East and Central Texas

Sea Rim State park

As we entered Texas and drove to the Southeast corner, we were greeted by many oil refineries. It felt like we were driving some version of post apocalyptic reality. They were really cool to look at though. Funnily enough, we didn’t see any drilling until we were driving through the state and then we saw many pump jacks and fracking set ups.

We spent two days at Sea Rim State park right on the ocean. The reeds and waterfowl were nice to look at (we particularly liked watching the little sandpipers run along the beach edge) but at dusk thousands of mosquitos came out. Somehow we ended up with hundreds in our RV. We killed so many by squishing them against the wall that a few days later we had to clean all the walls! The buildings in the area are all raised due to flooding.

Central Texas

As we drove to Waco, our next stop, we were amazed by how huge the sky was and how flat and brown the landscape was. There were many brown fields that had bales of hay dotted throughout, and we started to see cows. We stayed at a cute little town park in Gatesville next to a stream.

We visited the Waco Mammoth National Monument. This area has so many mammoth fossils! We also enjoyed walking around the Lake Waco Wetlands and ate the best Bar B Que either of us have ever tasted. I guess Texas has earned that reputation!

Austin

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in this liberal mecca. The city has sparkling buildings and a wonderful African American monument on the capitol grounds, which offsets the confederate monument. We spent several hours at the Zilker Park Botanical Garden on the one warm day we were there. The Japanese garden was our favorite part, and it had a lovely view of the city. We also walked along South Congress Street and enjoyed lunch outside.

During the cold weather we learned all about Texas history at the Bullock Texas History Museum and went to an outdoor lights festival. We ate BarBQ and there was a taco truck or restaurant every half block. Ken had the best taco he has ever had at a taco truck near our RV park.

San Antonio

We took a day trip down to San Antonio and visited the missions, the Alamo and the riverwalk in town. Though it was a little chilly, we still had a good time. Between the Bullock museum and these visits, we have a much clearer view of the role Spain, Mexico, and the US have played in making Texans so independent. We also learned how the missions protected and taught the native americans while at the same time forcing them to abandon their deities, culture, language and dress.