And My Life Flashed Before My Eyes

Beware, o wanderer, the road is walking too.

We are somewhere in the Piney Woods in Texas.  It is beautiful around here.  I found myself wandering at 60 mph instead of the posted 70 mph or even the 90 mph that the residents here drive.  I was thoroughly enjoying the scenery.   I did get the California Wave that I am now calling the Texan Wave aka digitus impudicus, on a few occasions.  My attitude is tough crunchies and if I had a finger for that I would be waving it around. 

We stayed at a very nice park last night in Huntsville Texas called Heartland.  The restrooms were cleaned, it had Wi Fi and Cable and the rates were reasonable.  I wanted to explore the cemetery and the town that Sam Huston lived in but traffic was a nightmare and being Sunday the cemetery had visitors.  So we just drove. 

The park we are in currently is ok.  Nothing fancy – just a parking lot.  After dinner mom stepped outside to smoke a cigarette and I was busy washing dishes.  I heard her talking to someone and then she said “Pepper come outside.”  She was holding the cutest dog that had no collar.  My life flashed before my eyes.  I always said the best dog is the dog that finds you.   One found us.  You couldn’t help but fall in love with the little thing especially when it cuddles up to you.  There was only one thing I could do….  I walked around the park until I found a fifth wheel with the lights on, the door open and I went to that one and said “does she belong to you?”  Fortunately she did.  I will say this a Chihuahua and Pug mix does make a cute dog.  A really cute dog. 

Tomorrow we will be in Marksville LA and we will be there for a week.   I only took one picture and that one is the picture of the moon. 

Hippo Hunting

According to local legend, it was in 1915 when a circus train stopped in Hutto Texas at the depot to take on passengers, pick up and deliver mail and possibly take on water and fuel for the steam locomotive. The circus train workers also would have taken this opportunity to care for their animals. At some point, a hippopotamus got out of the railcar and made its way to the nearby Cottonwood Creek which is next to the rail line. This caused much consternation for the circus workers. Local farmers and merchants watched the commotion in amusement and with interest as unsuccessful efforts were made to extricate the hippopotamus from the muddy waters of Cottonwood Creek. It is said that the Depot Agent, who at that time would have been Hal Farley, Jr., telegraphed the communities of Taylor and Round Rock that were eight miles to the east and west of Hutto to the effect of: “STOP TRAINS, HIPPO LOOSE IN HUTTO”. After much effort the hippo was prodded from the mud and water that resembled its natural habitat and was reloaded back onto the train car. Soon afterward the Hutto School adopted the hippopotamus as its mascot and as early as 1923 the hippo appeared on official Hutto High School graduation announcements. ~Wikipedia~

Today mom and I went hippo hunting in Hutto. We had a great time locating the few that we did find, we ate a Mexican Restaurant that wasn’t very good but was interesting, and had a wonderful conversation with a couple sitting outside the restaurant. It was great way to spend the morning/ early afternoon.

I wasn’t’ too sure about the weather so we drove straight to Huntsville. Tomorrow we will explore Huntsville before we head out. Huntsville was home to Sam Huston who is also buried there. We will definitely be going to the cemetery.

We are planning to stay in Marksville Louisiana long enough to get our mail and get through the holiday. I will also use that time to create the Christmas Calendars and they will be mailed at that time.

We Are Not Getting Far….

We are not getting very far in our travels but we are having a great time.  We decided to spend another day in San Marcos and do laundry.  Currently we are parked in McKinney Falls State Park just outside of Austin.  It is a beautiful park.  I took a 2 miles hike as soon as we arrived today and saw the upper falls.  Tomorrow when we leave we will stop and see the lower falls.  I am not sure where we will end up…  It will be a surprise to both you and me.

Enjoy the pictures and click here to see more.

National Museum of the Pacific War

Today we drove to Fredericksburg Texas to see the National Museum of the Pacific War.  I enjoy going to museums and learning about the history of our country.  I am especially drawn to WW I and WW II museums and I have seen a few in my time but this was beyond anything I have ever seen.  I am already making plans to return to Hill Country in the Spring and I will be going back to this museum.


The first part of it was the history of the relationship of Japan with China with America etc… Then you walked into a room and listen to the events prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor.  When that was over the doors open and you step into another room that had a submarine in it and informational boards… Then the room grew dark, the bombs started dropping, film clips started that showed the destruction and the devastation of Pearl Harbor.  You heard the voices and heard the despair.  I want to tell you I wasn’t ashamed to be standing there with tears running down my face, I wasn’t the only one.  It was intense. 


The museum is what it says it is…..  It covers the Pacific War from beginning to end.  I did not allow myself enough time to really explore and I regret that.  So I am going back and I will spend the day. 


Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz was born in Fredericksburg.   There is a museum honoring him as well that I would like to see. 


We took the time to walk to the cemetery while there.  It was late when we left and didn’t make it to San Marcos until after dark.  We ate our dinner at Luby’s and then headed to the park.  Tuesday the van goes in to have the furnace fixed.  We are hoping to be hippo hunting by the weekend.  Our fingers are crossed.


Click here for more pictures of the Lyndon B. Johnson State Historical Park

	Lyndon B. Johnson’s Boyhood Home.
Sauer - Beckmann Living History Farm 1915 - 1918 Neighbors to the Johnson Family
	School House
	Birthplace of President Johnson
	The Texas White House.  President Johnson’s home.

Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th President of the United States

Just Bring It On In

This morning we awoke to no heat, the furnace died.  I did my check to see if there is anything I could do to fix it but it is going to require someone with more skill than I have.  We are in a small town so I wasn’t to hopeful in my search of repairmen. 

I know I am going to hear “why don’t you take the van back to the Roadtrek people that fixed your window?”  Simply put they are idiots.  When I pulled into their place of business I walked all over the outside looking for someone then I walked the length of the building and went into the showroom.  Then I yelled “Yoo Hoo anyone here?”   I was really puzzled because I had an appointment and you would think someone would be there.  I went back to the van and talked to mom about the situation.  So she went into the showroom and hollered to no avail.  We decided to get back in the van and leave.  When we got to the van this kid came up to us and said “what do you want?”  I felt like I was inconveniencing him by being there.  Then when the window was repaired I had the fun job of cleaning up all the glass.  It was in the seats, the rug, in our bedding, it was EVERYWHERE!  I had them order the parts I needed to fixed the rest of the stuff wrong with the van and decided never go to a Roadtrek Service Department again.  We have only been to three out of the 4 I know of and two of them were god awful. 

This morning I found a RV Service that was opened on Saturday about 10 miles away and I gave them a call.  I was promptly transferred to a technician.  I was feeling hopeful.  I told him what the problem was and I thought it could be the thermostat aka doo hookie.  He said “no problem, just bring the furnace in.”

I said “excuse me.”

He said, “take the furnace out out of your rig and bring it in.” 

I told him to have a nice day.

No really I did tell him to have a nice day.

I found another place about 50 miles away and they scheduled us in for Tuesday. 

We are going to be here for  awhile. 

I am going to think of something positive…. Before I started RVing my idea of fixing something was to beat it with a hammer.  I have learned to make repairs and fix things that I never knew I could fix.  I also am learning how to cook without burning something or someone.  There is just one thing I cannot do… I cannot take my furnace out and drive it 10 miles down the road. 

It is going to be a great day tomorrow.

Books, Sporadic Rain, and Quiet

In 3 days I read two books and started my 3rd one this afternoon.  While visiting my daughter, Hannah I had the opportunity to visit several used books stores and books sales.  My library in the van is stocked up.  The novel “The Wild Girl” was bought simply because I love the author, Jim Fergus, who wrote “One Thousand White Women.”   He didn’t disappoint with this one.   The story is about Ned Giles, an Apache girl, and the great Apache Expedition of 1932.  The characters in the book are introduced and you quickly form an attachment/ emotion to them.  Fergus writing is prose, he is a brilliant storyteller, and I just couldn’t put the book down.  It is inspired by several true stories and that makes the book feel “real.”  A brief and vague synopsis of the book is a group of wealthy men organized an expedition to free a boy who was kidnapped by the Apaches.  Ned Giles joins the expedition as a photographer.  While in a small Mexican town Ned discovers a wild Apache girl and he comes up with the idea of trading her for the kidnapped child.  The rest of the story is unbelievable.

When I finished “The Wild Girl” I pulled out “Your Name is Renee.”  I spent a wonderful afternoon reading the true story of Ruth Kapp Hartz.  Her family were German Jews and were targets of French as well as German anti Semitism during WW II. 

This evening I am reading S.C. Gwynne book, “Empire of the Summer Moon.”  According to a reviews online, “The book traces the rise of the Comanche people from their roots as primitive bands of hunter-gatherers to their mastery of the horse and emergence as the feared power brokers of the area. At the center of the narrative is the charismatic Quanah Parker, who skillfully navigated the gaps between his traditional culture and the emerging, settled culture of the late-nineteenth century. Quanah was the son of a Comanche warrior and a woman named Cynthia Ann Parker, who was kidnapped at the age of nine and chose to stay with the Comanches. Quanah was a brilliant, feared war chief who guided his people in adapting to new realities after their final suppression by the U.S. Calvary. An outstanding addition to western-history collections. --Jay Freeman “

Hannah I want to keep two of these books so I will be sending them to you to put in my library.  The stories are not your cup of tea, historical, Empire of the Summer Moon is a little dry, and all of them had some violence.

Mom and I are going to stay in this area a few more days.  It rained sporadically today so we were confined to the shelter and the van.  It was a soft, gentle rain so walking in it was a delight.  There is peace in hearing the night noises instead of traffic.  We slept with the windows and two curtains open so we were greeted with light and air when we woke up this morning.

Life is good.

Along Came A Spider…

When my children were young I had them stretch the arm out and then twirl.  It wasn’t some weird dance or game, I was showing them their personal space.   I went on to explain that no one was allowed in their personal space and what to do if someone entered their space without permission. 

We all have our personal space that man, beast, arachnids are not allowed to enter.  Today we reached our destination and after setting up camp I put my chair under the shelter and proceeded to get lost in a really good book.  About 15 minutes into the book I noticed a black spider was dangling right in front of me.  I felt like it was either trying to get my attention (accomplished) or it was trying to hypnotize me (scary thought).  It was so close I could tell you how many hairs was on it’s arse.  I have the utmost respect for spiders but I also have my limits.  This arachnid definitely invaded my personal space and I was tempted to swat it.  Instead of resorting to violence I slid out of my chair and just watch it as it slowly started it’s descent again.  When it made contact with the cement it immediately scurried to find shelter.  I figured it owed me something for scaring the bejesus out of me so I grabbed my camera. 

My mother came across a hairy wolf spider in the basement of her house.  It was perched on the door and so she gave it a good swat.  What she thought was hair was actually hundreds of baby wolf spiders that blew on her after her shoe made contact with their mama.  I think she had nightmares for months.

All spiders use venom to kill their food but, in most species this venom is only harmful to their food.  Only about a dozen species of spider have venom that is actually harmful to humans, of those only one is a tarantula, all the others are generally small spiders such as the notorious Black Widow Spider.  So why are we so afraid of them?  

I took some pictures today, click here to view the rest of them.