2015 Trip - Austin, TX to League City, TX

Tues. 5/19… (Austin, TX) Last day in Austin area. Rick and Janie were going off to visit with Zel, but changed their mind.  Bill & Treasa are going to the movies.  We decided to drive around the Austin downtown area.  We had seen much about the city on TV and heard about their unofficial slogan ‘Keep Austin Weird’. So we explored the area a bit and then went to the grocery store. The girls have been seeing supermarkets all around Texas called HEB.    We got curious and checked the good old web. Named after the founder, Howard Edward Butt, it grew into a corporation employing 80,000 people. I’m glad they didn’t name it ‘Butts Grocery’.  We have Butts on every corner in Texas!  J  After everyone got home we decided on Golden Corral for dinner.  They have just opened on right across I35 from our campground.  The place was a bit disorganized but we finally found Cory who helped us at our table.  The food was ok, some really good, some buffet food.  This is our third GC (not on this trip) so we’ll try others along the way as we travel. We (ok, Lydia) did a load of laundry.  We have been using our washer/dryer in the rig pretty regularly but once in a while she wants to do jeans and blankets when we can use the campground laundry. More machines, less time. We watched Monday night’s DWTS before going to bed.  We will watch the finale tomorrow afternoon.        

 

Wed. 5/20… (College Station, TX)  We pulled out about 9:15 this morning for the 104 mile run to College Station.  It was a really pretty drive off the interstate through farmlands and ranches. We made a fuel stop along the way and while we were in the store, Bailey decided to drive again.

 

While traveling, Lydia called my sister to ask her to mail our Chevron gas card (ours expires in June).  We’ve set it up for the New Iberia campground, so hopefully get it then. We got in to town and are actually a ways away from College Station, in a little town called Bryan at the Primrose Lane MH & RV Park.  This is another Passport America park.  PA parks are usually either out of the major travel paths or don’t offer many amenities.  This is both of those but it’s clean and the spaces are easy in and out.  We are here for two nights.

 

Before we set up the inside we did a pretty good cleaning which was needed from the dust and mud we have tracked in the last few days. Janie made dinner, flautas, rice, beans, chips and strawberry shortcake for dessert.  Yummy!  After dinner, we headed home to watch the season finale of DWTS.  We liked the outcome.  America got it right!

Thurs. 5/21… (College Station, TX)  The plan for these two days was to go to the George H W Bush Presidential Library and then to Blue Bell Creamery.  It turns out that Blue Bell is still closed and the plant is cleaning, retooling and sterilizing due to a Listeria breakout a while back.  So that is out.  We took off around 9:00am and found the Kettle for breakfast.  Not bad and reasonably priced too.  Good choice.  Next we made our way to the Texas A & M University campus where the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum is located.  AAA plus senior discount got us in for $5.00 ea. and off we went.  This is the senior Bush (George H W).  This museum was really nice!  You follow Bush’s life from birth through his service, then college and marriage and then into his political career.  There are many, many interesting exhibits.  This is a touch and feel museum.  You are even allowed to sit behind his desk in the Oval Office!  (see pics). Although he served only one term he did make an impact on the US. He and Barbara seemed to both enjoy their time in the White House as well as family time in their summer home in Kennebunkport MA.

 

On the grounds we saw the rose garden area and their future burial site in a nice wooded area beyond the pond and gardens.  Their daughter Robin (1949-53 who died from leukemia) is buried there.

 

 

After that, we made our way back home to rest for a while.  I needed to find a Lowe’s to replace a couple of fluorescent tubes in our bathroom so Bill and I made that run while the others rested.  Lydia looked up quilt stores and found one in the area so she and Janie headed off to find that.  Treasa is cooking tonight. We had short ribs, potatoes, veggies, and lemon bars which were very good.  Eating in like we have been doing mixes it up a bit and the girls decided to take turns making dinner so that seems to be working out too.  All good meals!  We talked about our route tomorrow.  We drive southeast to Houston and then work our way south to League City. Afterward, we took Bailey out for a walk.  Lydia said ‘Take her off the leash and let her run’. She got into a boggy grass area and ran wild.  See the picture below.  It smelled so bad we had to take her right in to the shower to bathe her!          

 

Fri. 5/22… (League City, TX) Today’s drive was 140 miles. The day started out pretty rough for us.  I have a sticky lock on my tow bar so I have to hook up and make sure both arms are locked.  I pulled out about a foot and heard a pop!  The arm lock came loose.  I had Lydia pull the coach up and locked it no problem.  But we were now committed to turn left out of our space which made the right turn out of the park impossible.  So I turned left and went down a residential street to go around the block.  Turns out it was a cul-de-sac!  But after jockeying around for a few minutes we made it out.  The drive took us into the greater Houston area, which meant greater Houston traffic!  But we got through it ok and arrived at Safari Mobile Home Community and RV Park in League City, TX. 

 

 

We chose this park as it is between Houston and Galveston, both of which we plan to visit while here. This is a nice place. More of a mobile home park with a few RV spaces but it works for us. We’re in the trees but I was still able to get a signal from the roof satellite dish.  Still waiting to have to pull out the remote at one of our stops! We went to HEB and got a few things as Lydia fixed a chicken casserole dish with salad.  We found fresh lemon meringue pie so that was our dessert.  Everyone enjoyed it all.  Tomorrow we plan to go to the Johnson Space Center.  

 

Sat. 5/23… (League City, TX)   We ate in and left around 10:00am.  The Johnson Space Center is a big place!  We had seen it before (in 1987) but it was totally different this time! Treasa found some discount tickets at the RV park so we got in for $10.95 ea. senior discount which was half price.  Cool!  We decided to take the red tram tour first (the line was shortest). It went to the space station full scale mockup plus the Saturn 5 rocket building.  On the way there we were told this was ranch property and they maintained livestock (longhorns) there still today. 

 

In the mockup building we went upstairs and viewed the room from a walkway.  Pretty cool how they simulate space in there!  All of the astronauts trained there before their flights.

 

On the way back we stopped at the Saturn 5 rocket building.  When we were last here this exhibit was outside and has since been moved indoors due to deterioration from the elements.

 

 

Once back at the center we had a quick lunch (very good) and then went back for the blue tour which went to the mission launch control center.  We saw they older control room back in 87 so this was way more modern.  They will use it again as the next program ramps up and it will be off the tour then so we were lucky.

 

After both tours we wandered in the large space center complex.  They had exhibits, demos, simulators and movies and you moved through at your own pace.  This is Memorial Day weekend so it was pretty crowded.

After we got tired we headed home and Janie fixed dinner tonight – corn chowder, biscuits, salad and cake.  Yummy! I decided to walk the dog to the baseball complex across the street from our campground.  They play little league equivalent ball here and the place was very well maintained.  I didn’t go in because I had Bailey but what I saw was nice.

 



Tomorrow we head to Galveston.