After two weeks in San Antonio, Ron & I headed west about 50 miles to the town of Hondo.
All along the main highway through town, they have erected large "Christmas Cards" decorated and signed by the local businesses. They have Walmart, Bealls, Sonic and the Dollar Store, but I love the small gift shops and restaurants in the old buildings downtown.
Another of Texas's awesome limestone courthouses. This one
had the old jail house structure in the back yard!
Loved this building housing a café with a courtyard on the right
behind the beautiful gates pictured below.
We moved into the Lone Star Corral-Alamo SKP Co-op for the month. Last winter, we stayed at several Escapees parks. Escapees is a club originally created to try to bring "Fulltimers" (those of us who live full time in our RV's) together. We have loved the parks because the lots are large, they usually have clubhouses with activities, libraries & laundry; they are inexpensive and the people are generally very welcoming and friendly.
Welcome to the Lone Star Corral- Alamo!
Of course, Ron & I continue with our daily walks (although he usually gets out a little earlier than I do). My favorite part about a new location is finding things to look at as I walk. There is a tiny little town a mile and a half west of us called D'Hanis, but when I was walking I ran across this cemetery and remains of a limestone church.
According to a marker outside, this was St. Dominic Catholic Church & Cemetary, established in 1843 by settlers from Alsace, France.
The cemetery is small, but full of beautiful markers, ancestors of the people buried here still tend the graves and leave flowers. It has a very peaceful feel to it.
I love the iron markers.
You can still read a lot of the markers.
But some have fallen down.
According to another marker, the town of D'Hanis was originally established surrounding St. Dominic. When the railroad came through, the town moved about 1 mile west. I thought the church was beautiful even though it is falling down. I was happy to see a notice that D'Hanis is trying to raise enough money to restore it or at least preserve it.
We are surrounded by ranch and farm land, lots of horses, cattle and GOATS! I had no idea there were so many goats in Texas. For the last few mornings, we have started to hear the prehistoric calls of Sandhill Cranes. When I walked past one of the cornfields that had just been plowed I was amazed to see hundreds of them.
My pictures aren't great & they are a little skittish when I walk past, but wow! I guess this is one of the places they go when they leave Nebraska!
We haven't taken a lot of road trips, but I did want to get to the Cowboy Capital - Bandera, Texas. What a cute town! It is about 30 miles north of Hondo, through Texas Hill Country - which is beautiful. Hills covered with cedar trees, beautiful ranches.
Part of the main drag, and, yes, another limestone courthouse!
Bandera also has a great little museum, the Frontier Times Museum.
This building is jammed full of stuff - collections of many people of the area,
much having to do with the history of the area.
Inside was stuffed full of everything you can (or can't imagine).
Had to get a pic of this because we actually saw a live one!
Texas Gold! I wonder who decided to collect these old oil samples!
These were the costumes of a couple who were called Bandera's Ambassadors. They were ventriloquists, who wore matching costumes. (note the dummies, who also wore matching costumes)
Bandera is know for rodeos, so these two were always there to welcome visitors to Bandera.
Hats & saddles everywhere in the cowboy room. Plus the "Stalls of Fame" honoring the rodeo cowboys from the area who have won numerous titles.
This was the barb wire collection. I had no idea there were so many different, patented types of barb wire! Each of these standing displays swiveled, so had three sides, covered in barb wire.
Just so you know - they try to take care of you in Texas.
We won't pick up any hitchhikers!
