And what a beautiful road it was! Up before dawn, so we are watching the sun rise over heavily misted fields in Texas. So many ooo’s and aaah’s that we work up a real appetite for chocolate donuts! It’s a bit longer to drive around the top of Houston, but we are looking at fields and trees, instead of bumpers and tail lights.
Crossing the San Jacinto Bayou, we remember this battle for Texas independence — and the most recent movie about the Alamo. Is this were sumbuddy sings a little of our Texas Road Music? About going down the trail with Charlie and the boyz?
And so I am dropped off at the library for several hours of research while R is visiting with some family. The city of his birth. A lovely day planned with an elderly uncle. He is looking forward to it. But bad news! The history center where I am planning to research has been damaged by hurricane Rita! Not that their website mentions it! They are closed until September!
No matter, sez I. I’ll just walk back to the library and go through their collections of local history. Nope — I am informed that all local history and genealogy collections, including online subscriptions for research, are part of the closed history center. When I challenge them that their website doesn’t mention any of this, they are only mildly apologetic. So I have four+ hours of sitting in the library looking at magazines. It makes me grumpy and very bored.
Once I am sprung from the misery, we visit an old cemetery with unexpected ancestors to be discovered. And then we head for Port Arthur and the “beach”, such as it is. While a shoreline drive held only some alure (sing: how’re you gonna keep up down on the farm after they’ve seen Honolulu), we gathered a few small shells, and looked awestruck at the hurricane devastation still all around us. It was good to finally head back inland and look for a place to hunker down for the evening.
Even that was a little troublesome — as motels everywhere were still under renovation. And there was a decided lack of pylon type signs identifying hotels or restaurants in Lake Charles, LA. We finally found the shrimp and oysters that were on our list of “must haves” — and that ended the day on a good note.
Did I mention how hot it was?
