Texas then home

October 22, 2018

Texas then home

After the rally, we decided to go somewhere and chill out. At the rally we ran into a friend from the past. We told him where we were going and lo and behold, he was going to a small rally there.

But first we had to get to Texas

made it

past more windmills

We even saw a truck hauling a windmill blade. This thing is huge.

First stop was the Dallas/Ft. Worth area to see a friend.

Then we moved south to Lake Whitney

and into an almost perfect spot, Internet was extremely slow here.

There was a nearby HEB grocery store. They are like a cross between Whole Foods and Publix. We bought crawfish stuffed whole boneless chickens, frozen crawfish pies, crawfish and shrimp stuffed chicken breasts, tamales and more at reasonable prices. Love HEBs.

As I stated before, we met a friend at the last rally and he invited us to come to this one. A lot smaller than the last. Cathy and I second row to the left.

The only requirement for this rally is that you be Texan so they made us honorary Texans for the week.

About 40 miles south in Waco is the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame and Museum

One of the many things they did was try to restore peace during the fence wars

They were also surveyors.

Guns were a big part so their collect of Texas Ranger style guns is impressive.

Revolvers

Machine gun era

shotguns in the mix

Winchester rifles

Samuel Colt, fire arms manufacturer, noted mostly for revolving 6 shot pistols. His company was still struggling when Ranger hero, Walker, Texas Ranger, stepped up. No not Chuck Norris, Captain Samuel Walker a hero in the Mexican/American war. Walker and Colt worked together to design a repeating pistol for the rangers.

It was called the Colt Walker Repeating Pistol. A 36 caliber pistol that weighed 4 lbs 9 ozs. I held one up, it is heavy, like holding a 5 lb. bag of sugar in one hand. Sam Colt said "that it will take a Texan to shoot it"

Captain Walker died in a battle with a Mexican force, he was wearing 2 Walker Colts that Sam Colt had just sent him.

A tribute to Sam Colt

I always thought, famous frontiersman Jim Bowie, who died at them Battle of the Alamo was the designer of the Bowie Knife. Not so, it was Resin P. Bowie, Jim's brother.

Even though Bonnie and Clyde were killed in Louisiana, the team was led by a retired Texas Ranger Captain Frank Hammer

some of the guns owned by Bonnie and Clyde

Bonnie was born in Texas

sorry for the reflections

some of the guns captured by the Rangers

more of them

guns and equipment used by different noted Rangers

more of same

Lots of tributes to past rangers

picture of the ambush of Bonnie and Clyde

an Indian ambush on some Texas Rangers

Then there was the movie and TV section

Chuck Norris as Cordell Walker

The Lone Ranger

Several actors have played the Lone Ranger but Clayton Moore has always been the best

Some of the Lone Ranger stuff Disney sold

The horse trailer camper

The letter Ranger Aten wrote to his captain telling him he was going to set a bomb trap to stop the fence cutting. Instead of a roadside bomb, this was a fenceside bomb.

Pull down the fence, the shot gun shoots, setting off the dynamite and BOOM, the fence cutter will never cut another one.

How the rangers got started

No man in the wrong can stand up against a man in the right and keeps on coming.
Captain Bill McDonald

On to another rally, a S.M.A.R.T. muster, (Special Active Recreational Travelers Club), this rally is larger than the others. You have to be an honorable discharged vet., retired vet. or active duty military to join this club.

attitude adjustment hour

general meeting

Cathy playing with horses

and in the chow line, brisket and sausage

at a men's only meeting, hamburgers and ice cream. The ladies had a ladies only get together with chicken salad

some friends from one of the chapters we belong to

The inner circle, a lot more RVs on the outer circle, probably about 200. The SMART in the center is made with members making up the letters.

Miranda Lambert has the Pink Pistol in Lindale, TX, about 20 miles from the rally. Mostly for her merchandise.

She has a wine bar in the Hemingway room

Her father decorated it with some of his hunting trophies

We had to have a tasting

Time to head to Florida

Through Louisiana

across the Mississippi River

into Mississippi

on the stretch of I-10 and I-12 that is built over bayous and swamps

into Alabama

through the tunnel in Mobile

into Florida. We were going to stop in Holt, FL about 30 miles west of Panama City for a week. I wanted to go fishing. Then along came Hurricane Michael, we kept going. In Zephyrhills, we had a little rain and not much wind.

We spent about a week in Louisiana and Mississippi.That stretch of highway usually takes a week to ten days because of crawfish etouffee, fried crawfish tails and seafood gumbo,