The 2006 Travels of Richard n Shirley

More of the little community of Goliad. The infamous "hanging tree" by the court house. The plaque stated that the verdict of the court was carried out immediatly. That was back a hundred and forty years ago.

Nice little town. The super center is in Victoria which is east of here about 25 miles and we found this day gas at $1.88.9. There is a nice shopping center on the northside of town with major stores and another center across the street with Best Buy, Pets Mart, etc.




The railraod was a major industry here till sometime in the past when the economic climate changed. In this pic is the removed bridge over the road. On down the rail line is the metal bridge over the San Antonio River which circles this state park. Take time to see the mission here too.

There is some attractions here that we will get pics of tomorrow or later.

We are going to try out another blogg and see how it works.

A view of part of the town square business's. We had lunch at Lisa's Hacienda on the square. Very good Mexican food. Her place is small but worth the wait. Prices are moderate.

After lunch we walked the square and took some pics of the county court house. It was built in 1894 and it is pretty to look at.

My best guess is it is made of a white limestone or granit stone. There was lots of wrought iron work on the third floor balconies and the upper roof area.


From this pic is the spelling out of the courthouse in the wrought iron on the north and front of the building. The east and west sides have entry doors but not the south.

These pics are of the north entry face of the building. The pics in the picture link are of the east face and clock tower or spire.


It's a good looking building.





There are numerous historical markers around the building. The most known is the "Remember Goliad" shouted by General Sam Houston's men. Look up this history and of Col. Fannin and his men who died here.

Not posted today is a famous tree on the square. It is visible to the left in this pic. This is one of the reasons we, DW, came here. I came here for the history.

There is more to see and I will post it later.

We are at Goliad, TX in the state park campground. We parked in space 7 and we have full hookups for a week. We got the state park card for both of us at $75 and our fee for a week is $90. The card is good for a year and we should get some 1/2 price camping in the mail with the card. We have no perks, swimming pools, club house, hot tub or close neighbors.

As you can see in the pics our neighbors are not right next door. That is one of two reasons we are not using commerical parks. I think you can guess the other.


This pic is of our place from across the park. Look at the trees. Pretty but a problem for satellite tv and internet. Our space 7, 6, 16, and 18 work for both. All but 7 are on the other side of the road and allow the dish to get above the trees.

All the spaces are pull thur, or spurs. There is not any back ends here. There is one shower bldg. And there all only 20 spaces, all reservable.




A door side view with table, fire ring and lantern holder. All our hookups are on the road side. A real pretty location.

We will wash the clothes and let the budget catchup. We gassed up in Fort worth and again in Salado, TX and we will probably gas up again at our next stop. So far we have paid $1.97 and 2.09 for a gallon. At these prices we can move around a little more. We have seen the prices at $2.15 across or down the street from $2.05. Look around as there is probably cheaper gas. By our moving around the 125-150 mileage we can drive the suv and sightsee in a 50 mile radius which is easier on the gas. With our camping spending at $15 per night, or free when we can, gas is our next big budget item. Parking the RV is a major help in that department. This use of the toad is what we have been doing with the car.

From here we will go to Three Rivers, TX (off I37) and then to Lake Corpus Christi, Kingsviile, and on to the RGV. Probably stay a week each as we move south. Our plans are to spend Nov and Dec in south Texas before heading to AZ in Jan. Feb and Mar are yet to be planned. We do want to go to Utah. After Utah, ?????

RV mileage for Oct: 463, $154 for gas
Car mileage for Oct: 736, $56 for gas. This is the last entry for the Cavalier.
Suv mileage for Sep: 650, $28.50 (first tank free)
Suv mileage for Oct: 1450, $106.60
Suv towed mileage: 281 for Oct only. In Sep, the suv was a chase car.
Forecast: 42 this morning, 68 with sun this afternoon

We will be here a week, rain is forecast into next week. Its late in the day and getting cooler so no pics till tomorrow.

Mileage: 140 with a side trip to Floresville
Temp: 59 now, 45 forecast low tonight
GPS: N28* 39.278', W97* 23.264'

We will be moving tomorrow morning. Our destination is toward Three Rivers, TX and the lake and state park there. Its warmer there too. We could stop on the way but we wont know till tomorrow. Our next post will be from that stop. All of our pics for this area are on our pic link.

These pics are of Gruene, TX where we went this morning. Not alot to see. But a good place to eat was the grissmill. It was behind the dance hall.




The water tower is pretty old from looking at it. It sets by the grissmill.

The river goes thru town and is the local "tubing" recreation. The water fall is just up from the bridge over the river. All of the local tubing companies are closed for the season. We know this as we stopped at one here and was so told. We have been looking for post cards to mail but so far no luck.

Photos of the deer we have from today. These we say driving into the park after our trip to Gruene, TX. These deer are very tame and will not run as most we have seen.






























The pictures are not in any order here and were taken in a different order than shown.

I am going to look for a better blog hosting site than this. My complaints are long and now very iritating. This posting took several hours to get posted after many server down problems that seem to be from mid morming to late afternoon every day.

The cold front as it came in yesterday. This morning around 6 am we got some showers and thats been it. The radar shows the rain off to our east. Its a cool morning so far.


We will probably go sightseeing today and check out the towns around us. Seems like lots of places to eat as we came in. We are 25 miles west off I35. This is a large campground with tent sites galore.

Temp: low of 56, 58 now with 65 forecast, 20% chance of rain.

If you have not, PLEASE enter your location on the map so we can see where our readers are.

Look at the critters by the lake. There is lots of deer here and more than the last stop. These are friendlier and will stand. They are also the brown clor of the locality.

Notice the continuing drought. Its as dry here as the DFW area. This is part of the sever drought area of the state.





A front view of our space. Not very pretty here.







And a view of our right side to the back where our table is. All of this is brown and dry.

We will stay here a couple of days and then head toward Kingsville, TX. If you know of sights to see toward Kingsville, let us know.



Temp: 82 with a forecast hight of 88
Mileage: 127 from camp to camp
GPS: N29* 54.282', W98*15.738'

The front view of our space here at Stillhouse Hollow Lake, Union Grove campground, space 2. They have red sand for the table area and a sitting area. All the spaces are asphalt with most having a seperate parking for the toad. We are in the 50 amp space, 1-14. The 30 amp is 15-37 and around the peninsula from us. They have a closer access to the water.

My only complaint is the posts are to close to the backin's. So watch that when you find a spot. They do have some pull outs. Price is $18.00 for 50 amp and $16.00 for 30 amp. Then apply the 50% for the Golden Age card.


Here is a deer with horns (no, thats cows) or is it a rack (no, thats a woman) so it must be a antlers. Yea, its antlers. The only one we saw. Lucky guy has made it this far without being shot.


Their color goes with the brown we have here. They are not pretty like the ones in IL or the other states to the north.And I thought we had it better than the other 49 states. Maybe we do and I'm to old to know it.


We found this bronze statue near the place we had lunch. This is a woman washing clothes by the stream here, the Salado Creek.

She is a donation to the town. Her name is shown in the plaque by the bench. This area is a park.

We had lunch at the Stage Coach Inn. DW had REAL chicken fried steak and I had beef stroganoff with noodles plus the veggies. Really good. Our waitress verbally gave us the menu and this is the tradition there since day one, in the mid 1800's. Desert was included in the price of $30.50 plus tip, peach cobbler with ice cream (yummy). As DW just said, we paid for the atmosphere, where the outlaws ate, Captain Robert E Lee, Jr and others. There is a grocery here and a couple of gas stations.

I did find out that my brother Jim had a quintuple bypass (thats five) a week ago. He is doing great and is going home to his daughters house in Dallas. He will get to go home to NM in a couple of weeks per his Dr's instruction. I welcomed him to the "Zipper Club".

Many have but if you have not, please sign my map so I can see where you are Thanks!!

Tomorrow is moving day. More adventures to see.

We are located at Stillhouse Hollow Lake, Union Grove Park campground, space 2 by the lake. Again, BY THE LAKE. Shirley picked this spot because of the friendly critters, deer.

This is a front view of our spot with the lake in the background. And this was our first time to tow our suv. I guess its a success when it will go into gear after we get there. It did! Success!



A better view of the lake. Very nice.


The only drawback is the brown grass. Lack of rain here too. This area is in the sever drought of central Texas.




Here is a view of some of the spaces down from ours. Our neighbor there is in 3 and 4 is beyond. The pull outs are long enough for a 40 footer with exception of #6 here. We are in the 50 amp sites, 1-14, and our cost is $18 less the Golden age card. The 30 amp sites are 15 thru 37 around the peninsula in the background. All of the 30 amp sites are closer to the water to go fishing from the bank.


Tomorrow we will post more pics, including the DEER. And its sightseeing in Salado too.

If you have not, PLEASE sign my map.

Temp: 81 with clear, blue skies
Mileage: 154 from our last camp
GPS: N31* 00.612', W97* 36.870'

We are packing and moving out this morning, actually about mid morning. DW's car is in the garage till she comes back. The suv will be towed for the first time. tanks are empty, water is full, and gas in the rv to get us there. Gas in Weatheford was $1.99.9 yesterday.

We are headed to Salado for the first stop. Thats down I35W about 3 hours. We will stay a day or two before we move on. If we stay two days, the internet dish will be set-up. Other wise we will set it up at the next stop, if we stay long enough.

We have planned stops and there will be some unplanned stops. Our travels are for Nov and Dec here in south Texas and then in Jan we will head to AZ and "Q", Yuma and see if we can do some gold hunting with "Breakin Wind".

Stay around as there will be lots of pics to post and stories to tell. DW And I will shop, sightsee and what ever comes along. Time to unplug and go.

Temp: 42 here, 49 where we are going.