Texas - Day 99 - back to Lumberton

Village Creek State Park, Lumberton

Wednesday, 10 February 2021

I started the day killing 10 mosquitoes in 5 minutes.  There were 12 - TWELVE - in the bathroom alone.  I had 10 bites on one foot.  They got in because I had to open the door to take the dogs out.  We were not just under siege, but invaded.  It was awful, and I was glad we were leaving.

today's route

We had thick fog with us for much of the drive today, which was luckily not a very long one - only about 2 hours, according to Google, meaning 3 hours according to me.  So I could take my time with the reduced visibility.

I insisted on Google taking me through Port Arthur, instead of around it, and didn't see any serious traffic in town that made me think I'd made a mistake taking that route.

In a short distance, I came to Bridge City, pop. 7,840.  It got its name in 1938 when the Port Arthur-Orange Bridge was built.  But in fact, all the major roads into town cross bridges.  The PA-Orange Bridge was renamed in 1957 to the Rainbow Bridge, and I have no idea why.  Since this whole area is known for its connection to the petroleum industry, my guess would be the rainbow sheen that spilled petroleum products leave on water, but somehow I doubt if that's it.  It's got a height of 177' to accommodate ships using the upstream Port of Beaumont, but I just moved to the inside lane (regardless of the slower-vehicles-keep-right rule) and made it across okay.

As you might imagine in a town that sits near the Gulf coast and is connected to the world by bridges, Bridge City tends to flood.  In 2008, Hurricane Ike flooded all but 14 homes.  When everybody piled their ruined furniture by the side of the road, the mayor said the "whole town looked like a flea market."

Not much farther along I came to Orange, pop. 18,595.  Somehow I've never managed to get here, even though it sits so close to I-10 that Momma and I drove so often to Florida, but I was still coping with so much dense fog that I can't really say that even now I've gotten a clear impression of the city.

Orange County Courthouse
in Orange

There's some renovation being done to the front of the building, with protective fencing set up and the "O" missing from "Orange", so it looks like this is the Range County Court House.  It was built in 1937 in the Art Deco style.  There are several unusual signs in front:

The Civil War led to so many grotesque situations;
for instance, "occupation forces" came here after the war.
Have we learned nothing from our history?

a bicentennial time capsule

This has to be part of a really
great story, but I can't figure out
how to unearth it online.  So all I
know is what's on this marker.

As usual, Google's directions didn't match the street signs I saw, so I took several wrong turns.  That actually turned out to be okay, because one of them took me past Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center.  It's currently closed (stupid virus), but I'm guessing it's worth a visit if I'm ever here again.

And while I was trying to find the courthouse, I stumbled on this church building.

1st Presbyterian Church

It was built in 1912, though the congregation dates back much farther than that, and I think under that dome are a series of stained glass windows showing saints.  If I come back for the botanical garden, I'd want to see the inside of this church while I'm here.

I also passed the Stark Museum of Art, which claims one of the US's "most significant collections of American Western art."

And on my way out of town, Google told me to turn down Womack Road.  There was indeed a road where Google said there'd be a road, but - BUT - I never once saw a sign of any kind along this road, and it was little more than a partially paved alley running alongside the railroad track, so I spent the entire 1.9 miles wondering if I was really in the right place.  I guess it was one of Google's bizarre little short cuts that it adores so much, and I'm just glad this one turned out better than some of them I've gotten on.

Not much farther down the road, through Silsby, pop. 6,611, I came back to Lumberton and tried to find a place to walk the dogs, it being too early to check in at the state park.  There must surely be a park somewhere in town besides the state park, but I've never found it.  I ended up walking the dogs in the small front yard of the Boy Scout meeting house.  There was a sign out front that said:

      BSA Troop 181 Fundraiser

      Lip Smackin' Smoked Shoulder Clod

I'd never heard of a clod before, in relation to meat anyway, so I figured they'd run out of some of those little letters for the sign.  Now that I've looked it up, I know better.  Here's an article from no less than Southern Living magazine, referring to the sign at Smitty's BBQ in Lockhart that I've seen many times myself, but obviously never paid enough attention to.   https://www.southernliving.com/shoulder-clod-texass-forgotten-bbq-star  Just shows how educational the Boy Scouts can be.

And then we were back at Village Creek State Park for 2 nights.  The dogs were happy to revisit some of the trails we walked down on our earlier visit.