9/11/13 - Dallas, Texas

Today is the 12^th anniversary of 9-11.  We drove into George W. Bush’s Library in Dallas on the SMU campus.  They had some special exhibits and movies pertaining to 9-11 in their classrooms today.  We walked through the library and saw the replica of the Oval Office during Bush’s term.  In the library there was a section on 9-11 that contained some of the metal girder from one of the twin towers.  Channel 5 NBC from Dallas was there and interviewed me in the special artifacts exhibit.  They took video of my presidents t-shirt that I was wearing and my sparkly sequin red, white and blue cap.  They also wanted me to sit behind the desk in the Oval Office.   You can see their video on the link below.  I show up towards the end of the video at 1:27.  If the link doesn't work, a video we took off our trailer TV is also posted below.

http://www.nbcdfw.com/video/#!/news/local/9-11-Artifacts-on-Display-at-George-W--Bush-Library/223372441

 

When we finished at the library, we drove to a good beer bar.  We have already been to the brewpubs that you can visit in Dallas.  There are quite a few microbreweries but they don’t offer samples except on weekends.  You have to go to a bar to buy them.  I called Peticolas Brewing and he told be to try Craft & Growler fairly close to the Bush Library.  We drove there and had a Grandbury, Texas beer – Revolver, Blood & Honey; Ft. Worth, Texas – Martin House, Pretzel Stout; Dallas – Community, Mosaic IPA; Dallas – Peticolas, Velvet Hammer.  We got back to the Casita at 5:01 and turned the TV on.  They did play part of my interview at the Bush Library.  I told mother that I sure sounded like a country hick, she laughed really hard.  At 6 pm they shortened the news clip and the interviews with a teacher and me weren’t on there.  But they did show me walking by the exhibit.  I cooked supper and we listened to it thunder (but it didn't rain).  There was another pretty sunset.

9/12/13 - Troup, TX

We left camp around 10 am this morning and drove to Troup near Tyler.  Jim’s sister lives here and we will visit her a few days.  On the way we stopped to visit with Debbie and Larry at their house.  We got to see the shop for their business, Little House Customs.  Larry modifies Casita trailers, fixes them if something is broken, and sells parts and accessories.

9/13/13 - Troup, TX

I cleaned the Casita and did a few errands. 

 

Then Jim and I went with a realtor to see a house between Troup and Arp that is for sale.  It is on 10 acres and has a pond.  There were 4 bedrooms, 3 full baths, and 2 half baths.  The master had 1 shower, 1 jetted tub, 2 toilets, 2 sink areas and 2 walk in closets. The kitchen had double ovens, granite counter tops, a butler’s pantry, and a dining area.  It had a library, an office area and a really great room for arts & crafts and sewing.

It had a huge garage barn with 3 bays and a work area that Jim could use for brewing beer and making bullets.  The Casita could have easily fit into the barn along with the truck and cars with lots of rooms to spare.  The barn had a living area on one side with a kitchenette and bathroom.

 

Jim and I didn’t like the flooring.  It was unsealed limestone like you would use to side the outside of a house.  The 2 fireplaces were made of the same stone.  The house itself was made of logs, which reequire a lot of maintenance.  I didn’t like the gold accents in the bathrooms and the bar area. It looked really dated.  It would need a little renovation.  I really, really liked the floor plan though.  The back porch was screened in.  There was a small fruit orchard and a place where the owners had a garden. There were trees up the drive.  It had a circle driveway with roses inside the circle. We would have to buy a small tractor to keep the place mowed. 

If we were younger………maybe?  We will continue to look.

9/14/13 - Troup, TX

I took stuff we won’t be using the next couple of days out of the Casita and put it in the Silverado.  We will be home in a couple of days and then off again for a Casita rally in a couple of weeks.  I finally put the patches from the 50 states we have visited up in the Casita.  We found a geocache today also.  Jim helped his sister build an arbor for her Banks Yellow Rose to climb on.

9/15/13 - Zavala, TX

We left Judy’s house and drove to Sam Rayburn Reservoir between Lufkin and Zavalla.  We got a site at Hanks Creek Park Corps of Engineers campground.  We don’t have cell service, internet or over the air TV.  We had to drive 8 miles into Zavalla to call mother, my son and my brother.  We needed to let someone know where we were in case of an emergency.  While we were in town we found 2 geocaches.  Mom’s friend passed away at noon today.  She and mom went into the nursing home the same week and were roommates for years.  She had cancer.  We will go home tomorrow.  Look for a recap of the trip after we get home.  We will be home a couple of weeks and then go to the Pineknot rally near Crocket, Texas.  We watched a movie, “Pirate Radio”, that we bought at a resale shop.

9/16/13 - Dayton, TX

We left camp, drove to Liberty and stopped to see mother at the nursing home.  Then we took the Casita to the house in Dayton and unloaded.  There was some rain half way to Houston and the traffic through town was awful.  We got home and unloaded the Silverado and went to have a beer at Whole Foods.  Tomorrow we will wash the truck, clean the backyard flowerbeds and I have about 6 loads of clothes, including mothers.  We will go through all the mail my son gave us.  And the house needs to be cleaned. We’re back to normal everyday life.

     10,474  -       Miles driven

    83   -      Days gone

    81    -      Breweries/brewpubs visited

    24   -      National parks/monuments visited

    21  -       California missions visited (all of them)

    8  -       Diners, Drive-ins and Dives visited

       8,768  -       Pictures taken

$1,564.01   -     Camping fees paid  (an average of $18.84 per night)

$2,335.59   -     Gas cost (an average of $28.14 per day)

[End of blog]