I sure wouldn’t want to have been in this site when this tree fell. It was huge.
By climbing this observation tower you can see the Mississippi River
and see Bob hanging on very securely, he does not like heights.
Here I am showing Bob that I did not need my hands when going down the tower!
Within sight of our RV site was this sign.
So we are parked very close to where some of the action was on April 29, 1863.
Our stopover in Livingston, TX provided some time to get our mail and restalk our groceries. It was great to personally go up to the Escapees Mail Forwarding Service outside mail request window and get our mail, you see I miss getting our daily mail. Since I am going to be leaving on Wednesday for a 2-1/2 wk trip to Sacramento, it was time for Bob to learn how to do the laundry.
He was a willing understudy, so hopefully I will not come back to a washer full of dirty clothes.
With an early 8:30 start from Livingston, our drive today was to be around 6 hours to Grand Gulf Military Park, about 10 miles from Port Gibson, MS. All was going as planned until we saw a sign, well, as good as you can see a sign going at 60 mph saying that one way of the upcoming Y had a bridge of with had a clearance of 12’ 3”! Yikes, we are 12’10” (from the original brochure). Now neither of us really saw what the sign said, so after some unpleasant discussion, we took the right hand arm of the Y, went a few miles, still questioning each other. Bob did turn around, he is getting good at turning around in a wide section of the road. So back to the other arm of the Y and within just a few hundred yards saw the warning sign about that 12’3” bridge, so he turned around again and headed back to where he had just come from. This low clearance bridge detour added about 45 minutes to our drive. (Route 63 east of Jasper.)
This is the Mississippi River bridge at Natchez, MS.
We ended up driving about 40 miles on the Natchez Trace. What a nice peaceful drive.
We arrived at the Grand Gulf Military Park around 3:30 pm. We had the choice of any site in the park, so with hoping to get online with both internet and Directv, the upper campground was chosen. The camp host said to use first gear and keep on the gas pedal all the way up, Bob did great, here he is roaring up the hill.
We found a site where we could pull into, face the woods, but still get online, looks like Bob will have a nice site when I am gone.
Side Note: On November 14, 2010 we first entered Texas and stayed in Pecos TX and on April 10 we left Texas, total of 147 days. Guess you can say we spent our winter in Texas.
This is our curved pull through sites at Goliad SP. I was always leery about pulling into these curved sites, but this one worked for us.
This is the Mission Espiritu Santo (1722-1830) which is located within Goliad SP.
Lots of wildflowers were growing around the mission, including Texas Bluebonnets.
These decorations were used on all doors and window shutters at the Mission. They were called nail bosses. They weren’t decorations as I had thought, they were used to strengthen the joint when two boards were put together. I even bought a pair of earrings of this same shape, only much smaller.
We then drove to the nearby Presidio La Bahia, the Fort of the Bay. Below are all of the flags that have flown over this fort since it was established in 1749.
This is the place known in Texas history, as the Goliad Massacre. On March 27, 1836 Col James Walker Fannin and 341 of his men were executed under the orders of General Santa Anna.
This fascinating structure is called the “Our Lady of Loreto Chapel”. This chapel was built within the quadrangle for the sole use of the soldiers and settlers. It has been in continuous use since the 1700s.
I loved the key hole cover of the chapel, also the above (right side) was one of the Chapel’s original doors, it is within the range of being 300 years old.
I took a few photos of the window and door protection before we left this morning. Even the screens are stored inside.
Even the access for RV electric is locked.
After our good byes with Roger, Dianne, Chaplin and Bandito, here we are pulling out of our driveway. We only spend four nights on our lot, but it sure did feel like home!
Check out this checkpoint sign telling everyone about the year to date seizures for drugs and undocumented aliens. Check out Bob’s blog with a photo of when we drove by here in late February heading to the Dallas area, the numbers have changed quite a bit!
We were waved on with only two questions, how many people in the RV and are you US citizens. I am sure the canine did a quick sniff too.
We arrived at Goliad State Park about 2:30, nice treed sites, even our internet satellite works.
Just as we were getting ready to leave to go shopping today, this visitor showed up right behind our lot. This Border Control helicopter appeared to be focused on someone below, but we will never know, as we left for some shopping. (The darker sky spots are on my camera lens - inside), I am looking for a new camera-unless anyone knows how to remove them.
We decided, or Bob will tell you, I decided to cover the windows with a foil covered insulation. Here he is measuring for the door. The Command strips worked well for the door, lets just hope the adhesive holds with the summer heat.
Chaplin, one of the famous dogs from Travel with Whippets, came over to see Bob today. He was just loose for a moment, when he headed directly over to see his newest best friend, Bob. Then he decided a sun bath was in order. Bob loved every minute of it!
Our last night was enjoyed with Roger and Dianne with their new propane camp fire ring. It is hard to believe with the record highs of yesterday, that a fire and jackets felt as good as they did.
Bob did take some time today to check out the coach’s fluid levels. That sure is a long oil dip stick.
Here the coach house sub-contract builder and the superintendent of Esperanza Homes are having a discussion about how our door was hung and how to correct it. Soon it was completed to all of our satisfactions. This photo was taken from our coach window, no way did I want to be part of that conversation.
Weather wise today it was nasty, broke a record high with 103 degrees along with high winds. The haze you see in this photo is a combination of dust and smoke. A small grass fire burned for about 30 minutes about 1.5 miles from us.
Above are some photos of our new home, for a few days before we head north on Wednesday.
I did find some shade for a little while.
Roger and Dianne, our next door neighbors, shared with us our first Happy Hour on our new lot. Bob made some of his wonderful strawberry margaritas and we also had some jello shots (gin and tonic flavor) and sharp cheddar cheese.
Roger even served Bob his wine, nicely done!!
Here Bob is driving to our site, our shortest distance yet, all of two blocks.
Dianne, next door, took a photo of the backing in process. (I borrowed this photo from her last post, thanks!)
We are home!
My first task as a land owner, was to tend to the greenery. A couple of the new plants out front needed some water desperately.
Our first night’s dinner.
