We are scheduled to be at the Thousand Trails preserve at Lake Whitney, Texas, for two weeks. Lake Whitney is about halfway between Waco and Dallas. The trip here from Lake Conroe was an easy 200 miles. On the way here we passed a huge statue of Sam Houston, who is obviously a hero in Texas. The statue is 67 feet tall and sits on a 10 foot high base. We did not snap a picture, but I was able to find one on the Internet:
The man in the picture is the artist who created it. Most of the surprising 12 inch snowfall that came to this part of Texas two days ago is gone, but it’s still cold out. There are the remains of a snowman on our campsite.
Sunday it was supposed to bottom out at 32 degrees. So much for listening to the weatherman---or Al Gore, for that matter. It was 29 degrees Monday morning. The Lake Whitney preserve is much like the one at Medina Lake, including that there is no cell phone service and the Internet is available only at the lodge. There is even entertainment for Daisy.
I imagine we will survive. Monday morning we had some homemade cinnamon rolls at the lodge. Yum!!! On Tuesday, we took a field trip to Waco (45 miles south of where we are staying), the home of Baylor University, which we visited. Coincidentally, that was the day they were to introduce their new president to the campus. He is Kenneth Starr, the former federal appellate judge, current dean of the Pepperdine Law School, and best known as the special prosecutor in the Monica Lewinski fiasco. Baylor (athletic nickname: Bears; member of the Big 12 conference; colors: green and gold; endowment: $1.1 billion) is the largest Baptist college in the country, and the oldest university in Texas. It has 15,000 students, 80+ percent of whom are undergraduates. It has a very pretty campus, which anchors the south end of Waco.
Waco is also the ancestral home of Dr. Pepper, whose museum we visited.
On Wednesday, we mostly vegged out, with Becky and Bill playing some pickle ball.
On Thursday, we went to Fort Worth to visit Camping World (for RV parts---primarily for the Wheelers’ air conditioner---and general repair advice) and to see the city. The Wheelers had been there nine years ago and remembered that there was a “running of the bulls” in town. We went to the historic stockyards area on the north side of the city, and arrived, quite fortuitously, at 11:15. The bulls don’t run, they stroll, twice a day, at 11:30 and 4:00. It’s actually quite a sight, and the area is fun.
We had a very nice lunch at the Stockyards Inn.
The city itself has some fine old buildings and some interesting modern ones. There are some unexplained angels on the façade of the main auditorium, projecting over the street. Cool.
We were stuck in a huge traffic jam just entering the downtown area as we arrived. We escaped by getting off the highway and taking an alternate route. We saw that it was still jammed as we left---hours later. By listening to the radio, we learned that it was caused by some cleverly planned construction on the Interstate. I thought that only happened in Los Angeles.
On Sunday, which was a lovely, warm, dry day, Pat and Becky went flying with Becky's former boss at Union Bank, Roy Henderson, who lives part time in Granbury, Texas. He landed at the strip in Lake Whitney State Park and took turns flying the girls around the area.
On Tuesday, it snowed!!!
On Wednesday, we went back to Fort Worth for a Costco run. It's always fun to load up on large quantities of everyday goodies, then try to fit the stuff in our storage space.
Near Lake Whitney is the town of Hillsborough, which has, among other things, a classic courthouse in the middle of town. The building burned down some years ago, but was rebuilt to look just like the original.
On Friday, we headed to Granbury to see Roy Henderson and his wife, Mel, and to visit with two grade-school classmates of Bill's, Stan and Kay Wasielewski, who have a very nice B&B there---Granbury Gardens. Mel is the producer of travel documentaries, one of which we watched while we were there. We had a very nice dinner with Stan and Kay at a local Italian restaurant (which used to be a Dairy Queen). Granbury is an upscale getaway spot for people from Dallas and Fort Worth. There were some magnificant homes there, and a nice lake with the appropriate marinas and other goodies.
On Sunday, we headed out---for Beaumont, Texas, our last stop in Texas before heading east along the gulf.
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