Places visited: Texas: Beaumont, Woodville & Brenham

Friday April 6, 2001:
TREK Mileage: 25392

We crashed today complete with sleeping late.

Mike repaired the exhaust break system today by replacing the ¼" air
hose between the air pump and reservoir. The original hose was
defective and would not stand up to the heat and air pressure.
Additionally, after talking with my trusted mechanic, Mike Mason, back
in Pensacola we decided that the motorhome transmission temperature
gauge was working properly. Mike had installed the gauge just before
we left Pensacola and we had not run the transmission up to normal
highway temperatures before we left town. The gauge was only reading
around 140º running down the interstate. I thought that the
temperature of the transmission would roughly approximate the
temperature of my diesel engine which runs 190°/210°. The air
temperature was in the mid-80's on Thursday as we motored toward Texas
and the transmission temperature increased to 155°/160° while the
diesel temperature was running its normal 190°/210°. Mike Mason
explained that I have a very large transmission cooler that is located
in front of the engine radiator; therefore, I should have transmission
temperatures that are less than the engine temperatures. It looks
like I will have plenty of cooling power to deal with the western
mountains.

Joyce and I ate lunch at Jaime's "TAQUERIA & BUFFET". I am not sure
what a "taqueria" is but the food was good. It was a Mexican family
restaurant and only one lady spoke any English in the entire
restaurant. The most unique part of the buffet meal was the drinks.
They offered (watermelon or tamarind).

I had both. Excellent!! The cook actually took fresh watermelon and
ran it through a blender to make the watermelon drink. As good as it
was they probably added some sugar. The tamarind drink is made from
the tamarind seed. They boil the seeds until soft then add sugar.
Both the watermelon and tamarind drinks have a good bit of pulp. I
looked tamarind up in Webster's and found that it is "a tropical "Old
World" leguminous tree, its fruit has an acid pulp often used for
preservatives or in a cooling laxative drink". Oh boy!!! A cooling
laxative drink!!!!! And to think that I drank about 20oz. Things
should get exciting soon.

The only lady that could speak English said that they also make fresh
pineapple and cantaloupe drinks. I got a good laugh at Joyce when she
got a good serving spoonful of "green beans" while going through the
buffet line. On her first bite of the "green beans" her eyes got big
and she started grabbing for a cool drink. It turns out that her
"green beans" were cactus strips. She thought they were hot. They
were spicy but not very different than spicy green beans. Add cactus
strips to things we have tried. I do not think Joyce will try them
again. If anyone is interested in locating Jaime's "TAQUERIA &
BUFFET" it is located in Beaumont, TX on Fannett Rd. just west of the
intersection of Walden Rd. @ exit 848 on I-10. Beware this is not a
five star establishment, but we heartily recommend it.

The remainder of the day was spent reading about the "Big Thicket" and
attractions around that area.

Friday, April 7, 2001:
Trek mileage: 25,466
We moved the motorhome from Beaumont, TX to Paradise RV Park
(409-283-7018) 143 Hwy. 190 West in Woodville, Texas. Woodville is
located about 50 miles north of Beaumont and is on the north side of
the "Big Thicket" national park. Guy and Linda Lafloy own and operate
this modem friendly park. They are super host.

Upon entering Texas we started seeing patches of pink evening primrose
in the right of way. This must be the beginning of the famed Texas
wildflowers. They add a beautiful splash of color to the roadside all
over east Texas. While moving the motorhome from Beaumont to
Woodville we spotted our first heard of longhorn cattle. Chalk that
up as a first for us.

In Woodville we toured the Heritage Village which features a walking
tour through Eastern Texas history. This is an excellent museum. The
tour included shingle-splitting demonstrations, a fascinating
collection of hand tools from an earlier day (mid 1800's to early
1900's) a chair factory (where the legs were lathed and leather seats
stretched). There was a Village blacksmith shop in working shape
equipped with a bellows forge and an anvil and tools used in the
1880's. A complete barbershop with accompanying bathroom, literally,
the bathroom was a room behind the barbershop with a copper bathtub
and cast iron stove in it. In 1836 men would come to town
periodically and pay .15 ¢ to get a hot bath. The hot water was
heated on the wood burning cast iron stove in the room. Did you know
that when men went to the barbershop for a shave they carried their
own shaving cup and razor? They did this to keep from getting the
things that could be passed by sharing shaving equipment. Obviously
this was before the world learned about killing germs with boiling
water.

The Heritage Village gift shop featured a 350-year-old Bald Cyprus
tree trunk cut crosswise where you could clearly see the growth rings.
Someone had counted the rings and had placed pins in the particular
ring representing significant years. The year the Mayflower sailed.
The civil war. Years of major drought were obvious in the rings as
well as being document in courthouse records.

Also on the Heritage Village property is the world famous Pickett
House Restaurant. The Picket House operates in a "boarding house"
style. You sit down at a large table with a group that arrives about
the time you do. Then they bring bowls and bowls of good home cooked
food. Two restaurants that rival this come to mind, the Dillard house
in Dillard, Georgia and the Apple Barn in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

One couple touring the country in their motorhome has a hobby of
taking pictures of funny signs that they run across. They have a
really good collection. I wish that I could remember their web site.
If I think of it I will surely share it with you. Joyce and I both
started laughing at a "No dancing on tables ------------with spurs"
sign in the Cajun restaurant in Lafayette, Louisiana. In Texas we
have now twice spotted a "reduce speed ahead" sign then 300 or 400
yards down the road is a 60mph sign. In Florida, where we are from
you are never allowed to go over 60 unless you are on an interstate
highway so a "reduce speed ahead" sign followed by a 60mph sign is
unique to us Floridians. On a very long and sweeping turn complete
with solid double lines on both sides of the middle there were three
signs "no passing" then "pass with caution" then another "no passing".
This one must have been a prankster!!!!! There was NO WAY to pass on
that curve "with caution".

We were able to download & upload e-mail at the RV-Park office
(Paradise RV-Park). Ain't live great?

Sunday, April 8, 2001:
TREK mileage: 25,466

Early this morning there was a knock at our door. It was the Linda,
the park manager, with a beautiful rose cut from her rose garden. How
nice. We are meeting the very nicest people.

We attended First Baptist Church of Woodville. The sermon was on not
collecting grudges -- instead give good for evil. It was taken from 1
Samuel 24:1-22. This is a powerful message and one that we should all
pay more attention to. The pastor told just one joke about a woman
that went to a photographer. Upon viewing the proofs she gasped and
told the photographer that his pictures did not do her justice, to
which he replied, "with a face like that you don't need justice you
need mercy".

After church we to the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation for a tour
through their tribal lands. These Indians migrated to the Big Thicket
area around 1790 from Alabama. They lived much the same way as the
European settlers. They did not live in teepees or wigwams. They
lived in buildings similar to European settlers. They made charcoal
out of magnolia trees.

To finish off the afternoon we toured the Turkey Creek unit of the Big
Thicket National Park. The trail we walked had an amazing diversity
of plant life. The ranger told us that the whole area had been
clear-cut during the 1930's so the trees we were seeing were no more
than 70 years old. What a shame that none of the really big trees
were spared the saw.

Monday, April 9, 2001:
Trek mileage: 25,629

We moved 163 miles west to Lake Somerville, SP (Nails Creek Unit) a
few miles NW of Brenham, Texas. Pete & Fay Jones friends from RV-Talk
are camp host here. We were not sure whether they would still be here
when we arrived. However, the check in office told us they were here
for another month.

Upon leaving Woodville this morning we exited the piney woods area and
left the pine trees behind. Once we got west of Livingston, 30 miles
west of Woodville, the landscape turned into rolling hills, pastures,
lakes and post oak trees. The roadsides were covered with bluebonnets
and Indian paintbrush. It was a beautiful drive. Texas has some nice
roadside picnic areas that we took advantage of today.

Tuesday, April 10, 2001:
Trek Mileage: 25,629

We put about 80 miles on the Saturn today. It has been three days
since we have been able to download e-mail, what a bummer. We have
been able to get a phone line but for some reason my ISP has not been
answering their phone. Another day or so of this and I am going to
get upset.

Our first stop this morning was a visit to the Chamber of Commerce /
Visitors center in Brenham, Texas. They provided us with some good
tourist information but the manager would not let us download e-mail.
He told us they did not have a spare phone line when I could plainly
see one attached to the idle fax machine. I have to wonder who he
knew to get his job? I could see this attitude at the local Wendy's
but the Chamber of Commerce?

A few miles down the road we took the Blue Bell Creameries Tour. This
is a tour of the manufacturing facility for Blue Bell Ice Cream. It
is an excellent tour with samples of Blue Bell Ice Cream at the end.
We joined a tour of "old folks" on an outing from the First Baptist
Church of Houston, Texas on the tour. We ate our ice cream with a
couple that had relatives in Milton, Florida a bedroom community of
our home in Pensacola. It turns out that his brother-in-law is Bob
McCay. Bob and I are fishing friends. He is a charter boat Captain
and was a the Commanding Officer of NAS Whiting Field a "few" years
ago. Isn't it a small world? Will one of you in the "BOS" area pass
this on to Lou Garza since Lou and Bob are big time fishing buddies"?
Thanks in advance, ------- John/JC/JR_

Fifteen miles up the road we stopped at the Antique Rose Emporium.
Located on an early settler's homestead in historic Independence,
Texas the 8-acre retail display garden center is beautifully
landscaped featuring romantic old garden roses, native plants,
old-fashioned cottage garden perennials, herbs, and a wildflower
meadow. Several unique restored buildings include an 1855 stone
kitchen original to the site, an 1840's log corncrib, an 1850's
saltbox house, and an early 1900's Victorian home. Admission was
FREE. Three tour busses unloaded while we were there. Locals were
carrying wagons of plants out of the place. This is a place we will
probably visit again before we depart the area.

Within a mile of the Rose Emporium is the Texas Baptist Historical
Center-Museum. This is an integral part of one of Texas' most
historic sites organized in 1839. The original site of Baylor
University for men and women was founded through the church in 1845.
Sam Houston was converted and baptized into this church in 1854. Sam
Houston's mother-in-law was so overcome with joy when Sam was baptized
that she purchased a large bell for the church in honor of the
occasion. According to manuscripts the bell was shipped from the Old
Meneely Bell Foundry in Waterbvliet, New York in October of 1856. The
bell weighed 502 pounds and was made of 78 parts copper and 22 parts
tin, which is the most sonorous bell-metal known. The bell, which
hung in the bell tower beside the church, for 113 years fell on March
5, 1969. Of course the bell broke in the fall but it has been
"restored" and is on display in the museum. Restored in this sense
means they used some kind of super glue and put the pieces together
again. The cracks were clearly visible and the bell must have been in
6 or 8 separate pieces.

The Independence Baptist Church is still alive and growing. We met
pastor Butch Strickland and found that he had been a missionary in
South America. Of course we asked him if he knew David & Melissa
Chism (church friends from Pensacola that became missionaries in South
America). As luck would have it David and Butch went through language
school together. What a small world. I sent David an e-mail telling
him that we had met Butch and passed along Butch's e-mail address.
(my address for David and Melissa was from 1999 and may not be good so
any of you with a current address for the Chism's feel free to provide
it)

One of the unique things about this Southern Baptist Church is the
lack of a (baptistery). All Southern Baptist know that directly over
the choir loft is the "baptistery". J They had some large glossy
prints of some individuals getting baptized in a creek full of lily
pads with the congregation standing on the bank. What a site for a
city boy! The pastor told me that the creek was where baptisms were
performed even today.

The remainder of the day was spent cruising down country roads viewing
the wildflowers listening to Joyce say "WOW, stop and let me get a
picture".

Once back at the State Park we visited with Pete and Fay Jones our
RV-Talk friends. We make plans to dine together Wednesday night.

Wednesday, April 11, 2001:
Trek mileage: 25,629

We were able to download e-mail this morning. Halleluiah!!! Praise
God for this miracle!

Dave Damouth sent me an e-mail informing me of what I suspected, and
that is that my "distribution list" was sending everyone's name and
e-mail address. This is NOT what I wanted to happen. Hopefully, this
travelogue will just have "travelogue" in the "TO" space of the
header. I am new to distribution lists but it seems easy enough with
a smattering of trial and error. Thanks to friends like Dave who are
thoughtful enough to help a novice through new learning experiences.

Dave also asked me to explain what boudin is. That is a tough one
since no Cajun makes it the same way. It is a popular meat item that
I would classify as a "rice sausage". If you purchase it in a grocery
store it will likely come in a sausage casing approximately one foot
long and a little over an inch in diameter. If you see a Cajun he
will likely be driving down the road with a link of boudin in one hand
and a cold beer in the other. Boudin recipes vary from store to store,
restaurant to restaurant, some are heavy on the giblets, others are
spicy with plenty of lean pork. I like mine with rice and crawfish.
I also like mine fried into balls about the size of a tennis ball.
The fried balls have obviously been removed from the casing or
possibly were never placed in one. When traveling in Cajun country
you can get a fried boudin ball in almost any country grocery store,
gas station, restaurant, etc., that also sells cokes or beer. The
bottom line on boudin, in my estimation, it is a highly seasoned rice
and meat sausage that will be different each time you purchase it from
different vendor.

Back to our Wednesday in Brenham, Texas. The highlight of our day was
a tour of the Brenham Historical Museum. We were fortunate to have
Mrs. Jessie Lofton a, 95-year-old lady, as our tour guide. This lady
was born in Brenham as was her mother, her deceased husband was a
Texas Ranger who was in on the killing of Bonnie and Clyde. He then
became the Mayor of Brenham for 28 years. There was absolutely
nothing about Brenham that she did not know and she told us most of
it. This lady had a walking stick but she mostly used it to point to
things. Her mind was sharp as a tack. I know several 87 year old
who would have a tough time trying to keep with this dynamo. (Dad &
Pop's)

One of the most remarkable stories she told us about was how the Klu
Klux Klan tried to start a chapter in Brenham, I think in 1923. The
townspeople decided that they did not like the idea and had a big
Bar-B-Q with 12,000 in attendance to show that all nationalities and
races were united and welcome in Brenham. The Klu Klux Klan was not
wanted and would not be tolerated. The pictures they had of this
Bar-BQ were incredible. Folks, what they called a Bar-B-Q was a stout
pole holding a whole steer or pig over a bed of coals. The bed of
coals were in 300 yard long trenches with the roasting steers & pigs
every yard or so. There was an incredible amount of Bar-B-Q being
cooked. The tables complete with white tablecloths were set up in a
HUGE field (remember they were feeding 12,000). Back to the Klu
Klux Klan story, I was impressed by the number of blacks in the
pictures and commented to her that they seemed to be fitting in real
well. Mrs. Jessie then informed me that the Klu Klux Klan were not
wanting to run the blacks out of Brenham it was the Germans. Dah!!!!
Stupid me. I just assumed the Klu Klux Klan was forming to run off
blacks. At this time Brenham was being populated with Jews, blacks,
Polish, Czechoslovakians, Germans, Irish and a smattering of other
nationalities. Anyway, the point of the story is that this community
sent a message that the Klu Klux Klan was not welcome in Brenham and
that the community was going to be a place where everyone could live
in peace and harmony. What a powerful story. It is heart warming to
see such documentation where good people stood up to wrong.

Mrs. Jessie was telling us the best roads to view bluebonnets when she
said to follow Texas 36 to a small town. I asked her something about
the town and she told me that once a city gent was traveling down
Texas 36 and stopped to ask a country boy if he knew where Kenny was.
The country boy replied "stay put, don't go forward or backwards".
When we passed through Kenny later in the day we understood the full
significance of the story.

Since the Blue Bell plant was less than a mile away we decided to drop
by and have another "sample". The Blue Bell banana pudding is simply
to die for. What a way to sin! Amen!

The rest of the afternoon was spent with Mike driving and Joyce
directing him on where to stop so she could take another picture. On
one stretch of road we were able to see eight to ten scissortail
flycatchers on the power lines. These birds are easy to spot and
identify with those long tail feathers. We saw one or two of these
flycatchers in Southern Louisiana then over here we were able to see a
group of them. This is not a bird we see in Florida.

We passed an advertisement for a red deer farm. We could see a 10'
fenced area with about 20 deer in it so we took the gravel road next
to it. A short way off the highway in another field was several large
herds of these red deer. I shot some video of this incredible heard
of deer through the fence so that there would be no fence showing in
the picture. I intend to take a JPG of this group of deer and send it
to a deer-hunting buddy of mine (Galon, I am talking about you). I
want him to see what a deer looks like. Galon, you can expect your
present in a week or so.

We ate dinner tonight with Pete and Fay Jones our friends who are camp
hosting at the State Park.

A good friend of mine has suggested that we include areas where we
plan to visit in the future so that readers could pass along good
things to see and do. It sounds like a good idea to me so here goes:

The next several weeks will be spent around Austin, San Antonio, the
entire "Hill Country", New Braunfels etc.,

Mike & Joyce Hendrix