JUST WANDERING--- A DAYTRIP

After the lousy week we both experienced, Cheryl and I decided to load the Toyota with some essentials (cold drinks, GPS and camera) and hit the road! We didn’t have a specific destination in mind, just needed to get away for a little while. We started out on I20 and headed toward Texas, every bit of a 10 minute drive from the house. After crossing the state line, we stopped at a rest stop (I know 10 minutes driving and we stopped), mostly so Cheryl could pick up some of those prized travel brochures. :) Since we were so close, we decided to check out Ellie’s RV Park. I had been seeing it advertised on websites and blogs a lot lately. We were not impressed with Ellie’s. It is right on the interstate, sites are close and facilities are minimal. It may be a good overnight stop to rest a few hours on the long haul?

We then decided to head for Lake of the Pines and check out the RV campgrounds. It was a beautiful day and the drive through the Texas countryside was relaxing. It was getting hot outside, but with the help of Mr. A/C we stayed cool enough (a little of Tioga George writing style). :) The first campground we visited was a Corp of Engineer park named Buckhorn. We had been there about 4 or 5 years ago, but man it has changed! They have added sites and it seems a little more compacted. There are sites that still have space between and the views are great. There were plenty of folks out enjoying the water on this hot and humid day.



We then went across the dam and visited another COE campground, Brushy Creek. The sites here are a bit close too, but again you can find a couple with adequate space. I kept noticing the picnic tables and the various ways folks were securing their tablecloths :) , man they need the stable tablecloth, I should have brought a few with us! :)






After checking out those campgrounds, we started back across the dam to head into Jefferson, Texas. Before we got across the dam, we spotted some people fishing in the spillway and decided to drive down to check out the action. We saw a few people fishing, no catching, just fishing.



I spotted this one guy holding a bow and arrow, watching the water intensely. Suddenly he drew back the bow and cut loose with an arrow! He then reeled in a large fish, couldn’t tell what kind from where I was standing. I wish I had caught that on camera! He had a line on the arrow, attached to a reel on the bow. I watched a while longer and he took one more shot, but missed.



This family was also catching a few “mini whoppers”. :)



We didn’t watch the fishing too long, it was long past lunchtime and my stomach was growling. We drove into Jefferson and began our search for lunch. Jefferson, Texas is a quaint little southern town with mostly turn of the century buildings, vintage style lamp posts, elegant old churches and some of the streets are brick. The architecture around the community is Greek Revival, Neoclassic, Victorian and Italianate. Now before you get too impressed with my abounding knowledge, I read all that on a sign. :)





We passed a few little café s in the downtown area, but it wasn’t until I came upon “The Hamburger Store”, with the parking lot packed with cars, that we decided, “this is the place to eat”. The Hamburger Store at 101 North Market is a unique little café specializes in hamburgers of course, but not only the regular run of the meal burgers, they also serve specialty burgers such as avocado bacon burgers. Of course you know what we ordered? We had the chicken fried steak (always have to be different) :) They also have homemade meringue pies with the meringue mounded on the pie like a small mountain! I had to steer clear of those, but they did look delicious!




Another aspect of this unique little café is that every wall in the place was covered with one dollar bills that patrons had pinned to the wall. The waitress told us that started back with the evacuees from hurricane Katrina were sheltering in the area. It seems that a pastor that had a group of evacuees there had taken a love offering for the owner of the café for his kindness and help. The owner would not accept the offering, feeling the evacuees needed the money more. The pastor being persistent brought his group in and they all pinned money to the walls. Now customers are writing messages on the money and still pinning it to the wall. I started to pin the tip to the wall, but didn’t have a pin, besides if I did the waitress probably wouldn’t get it.:)





The local "tour bus"



The town meeting place:



We were on the way out of Jefferson when we spotted one more RV campground. We thought this one was especially unique (check out the bath house). :)





I would have taken some pictures of the RVs parked in the campground, but there weren't any that I could find. :)

Until next time, remember each day of life is truly a gift from God, unwrap your gift slowly and enjoy every minute.......... :)