Newsletter 2
So we’re back in the RV – felt very comfortable, like coming
home. It didn’t take too many days before we remembered where everything was.
We did a big shop and stocked the fridge then set off towards San Antonio – 1270
miles (2030km) away. We wanted to spend a couple of days with Bev and Ross
before they left on their Caribbean cruise.
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Great street signs in Wickenburg |
Found a Horspitality camp at Wickenburg that caters for
RVers with horses that like to do trail rides on ranches. We met three ladies
who have been coming here for years and enjoyed the chatting in the evening.
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Saguaro (large cactus) pronounced "sa,warow" |
The town is one of the most tourist friendly places we have stumbled upon
displaying its wild western roots. It was originally a mining town in mid
1800’s, then the railway went through and many stayed and established ranches
and businesses when the gold ran out.
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Western Museum at Wickenburg |
There was a museum on the history of the
town with the art gallery above. The exhibition was "desert girls and their art",
and showed lots of cowboys of today at work and play.
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Wickenburg Cafe with what "modern" cowboys ride, parked out front |
We enjoyed the self guided
town walk with lots of animated figures that "talked" to you and we chatted to the volunteers in the caboose behind the old steam
loco.
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Wickenburg Livery |
Drove the 40 miles of motorways through sprawling flat
Phoenix to Tucson with the GPS “doing her thing”.
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Interchange art |
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More interchange art |
The RV parks down here
are huge. So many northerners come to stay four of more months, to escape their
winter, and people from Saskatchewan were staying longer, as a late snow fall
dumped another six foot of snow at their place in Regina.
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SR 71 Blackbird |
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A-10 Thunderbolt known as the "Warthog" An armoured 30mm flying canon that could deliver 4200 rounds per minute. Destroyed several thousand tanks and other vehicles in the first Gulf War. |
The place we wanted to see here was the Pima Air and Space
Museum
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Airforce One used by Presidents Kennedy and Johnson |
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Specially designed transport for Saturn rockets. The assembly plant was in California and the launch facility was in Florida so this was the only way to keep the project running. |
and to drive past the "bone yard" of the old air force planes- 1000’s of
them, all lined up, neat and tidy, waiting for “who knows what”!
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Mission San Xavier interior |
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Mission San Xavier cactus garden |
Two other places we would have liked to have visited were
Frank Lloyd Wright’s, Taliesin West home (and architectural laboratory) at
Scottsdale, and the Biosphere 2 Science Centre. Will have to be “next time”.
So a quick visit to Tombstone “the town too tough to die”
with a grand Victorian courthouse (now a museum) and stagecoach rides up the
main street.
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Tombstone - stagecoach rides up the main street |
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Tombstone street scene |
Tom McLaury, Frank McLaury, and Billy Clanton, killed by the Earp
bothers and Doc Holliday in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, are buried in the
town's "Boot Hill," which refers to the number of men who died with
their boots on. Deputy U.S. Marshal Sheriff, Virgil Earp and his temporary
deputies and brothers Wyatt Earp and Morgan Earp had pursued these cowboys, who
were suspected of the murders of the two stagecoach drivers that were carrying
silver bullion. Although soon after, Virgil was seriously wounded, and Morgan
was killed, and the assailants, although identified, were never prosecuted. The
“shoot up” is re-enacted for the tourists.
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General Store of 1880's |
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1880's seamstress |
The Bird Cage Theatre, named for the 14 bird cage crib
compartments suspended from the ceiling over the gambling casino and dance hall,
is still there in all its glory.
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Cowgirl Bling |
So the next day we made it across New Mexico – travelling
just north of the border, following the railway and for a time along the Rio
Grande. There was lots of dry desert but some pecan orchards, dairying and wine
growing in areas closer to the river. As we got nearer to San Antonio there
were trees and lots of wild flowers along the road. They’ve had rain and it’s
quite an oasis.
We had a lovely time with Bev and Ross.
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Bev and Ross's place in San Antonio |
Organised the RV’s
registration and Jen even had some time in a quilting fabric shop. A cold
change came through with strong winds. San Antonio had its coldest May day on
record, 58F (15C) so we stayed another night until the wind dropped and then
headed south to Corpus Christi on the coast.
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Corpus Christi Bridge |
It was very quiet in the downtown
– we had arrived on the first Friday of the month – museums were free, so we
went to the art gallery to see the brilliant glass art. There was even a
callistemon in full colour in the courtyard.
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Corpus Christi Art Museum |
We walked along the seafront wall where a ten billionth
scale model of the solar system has been set up. The sun is about the size of a
large grapefruit and the earth is about four steps away and barely more than a
pinprick. Makes you feel extremely insignificant.
The next morning we stopped at the Fulton mansion (a state
historic site) which was built to withstand hurricane force winds.
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Fulton Mansion |
It is empty
at the moment but we were able to walk through the three storied home built in
1877 by George and Harriet Fulton. There have been many owners and now the
state is restoring it to its former glory. It will be grand. We also picked up
another brochure of another historic home on the road we were travelling so
called into there to. Varner-Hogg Plantation.
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Varner-Hogg Plantation |
The slaves of Columbus Patton,
the second owner, built the home as well as smokehouse, the sugar mill and
their own quarters. Gradually over time and many owners later, it changed to
ranching until 1901 when former Texas Governor James Hogg purchased the
property.
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Varner-Hogg dining room |
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Varner-Hogg piano with Staffordshire dogs |
He was convinced that large amounts of oil lay beneath the surface.
Well oil was not found in his time but his will recommended that the children
not sell the mineral rights for 15 years. A few years later the four Hogg heirs
did strike oil and became wealthy overnight.
On our way to Galveston we realised Sunday afternoon coastal
traffic was a nightmare. So we turned around and went to Jenny and George’s
place.
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Jenny and George's place in Houston |
We’d spent time with them last year while we were buying the
van and it was lovely to catch up with them again. Jen Smith was having a tooth
problem and was able to see their local dentist for some treatment, so the few
days wait gave us time to do photos, finish the first blog, shop at the outlets
for some clothes, clean the van and repack things.
But then we found out she needed root canal therapy.
Fortunately she could get an appointment with an endodontist in two days. Three
hours in “the chair” and he announced he couldn’t find the canal and to come
back on Monday. At least it happened where we could easily get treatment.
So we finally made it back to Galveston for the four days,
and so glad we did.
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Flash houses on stilts next to the coast on Galveston Island |
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More raised houses - the Gulf of Mexico is at the end of the road |
During the 1850’s Galveston became the largest port west of
New Orleans and the largest city in Texas. Cotton was exported and when the
railway was connected to Santa Fe and Colorado, businessmen and entrepreneurs
flocked to the city.
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Ships lined up to come into Galveston Harbour | |
Beautiful mansions were built by the many wealthy
families,
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Galveston houses |
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More Galveston houses |
while downtown retains the largest concentration of iron front
commercial architecture in the country. We took a ride around the Downtown to have a look at them.
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Horse and buggy ride around Galveston CBD |
So we visited two mansions, now museums: the Bishop’s Palace
– so named because the Grisham family, who’d built it in 1889, sold it in 1920
to the Catholic Church for the Bishop to live in until the 1940’s,
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Bishop's Palace |
and the
Moody Mansion, lived in by that family until 1980. Both had beautiful woodwork,
spacious rooms, large windows to let in the evening breezes and shutters to
keep the house cool during the day.
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Moody Mansion |
But of course you’ve all heard of the hurricanes that hit
this coast. The particularly brutal one of 1900 left a trail of devastation and
more than 6000 lost their lives- the worst ever natural disaster of this
country! The seventeen feet of water in the downtown took six days to drain
away.
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Downtown Galveston |
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Downtown Galveston on the Strand |
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Downtown Galveston - Strand sidewalk |
Amazingly those who stayed after the storm, raised the
entire level of the city by eight feet, seventeen feet at the Seawall, slanting
the ground so that the water would run off into Galveston Bay.
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Galveston Seawall |
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Galveston Hurricane Memorial |
The grade
raising was so successful that when another severe hurricane hit in 1915, the
city was safe and only eight people lost their lives. When Hurricane “Ike”
struck in 2008, some homes suffered damage, and most of Galveston Island was
covered in a tidal surge.
The Fun Pier has been rebuilt
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Galveston Fun Pier | |
and Bubba Gump is the front line restaurant.
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Galveston Fun Pier |
The powerful winds and waves uprooted many of the
city’s mature trees (mainly oaks), and the green canopy that once graced the
Island was destroyed.Many of these trees were sculptured into whimsical shapes
and are now in gardens.
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Toto and the Tin Man carved from trees destroyed from Hurricane Ike |
Down on the Harbourside a Cook-Off was in full swing.
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Great BBQ produce |
It’s a
competition and fundraiser for the Lighthouse Charity. Really “fancy” BBQ’s
with sponsored teams were all busy preparing dishes of pork, chicken, brisket, beef
ribs and game.
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Like everything else - even BBQs are bigger in Texas |
So we left the city via the ferry to Bolivar and drove further along
the coast before turning north to return to Houston.
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Cape Bolivar lighthouse |
The next visit to the dentist went well and we were able to leave the following morning and head north towards Colorado – so that will be next time.
Great photos you two. Enjoying following your travels and seeing a few different things to what we saw on our travels in that area. Aren't those stilt houses in Galveston amazing. I would want to be up that high too if I lived there. Scary. I would also have a very secure shelter underground that was safe from underground water! Enjoy Yellowstone! Say hi to the bison and bears for us.
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