Back in San Antonio

We had to go back for more RV repairs. We now have a new microwave. We hope that the water leak is fixed. Now we’re waiting for a part on the gas stove!

In the meantime, River Walk is gorgeous.

Going to the missions make a great bike ride.

Lake Casa Blanca International State Park

This park is not a do-over. The hikes and camping aren’t bad. But the showers are terrible (dirty and cold water) and the noise on weekends is bad. Apparently, the locals come in on the weekends and stay up late playing music. They also trash the place. On Monday morning, the park is full of people picking up trash. Sad!

It’s spring so the prickly pears are beginning to bloom and starting new pads. The deer are also enjoying the new growth.

Prickly Pear (eaten by deer)

  

There are several different mesquites trees in the park and both are blooming.

Mesquite

Mesquite

Indian Blanket

And the Indian Blankets and Yucca plants are in bloom.

Yucca

Leafcutter Ants

 Goliad State Park has a LOT of ant hills. One was in the camping area and particularly fascinating. The hill itself was maybe 9-10’ diameter and a foot or so high. But the coolest part is when I found ants taking leaves from a tree nearby. The tree was about over 100 feet away from the hill. The ranger told us that the hole ran underground to the ant hill. The tree is normally stripped of leaves in a week or less and survives to grow leaves again.

Apparently leafcutter ants don’t actually eat the leaves. They grow a fungus on the leaves and eat the fungus. I didn’t know that!

The ants moved in a long line all day. Not a job I’d want!

Goliad Texas

A tornado in 1902 demolished a large swath of Goliad. The tornedo destroyed a newly constructed bridge. One iron beam flew almost a mile and landed only a block from the courthouse. The story is that they tried to remove the beam, but it was so deep that it remains to this day where you can see it in someone’s back yard. We heard this story at the local museum; otherwise no one seems to talk about it. Fascinating!

The death toll was over 100 and is listed as the 11^th most deadly tornedo in the U.S. One church collapsed and killed all 50 people inside. There is a mass burial for them in a nearby cemetery.

The downtown museum itself was great. It’s just a few rooms of stuff, but the history and stories that go with it are amazing.  The pictures shows equipment that made brooms including ones long enough to sweep the ceilings of cobwebs.

Near town is the Fannin Battlefield where the battle was fought (in 1836) until Fannin surrendered. There is an iron press screw from a nearby cotton gin that marks the spot where the Texans fought. It was marked by the screw in 1894 so that the spot wouldn’t be lost over time. Later, an obelisk was placed nearby the site. The wildflowers are gorgeous right now.

We’ve been going geocaching around the area. There are quite a few in cemeteries (which I love visiting anyhow). This cemeteries had what I thought was a toy on the wall. Turns out it’s a water sprinkler that moves using water pressure. Not sure why it’s on the wall, but interesting looking.

This cemetery had a different type of stone used for many of the gravestones. I’m not sure if it is a swirled type of granite or marble. The cool part was that some the pictures show a ghost above the grave. OK, it’s a sunbeam. But I didn’t know I was taking a picture of the sunbeam until I saw the picture.

Texas Spring Wild Flowers

Just because I love the spring flowers….

Texas Bluebonnet

Aloe

Pink Evening Primrose

Verbena

White Prickly Poppy

Indian Paintbrush

Dayflower

Spiderwort

Where the Cardinals Go in the Winter

We all know that cardinals go south in the winter. Apparently they go to Texas. We’ve seen flocks of cardinals at Lake Corpus Christi and even more here at Goliad State Park. It’s relaxing to sit outside the RV and count the cardinals. They also have a bird station with feeders and water that attract the birds. This picture shows 5 male cardinals though you need to click on the picture to make it large enough to see them.

Goliad State Park is a good park to stay in. There is a restored mission within the park. The restoration was done in the 1930’s by the CCC. It looks similar to the nearby missions such as San Jose mission in San Antonio.

There are a few hiking trails along with hike/bike trails into town. The area is also big for geocaches in cemeteries. We biked or drove to several and found most of the geocaches.

In town is a “hanging tree”. Court decisions were handled quickly. Plus, apparently not all hangings went through the courts.

General Zaragoza was born near the park. He led a Mexican force against the French. His victory on May 5, 1862 is celebrated as Cinco de Mayo!

Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!

I knew about the Alamo, but I didn’t know the story about Goliad or that it was part of the phrase used during the Texas Revolution. A month after the Alamo occurred (Mexico’s President General Santa Anna killing all the Texas fighters at the Alamo), another battle was fought at Goliad. The Texas side was losing the battle and decided to surrender to the Mexican forces to become prisoners of war. General Santa Anna (who wasn’t in the battle) refused to accept this and sent instructions to kill all the prisoners. The Mexican forces marched 3 groups of the prisoners out to separate fields and executed over 300 people in this massacre. The next month the Texans under Sam Houston rallied and defeated General Santa Anna. Mexico forces retreated leaving Texas to become independent.

This monument is where most of the soldiers are buried.

Some soldiers were saved by the “Angel of Goliad”.

Presidio La Bahia or Fort Defiance also has a church.

I thought Pensacola had a lot of flags over time (5), but there have been 9 different flags that flew over this fort over the years (3 different Texas revolutions, Texas, France, Spain, Mexico, US, Confederate).

Thor Problems, Again! (Thor Freedom Elite 2016)

The RV has been in the shop for five days now and now we are waiting for our 6^th day (1, 2). Which means we have to hang out in the Camping World waiting room. Now our microwave has failed. One would think that would be a quick fix, but apparently not. It’s going to take a month for it to be replaced. I’m not sure if that means they are building a microwave from scratch.  Do I sound bitter? Try living in an RV for a month without a microwave!

Plus, in making the last repair the San Antonio Camping World drilled a hole right through the side making for another potential leak. This is after they had to redrill a bunch of holes for screws that broke. While they sealed the old holes, they are all potential future leaks. 

We had problems with Camping World repairs already. Some items they fixed half-way. Some items they fixed but broke other items while making the first fix. Everything takes a LONG time. Though, it’s better than the Camper Clinic in Rockport. We called there hoping to get better repairs. It was 3 months before they had an open appointment. What?!

Another issue is the overall quality of the RV. The mattress is extremely uncomfortable (along with already collapsing again). We bought a pad for the top. John had to buy and install better vents on the top. The Thor ones were flimsy and it rained inside when it rained outside.

We’re not happy with the quality of the Thor RV or Camping World repairs!