December 16, 2011—Moving Deeper Into Ranch Country
Today we left Whitney, Texas. We were all glad to leave as we spent our entire time there, sick. It also rained most of the time. As we drove away, we saw a lot of neat areas that we missed. The rocky banks of Lake Whitney were so beautiful and filled us with regret that we weren’t able to explore the area.
We realized on the drive to our new destination that fall is finally over. It’s hard to believe that we’ve enjoyed the colorful leaves through the middle of December. Most of today’s drive was on county highways through the back country of Texas. We passed more ranches today—a lot more ranches. None of us have tired of them, however. Most of them are huge, with big gates at each entrance and long drive-ways leading up to incredibly beautiful and large homes. Some of them were so elaborate that we wondered if movie stars lived in them!
The deeper into Texas we drove we saw more palm trees, different varieties of cacti, and (finally!) more Texas Longhorns and Brahmas. The varieties of birds just keep getting more beautiful and more unique. What we didn’t have for color on the leaves, we made up for it with very green grass. It almost looked like spring. With all the rain we’ve had, it wasn’t very surprising.
We drove through several little towns that made us feel as if we stepped back into the time of gun-slingers, saloons, and wagon trains. The store fronts looked to be very old and were very Western. As we were about to approach one very small town Barry noticed a sign that said, “Crawford, Home of President George W. Bush.” It’s a good thing he didn’t blink or we would have missed the entire town. We also drove through a couple of smaller cities with very beautiful and western architecture. The detail on the buildings is amazing and everything is so…well…BIG!
When we got to our new park we finished up school for the week. As it happens, we are studying The Mexican War, Stephen Austin, Sam Houston, The Spanish Missions, the events leading up to the statehood of Texas, the Alamo, etc. Perfect timing as we will be visiting the very places where these people lived and the events happened.
Our cats have seen all kinds of wildlife on this trip. They are curious and seem to enjoy looking out at the different animals. When they see another cat, however, it is horrible! They go crazy. Our male cat starts screaming like a demon and goes after his sister kitty, not realizing who she is. She then starts howling like something from a horror movie. The park we are at has a lot of feral cats. Today has been interesting to say the least. I’m wondering if we will get any sleep tonight. Tomorrow, someone will have to be locked in the bathroom while we sight-see!