2022-07-17 TRR Rally Wrap & Fulton Mansion

I didn't plan on a Hitchup Breakfast because I thought only one person was actually leaving first thing in the morning. Instead six of us decided to go to JJ's for breakfast. We figured we would beat the church crowd by going before 9 AM but many of the them must have breakfast out before church as we had to wait a bit. We ended up at two adjoining tables which was okay. The choices and food were great.

Elaine and I decided to visit the Fulton Mansion for a tour. It was her first time and I haven't been for a few years. This mansion was very far ahead of its time in terms of conveniences of the time. They had flush toilets and running water for sinks and tubs upstairs. The last hurricane did some damage but you would never know it now. First we visited the little museum store and got our passes.

They have period clothes that you could try on. Elaine gave this outfit a try. We both decided that we would have found some way to go without all the corsets and many layers of clothes that ladies in the 1800's and early 1900's had to wear. Several women who were already there when we arrived spent a lot of time, dressing a dummy in all the period clothes available. it was a challenge to figure out the order some of the pieces had to be put on in order to work.

The dining room and a little nook at the back of the house had replicas of period food set up as well as the furniture. Not all the furniture belonged to the house owners but it is all from the right period.

Running water was unusual for the house time period. Check out the Onion Skin toilet paper.

This tub with running water was absolutely huge and very deep.

Beds were ornate but only double bed size even in the master bedroom. 

The house was called Oakhurst and it was purchased in 1976 for $150,000. It required quite a bit of restoration and didn't open as a museum until 1983.

The house was owned by the Davidson's, the Herring's, and the May's after the Fulton Family.

Therre is one room in the house that was left unfinished with the walls and part of the floor left open so you can see the construction. I've always thought it was very interesting that each time the property sold, less land was included and, at one time, there was actually an RV park in the front yard. You can see it in this post card picture.

The real "work" areas of the house were located in the basement and there is a description of each of the rooms and their purpose.

There were also drying racks and ironing setups in this room.

The cistern rooms stored water that was pumped to the top of the house. This is how they had running water and flush toilets.

The pantry is definitely a big part of the house. A relative with a store delivered food on a regular basis.

This would explain the food in cans versus home canned.

They had "central" heat in the house which was maintained in the basement and rose through the chimney to come out of the fireplaces upstairs. The fireplaces were not actually used as regular fireplaces.

So what is the difference between a pantry and a larder. Well, a larder is actually a cold room like a giant early refridgerator.

The area under the countertop was filled with ice to keep the food cold.

Food was cooked in the basement and brought upstairs on a dumbwaiter. The staff ate in the kitchen.

 It's a very interesting tour if you are ever in the Rockport/Fulton area. There are docents in the house that tell you about the rooms and the family.

Dinner was definitely leftovers on Sunday night. We had lots of pizza and numerous other things. More time was spent in the pool.

2022-07-16 TRR Rally Demo and Pizza Party

 Saturday morning, coffee was ready at the rally room at 0830 and demonstrations started at 0900. I talked about the GEO method for maintaining your waste tanks and showed everyone how to make the solution using Pinesol, Calgon Water Softener, and water in a gallon container. I've used this very successfully for many years with no smell or clogs. Next up were Jimmie Andrews and Marla Loring demonstrating their solar generators. Jimmie has a smaller one and Marla has a large one which is very heavy. It was very clear to all that solar generators are not really generators but more like large batteries. Both women had solar panels referred to as suitcase types but again, they were different. Both could be charged via an electrical plug and a 12 volt plug in a vehicle in addition to the solar panels. 

Jimmie talked about knowing how many watts each appliance you want to use takes to run and pointed out that you could find that info on the appliance itself. Both women had various appliances that could be used with their solar generators. Contrary to what many people believe, solar generators generally are not large enough to run air conditioners. We all learned a lot this morning.

After the planned programs, sightseeing and lunch were again on the agenda. Elaine, Mary, Marla, Barb, and I decided to check out the Rockport Marketing Days. It was packed but we lucked out and got a parking place just as someone pulled out. There were lots of crafts and food available.

We also checked out the Castaways Thrift shop recommended by Jimmie. It was a very popular place with a long check out line so we looked by didn't buy anything. Then we went to Benchwarmers/Hudat restaurant also recommended by Jimmie. We gave her a call to verify that she was talking about this restaurant and she met us there. It's a unique place with two restaurants combined so the menu is very large and unique. They have everything from burgers to seafood to oriental food. We all ordered different food and it was great. Definitely a keeper. 

I headed out about 5:15PM to pick up the pizzas for dinner while Barb made a huge salad to go with them. We usually do potlucks on Saturday night but pizza and salad has been a popular change at all our Rockport rallies since it is usually hot. 

The group photo was scheduled for promptly at 6PM. Jimmie instituted the take it right at the time scheduled while she was president. Otherwise those that show up on time end up standing in place forever waiting on those who are late.......so, our picture includes those who were at the rally room at 6PM.

Pizza was good and plentiful and so was the salad. There were a few other items as well since our ladies always like to bring things

Quite a few of us headed to the pool as we did every evening" Nan led a water aerobics class which was a lot of fun. The salt water pool was very relaxing end to the evening.

2021-07-15 TRR Rally Day 2 Dolphin Tour

 Thursday night the guy in the RV next to me was busy washing his RV. Hmmmm. Thursday night about 2AM, it started pouring with thunder and lightning. Coincidence....maybe. I got the first phone call before 7AM from one of the women asking if the Dolphin Tour was cancelled. Obviously, it was too early to call the tour place to ask. I sent out a message to everyone saying I would call them at 0800 to see whether the tour was still on. We were supposed to meet at the park at 8:20 AM to leave for the harbor. The tour operator asked me to call back at 8:30AM because they were still watching the weather. The sun was not out but the rain had moved east and the tour was on. We all headed to Fulton Harbor to the Duck Blind Coffee House which was the meeting place for the Aransas Bay Dolphin Watching Tour. The sky was very overcast but it wasn't raining and actually was perfect for a boat tour because it wasn't blazing hot. View of the marina on the way out.

Lots of picture taking in progress.

We started following a shrimping boat which is a perfect way to see dolphins because they follow the shrimp boats catching breakfast.

There was seating inside with good views out of the windows which could be open or closed but most of our group chose to be out in the bow of the boat most of the trip.

We saw a couple of ships headed into nearby Corpus Christi.

Lots of pelicans gathered on a gravel island that moves based on water current. Since it wasn't mating season, we were actually able to pull right up to the island.

There were about five dolphins following the shrimper.

The boat wasn't a beauty but a working man's boat hard at work. They were followed by dolphins, birds, and us.

The net was being pulled in to empty the catch into containers on board.

Lots of happy faces on this tour. There were about 7 others on the boat in addition to our group.

This is the back of MoonDog restaurant which has outside covered patio seating in addition to inside seating.

Some of the ladies went out to lunch or sightseeing after the tour. Friday night was dinner at Paradise Key Dockside Bar and Grill, a large restaurant on the west end of Rockport that can seat large groups and has good food. Almost everyone wants to eat seafood while on the coast but restaurants have other choices as well. They had a band playing and our wait wasn't too long although they were very busy.