Last Blog From Goliad, but great memories!…

  Today is my last blog from Goliad, Texas.  We will be hitchin’ up the Hiker and moving farther North, and closer to the final leg of our Winter journey this year.  We are heading to Lake Georgetown, which is Northwest of Austin.  It’s always fun to move on and set up in a different neighborhood.  We are staying at an Army Corps Campground, (1/2 price camping for us elderly!), called Cedar Breaks.  Though we  have been there before, each experience brings it’s own surprises…and I usually manage to find some trouble to get into where ever we are!!
I noticed that Northern Illinois got some icy “snain” the last few days…so we say, with love, to all of our dear friends and family back there..it sucks pond water to be  you!!  There isn’t too much new up there back home.  At least nobody has let us know if there is!  We need to call our brother-in-law, Big Fluffy,  who lives 2 blocks from us to make sure our house hasn’t blown up or burned down.
I spoke with our oldest daughter, Terrie, on the phone this morning.  She will be walking in the  Susan G. Komen 3- Day Cancer Walk in Chicago this August 10-12th.  Breast Cancer is always at the top of our causes .  Terrie is walking in honor of our youngest daughter’s best friend, Sandi, who passed away last November, waaay too young,  after a 5 year long battle with Breast Cancer…(Actually, Cancer of any kind runs rampant through our entire family.)



Left is our daughter Chris, with Sandi…when they visited us in Rockport, TX, 2008.
For anyone interested in Terrie’s walk for Sandi, here is the link…Sandi McCool. That should link you to Terrie’s donation page…  Sandi ‘s battle touched our family’s heart in a very special way.

I need to mention something about what they call the  Texas Paddling Trails.  Goliad State Park is on the list for great “paddling”….There are places to put your canoe in the San Antonio River here at the park.

Myself, I would really rather “pedal” than “paddle”….I am not a lover of getting in a water craft smaller than a Bayliner 8 passenger cruiser.  Those canoes and kayaks look like just another way for me to end up “over my head” in trouble.
This morning, McGyver and I went “into town” to have breakfast.  Our original plan was to walk into town, but after checking the radar, we opted to take the GMC…Good thing we did, it rained shortly after we got back.  We ate at a little restaurant called the Empresario. The Empresario is just across from the courthouse in the quaint town square.

Notice in the photo on the right, the top of the building next door.  It was apparently an old furniture store…If you look close you can see the words, “coffins”, left..and “caskets”, right.  Back in the day, the people that ran the local furniture store were also the town undertakers.  I KID YOU NOT!!   “The casket industry originated in the United States in the 1800s. The city funeral director, known as the undertaker, usually operated a furniture store in addition to selling caskets.  Funerals were held at home, the only outside help which a family needed was in supplying the coffin.  Since it was made of wood, it was bought at the store that also sold wooden furniture.  Some people even built their own coffins, if they had the time and talent.  As funerals became more elaborate, the people who ran the furniture stores branched out, to supply a hearse or the other accoutrements of Victorian mourning.  Eventually the modern funeral home as we know it evolved.”  AND  YOU THOUGHT YOU ESCAPED ANOTHER HISTORY LESSON!!!  GOTCHA!!!
The Empresario is much like a bowling alley…in that it is reeeeeeally long and very “deep”…
 
See??? And the kitchen was even farther back, beyond the bathrooms.  I know because I used the bathroom, and had to hail a Taxi to get back to my table..…Roller skates should be issued to all servers…This place also sported some great old tin ceiling tiles, worn wooden floors, and a very “austere” interior…There was only one other table of customers in there and they were the owner’s daughter and grandchildren..I have to say that the breakfast was good, but not “remarkable”.  However, it’s a neat place to visit, and there are NOT a plethora of dining spots in Goliad.

Steve McKinney, the owner, was a very pleasant and personable chap…asking where we were from…HMMM..You mean to tell me that McGyver and I don’t sound like native Texans???…Steve and his wife came from Nashville, where they had a business.  They moved to Goliad to be near their daughter and grandkids…buying this business and never looking back.  Like Steve said, Goliad is NOT for anyone who looking for the “action”…If you’re looking for nightlife here, you could always work the graveyard shift at one of the 2 small local motels.    There isn’t a “pub” to be found here.
I’m thinking, though, that things will be changing in Goliad shortly.  They are building a big new Best Western on the East edge of town, and Rt 59, the main drag, is the new corridor for the new Interstate 69…Yep, things will change when that whole route changes to an interstate…I sure hope it doesn’t change too much….
OK, …We are leaving here Monday morning for Georgetown.  We will be “incommunicado” until Tuesday sometime.  All of you followers,  please pick up all of your personal belongings, sleeping bags, candy wrappers and empty beverage containers….Before you pile into the GMC Monday, make sure you hit the shower house for a potty stop… and I don’t want to hear any whining about wanting  a “Happy Meal”…I have peanut butter crackers in my purse.