Whatever you need Gibson's has it. AND they truly do. We could spend hours going through this store - and we probably will be frequent customers.
Well is it a 10 gallon, 20 gallon, or 30 gallon? Should he get in in black or tan? I think he needs the horse too. Let us know what you think.
This is where we check in and where we will eventually work several hours a week.
We will fill up the tanks on the RV. Diesel is at a good price right here.
The campground is a smaller one - 50 sites.
Our new home. We have already met our neighbors and we are looking forward to our time spent here.
We have a pecan tree to the right of the RV. Some of our friends gather them and save them for baking. White tailed deer feed in the area behind the RV.
John has this driving thing down. We had a great day for driving - rains are to come tomorrow.
We actually drove THROUGH Austin. Lucky for us it was Sunday and the traffic was not the headache it usually it. This is a city full of culture and many choices of things to do.
Here comes the Hill Country. Kerrville is not far off.
The hillsides are covered with brush and low vegetation. The population is less dense than the ongoing suburbs and shops flanking the highway earlier.
The hills are high but the roadway provides for a gradual incline and decline. Our ears still popped!
The KOA sign indicating that yes we finally made it. This is our exit from hwy 10.
Found our first cactus during a walk around the campground.
This is the outside of St. Mary's church in Temple.
An inside view of the church. It was very Spanish in construction and had beautiful wood beams criss-crossing the ceiling.
We were guided to this Taqueria for our dinner after church. It was very good.
Dallas from a distance - happy to keep it that way. Driving through that city would cause too many white knuckles. Beautiful driving day - we came up to sunny and 82.
Our campsite at Belton Lake was beautiful. We definitely had a water view. The flow from several creeks was dammed for flood control and hydroelectric power. Cedar Ridge Campground (another Corps of Engineers project). Fishing and boating were definitely popular here.
This is looking at the view from the back of our campsite.
The view from the front of our campsite - yes we had a prime spot.
Wal-Mart parking lot. We had planned on staying in Mt. Pleasant Texas after leaving the Hot Springs area. Our reserved place for the night was at Pleasant View Campground (only a year old) which had received wonderful reviews. We should have been more concerned when we could not find the above mentioned place having driven past it twice. We finally asked directions (not the manly thing to do) and eventually pulled in and decided to pull right out again. Too close to Halloween to even consider staying there. Glad we had not put any money into the reservation. So we go back on 30 and continued on to Sulfur Springs, where a Wal-Mart parking lot greeted us. Another couple were also camping for the evening. After permission was given from the manager we proceeded to have dinner Wal-Mart style. Yes - we had FRIED CHICKEN! and we only felt guilty for a second or two.
What the heck is with the birds? We thought birds go somewhere to roost at night. Not at this place - again remember Halloween is just around the corner. These birds whistle, hoot, cackle, you name it they do it. They were a loud, raucous group, flock - whatever. They were brazen and moved slowly to let cars and people through. Note that a group has commandeered a few of the cars. Try to retrieve your car with those birds daring you to come near. We stayed inside the RV and observed from a distance hoping that Alfred Hitchcock was not remaking his movie.
We took a boat tour of parts of Lake Ouachita. This is one of many marinas found along this lengthy lake. Around 80 miles long. There are no houses or commercial establishments because of Corps of Engineers owns the water and land around it. The lake is 40,000 acres and has a dam for hydro electric power. The lake was formed when the Ouachita River was dammed in 1945. The dammed area had lots of mountains and valleys so there are many bays and hundreds if islands.
Our guide (on the right) was interesting and very informative. She and her family live near Three Sisters Springs in the state park. Our day was overcast and very cool.
There was about 14 people on the "barge tour". We are heading toward the marina where we left from. Since the whole lake and surrounding area are owned by the Corps of Engineers, the marinas are all built and owned by the Corps, they are leased out to the operators. All the house boat, pontoon and power boat slips have covered docks, and the sailboats are out in the open because of the masts. Because there is limited dock space, there are moorings for those who can't get slips.
This is an example of the folding of novaculite and sandstone layers that occurred when pressures within the earth heaved the land above it up. No granite and limestone like is all over Wisconsin.
There are so many areas of exposed rock in different designs it is almost beyond imagination to realize the complexity of the creation process. Here the water action ate away the softer parts of the rock and started caves.
A particularly interesting exposed rock formation.
Here the formation pushed the rock up so high that the top tipped over in a fold.
This is an area where the heaving of the layers took on more of a vertical form
Click on this picture to expand it and you will see what is called "checkerboarding". The rock broke up in very consistent pieces. There are actually two different sections of the rock showing the same effect.
This is the front of the Fordyce Bath House. It is now the location of the Visitor Center and Museum for the National Park. The park is located in the ZIG ZAG Mountains on the eastern edge of the Ouachita (Washitaw) Mountains. The tops of the mountains consist of folded layers of novaculite and sandstone. The folding occurred when the pressures in the earth pushed the soft rock up causing it to fall back on itself in folded layers. The rain from thousands of years ago fell on the tops of these mountains and trickled through the various layers. The water is heated by the pressures in the earth which are said to be NOT volcanic.
There are 47 springs in Hot Springs. This is number 46 found in the basement area of the Fordyce Bath House.
One of the springs found outside the Fordyce Bath House. The temperature is about 146 degrees. The water is naturally pure and needs no treatment. you can bath in it and drink it - although maybe not in that order.
The dressing rooms where those partaking in the baths could change and wait to be taken for their treatments. The wood of the rooms was absolutely beautiful - there was no skimping in materials. Each small tile on the floor was hand placed.
This is the sculpture of Ponce De Leon in the Central Men's Bath Hall. The cubicles behind each door held a large deep tub for individual treatment.
This is the stained glass mural above the statue of Ponce De Leon in the Central Men's Bath Hall. It is original and totally intact.
This is called a needle shower and is used after the hot tub treatment and the packing treatment (hot towel draped on you while you rest). There might even be a salt rub to slough off rough areas and give you a glow.
If your doctor wrote a prescription for you water therapy would be available for you. For the pictured treatment here you would stand in front of the hoses which would be aimed at the parts of you that hurt. The person on the other end could control both pressure and direction. Hmmmmm- interesting - something akin to waterboarding with a doctor's script.
This is the Hubbard Tub. Patients were lowered into the hot spring water and aided by a "therapist". Many people used this tub during the polio outbreak of the 40's and 50's.
You could bake yourself in one of these steam machines - again only if your doctor wrote the prescription for it. After roasting, ice would be set below you and cool you down.
This is the music room on the third floor. Again note the tile. Each of these small tiles was placed by hand to form patterns. An original Knabe piano is in the background.
More examples of the Zander machines.
A massage table. People would spend weeks at Hot Spring taking advantage of all that was offered to cure what ailed them.
This is the men's gymnasium. Women did not have one - they did not sweat or perspire in those days. They contented themselves in watching their men exercise. This gym is rumored to have been used by Jack Dempsey and Babe Ruth.
Someone should tell this woman not to touch that water - it is HOT! John immersed both of his hand in it and pronounced himself cured. He probably would have cured the rest of himself - but there is probably some ordinance against that!
The picnic area at the end of the road accessing Three Sisters Springs provides a shallow water beach. The runoff from the springs goes directly into the lake.
Lichen covered most of the dead branches found in the wooded areas.
This is yet another interesting type of mushroom. We found these growing in only one place along our walk.
Three Sisters Springs was found in 1875 by John McFadden. He attested to the fact that they had healing powers, much like the once in Hot Springs several miles southeast. A resort was built by 1930 with a variety of tourist facilities including a springhouse and bottling plant. "World's Wonder Waters" were bottled and sold throughout the nation. It was claimed that each of the springs could cure a different set of ailments. The state park offices actually used the water until it was tested and found to be non-potable. There are still people who go to these three springs and fill up jugs of water to take home with them.
This is one of the cabins available for rent on the grounds of the state park. There are three bedrooms, full facilities, and kitchen. They even have decks overlooking the lake. They say that fishing is good here - right now they are catching striped bass in the 50 pound range!
Yet another gift from God in the form of another beautiful sunset. Life is good.
