Journey and Adventure–Week 2 Nacogdoches, TX

Monday, August 10th I hitched the fifth wheel to the pickup for the second time by myself. I arrived in Nacogdoches, TX to 106° with an official feel-like temperature of over 110. With the electricity hooked up first so the ac could start running, I completed one task and then cooled off, repeating that process until setup was fairly finished. It took a long time.

Nacogdoches is the oldest town in Texas. Nine flags have flown over the it beginning with the French flag in 1685. 

 

Enjoying Historic Downtown Nacogdoches, I began with the Charles Bright Visitor Center. Inside this wonderfully restored federal building are displays of historic interest and information about what to see and do.

The surrounding plaza is beautifully landscaped with markers and statues depicting some of Nacogdoches wealth of history.
                        
                        
There are many restored historic buildings containing the large number of locally-owned specialty and antique stores.
               
               
I stopped by “Old Time Mercantile and String Shop”.

 

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What a feeling of falling through the hole in “Alice in Wonderland”.

First Stop Bryan-College Station (continued)

The George Bush Presidential Library & Museum

The library and  museum document the lives of George H and Barbara Bush. Pictures and stories about each of their childhoods as they grew up. Their wedding, his military service, raising their family of two sons and the loss of their three year old daughter to Leukemia. His career in the oil field in Midland, Texas.

George Bush’s political life including a replica of the Oval Office.

And of the State Dinning Room.

As I was wondering through the exhibits, one of the guides told this story: Do you see the small gold bowls on the table? He had ask many people as they came through, how they thought the bowls were used. Most guessed either finger bowls (much too small), bowls for salt (no small spoons for salt) or possibly for butter.
One day a couple strolled into the exhibit, the gentleman came in first. The guide said to him, I’ll ask your wife if she can identify the use for the gold bowls. The man turned to the guide and said “they are used for mints”. The guide wanted to know how the man knew the answer. “Because,” he said,” I was in the Navy and that is how a formal dining table is set.”

The the Presidential Limousine

A sculpture of the President
I saw several people in the chairs beside the sculpture checking their phones. 

This library and museum will give anyone visiting a wonderful lesson in our history.

There are so many more things to see in this area, but once again, I am out of time. Tomorrow it will be the day to pack up. Monday I'll hitch the truck to the fifth wheel for the next stop on this adventure.

First Stop Exploring Bryan-College Station, Texas

 Texas A&M University

On January 1922 when A&M played Center College. The coach reached deep into his reserves and called E King Gill, a former football player, now basketball player down from the stands. When the game was over Gill was the only man left standing on the Aggie sideline.

Since Gill stood ready to play if the eleven man team needed him, he is remembered as the Twelfth Man. That started the tradition of the entire student body standing during the whole game, ready to be called on if needed. For more information on TX A&M:   www.tamu.edu 

In the background of the photo is the banner Texas A&M Football    Home of The 12th Man.

Historic Bryan, Texas

Founded in 1869, The Houston and Texas Central (H&TC) Railroad Co arrived in 1860. Rich farmland surrounded Bryan and the railroad became an important ingredient in its growth. 

In 1876, The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, which later became known as Texas A&M, was established in College Station in 1876, just four miles down the road from Bryan.

The city had a population of 76,201 in 2010 and the metro Bryan-College Station area had around 190,000 people. The renovated historic downtown Byron has grown from the original square-mile townsite to encompassing more than 43.4 square miles.

   

 Lunch at “The Village” in Downtown Bryan

 

 Quiche and Asian Salad
 Delish!

Decorated Light Poles Outside The Village

Next post “George Bush Library and Museum”

Life Changes

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I moved into my rig on May 5, 2015. I had to empty a 6 x 5’ building, sell it, the contents, a deck and steps, a small refrigerator, two desks and an office chair. I kept anything to do with my sewing, computer, personal stuff and food….  That was the time to be brutal honest and ask myself “will you ever use this?”

So my life will change and so will this blog, I am on the move again as a solo. My daughter is now north of Atlanta, GA. Mom, who we moved from Higginsville, Missouri to Ft Worth in January 2014, passed away March 30th. She celebrated her 99th birthday on December 28, 2014. Consequently, I’ve lost most of my ties to the Midwest.
   
I am moving further east with the final destination somewhere in Florida for the winter. I loved the Texas Gulf Coast but I also love exploring.  I hitched the fifth wheel, yesterday, August 3rd, headed out on a new adventure. 

When I arrived at the Palms RV Park in October 2010, I had a 24’ travel trailer, a Chevy Silverado 1500 with a camper cap. The travel trailer was somewhat hard to hook up by myself. The camper cap was full of stuff. I had it for two years and traveled from the Kansas City, MO area to Sioux Falls, SD, spent the summer in Hot Springs, AR and back to KC. Then enjoyed my first southern winter at the Palms RV Park in Aransas Pass, Texas on the Gulf Coast.

The second year I spent most of the summer in Mitchell, South Dakota. On my way back to the Palms, I visited with my daughter who was in Omaha and Mom in Higginsville. My second winter was again spent at the Palms on the Texas Gulf Coast.

Between the storage in the travel trailer and the camper cap on the truck,  with also the light weight of a 24’ travel trailer, I was able to pack along a lot of “stuff”….. Since Walt and I got together in January 2013, I sold the travel trailer and bought a 31’ fifth wheel. It weighs more and of course I had to sell the camper cap. I can pull it with the Silverado but not with all the “stuff”. (It was with this truck and fifth wheel that we traveled over 16,000 miles from Aransas Pass, Texas to New Brunswick, Canada in 2013. On our way back to Texas we visited friends and family by going through New York, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and Oklahoma.

At any rate, for us to take the trip to Canada with this combo of lightweight pickup and heavier fifth wheel my “stuff” had to go somewhere. Therefore, the reason for the purchase and set up of the 6 x 5’ building. Which has now been cleared out, and the stuff has been sold, donated or thrown away. (If you'd like a laugh watch: George Carlin’s Stuff  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x_QkGPCL18 or search for: George Carlin's Stuff)

I am in Bryan, Texas today, next door to College Station. Home of theTexas A&M University, George Bush Presidential Library and several museums. The towns are known as Bryan-College Station. I get to do the tourist thing. Next week I will head to Noncontagious, Texas (the oldest town in Texas) and spend another week.  

Hopefully, life goes on and when one door closes, an better opportunity comes along.

The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be only the beginning. ~Ivy Baker Priest

If you're being run out of town, get in front of the crowd and make it look like a parade. ~Author Unknown

Summer 2013–July 19–Baltimore, MD

From Andrews Famcamp just east of Washington D.C. we traveled a little over 40 miles to Baltimore, MD.

Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower (http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/43515)”The Emerson Bromo-Seltzer Tower, built in 1911, was modeled after Florence's Palazzo Vecchio. The tower was built next to the Bromo-Seltzer factory. Now the tower is an art studio and showcase, with an original elevator that can take you from floor to floor and to the top where you can see and learn about the four clocks that are at the top of the tower.”

We explored the Inner Harbor area including the Maryland Port Vessel Operation. Baltimore is located on the Patapsco River an arm of Chesapeake Bay. The Port of Baltimore is a large Mid-Atlantic seaport founded in 1706.
 

Brewer’s Hill was originally the location of The National Brewing Company. The distinctive logo is of the one-eyed mustached round faced character named “Mr Boh”. The brewery closed in 1978. The neighborhood is now one of retail, office, restaurants and residential. It is located just a block from the waterfront.
 
We had lunch at Mo’s Fisherman’s Wharf Restaurant – Inner Harbor 

 
Mural on the side of the building

This will be the last post on our 2013 trip for a while. I've lost some photos due to a corrupt SD Card.

Summer 2013–July 17 - Filene Center at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna, VA.

If our travels brought us near Vienna, Virginia we were asked to visit Wolf Trap Theater. As it happened Wolf Trap National Park is just over 30 miles from Andrews Joint Base where we were parked. Our visit was on a day with little activity at the theater, however, it is a really pretty area and the shows must be fantastic.
  


From www.wolftrap.org:
”The late Catherine Filene Shouse founded Wolf Trap through a donation of 100 acres of her Vienna, Virginia farmland (near Washington, DC) to the U.S. Government, as well as funds for construction of a 6,800-seat indoor/outdoor theatre. The gift was accepted by an Act of Congress in 1966 and Wolf Trap's larger venue, the Filene Center, opened in 1971. The Filene Center season usually runs from the end of May to the beginning of September with an average of 90 outdoor concerts each year.”



”Wolf Trap is run through a public/private partnership between the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts and the US Department of the Interior, National Park Service. The Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, creates and selects programming; develops education programs; handles ticket sales, marketing, publicity, and public relations; and raises funds to support these programs while keeping ticket prices affordable. The National Park Service maintains the grounds and buildings of Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts and provides technical theatre assistance for the Filene Center.”



If you happen to be in the Washington D.C. area, Wolf Trap National Park is well worth spending some time visiting.

Next post: July 19, 2013 Baltimore, MD

Summer 2013 - July 15 & 16 - Washington D.C.

We drove into Washington D.C. on July 16th from Joint Base Andrews, MD (Andrews Air Force Base) about 13 miles. We were looking at the different possibilities for transportation to be able to spend some time in the city. We decided to tour the St Andrew’s Cathedral. This time of the year the parking lot was almost empty and after talking to a security person, it was also free. This is a beautiful building both inside and out.
  

And then since there was a shady parking spot right in front of St Matthew’s Cathedral, we spent some time here. This is a much smaller building, but no less impressive.


It was obvious from my photos that the Washington Monument was under repair while we were there.


On July 17th we were going to take the Metrorail from Andrews to DC, however at the last minute W decided we would take our chances parking. We toured the Smithsonian American History Museum. We were able to park about one block away in a Federal Building parking garage. I was interested to see the quilt exhibit, but it was already gone. Instead one of the things we saw was;the Doll’s House.


Surprised we found a parking place on the street right in front of Old Ebbitt’s Grill. According to http://www.ebbitt.com/about/history the Old Ebbitt Grill, Washington's oldest saloon, was founded in 1856 when, according to legend, innkeeper William E. Ebbitt bought a boarding house. Today, no one can pinpoint the house’s exact location, but it was most likely on the edge of present-day Chinatown.

As a boarding house, the Ebbitt guest list read like a Who's Who of American History. President McKinley is said to have lived there during his tenure in Congress, and Presidents Ulysses S. Grant, Andrew Johnson, Grover Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt and Warren Harding supposedly refreshed themselves at its stand-around bar.


Next post: Same day we traveled to Filene Center at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna, VA.