OUT AND ABOUT IN BAY CITY, TEXAS

Tuesday, October 29 – Today, we decided to do a walk about of the downtown area of Bay City, Texas.

Bay City, the county seat of Matagorda County, was established in 1894. In August 1894, before a single building had been erected, the first issue of the Bay City Breeze was published. It promoted the new community. Distributed countywide, the newspaper, coupled with the promoters' promise to build a new courthouse if the county government were moved, succeeded in convincing county residents to support the new town. On September 18, 1894, Matagorda County voters elected to make Bay City the new county seat. We think that was a pretty fast turn around.

Bay City is a very typical Texas "old" town. The town is in a square with the courthouse in the middle. The new courthouse was built in  1965.  This is one of the few small Texas towns we've visited that did not have a beautifully remodeled older courthouse.

The population as of 2012 is 17,476. For a town this size, we didn't see too many out on a Tuesday.

Homestead built in 1906 for Matagorda Pharmacy. Still the pharmacy today.

The site of the original post office built in 1918 now serves at the Matagorda County Museum. The Museum was closed on Tuesday…darn the bad luck.

The downtown area has some really nice sidewalk areas.

After taking a leisurely walk around town, we visited the South Side Historic District. It is a National Registry Neighborhood.

Boney House, 1910, named after the mayor of Bay City from 1905-1906

Hawkins-Furse House, 1914

Kilbride-Barkley House, 1910, prominent ranchers and civic leaders.

Ditch-Miller House, 1908.

There are many many more beautiful homes on this driving tour. These homes are so different, we were amazed that they were all built around the same time.

Bay City is an nice town, but too far from Houston to meet our needs.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!

 

 

LANDED SHORT OF HOUSTON

Monday, October 28 – We are still heading toward Houston. Our normal campsite, the Houston Elks, is packed. It looks like we may not be able to get into their campground until December…if then! So we decided to make a stop in Bay City, Texas.

We are staying at a relatively new campground, 60 North RV Park. It gets its name from the location....Texas Route 60. It is a Passport America park offering 50% off for the first two nights. It has very nice and long concrete pads with plenty of room for your RV and vehicle. There is a nice grass berm between each site. All the sites are 50 amp electric full-hookups with water and sewer. The managers and office workers are very nice. We are parked on site P-28.

Looking right.

Looking left.

We are about 1.5 hours from Houston. We actually drove up to Houston this afternoon to look at some alternative campgrounds. Unfortunately, we didn't find anything in our price range. Looks like we'll have to move further out to the surrounding area to find a place this time. Dang!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!

WRAPPING IT UP IN GOLIAD, TX

Sunday, October 27 – The River Hiking trail in Goliad State Park was on today's agenda. It follows the San Antonio River along the outer edge of the park. It covers about 3 miles in mostly wooded areas.

Along the walk we came across a huge area of not three- but FOUR-leaf clover. We have never seen so many in one spot. This must be our lucky day

It is such a peaceful hike. Even though the tail runs along the San Antonio River, we didn't see the River all that much.

We didn't see much wildlife either except HUGE grasshoppers....things are definitely bigger in Texas!

There were also numerous turkey vultures soaring in the sky and roosting in the trees. I think they knew we didn't take any water on our hike..... :-)

There is another trail called the Angel of Goliad trail. It is a 2.5 mile hike. In one direction it took us to the Angel of Goliad Statue and in the other direction to downtown Goliad.

Historical accounts refer to the "Angel of Goliad" as a lady of Mexican birth named Francisca Alavéz . She is often referred to as the wife of Captain Telesforo Alavéz who was commander of Mexican Centralista forces. On March 20, Major William P. Miller and his 75 men were captured and moved to Presidio La Bahia. The prisoners were bond so tightly it cut off circulation. They were deprived of food and water. The "Angel of Goliad" helped save the lives of many of these men. Several of the men that survived recalled that she pleaded for their lives, helped sneak out some troops at night and hid some of the men. She also tended to wounds and sending messages and provisions to those still imprisoned.

Landing Gear Problem:  Paul has noticed the last two times we setup that the 5^th wheel would not level correctly. Upon inspection, he determined the landing gear were not deploying at the same rate. One was going down twice as fast as the other. Time for closer inspection.

Oh no....now the slower jack would not store! Paul hooked-up the truck and with the help of a friendly neighbor, began chopping out the wooden block he placed under the jack when setting up. It wasn't easy, but they finally removed the block and the jack was free.

Paul dismantled the jack and was able to get it working again, but it was still deploying slower than its partner. At least it stores and we can use it enough until we can find a place to get it repaired. Anyone ever have a similar problem and know the cause?

Many of the blogs we read are containing gorgeous photos of the fall colors. In case anyone out there would like to see the fall colors in this area of Texas, here is a photo for you…..not so gorgeous.

We really enjoyed our three days in Goliad. If you are traveling in this area, be sure to stop and enjoy this historic town.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day.