Monday night we spent just east of
Houston. Tuesday, we woke to clear blue skies, 75 degrees, but still
humid.
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| Took this small ferry to San Jacinto |
We drove to San Jacinto, where The Republic of Texas won its
independence from Mexico near the Lynchburg Ferry. There is a massive monument, slightly
higher than the Washington Monument here to commemorate the battle
between Mexico and Texas. Santa Anna, Governor of Mexico, led part
of the battle himself after the Texans lost multiple battles as he
thought this would be a rout. Sam Houston, General for the Texan
forces bided his time and held off attacking the Mexican forces until
just the right time and were victorious, capturing Santa Anna
himself. Because he feared for his life, Santa Anna agreed to
message his large force only a day away to not advance, thus giving
the Texans a clear victory. The Mexican government did not recognize
the independence of Texas until Texas became part of the United
States and after the Mexican American War. I am sure we learned
this history in grade school, but did not remember it and we found it
very interesting.
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| Of course, the Texas star is on top and EVERYWHERE in Texas |
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| There is a small Texas History museum in the base of the Monument |
We took the elevator to the top of the
monument where all we could see were oil refineries surrounding the
east side of Houston.
After a quick lunch in the RV, we
headed west around Houston and once beyond its large suburbs, the
landscape quickly changed to huge fields of corn and milo and even
some rice fields, broken up by grazing cattle.
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| This bridge near Houston reminded us our bridge in Charleston |
We stopped for the night in Gonzales,
Texas at a city campground next to a small dam and river that is very
low. We learned from the local news that they are 3” below normal
rainfall for this time of year. We were entertained by a female
cardinal who obviously felt that we were intruding and hopped about
our windshield wipers and side mirrors. This campground is heavily
shaded and we enjoyed watching the deer feed on the lush grass here –
thankful for the shade in the high 90 degree heat.
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| Campsite among the trees - we were the only ones here! |
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| She was busy until dark telling us we were intruding in her space |
Wednesday
Westward to San Antonio – we have
already done the River Walk and the Alamo, but I was hoping to visit
the arts and crafts historic downtown area called La Vilitta but we
could not find anywhere to park. We headed instead south to our
campground – 99 degrees and the AC struggled to keep us cool until
the sun went down.
Thursday
We headed back into San Antonio, just
south of the city to visit the San Antonio Missions National Park. A
park ranger gave us a guided tour of the Mission which is an active
church and ah historical fort. The Spanish built these in order to
try to populate their New Spain with Spanish citizens to protect
their territory from the French – not too far away in Louisiana.
Few folks from Spain would come, so they decided to convert the
indigenous peoples to Catholicism, teach them Spanish and a trade
which would make them Spanish citizens. In exchange, the native
peoples gained protection from marauding Apaches (who were driven
from their native lands) and steady food supply.
There were five missions built in the
area, the first being the Alamo that was abandoned at the time the
Texans made their stand against the Mexicans. The Alamo is a Texas
State Monument. The remaining four missions are run by the National
Park Service. We visited only one – San Jose and it was gorgeous.
Inside the huge fort were living spaces for families, corner
garrisons for military defense, numerous buildings for teaching
trades and of course, the church. The Mission owned thousands of
acres of land in the surrounding areas, and used irrigation to farm
crops along with massive herds of sheep, goats and cows.
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| This key is about 2' long! |
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| San Jose Church |
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| The defenses in the corners of the fort. Bottom holes for canons, top for rifles |
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| San Jose is famous for its Rose Window |
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| Gorgeous Detail on the Rose Window |
After lunch in the RV, we headed
further west to Kickapoo Caverns State Park. I had called earlier,
and the ranger said they were not open until Friday, but she gave us
the gate code and said we could stay the night and catch up with her
in the morning. This park is 25 miles from the nearest town and the
road was narrow and in poor shape. Good thing we called in advance.
We found a site and had the entire campground to ourselves. We were
here to see the bat flight at dusk. At 8:15, we drove the 2 miles
up to the parking area next to the bat cave and watched the swallows
darting in and out of the cave where we could see their nests near
the entrance. At 8:40, the bats came out in droves – arcing up and
away from us forming a long disorganized line of them far up and
away. Thousands and thousands – they kept on coming in waves
steadily until 9:10. One of the most incredible sights we have seen.
Jack took a fabulous slow-motion video and we will try to put it up,
but haven't figured it out yet.
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| They fly for miles and feed on insects (moths are a favorite) that are in the corn and other crop fields |
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| They fly as high as 10,000' |
Friday
We settled up with the office for our
private campground and I took a short walk to a viewpoint, but never
did find the right trail and settled for a nice walk in the shade
through the Texas scrub country.
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| My walk crossed several of these dry washes |
We continued our westward ride through
the flat mesquite and cactus lands of southwestern Texas to Del Rio
on the Mexican border. Temperatures forecast for over 100 degrees,
so we elected to stop at a campground early, plug in the AC, do some
laundry and visit the pool.
