Traveling with the Longdogs

2026-7-8 La Grange Visitor's Center

The' La Grange Texas Ramblin' Roses Rally didn't start until Tuesday but I booked a week's stay and had to leave the following Monday so I arrived on Monday. I thought I would be the only one there but
"surprise", Kathy, Diana, Emma, and Frankie also arrived on Monday. Elaine was already there as she came in on the Friday before.

We decided to head over to Sealand Seafood & Steak Restaurant for dinner. A "Happy Hour" time was had by all. The next evening was check in time for the rally.

Wednesday morning co-host Barb had the coffee all ready at 8:30 AM. I was really grateful she volunteered to do that each day as I try to walk early before it heats up.

Our next agenda item was to head out to the La Grange Visitor's Center.

As you can see, not everyone was up to visit the Visitor's Center as some had been there before.

The Visitor's Center is actually located in te Casino Hall which isn't really a regular casino at all. The last time I was here, we were able to go upstairs to see the big hall where events were held but this time they were concerned about the safety of the floor so that was a no go.

La Grange is located in Fayette County. Knowing the county you are in when you travel in an RV is important in case of bad weather as info is often given by county.

There was a lot of pictoral info given about the town through the years.

Have you ever seen the movie "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas"? Well this is supposedly a replica of the inside. The "Chicken Ranch" as it was called is no longer in La Grange. I think part of it was moved to north Texas and the rest is just gone.

If you are a fan of ZZ Top, they played here in La Grange and actually had a song called La Grange.

We had a rally in La Grange a number of years ago and several of our members who shall remain nameless "Judy, Anne...." dressed up and entertained us at the rally.

Texas is known for it's beautiful Courthouses and the Fayette County one in La Grange certainly deserves that description.

The inside is even more amazing and has a feature you don't usually see.....a beautiful courtyard with a fountain.

The rest of the day was free and we did a little more exploring around the square.

The original plan for dinner was took hot dogs on my grill for everyone at my RV site. Elaine and I both brought our canopies so we could set them up facing the pond so we would have some shade. As Elaine and I did our 1/2 mile walk for the second day, we noticed that no one had canopies up including the manager and longer term guests. Oh, oh. On to plan B. We always have a plan B as you just have to be prepared. So plan B was to set up at one of the tow covered picnic tables at the end of the pond. Hmmm. Parking might be a problem and it was really, really hot. On to plan C.

If you look through the window at the back, you can see Elaine's truck parked across from the door. Plan C = my grill on her tailgate and us all eating inside in the nice cool air. Yay for plan C.

All beef hot dogs plus 2 veggie dogs for one member plus Elaine's great potato salad as well as all the fixing including chili plus other salads and deserts brought by members.

Hot dog night was a big success.

After dinner was time for games. Rummikub and Mexican Train are very popular group games but Jimmie, Elaine, and Shelley spent a lot of time at the rally learning to play mahjong following directions on the phone.

2026-6-16 Anniversary Trip to Corpus Christi

Our 56th anniversary rolled around right after I came home from the last rally at Canyon Lake. It's always so hard to come up with presents we want or need so I suggested a trip instead. Naturally Dave was not enthused about going in the RV but I was okay with that as long as we got to go someplace. He suggested Corpus Christi or Wichita Falls and I jumped on Corpus Christi. we actually through Galveston into the mix which would have been even better but the weather report was against that idea. It rained on our way south but cleared up for the rest of the trip.

I made a reservation at Hawthorne Suites through Booking.com. Xena had a sleepover with her buddy Angus at Steve and Helen's and we were off.

The hotel was decent although not quite as pretty as the pictures look.

The next day we drove across the bridge to Padre Island and went out to the National Seashore. I don't think Dave had ever been there but it was where I got my lifetime National Park Senior pass.

We drove all over the park and spent some time at the headquarters building.

This was an interesting mosaic of various badges of sealife.

Looking down at the beach.

We stopped at another steak place for dinner and it just didn't feel right so we left. Dave had me call Steve because he remembered a really great steak that they had at a restaurant in Wichita Falls on a motorcycle trip. It turned out to be Texas Roadhouse. We had the ribeye and it was really good although the service left something to be desired. I think the waiter was new and he really didn't have a good handle on the job.

After dinner, we drove down along the beach to see the sunset.

I had heard so much about the fantastic lighting on the new bridge that I really wanted to see it. It was nice but not quite what I was expecting. But it was still a nice experience.

We had a little miscommunication about whether we were staying a third night so we ended up heading home. Along the way, Dave had a wild hair about going to see some town he had seen on the map and talked about visiting on the motorcycles one day. Another call to Steve nailed it down as "Bigfoot". Can you see a pattern here? I found it on my Goggle maps and we changed directions. It is a very tiny spot on the map.....so tiny that there isn't even an actual town sign with population. But there is a museum. Of course, it is only open one weekend a month and this wasn't that weekend but we walked around anyway.

It is the Bigfoot Wallace Museum.

It turns out that Bigfoot Wallace was actually William Alexander Wallace. This was in front of a small community center.....also closed.

While the town does not have a sign, they do have a post office. I guess that makes it official.

We ended outrside trip with a stop at a Dairy Queen in the closest actual town. Xena had a wonderful time at Steve and Helen's with her buddy Angus. All four of them slept in the King size bed. But she was very happy to see us never the less.