Texas - Day 46 - Bastrop, Elgin & Little River

Fort Parker State Park, Mexia

Friday, 18 December 2020

My departure from Bastrop State Park was delayed a while this morning for a doctor visit.  My wonderful doctor, Dr. Sheila Shung, does all her office visits online these days.  But since my computer refuses - absolutely refuses - to allow that connection, she just calls me on the phone, which meant I needed to be somewhere with a decent phone signal when she called.  So I stayed at my campsite for a while this morning.

She told me to get some lab work done - a blood test to be done after I spent several days drinking no more than 1500 cc's of fluids/day.  That's any kind of fluid.  Of course I first had to look up how much 1500 cc's is in real life (6⅓ cups), and then to realize that after my morning coffee and evening Scotch, I wouldn't be left with much room for any other fluids (soup, tomato juice, water).  Hard to wrap my head around that kind of deprivation.  And she also wanted me to provide a 24-hour specimen of urine, for which I'd pick up the supplies when I did the blood bit.  Charming office visit.  But she's so obviously competent, and so willing to listen and to experiment with alternatives if I can't follow the usual route, and so reassuring all the way around, that I feel extremely lucky to have found her.

As I walked the dogs for the last time before we left, I came across some informational signs about Bastrop State Park.  

I had remembered Bastrop was
part of the Lost Pines but couldn't
remember what that meant, so I 
was glad to see this sign.

This sign is a reminder that east Texas has had
deep-seated racial prejudice for a very long time.

today's route

Bastrop

My first stop was about a mile down the road in Bastrop, which is the county seat.

Bastrop County Courthouse
in Bastrop

This building (left) was immediately next door to the courthouse, and with the bars on the windows looked like it might have once been the jail.  The courthouse was built in 1883, and looks to me like it's built in a completely different style.  But having no knowledge whatever of architecture, I'm just saying they look different.  Still, they're the only 2 buildings on this courthouse square, so it's logical to think they're connected in some way.  

From there I went to get propane from the local dealer, which turned out to be more difficult than I expected.  The street in front had been so thoroughly torn up by road crews it was almost dangerous just to be near it.  I came to the business from the side street, which meant I could barely get to the propane pump.  I had to track down the owner (and sole worker), who didn't bother to come help me until I asked him.  He had a hand-lettered sign in his office saying everyone who came in needed to wear a mask, but he didn't look like he even owned a mask, let alone ever wore one.  I kept mine on and kept my distance, but I sure hated to hand him my credit card when it came time to pay for the propane.  I wondered whether, if I'd wiped it thoroughly with a disinfecting cloth, that would cause trouble for the magnetic strip on the back.  But I got my propane.

On the road

Less than 20 miles up the road is Elgin, pop. 8,132, and famous in these parts for its sausage.  Well, barbecue too, but really the sausage, so of course I had to buy some while I was there.  The best known, and arguably the best, place for Elgin sausage is at Southside Market, and I had a lot of trouble getting to it: it was on the opposite side of a very busy road right at an extremely busy intersection, and my RV isn't the 0-to-60-in-6-seconds type of vehicle.  But I got a batch of sausage and started on it for lunch right there.  And it really was good.

I went through Taylor, which now has an estimated population of 17,383.  My college sorority Big Sister was from Taylor, and way back then it was about half of that.  But it still had some beautiful old buildings downtown and a motto of "Friendly As A Texan's Smile."

In Circleville (no stated population), on the side of someone's garage I saw the following message: "Fuzzie Was He."  I wish I knew what that was about.

I came to the town of Bartlett, pop. 1,675, and found a very attractive but apparently deserted old downtown, which didn't make sense if there were so many folks living here.  Then, just on the outskirts of town I passed St. John Lutheran Church, a large brick church with an old, Teutonic look about it, and I wondered about the immigrant population that had likely settled this area.  I mean, it'd take a decent-sized congregation to keep supporting a church that size.  And when I looked it up, I found this website that not only explained a little about the town's history but also had photos of both the downtown and the church.   https://www.tripstodiscover.com/bartlett-texas  On another website I learned that it was, in fact, primarily Germans who first settled around here, and church services were conducted in German for years.

On my drive today, the scenery was entirely farms, pecan orchards and small towns.  Goats, probably dairy cows and more farms.  Very pleasant.

I came to the united town of Little River-Academy, pop. 1,961.  They were separate towns a few miles apart until 1989, when they joined primarily for financial reasons.  My daddy was born in Little River and my grandparents are buried there, which is why I know anything about it.  

I first visited the graves of my aunt Alice and uncle Tom in Reed's Lake Cemetery, about 4 miles from town.  It's a good thing I'd been there before because Google had trouble giving me intelligible directions.

graves of Tom and Alice Wohleb -
it's clear from the many graves for Wohlebs that
the family lived in this area for many years

historical marker at the cemetery

One of my all-time favorite gravestones -
I'm glad to see Mr. Harris is still with
us, now at age 94 and presumably
with his sense of humor still intact
(note the inscription).

From there, I went to the Little River-Wilson Valley Cemetery, where my grandparents are buried.  

The "tabernacle" mentioned in the historical
marker (above left) used to be in the blank area
above, but has been torn down.  I have no
idea why it was called a tabernacle since it 
was nothing more than a large covered area
where people could sit for funeral services.

graves of Elizabeth and William Gregory
My grandmother was 80 when she died, my grandfather only 60 -
the men in our family usually died young,
but the women have always stuck it out longer.  I expect to, too.

infant son, died 1918

nearly infant son, died 1916

These seem to be some of the infant deaths mentioned in the historical marker.

Continuing north, I saw hints of who the original settlers had been in the names of towns I passed: Hruskaville, Zabcikville, Westphalia.

In Marlin, pop. 6,628, I stumbled on a county courthouse I hadn't known was there.

Falls County Courthouse, in Marlin

This is an internet photo, but it's also what I saw.  The original architects of many of these old courthouses would likely deplore how many façades have been covered up by oak trees planted for shade, in the days before air conditioning.

Marlin still had its old downtown, and I saw lots of signs of active renovation going on all over town.

At McClanahan, I saw a whole herd of some foreign animal; it was smaller than a deer, very slender and delicate-looking, a few with long thin horns that stick straight up.  I have no idea what critter they were.  And not far away I saw a small herd of bison.

I passed the turn for Ben Hur.  I had to look that up and learned it was originally named Cottonwood, but when it got its post office in 1895, it changed its name to Ben Hur because of there already being several other towns named Cottonwood.  The name came from a resident who greatly admired Lew Wallace's 1880 book of that name.  I tend to forget it was a book because the movie came out in 1959 when I was a kid and, thus, became my frame of reference for the name.

At Fort Parker State Park, I found this historical marker about the CCC crew that built it.

And I got this somewhat blurry photo of the sunset, but it shows some lovely colors.