Drivedocking at an Alpaca Ranch

In my last post, I said we were leaving Lake Pointe Friday morning.....well, you know those jello plans. Willy kept me up almost the entire night barking and fussing so I finally put him on the bed with me but he only slept an hour. In the morning, he was still cranky.....I touched his ear and he got real cranky.  Yup, ear infection with with little brown pieces of wax. I headed back into town where I had some ear drops from his last infection. As I drove, I was thinking that his last infection didn't look quite the same so I called the Vet and got an appo intment first thing. By the time the Vet looked at his ear, it was all goopy. So he prescribed the same medicine along with some antibiotic pills so I got another bottle of the drops to make sure I had enough. Willy wasn't too happy when they cleaned out his ear so he got a little bitty muzzle while they put the drops in. Back at the RV, we had a two and a half hour nap so we didn't feel like zombies anymore and still went to bed early....both things I never do.

So.....Saturday we were off at last. Birdie led the way across country towards Huntsville.

Looks like a lot of motorcyclists out for a Saturday ride and lunch in one of the towns we passed.

 

Our destination was an Alpaca Ranch owned by some close friends of Birdie's. They were off on a trip of their own but graciously gave us their ranch for the weekend. I'm parked on the circle drive and Birdie is just behind me on the right. 

These were our neighbors. They have 5 alpacas, two horses, a couple of great big dogs, and about 3 cats. The big dogs were off visiting with their son so that made it much easier with the dachsies. They got to run around in the big fenced back yard and take lots of walks around the property. Harley got plenty of ball time in too.

It was really pretty there and the weather was beautiful.....a bit cooler and surprisingly little humidity which is unusual for east Texas.

The neighbors were taking care of the animals while Birdie's friends are away. Birdie has stayed there before and taken care of the animals while her friends took trips before too.

The alpacas really are cute with huge eyes and long eyelashes.

We gave them some treats.

They have a "lion" cute from when they were last shirred. Their wool is very popular.

We had a closeup visit with the horses in the barn too.

 

 It was a great weekend. Another friend that lives in the area came over to visit and we got some laundry done and did a little barbequing. Off to Sulphur Louisiana to meet up with the Pink FlaminGoes on Monday.

A View from the Inside....Prison That Is

Some of group members had to leave on Sunday and a few more on Monday. Pat and Martha didn't want to miss Monday's outing to the Texas Prison Museum in Huntsville so Martha drove the rig up so they could head home right after lunch.

With a watch tower right there, you might feel like someone was watching you every minute.

I should point out that the Texas Prison Museum is separate from the actual prison and not run by the prison at all but they have a lot of items used in the prison system there for you to look at. This might seem like a strange place to visit but it is actually one of the most popular tourist attractions in the area. The man behind the desk hustled right out to take a picture so that we could all be in the photo. The two guys working there were really nice.

The prison actually has it's own cemetery.

There were a lot of information boards all around telling you all about the prison system and life there.

Lots of great exhibits too. This cell was actually used in one of the prisons.

There were also a lot of items made by prisoners on display as well.

This is Old Sparky.

There was really a lot to see and read here at the museum. Huntsville had a very well known Rodeo for a long time. There was also information on some of the more famous prisoners as well. There were some surprises in that category.

After we finished up at the museum, we headed to the Farmhouse Café. It wasn't crowded at all when we arrived as we were pretty early. By the time we left, however, all the table were filled and there was a waiting line. I didn't get any pictures of our food but it was delicious! The prices were reasonable and the daily lunch specials which differed every day were a real bargain. They also had a few lunch specials they offered every day. Several of us had chicken fried steak (our waiter said it was the most popular item they serve). Carolyn had grilled chicken and she had more than enough for two meals so one went home with her. They also served us broccoli cheese cornbread and homemade rolls while we waited....we didn't have much of a wait either. The man at the museum told us it was too bad it wasn't Wednesday as they have his favorite....chicken and dumplings. Of course, he also said he picked out his dessert before he even decided what to order for a meal. The pies looked so good that we finally broke down and ordered dessert for the first time. My strawberry pie was a work of art and tasted out of this world.

We said goodbye to Martha and Pat and the rest of us headed back to the RV park. I think we all spent some time getting things like dumping, cleaning tanks, and packing up outside things since it was supposed to rain in the morning. Then we got together and visited for the last time.

Sam Houston.....A Very Big Man

Thursday morning we headed out to the Sam Houston Memorial Museum in Huntsville. We had one stop that we wanted to make before we got there. We wanted to see the huge Sam Houston statue which is alongside I-45 south of Huntsville. While you can see it from the highway, you are not allowed to stop anywhere along the roadside so.....take the exit and head to the Visitor's Center. You will find a nice little center with information on the statue. There is also a gift shop, restrooms, and a nice little parklike area behind the center. You just follow the pathway and.......

you come out right by the gigantic statue of Sam Houston.

This is looking out at the highway.

You have to back up quite a bit to get the whole statue into your camera sites....did I mention that it is big!!!

Our next stop was the Sam Houston Memorial Museum. Looks a little strange to see the printed version where the "u's" look like "v's".

Sam Houston was a very big figure in Texas history. But his life started back in Tennessee. When he was only about 10, he ran away and lived with the Indians several times. He opened a private school for a year which was successful. Then he enlisted in the military. He was badly injured in the war of 1812. Then he became an Indian agent before he decided to study law and pass the bar. He went on to become a Congressman and then Governor of Tennessee.

Houston married 18 year old Eliza Allen but she left him after a very short time. When pressed by an eager young reporter to tell what happened to the marriage, Sam asked the reporter if he could keep a secret. When the reporter said yes, Sam said "so can I" and neither he nor Eliza ever said why they parted. He resigned as Governor shortly after and headed west to live with the Indians again. He became a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and later married an Indian woman named Tiana Rogers. After a period of years, he divorced his Indian wife and left for Texas. Once there, he quickly became involved in the fight for Texas independence from Mexico. He was present for the first Texas Constitutional Convention at Washington-on-the-Brazos. He was named a Major General of the Army of the Republic of Texas and was in Gonzales on his way to San Antonio when he learned that the Alamo had fallen to Santa Ana. He began a retreat known as the "Runaway Scrape". He was strongly criticized for the zigzagging retreat but his real purpose was to train the troops. His 800 men attacked Santa Anna's 1400 men and won a great victory 20 minutes later in the Battle of San Jacinto. He became the President of the Republic of Texas. In 1840, he married Margaret Lea and was elected to a second term as president. When Texas became a state, he was one of the first senators. He eventually went on to become the Governor of Texas....the only man to have been governor of two different states. When Texas seceded from the Union during the Civil War, Houston resigned as Governor as he refused to take an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy. He died of pneumonia in 1863. This is a very interesting museum dedicated to a larger than life man. And then....there is also a village to explore on the grounds.

This house is known as the Steamboat House and is the house where Sam Houston died of pneumonia.

As we walked on through the grounds, we ran into some "watch geese" so we sent Vicki on ahead to see if it was safe.

She herded them off down the path and the rest of us continued on.

The last thing we saw was this interesting turtle. Check out that snout.

Our final stop of the day before heading back was at Carbonero Rotisserie Chicken, a Latin, Salvadorean, American restaurant. The food was delicious and nothing like the rotisserie chicken from the supermarket. Back to the park for more adventures.