Texas - Day 131 - Smithville to Lake Corpus Christi

Lake Corpus Christi State Park, Mathis
Sunday, 14 March 2021

It was darker when we got up in Buescher State Park this morning than I've seen a campground in ages.  The difference with state campgrounds is that KOAs are usually very well lighted, and even at Cedar Hill State Park we had a full moon and there was so much reflected light when it snowed that I didn't even need a flashlight at 4:30 AM.  Here it was overcast so I couldn't see stars, but the darkness was nice for a change.

today's route

The weather forecast said to expect a 90% chance of rain last night, so when we still didn't have any by the time of our early walks, I figured we'd dodged it.  Actually, it was just late, and the rain started as we were leaving the campground.

Today's route didn't include going through Smithville, pop. 3,817 (setting for the Sandra Bullock movie Hope Floats), but because it's only a couple of miles from the campground I went there for gas and groceries.  When I asked the clerk in the grocery store if it was a nice place to live, she said, "Yes and no.  Everybody knows everybody - but everybody knows everybody's business."  Pretty typical small-town situation, though I think this is the first time anybody's said that to me.

The rain kept up for a good part of the day, quite heavy at times.  Several times during the day the windows suddenly all fogged up, which was pretty scary to happen when I'm driving down the road.  Each time it turned out to be fog on the outside of the windows, not in the cabin as I'd thought. 

The town of Schulenburg, pop. 2,852, is home to the Stanzel Model Aircraft Museum.  The museum says the Stanzel brothers designed and manufactured "some of the most popular 20th century model aircraft kits in the world."

In one field, every single cow was facing exactly the same odd angle while they were grazing.  I've seen most of the cows in a herd put their tails to the wind often enough, but this time they were all doing it, even the calves.

We stopped for a quick walk in Hallettsville, pop. 2,550, which celebrates a Kolache Fest each year.  It also turned out to be a county seat, which I hadn't realized when I planned today's route - I just stumbled on the courthouse.  Actually, a little research in my own blog tells me I've included this courthouse before, but I'm putting it in again, partly because it's such a classic building but mostly because I've got more information about the town than in my earlier post.

Lavaca County Courthouse
in Hallettsville

The courthouse has 1897 carved near the top (actually MDCCCXCVII, demonstrating why Roman numerals didn't catch on for long), but many of the surrounding buildings are older.  On one side of the courthouse square I saw, inscribed on the buildings, "A. Levytansky 1881" and "Samusch 1888."  Further demonstrating the heritage of the residents I saw Rainosek True Value, Ehler's Furniture, Jansky Bros. Dump Truck Service, and Ludwig Repair Shop - all right around the courthouse.  Makes the Kolache Fest seem appropriate.

As I was driving out of town I noticed a business advertising itself as "One of Texas Monthly's Top 50 BBQ Places."  It seems to be a nice old town.

Today I passed 8 Trump signs/flags, which is better than yesterday - presumably because I'm no longer in deep East Texas.

I noticed 6 or 8 deer in a field and wouldn't have seen them at all if they hadn't move: their coloring was so much like the colors of the grasses and dirt that they blended in perfectly.

I passed 3 cows, standing in a circle, one's head to another's tail - all 3 of them.  Looked odd.

I'm still seeing lots of trees but here they're much lower in height and beginning to look a little scrubby.  Lots of grazing land.

I came to Victoria, pop. 62,952, where I've been before but only passing through, not as a destination.  This time I went into town because I wanted to see the courthouse.

Victoria County Courthouse
in Victoria

What a concept - restoring the 1893 courthouse
instead of building a new, less picturesque one.

When I was here before, I noted it was the home of the Museum of the Coastal Bend.  This time I saw the historic downtown and could see that this place is thriving.

I saw a license plate on a fancy SUV that said: OHH DEAR.

Continuing southwest from Victoria, I saw several wind farms and a half dozen oil wells, most not working.  The land became very flat and I could see for miles.  Mostly what I saw were huge crop fields, though some of the land was covered by scrubby trees.  Farmhouses were dotted here and there.  And it kept raining almost all the way to the state park.

Lake Corpus Christi State Park had a sign posted saying they had no vacancy not only for the campground but also for day visitors.  When I asked the ranger at the gate if this were the result of Spring Break, she said yes and I should have seen how packed it had been the day before.  Sure am glad our governor lifted those COVID restrictions before Spring Break (yes, it's sarcasm).

Because we've stayed here twice before, I knew to expect lots of stickers.  And sure enough, within a minute of Dexter setting foot outside the RV, he found one.  Lots of dogs to avoid (because of Dext) and lots of little kids to avoid (because of Gracie - she didn't want to go within earshot of one, which covers a lot more land than we had available).  But I figured out how to make it work and we were comfortable.