by Northwest Brewery and Restaurant.  This was a lovely restaurant with a rather strange name, for Texas! Jer found a delicious Irish Red!

Wednesday, March 7, we drove out to Lake Travis, a reservoir on the Colorado River, northwest of Austin.  The lake was created in 1942 with the construction of Mansfield Dam to prevent flash floods in the area as well as to deliver hydroelectric power to Austin and central Texas.  We were on the lookout for bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush as we explored, but we were just too early in the season.  We did find a microbrewery restaurant, “Oasis Brewing Company”, overlooking the reservoir.  Jer enjoyed their London Homesick Ale to accompany his Wagyu burger.

During the evening we had a phone conversation with a friend in central Illinois and learned that it is still cold and wintry there. We were delighted to be in warm, sunny, dry Texas.  Life is good!

March 8, Thursday, at dusk we walked to the Congress Avenue Bridge to see the Austin’s famous bats depart for a night of feasting.  We saw a few in the air, but July and August were the best viewing times.  We were surprised at how many others were there to watch.

Friday, March 9, it was jacks up to head to Waco, TX, just a short 120 miles north of us on I-35.  We had reservations at the Airport RV Park, a Corps of Engineers park on Lake Waco.  Once settled we went in search of lunch.  We were delighted to find Homestead Café, north of Waco, at a large homestead heritage site.  If you’re a fan of Chip and Joanna Gaines on HGTV, you’ve seen the iron-working shop on their TV show.  This communal village, based on the Anabaptist tradition, was founded in the 1990’s by a group from New York and based on “sustainability, self-sufficiency, cooperation, service, and quality craftsmanship”.  The restaurant was just one of their endeavors.  They had a large farming operation supporting outlets for fiber arts, blacksmithing, cheese making, furniture, meat and produce.  

We loved this campground!  We had full hook-ups, plenty of room, beautiful views, and good places to hike and ride our bikes.  It was starting to look like spring here and we watched the trees leaf out as we spent ten days here.  Lovely! The campground was fairly busy on the weekends, but during the week, we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

Sunday, March 11, we were off to church at St. Mathew’s Lutheran Church in Waco.  This beautiful medium-sized church was warm and welcoming, but full of folks who looked just like us.  We were concerned about the survivability of this congregation, like so many others we had visited.  We added to their ranks for a little while, attending all their Lenten services and activities.

Of course, Waco is famous for the HGTV program, “Fixer Upper”, with Chip and Joanna Gaines, and I convinced Jerry we needed to visit the Silos at Magnolia Farms in downtown Waco.  I knew there wouldn’t be a thing I could purchase for use on Abe but it was always fun to look.  We were taken aback by the horrendous crowd of folks that were there and looking wasn’t any fun!  The cupcake shop, on the corner of the Magnolia Farms block was extremely popular and the line to enter wound around the block.  A quick look and we moved on!

Just a couple of blocks away we found a Dr Pepper museum.  The drink was invented right there in Waco in the late 1800’s and was the oldest soft drink produced in the US.  We learned that a young pharmacist invented the soft drink by trying to replicate the smell of the fruit syrups from the soda fountain.  His creation became quite popular and folks would come into the store and order a “Waco” but the name was soon changed to Dr Pepper.  The second story of the museum held colorful posters and memorabilia from the world’s fairs.  It was an amazing display and almost better than learning about Dr Pepper!

Waco was a city full of Old West history.  Sitting on the Brazos River, cattle drives came through here as they went north on Chisholm Trail.  Before 1869, crossing the Brazos River was a time-consuming and sometimes dangerous ordeal both for cattle and humans.  As the community grew the city fathers realized to support commerce safe passage across the river must be developed.  Designed by J.A. Roebling and finished in 1869, it pre-dated and was considered the prototype of Roebling’s famous Brooklyn Bridge.  The bridge was a marvel of engineering for its time, containing nearly 3 million bricks.  Its 475-foot span made it wide enough for stagecoaches to pass each other, or for cattle to cross one side of the bridge, and humans to cross the other side.  

On the south side of the bridge was a mutli-piece sculpture of a cattle drive approaching the bridge.  The herd consisted of 25 longhorns and 3 mounted cowboys larger than life.  Today cattle drives no longer passed through Waco, bigger and better bridges across the Brazos have been constructed, and the famous Waco Suspension Bridge was only open for bicycle and foot traffic.

You know us…we’re definitely museum junkies.  We had to wander through the Texas Ranger Museum in Waco.  We read more about early Texas history and the demise of lots of bad guys.  The museum dedicated a great portion of its displays to the remarkable individuals who made up the Texas Rangers, and didn’t gloss over the darker side of Rangers early days in Texas.  By today’s standards some of the things done in the name of law and order would be shocking.

One more museum stop for us in Waco…the Waco Mammoth National Monument.  Researchers have determined that 19 adult and juvenile Columbian mammoths (cousins of woolly mammoths who lived further north in colder climates) died here in 3 distinct events.  Approximately 65,000 years ago, rapidly rising waters from the Bosque River flooded the site.  At least 19 mammoths, adult females and juveniles, were trapped in a steep-sided channel and drowned.  Later floods buried the remains.  During the second event, an unidentified animal associated with a juvenile saber-tooth cat died and was buried.  The third event involved a bull, a juvenile, and an adult female.  Maybe not as fascinating as T Rex bones and stories but interesting to us just the same!

We explored Baylor University (home of the “Bears”) in Waco.  We were drawn by the campus skyline, particularly the dome of old main, which was quite visible throughout the city.  Baylor was a private Baptist university, first chartered in 1845, by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas.  It was the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the first educational institutions west of the Mississippi River.  Almost all the buildings on campus were built of red brick with lots of white trim, which created a pretty but sort of homogenized look.  The campus had a student population of 16,000 students, smaller than I would have guessed. As usual, when we visit a college campus, we wandered through the quad, the student union, and the bookstore but didn’t see many students or much going on.

Since our visit to the Kentucky bourbon country last fall, we’ve become whiskey connoisseurs of sorts and enjoyed visiting distilleries (as well as those ever-present microbreweries!).  Balcones Distilling in downtown Waco caught our attention one afternoon and we were off to sample.  Like the Kentucky distilleries, we were given (well, purchased, I should say!) four samples of their wares and we weren’t impressed.  In my journal I wrote:  “Brimstone was icky and smokey”.  We’ve become such snobs!  Like many distillery tasting rooms, the facility was located in the old downtown warehouse district and was decorated in “modern industrial”.  Definitely not a Fixer Upper look! 

Our last Waco adventure actually didn’t occur in Waco, but in Granbury, on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17.  We met Jeanne and DL Stone there for a visit over dinner. Jeanne was almost a cousin of mine. (Actually she’s the cousin of my aunt Marilyn who is married to my father’s brother).  So, not exactly a blood relative but I’m sure we’re from the same Swede gene pool.  They’re about our age and since they lived in Arlington, TX, Granbury was an easy halfway point for all of us.  We had driven through this quaint county seat last November and wanted to do some more exploring.  We were drawn by the beautiful historic courthouse sitting on the classic square with old shops surrounding it on all four sides.  All those quaint little storefronts called to us!  As luck would have it, we arrived on the Saturday the town was celebrating Confederate General Hiram Granbury’s birthday.  The charming little square with all the historical buildings was full of people eating, drinking and having fun!  

We were particularly intrigued by this kids’ attraction!  Did you ever have a hamster that rolled around your house in a clear plastic ball? We did, and this was the human version.

Sunday, March 18 was our last night at Airport Corps of Engineers RV Park on Lake Waco.  What a great place to park Abe!  We will stay here again.  God gave us a beautiful evening and a spectacular sunset to send us on our way.

Monday, March 19, it was jacks up and antenna down to drive to Longview, TX.  We were still on the slow plan to make our way north and drove only about 140 miles to our next stop.  As we drove northeast we watched for bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush, but we were too early and probably too far east for the beautiful displays we had seen two years ago in the Texas Hill Country.

We parked Abe at the Fernbrook RV Park on the south side of I-20 just outside of Longview.  Good Sam’s rated this RV park 10-10-10 but we couldn’t figure out why. It was just another open field with concrete pads and limited space between sites.  However, interesting RVers can be found everywhere!  The evening we arrived we had a great conversation with Richard and Janice from Dallas.  They were parked next to us in their 2006 Prevost…a lovely coach!  

Tuesday, March 20, it was time to start exploring Longview.  Our first stop was LeTourneau University.  Since we both grew up in central Illinois, just west of Peoria (home to Caterpillar Tractor Co.) the name “LeTourneau” was familiar to us.  Robert Gilmour LeTourneau was a prolific inventor of earthmoving machinery.  In 1934, LeTourneau became an official implement manufacturer for Caterpillar. LeTourneau designed equipment for Caterpillar tractors, and Caterpillar sold LeTourneau's products.  In 1935, LeTourneau moved his operations from Stockton, California to Peoria, Illinois, where he established a manufacturing plant near Caterpillar's.  His factories supplied LeTourneau machines which represented nearly 70 percent of the earthmoving equipment and engineering vehicles used by the Allied forces during World War II, and more than half of the 1,500 mile Alcan Highway in Canada was built with LeTourneau equipment. Over the course of his life he secured nearly 300 patents relating to earthmoving equipment, manufacturing processes and machine tools.

While flying over the Longview area in 1946 to select a manufacturing site, Mrs. LeTourneau saw the sprawling complex of a vacated Army hospital consisting of over two hundred frame buildings.  When told that the facility was no longer in use, Mrs. LeTourneau asked about establishing a school to serve the many GIs returning from the war. The site was secured and LeTourneau Technical 

Institute was established.  Since then LeTourneau Technical Institute has become LeTourneau University, a nondenominational Christian university, offering four-year engineering and engineering  All of that all may be more information than you wanted, but we were fascinated by this man’s story.  

The campus was beautiful with lots of trees, just beginning to leaf out.  The library’s second floor included a small museum dedicated to telling the LeTourneau’s stories, including lots of photos and newspaper clippings.  Once again we learned that the smaller towns we visited had lots to teach us!

We walked across the road from the RV park to explore an old cemetery, another of our favorite pastimes  This was the first one we had encountered that included graves of former slaves.  There were roughly a dozen simple white markers at the entry to the cemetery, well kept and in a place of prominence.

Wednesday evening, March 21, we found First Lutheran Church in Longview and attended their Lenten supper and service.  This congregation, we quickly learned, was very service oriented.  During supper, we sat with a lively table of retired folks, who had great stories to tell. The men’s group built wheelchair ramps for residents in Longview.  That was a new one!  After a quick devotional, we put together Health Care Kits for Lutheran World Relief. This small congregation planned to send 300 kits.  Wow!  

Longview was a great location from which we could explore the many interesting towns in the area.  We first headed to Kilgore to the East Texas Oil Museum.  This lively museum told us everything we needed to know about the oil boom in the area, including how the lives of the early residents were effected.  The first well came in on October 3, 1930 and the area was never the same!  The oil field covered 140,000 acres and parts of five counties, and had 30,340 historic and active oil wells.  It was the second-largest oil field in the United States outside Alaska, and first in total volume of oil recovered since its discovery.  It was a component of the Mid-Continent Oil Province, the huge region of petroleum deposits extending from Kansas to New Mexico to the Gulf of Mexico.  This would be another great place to stop if you’re ever in East Texas.

Our next target for exploration was Tyler, Texas, and the azalea tour.  The tour began with an exploration of the spectacular gardens of a home in the Azalea National Historic District.  The area was comprised of about 950 homes, most built in the 1930s when the oil boom had a huge economic impact on Tyler.  The gardens were amazing.  

An enterprising couple had the concession for the “bus” tour of the area and had created this unique vehicle for their patrons.  The driver, well versed in the local history, gardens, and gossip, had a lively sense of humor and kept us well entertained.

Saturday, March 24, we were off to Jefferson to explore this old river town on the Big Cypress Bayou.  In the “olden” days steamers from New Orleans would come this far north to deliver settlers and supplies, and load cotton.  Although the steamers are gone and the waterway no longer provided a route to New Orleans, another enterprising guy ran a small tour boat and told many lively stories.  Just what we loved!  You can tell from the photo at that the entire operation was a little rickety. We were cautioned, as we crossed the gangway to step carefully and only allow one person at a time to cross! Yikes!  It all felt like the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland minus the OSHA oversight. 

We continued to chase spring north and the trees here were just beginning to leaf out. The wisteria, however was in full bloom, and a path along the bayou brought us to some lovely floral views. The fragrance was almost overwhelming…sort of lilac-lemony-cloyingly sweet.  The woody vines were scattered all through the trees and it looked to be very invasive.  

On Palm Sunday, March 25, we attended service at First Lutheran Church in Longview again.  This time, as tradition dictated, we gathered on the patio and processed in to the sanctuary, waving our palm fronds.  Perfect!  We were happy to have found this congregation and could have easily settled in there.

The congregation had been in existence since 1935 and at their current location since 1999.  This sanctuary was one of the prettiest, most functional, and best acoustically that we had ever been in.  Their use of screen projection during the service was thoughtfully accomplished without being intrusive.  To top it off, they had a fabulous choir!

Monday, March 26, it was time to move again.  This time we actually made it into a new state…Arkansas.  I’ll catch you up on our adventures from Arkansas to central Illinois in the next blog.