Livingston, Texas .... Escapees

We drove from Gainesville, TX to Livingston last Sunday, Lacy traveling in her favorite spot.  It does get a little boring ..... but sometimes, you have to suffer to reap the rewards at the end of the day ....

Lovely roads with lots of greenery.  The colors change late in southern Texas

Here's the entrance to Escapees' Rainbow's End RV Park and National Headquarters

Here's our yard for at least two weeks

Escapees National Headquarters Building

There is a club house with large meeting room and kitchen for events; also, a nice library for book exchange, as well as one for videos 

And, next to the club house a 'rest stop' ice cream shop

Many Escapees take advantage of no state taxes in Texas to establish 'residence' here.  They purchase a lot from the organization and build various kinds of structures that are used, along with their RV, for a stopping-off point during their travels.   This is a sample of one.  They may continue to live in their travel home, but have added storage and room for entertaining and visitors.

Here is the Escapees National Headquarters building just a few feet down the road from my site

Brrr, it was cold ....

When we arrived last week, this area, along with much of the US, was suffering unseasonably cold weather.  The temp was dropping into the low 20s at night and not climbing much higher that the upper 30s during the day.  One afternoon, as I was talking with the checker in a local supermarket she said, "This is the first snow we've had in ten years."  What?  Sure enough, I looked outside to the parking lot and it was snowing!  It was time to get back to Floribunda and curl up in our nice cozy home with some good books.

I've really been in reading mode and this cold snap gave me the perfect excuse to just hunker down with some good reading material and feel very satisfied with my life  Yup, I've read five books in 7 days, a couple of which were really excellent, some just good.  Yesterday, I finished "Killing Lincoln," by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard and thought it excellent reading for history buffs, like myself.  I'm planning to read "Killing Jesus" and "Killing Kennedy," by the same authors, in the near future.  The authors' intention is to give an accurate account of these catastrophic events in chronological  order; they are meant to be an objective presentation of facts from the historical perspective and not any kind of treatise of their personal beliefs and opinions.  "Killing Lincoln" was fast-moving and very informative regarding the last days of the Civil War, the surrender of Robert E. Lee's Confederacy and the events leading up to, and following, the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.


I've made several trips to the exchange library to return already-read books for new adventures.

On Friday and Saturday the weather returned to normal for this time of year, sunny with temperatures in the 60s; so I've ventured out for some drives to get the feel of this part of Texas.  Much of the scenery reminds me of Oregon:  rolling hills, lots of trees and greenery; while some really lets me know I'm in the south:  swamps, swamplands, dense foliage including kudzu, that invading vine that can cause ecological havoc with native flora.  And, everywhere I look ... flags of the US and Texas, and churches galore.  Livingston is a town of about 5 thousand people; I think there must be one church for every ten people!

This morning Lacy and I took a drive around Livingston and out to a neighboring town, Onalaska, on Lake Livingston, about 14 miles from here ...

Lunch with the locals on Saturday across the street from the Polk County Courthouse

Polk County Courthouse; Livingston is the County Seat

Heritage Park, Livingston

Heritage Park historical cabin

Polk County Museum

Texas ranch-style houses in Livingston

Lots of room and lots of greenery

A little view area alongside the main thoroughfare in Livingston 

The "Real Pit" barbecue restaurant

Trees are turning color and losing their leaves all at the same time

Couldn't resist a shot at this Texas "Badman"

Lake Livingston is a reservoir in the East Texas Piney Woods; it was built and is owned and operated by the Trinity River Authority of Texas (TRA) under contract with the City of Houston for water supply purposes.  It encompasses 130 square miles, is located in four Texas counties and has an average depth of 55 feet.

Shots at the KOA RV Park on Lake Livingston

KOA clubhouse and offices in background

Lake Livingston is a large

And, lastly, this is an entrepreneurial effort on the part of some small business owner right outside of Livingston.  I've passed it several times; it puts a smile on my face

That's all for today ... back to my book!

Memories of Thanksgivings Past .... Wishes for Thanksgiving Present

Thanksgiving 2013, Livingston, Texas – Rainbow’s End

My earliest memories of Thanksgiving are from Hackensack, New Jersey.  Dad was stationed at Ellis Island (Statue of Liberty) at that time and we attended the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade in person for two years in a row.  I don’t remember our Thanksgiving dinner, as such; only that we attended Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral and then watched the parade.

A few years later Mom and Dad decided to retire in California; since all our relatives lived on the East Coast, we celebrated each Thanksgiving – just the four of us.  Mom and Dad made all the ‘traditions’ for our family, especially for Jim and me.  Each Thanksgiving morning we attended a thanks-giving Mass at Saint Lucy’s Catholic Church in Campbell, California.  It was a small church, maybe a couple hundred parishioners, at most, and our pastor, Father O’Connelly.  Father O’Connelly, such an appropriate name for a priest, was from Ireland and spoke with a brogue - I have so many great memories of this gentle man and how he shepherded his flock.  We were in attendance every Sunday, every Saturday for catechism, all Holy Days of Obligation and special feasts, too; Thanksgiving was just one of them.

Each year, after Mass, Dad, Jim and I donned our red and white Campbell, California High School colors to attend the annual Campbell High School versus Los Gatos High School football game.  The rivalry between the two schools was fierce and we enjoyed every minute of every Thanksgiving game.  It was the only time I ever went to a football game with my dad, so it remains a special memory for me.  Throughout my childhood we listened to games on the radio and later watched many games on TV, but that one game a year was for attending ‘in person.’

While the three of us were cheering for our local high school, Mom maintained her management of the kitchen at home, creating our traditional turkey dinner.  For many years it even included a turkey raised on our little ranch.  Every year Dad bought some turkey chicks that Jim and I believed we were ‘helping’ to feed and watch grow – mainly we cuddled and played with them.  When Thanksgiving drew near, Mom would get requests for freshly killed turkeys from select customers of her year-round fresh egg sales.  So, in the days preceding the holiday, Dad would slaughter and prepare the most wonderfully dressed turkeys.   They’d been fed and pampered throughout their lives and were magnificent birds.

I marvel, these days, at how wholesome that era of my life was.  I knew at the time those chicks were purchased that they’d eventually become the special-ness of Thanksgiving.  I played with them and coddled them; but always understood their purpose and didn’t hesitate to be a help to Dad on the day they met the end of life.   From year to year I think there were even some who were so well-liked we gave them names.

That yearly Thanksgiving dinner, always served relatively early in the afternoon, always consisted of deliciously roasted turkey, homemade stuffing, creamy gravy, freshly mashed potatoes, mashed rutabagas (turnips), creamed pearl onions, jellied cranberry sauce, home-baked dinner rolls, a relish tray and fruit salad.  For dessert there was always Mom’s homemade pumpkin, mincemeat and apple pies.  Oh, the aromas emanating from that house when we returned, chilly, but not cold, and happy or a little disappointed, at the end of the yearly football rivalry.

One of my favorite recollections about the whole celebration of Thanksgiving was the wonder of LEFTOVERS.  Yes, I’ve always been more enthralled with the leftovers than the freshly made feast.  Because we dined relatively early in the day, there was lots of time to enjoy one, or maybe even a second meal of turkey sandwiches.  Those fabulous sandwiches were de rigueur for several days, excluding the next day, Friday (no meat that day!).  I could hardly wait for Saturday and usually made myself a turkey sandwich for breakfast!

I was married for 32 years and prepared Thanksgiving dinner every single one of those 32 years.  There are so many memories of those years; but that’s for another story.

This year I’m with Lacy and Eleanor in our new lifestyle, motor home living, in our temporary yard at Rainbow’s End in Livingston, Texas.  Yes, I will miss my family and all the tried and true traditions of this special time of the year.   However, I give thanks for all the blessings in my life and for all the memories I share with my family and friends.

I want to wish you all a wonderful holiday and hope the blessings of this day remain with you throughout the coming year.  My thanks and prayers to my brother, Jim and my family, my children:  Jeff, Kari and Spencer, their families, my grandchildren:  Quinn, Addison, Holland, Avery, Tate, Spencer, Malia and Samantha.  And I wish happiness to Rachelle in France.

Happy Thanksgiving America!