Alamo

We went to see the Alamo yesterday. It was impressive. The only thing left of the original complex is the mission building and the barracks.

This is a picture of the front of the mission building.
Why is it that when ever a historical building is saved its by a group of women? 'The Daughters of the Republic of Texas' are responsible for saving what is left of the Alamo. If it is a revolutionary war historical spot, its the 'Daughters of the American Revolution.' When we were in Charleston, South Carolina, a lot of the historical sites were saved by the 'Daughters of the Confederacy.'

After we toured the Alamo, we went to the Buckhorn Saloon Museum.

This a picture of the animal heads that were all around the walls of the saloon. We had lunch there before going on to the Texas Ranger Museum. This museum was very interesting. It showed the whole history of the rangers. They also had a set up of a western town (perhaps what San Antonio looked like back then). Here are a couple more pictures.


It was a great day.

Today we went back to San Antonio to go to the River Walk.

It was not what we expected. We expected a lot of shops to walk through. Instead we found restaurant row. It was a disappointment for us.

Oh well, tomorrow we are going to visit the other 3 missions that are in the area.

Before and After

I've been promising to show pictures of the work we had done to the interior of the motorhome. Today was a slow day for us so here it is.



This is a picture of the interior of our motorhome before we went to Florida. Below is what it looks like now.
Can you see the changes?



We had new carpet put in and reupholstered the couch and dinette. Also the valances are now all wood. They did a fabulous job matching the wood with the existing cabinets.

Tomorrow we are off to the Alamo!!

San Antonio, Texas

Saturday we left Livingston and drove to San Antonio. We plan to be here for the next week. Today we went to 'Enchanted Springs Ranch'. This is a town from the old west. They film some movies there.

This is part of the town.




This baby buffalo is only 5 days old!!




We saw a show done by 'Pistol Packin Paula'. She is a world champion six gun spinner. Here she is demonstrating with a bull whip. All those pieces of foam on the floor came from 3 or 4 long pieces she cut with the whip! She has played Annie Oakley and Clamity Jane in films and has been a stunt women.




Longhorn Steer



Up close and personal!!
A very fun day.

Battleship Texas

Today we drove 80 miles south to Houston. Our destination was the Battleship Texas.

The Battleship USS Texas was commissioned in 1914. It was used in WWI and was retrofitted for WWII. It was completely painted a dark blue color. Surprisingly it was so they could 'hide' from aircraft. They would sort of blend in with the ocean. The Texas supported Allied forces at Normandy and also in the Pacific at Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

On the other side of the park was the monument to the Battle of San Jacinto. This was the battle that finally beat Santa Ana for the Texas Independence. This battle took place several months after the Alamo defeat.


You can't tell by this picture but this monument is very tall. It also has a reflection pond in front of it like the Washington Monument in DC. Inside is a museum with all the information on the battle. It was a very interesting day.







As you get closer and closer to Houston you start seeing the refineries. They are all up and running. And there are a lot of them!!

Busy Day at Rainbow's End

Today was a busy day. I went up and took the tour of the offices and mail service. This is our mailbox.
Our number is 15331 so its a folder between 15300 and 15400. That's all we are - a folder.
The mail service here is quite large. The zip code 77399 is all Escapees mail service and the large mail truck delivers the mail each day. There is a staff of around 15 that sort all the mail. The same truck comes back in the afternoon to pick up all of the outgoing mail people have asked be sent.

After the tour, Ed and I walked up to the CARE center and got our flu shots.

We just returned from playing BINGO. We had a great time and Ed won 2 games so we doubled our money. It cost us $4.50 for both of us to play 5 cards. He won $12.00. Big Money huh! But we had fun.

There is a woman around 80 years old who is traveling alone in a class b motorhome. Its just a little larger that a van but she has traveled from Virginia and is going to visit her grandson in Austin. Then she is driving to Nevada to see other family. What an inspiration she is!

Huntsville, Texas

We drove 45 miles west today to the town of Huntsville, Texas. This was the home of Sam Houston. The first thing we found when we drove into town was the cemetery where he was buried.
We went to the Sam Houston Museum but found that because today was Monday they were closed.

We were still able to walk around the grounds.
They have set an area beside the museum where they have moved the house where Sam Houston died. They also had the house where he lived before he became govenor of Texas.



Houston was a key figure in the history of Texas including periods as President of the Republic of Texas, Senator for Texas, and finally a govenor for Texas. He refused, because of his unionist convictions, to swear loyalty to the Confederacy when Texas seceded from the Union, bringing his governorship to an end. To avoid bloodshed, he refused an offer of an army to put down the rebellion, and instead retired to Huntsville, where he died before the end of the Civil War.

All in all we had an enjoyable drive and saw a little of Texas history.

Escapees Rainbows End

Thought I would post a couple of pictures of the park. We have not been doing much but relaxing. We did get the motorhome and car registered in Texas. This park is now our "home".













This is a picture of the clubhouse they have here. It has a hugh library to exchange books. This is also where they have craft classes and they play cards every evening except Tuesdays they have bingo.

Yesterday we took a tour of the Escapees Care Center. The Care Center is a seperate entity of Rainbows End. Its a non profit assisted living center for people who have lived in a motorhome or trailer. You can come here and live in your own motorhome and they have volunteers who will do your laundry, dump your tanks and clean for you. You have 3 meals a day in the dining hall. Some come here for a few months if someone is recovering from surgery. They have an adult day care center for the caregiver to have some time off. This place is staffed by volunteers. Ed and I may at some point come back here to volunteer for a couple of months.

We are going up there next Tuesday to get our flu shots.

Update

We arrived in Livingston on Friday. We are settled in site number 116 for the next 3 weeks. While Ed was setting up the outside of the motorhome, I drove over to headquarters here to pick up our mail. We had not gotten any mail since we left Massachusetts.

Saturday we did some laundry and went out for a ride around the area. Livingston is a small town with a lot of charm. Will post some pictures later.

This week they are having Octoberfest here at the park. Not the kind of Octoberfest you would usually find. No beer!! But they have some seminars and classes going on.

Tomorrow is the big day. We will become Texans!! We have an appointment tomorrow at 9:00am to get the car and motorhome inspected, then we can go to DMV to get them registered and get our licenses.

Thats all for now!!

Finally on our way again

They were able to get our coach slide fixed late yesterday afternoon so we spent another night and after saying our good byes to everyone, we were on our way this morning at 8:30am. Boy, it was great to be on the road again!! We have been in Florida since September 19th.

We were originally going to stop in Mobile, Alabama for a couple of days, however since we lost a couple of days, we decided to just go directly to Texas. We really need to get our drivers licenses and register our vehicles.

We were only going to travel about 300 miles today. However, we crossed over to Central Time and got an extra hour so we went a total of 450 miles! Only another 530 miles to Livingston, Texas. We hope to be there before noon on Friday.

Once we get settled in Livingston, I will take some pictures of the interior now that its done. We are really pleased with the results. Won't say anything more until I can get pictures.

Still in Florida

Yes, we are still in Florida waiting for our home to be finished. We left Clearwater last Wednesday and spent another 2 nights in a motel in Winter Haven. With nothing much else to do, we look for shopping malls to walk around in. Hey, at least they are cool. It is hot and still very humid here in Florida.
One of the things that Ed has been looking for is a shop that will print a t-shirt for him. Well, in Winter Haven he finally found it!


We came back to pick up our motorhome on Friday. Everything was finally done and we were going to be on our way.

Alas, it was not to be! While getting everything ready so they could back it out, Ed noticed that our living room slide was not closing all the way.

So, we are staying in the motorhome, at last sleeping in our own bed, but it is parked behind the shop until Monday when they will come back and have to take everything out again and pull up the carpet and install a thinner pad.
Pray that this will solve the problem and hopefully we will be on our way on Monday.