by laura beth

Just kidding! I couldn't help myself. Well, to wrap up our Texas visit, we came to Ft Worth to see my cousin Rob Willey. I haven't seen Rob in years, and in that time he has grown up a lot. We had a wonderful 4 day visit, just catching up, watching movies, swimming, and eating. He made a fantastic spaghetti dinner by himself! He has recently become a Christian, and we enjoyed going to church with him, and seeing the passion in his life for things of God. We also went to Chik-Fil-A for the first time! We had planned to go to Dallas to not only see the spot where JFK was shot, but to find out who killed JR. We decided to forgo Dallas, however, and do a quick backtrack to Tehuacana (near Waco).

by kenny

We left Nick and Sammy Jo's house around 6 in the morning so we could be Lexington in time for Snow's BBQ. Throughout Texas we have been sampling BBQ at every opportunity. We have tried random joints, franchise places, and a two of the top five BBQ pits in all of Texas according to Texas Monthly.

Snow's was the last place on our list of BBQ to try in Texas and according to Texas Monthly was #1. Snow's is only open on Saturdays and starts serving at 8 in the morning. They stop serving when the meat runs out and that has been awfully quick since they have been deemed number 1.

So we took our fill of a pound of brisket and a half pound of ribs. And it was great. Really good all around. But not my favorite. Floores Country Store holds the top place in my heart. I will let Snow's hold the number 2 spot with no qualms, but the best of the best, the cream of the crop, the top of the top belongs to Floores. I told Laura that if we came back to Texas I would not go out of my way for Snow's, but at the time I said it, and as I write this now, still have an unwavering hankering for more of Floores BBQ. I would come back for Floores.

Best atmosphere goes to Luling City Market. When you place your order you go in the pit room with all the wood, smoke, and meat tickling your tongue. There are two or three pit guys asking for your order by the pound. They slice it up for you right in the pit and send you on your way. Loved it! Here are the BBQs we had, shown in chronological order, but rated by goodness:






After Snow's we headed to Waco for the Dr Pepper Museum. This one was a lot bigger than Dublin's and better displayed. It starts off with a replica of the soda shop Dr Pepper was invented in. At that time it was named a Waco after the town as in, "Shoot me a Waco". There is an animatronic Charles Alderton (he created Dr Pepper) talking about how Dr Pepper came about. The next room has various Dr Pepper cans and bottles from the 1900's on and videos and exhibits of the bottling process.

The second floor with original flooring was where they made the syrup and has the many different style of vending machines. Vending machines with a water drinking fountain on the side in case you didn't have money for a soda. Vending machines that poured Dr Pepper into cups. There is a section of Dr Pepper knockoffs. Skipper, Dr Schnee (Laura's favorite just because of the name), Dr Becker by Bly Sky Soda Co. (Laura actually likes this one), Dr Nut, and one that I actually liked better than Dr Pepper (I know...), Doc Holliday.

The third floor, yep, there was three floors, was dedicated to Woodrow Wilson "Foots" Clements and his Free Enterprise Institute, who may be the man responsible for Dr Pepper being latched on to by the masses. He went from town to town, visiting public parks or anywhere people were and putting cups of Dr Pepper in their hands. After we had our fill of the museum, I went down stairs and enjoyed a Dr Pepper float made the original way soda jerks did in the soda shop that started it all. Dr Pepper syrup, carbonated water, and vanilla ice cream. Delicious!

by laura beth

Nick and Sammi Jo took us on a Texas history excursion to the Battleship TEXAS and the San Jacinto Monument. It was super hot and humid (as it has been during our entire visit in Willis), but we loaded up with slushees from Sonic and piled into the zebra mobile (without ac) and headed south to the Houston Ship Channel. We hit the ship first, which is pretty impressive, but obviously not air conditioned. We kind of melted a little on our self-guided tour. It was quite interesting, though. As we walked through the ship I thought more and more about what it must have been like to live on it. I think I would have rather not. It's not so much the cramped quarters and lack of luxury (duh! I live in a 27-year-old 28-foot motorhome), but the lack of day light and the swishy washyness of being on open sea. Oh, and war. That would suck. But the sailors had everything they needed on the little floating city.

Next we headed over the San Jacinto monument and museum. We were overjoyed to have cool air conditioning and cold drinkign water. We didn't have time to go through the musuem, but we watched a fun little movie about the pivotal Battle of San Jacinto which was where Texas finally won its independence from Mexico. Were then rode an elevator to the top of the tower, which is the world's tallest monument tower, and which freaked me out just a little. As we left, we stopped at the far side of the reflecting pool and had a lot of fun taking silly photos with the monument in the background. All in all it was a great history-filled day.

by laura beth

Since Willis is only about an hour from where James and Kim live, we invited them to come visit us. James' daughter Ashley is spending a month with him for the summer, so they brought all 4 kids up.

After they pulled into town, we headed to Huntsville and the New Zion Missionary Baptist Church...and BBQ. This is sooooo great. I mean, the BBQ was just good, but the whole idea of it is absolutely hilarious. Right next to the church is a smoked stained shack serving up ribs, brisket, sausage and chicken (along with the fixin's and homemade pies). You pass the smoker as you walk into the tiny place, there are several picnic tables crammed in, and the kitchen is very much a run-of-the-mill small church kitchen, serving the BBQ out of stainless steel buffet pans and sweet tea out of cooler jugs. It was an experience to say the least.

After filling our bellies, we took the Tavs to visit all of the animals. Jason's camel, Butter, really likes kids a lot, so he and Ephram got along great. Later, Sammi Jo took us on cart drives with Charlie. Apparently Ashley loves zebras, so she was thrilled to be able to hang out with them. Nick is really into genealogy, which fascinated Cal and DJ. Also, it was Kim's birthday, and I had saved some cupcakes in anticipation of their visit. I think everyone had a really great time, and it was so good to see the Tavs again.

by laura beth

Today Kenny turned 30. I'm not the best at creative birthday ideas, but I made his favorite cake, actually cupcakes, from scratch: yellow butter cake with semi-sweet chocolate ganache, and Nick and I made a feast for dinner: steak, shrimp, salad, yams, and baked potatoes. Sammi Jo is a big prankster, so she provided the after dinner entertainment. She threatened to put horse crap down Nick shirt, went out side, came back in with her hand closed and had him squealing like a girl. He hand was actually empty, but apparently it's not below her to do something like that, and he wasn't going to assume she was kidding.

Also, we decided to stay another week here...

by kenny

Melissa and the girls and Kenny and I caravaned to Willis, Texas to visit my cousin Nick Sheedy and his wife Sammi Jo. After a stop at Woody's Smokehouse BBQ in Centerville (it was average), and a geocache, we arrived at the Sheedy residence and were greeted by Charlie the zebra and Wilson the water buffalo. They also have 4 dogs, 3 horses, and a cat. No kidding.

Sammi Jo has quite a gift for working with animals. She trains dogs, works magic with horses, and bought her first zebra at age 18. After poor luck with her first 2 zebras (from what I understand they are often inbred, which causes defects and premature death), she formed a partnership with Jason Mayfield. So Nick and Sammi Jo moved from rural Eastern Oregon to Willis (40 minutes north of Houston). Sammi Jo went to work for Jason at Bed, Bath, & Biscuit, a high end pet boarding & training facility/resort. On the side, they work together training zebras and other exotics, putting on clinics, events, and will hopefully start breeding zebras. Recently, Sammi Jo urged a Bed, Bath, and Biscuit client to seek the advice of Cesar Milan, The Dog Whisperer. He came to Willis to help with the dog, and then spent time with the zebras. Be sure to browse their site, Zebra Guru. It has some really great photos.



Anyhoo, it was really great to visit with Nick, Sammi Jo, and the animals, but it was extra special for me to spend time with Melissa, Melanie, and Olivia. We mostly hung out around the house, but also spent time with the water buffalo, zebras, and camels. We visited the Sam Houston statue, which is ridiculously large, and ridiculously revered, took of tour of the "Biscuit", and helped Melanie find her first geocahe. We only got to visit with the girls for about 4 four days. It was kind of hard to say goodbye to them, but I'm excited to see them again in Oregon in August!! I love you guys!

by kenny

We left Austin in the afternoon and headed to a town that I have heard called Dublin, but I have only known this sacred place as Dr Pepper, Texas. Every year this town hosts a week long festival in honor of its bottling plant and the Dr Pepper it produces. The Dr Pepper it produces is unique in all the nation as it is the only plant to use glass bottles and does not use high fructose syrup, only pure sugar cane.

We had difficulty finding a place to camp with the RV, so I called the chamber of commerce. I was told their were some rv parks outside of town, unless we were apart of the Airstream rally! I quickly got in touch with Dillard and Glenda Kelley of "The Heart of Texas Camping Unit" and signed us up for our first Airstream rally.

After we set up camp, Laura's sister Melissa and her two daughters, Melanie (14) and Olivia (just turned 3), met up with us to spend the weekend. They flew from Oregon to Houston and are staying a week with us for summer vacation.

The Wizard of OZ was the theme of the Dr Pepper festival and so there was an outside viewing of the movie and a hot air balloon light show. Unfortunately, both were canceled due to rain. So we took in the craft fair, had some amazing turkey legs and tacos, then headed back to camp for the night.

Saturday morning we headed out to the festivities in all their Dr Pepper/Wizard of OZ splendor. We stopped by one of the best local small town museums I have ever been to, The Dublin Historical Society Museum. Before we got started in the revelry we decided to have something to eat at the Half Penny Diner. It was such a great choice! I had a Dr Pepper Pecan Burger! Wonderful! The rest of the group had non-Dr Pepper-themed entrees. But we each picked a different Dr Pepper-themed dessert. Olivia had Dr Pepper cake, I had a Dr Pepper brownie, Laura had Dr Pepper cheesecake, Melanie had a Dr Pepper ice cream float, and Melissa had Dr Pepper pecan pie. Amazing!

After Happy Birthday was sung to Dr Pepper and the cake was cut we took a free tour of the Dr Pepper bottling plant and the museum. While waiting in line we had our fill of the free Dr Pepper that was made available out of a massive Dr Pepper can. Inside the museum was lots of great Dr Pepper memorabilia as to be expected, but one thing stood out that I had never heard of. The Patriotic Girl of WWII.

Apparently she was too scantily clad for the time and was pulled off the advertising line for indecency. So Pretty Peggy Pepper was created to fill the gap and a girl from the town is selected as Pretty Peggy Pepper every year.



The festivities end and we head back to camp to enjoy a BBQ with the Airstream crew. We spent a few hours there and good food and times were had by all. We met a full timer named Michael J. Depraida, who makes his living as a painter and he gave us a framed print of a Airstream being pulled by a camel in the Cairo desert. It's called "Safari Caravan", which is kind of a play on words. "Safari" is an Airstream trailer model, and Airstreamers often "caravan", or travel together. Clever. We were also invited to be part of an Airstream rally to Burning Man, but at $250 a ticket, we can't afford it. But that is definitely a dream of mine. We met a lot of other great people that are from the area and love to camp in their Airstreams, and they are all beautiful. Ours was the fixer-upper of the bunch, but that didn't seem to matter, as they all wanted a tour of it. I hope this is the first of many more Airstream rallies.

by kenny

I have wanted to go to Austin for some time now. Home of Austin City Limits, South by Southwest, and the late great Aramdillo World Headquarters, Austin is well known for it's music scene. But we didn't get to experience any of that. I'm pretty sure that you have to spend more than a day in the city in order to get the feel of the place and learn to love it. Someday I'd like to come back and give it all a fair shake.

We stayed at an RV park in south Austin for 2 nights. We kind of just crashed the first night, weary from the road and thankful for showers and air conditioning. The next morning we set out for Flip Happy Crepes, served up fresh out of an Avion-a silver aluminum travel trailer similar to an Airstream. We shared a chicken, mushroom, caramelized onion, and Gruyere cheese crepe followed by a lemon curd and blueberry crepe for dessert. Yum! Then we set out to find parking and explore the city. It's not usually easy for us to find parking in cities, and Austin was no exception. We heard a rumor that the LBJ Presidential Library and Museum has public parking, but when we arrived we were bombarded by signs warning us that parking was for museum guests only. So to the museum we went. And we were not disappointed. The Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum is the only free presidential museum in the country, and it is well-worth visiting. We were more than happy to hang out in the air conditioned museum during the hottest part of the day.





After hanging out with LBJ, we headed to 6th, and Red River streets to check out the scene (which wasn't that happening at 3:00 in the afternoon). We paid 3 bucks to walk through the Museum of the Weird (Shrunken Heads! Freaks of Nature! The Fiji Mermaid! Texas Bigfoot! Mummies! Giant Lizards! Unexplained Phenomena! The Supernatural!). Fun. From there it was on to the Museum of Ephemerata, which was closed for the month of June (boo!), and the Cathedral of Junk, which was open.

We topped off the day with a visit to the Mean Eyed Cat bar. If we lived in Austin, this would be our watering hole. The entire place is one, big tribute to the Man in Black, the beer is cheap, and the live music is good. The only down side is the lack of decent bar food (they were even out of chips and salsa).

After 2 bottles + 2 pitchers, it was time to go home. Actually it was the incoming storm that prompted our swift departure from Mean. The wind kicked up something awful, lightning struck, and the rain came. By the time we got back to the RV park, it was a monsoon. I was drenched to my underwear after less than a minute outside. It was glorious. Austin ended up getting something like 6 inches of rain in 45 minutes. What a great end to the day!

by laura beth

On our quest for the perfect BBQ, we stopped at City Market in Luling. The BBQ is in a enclosed room in the back of the market. You walk into the hot, smoke filled room, order adn pay for you meat, and then go back out into the main restaurant to get beans and drinks and sit at a picnic table to eat. I thought it was pretty good, but BBQ more or less tastes all the same to me. Luling seemed to have quite a bit of charm. They were gearing up for the annual Watermelon Thump and had signs all over town encouraging your votes for each of the three Queen hopefuls: Ravanna, Sephra, and a third girl whose name escapes my memory.



Anyhoo, I love watermelon, and this post had me reading up about them. Along the way I found this site: What About Watermelon, and through that I learned that in Japan, people are experimenting with growing heart-shaped watermelons. You can also get watermelons in cube, pyramid, and face shapes. They are ridiculously expensive (over $100USD) to buy, but the concept of growing them in a transparent mold seems relatively simple. Maybe I'll give it a go someday...In the meantime, here are a few more fun, modified (but not genetically modified) foods:

face, cube, heart, and pyramid shaped watermelons
heart and star shaped cucumbers
heart shaped tangerines
cube shaped eggs

by laura beth

About 5 years ago, Kenny's cousin James Tavernier moved to the Houston area from Orange County, CA for a job. In the meantime he met & married a beautiful lady, Kim, and had a little boy. Neither Kenny nor I had ever met Kim, her boys Cal & DJ, nor little Ephraim, who is now 3. And so we got to visit them at their home in League City. We had a great time. Aunt Debbie (James' mom) also live close by, so we got to see her quite a bit. Kim is a wonderful lady, Cal and DJ are the most polite, interactive, and well-mannered teenage boys I have even met (and they're cool!), and Ephraim is a laugh-a-minute. James is alright I guess. JK, James.

Their apartment complex had RV parking, which is uncommon but delightful, and so we camped out for several days. The weather and humidity were mild at night, which was a blessing since we couldn't plug in and therefore had no air conditioning in the moho. We swam in the pool almost everyday, ate very well, and went geocaching (Kenny got Cal and DJ hooked on it). We got to meet Michel, a friend of Kim's that we had become acquainted with through our conversations about Eastern Orthodoxy on Facebook. She invited us to a free concert at a park in Houston at the Miller Outdoor Theatre. On the menu the night we went was Accordion Kings and Queens: lots of polka, zydeco, and Cajun music, and an accordion contest. Kim, Michel and I packed lots of yummy food and wine to share, and we all had a wonderful time.

Also, while we were in League City, Kenny suggested that I ask Kim to invite some of her friends over to have a "jewelry party" in which they could buy my handmade jewelry, or I could custom-make pieces for them. It worked out really well, so I hope to do this more while we're on the road.

Anyhoo, we had a super time with the Taverniers, and hopefully they will be able to meet us in Willis, Texas in a week or so while we're visiting my cousins Nick and Sammi Jo, and while James' daughter Ashley is in town.

by laura beth

We arrived at San Antonio late after leaving Marfa. As we pulled into the RV park, a table saw chorus of cicadas greeted us, and we had our first taste of significant Texas humidity. We thought the RV park we were staying at was in San Antonio because of an incorrect address, but it ended up being in Spring Branch, about 45 minutes north of San Antonio in the oak-laden hill country. It's pretty nice there, so we didn't mind the drive.

Once in San Antonio, we went straight to the River Walk where we took a boat cruise and stopped for happy hour snacks and margaritas (not super good, but refreshing and a steal at $10 for 2 margaritas and an appetizer). We then walked over to the Alamo. We got there just in time: they lock her up promptly at 5:30 and we got there at about 5:15. Fortunately it's pretty tiny, and there's not too much to look at, so 15 minutes was plenty of time. Admission is free and it's worth visiting if you have a chance.


After the Alamo we headed northeast of San Antonio to Helotes and John T Floore's Country Store. Amazing.

Floore's was recommended to us by our friend Roger from Bisbee. He stopped there while touring Texas with his band, and said it was the best he'd had. It really was the greatest honkytonk BBQ imaginable: $8.75 for a 3 meat plate (we shared brisket, ribs, chicken, mashed taters, green beans, onions, pickle, jalapeno, and white bread), a couple of cold beers, and to top it off it was "Biker Night". Bike Night happens pretty regularly (once a week), and the turn out is impressive. Awesome BBQ, tons of bikes, live music, and even some Bandidos! Willie Nelson still shows up now and again, but we must have just missed him. If you're ever even close to San Antonio, you have to go to Floore's!

The next day we decided to beat the heat and humidity by finding some water to play in. Our friend Ashley told us to go to Schlitterbahn-the world's greatest water park-but at $40 a piece, we decided on toobing instead. We drove to New Braunfels and found a cute little "toobing" shack (Landa River Trips) and hit the Comal River. Ten bucks for each for the tube, a 2 1/2 hour float, including two fun toob shoots, and a ride back to our moho. As of yet, Floore's and toobing are my favorite Texas things.

We were hungry for more BBQ after spending the day in the river. Granzin's was recommended to us, but we don't recommend it to anyone. It was alright, just not great. We headed out of San Antonio and towards Houston after a stop at Buc-ee's and some $27.99 per pound turkey jerky. My one piece cost $4.20, but it was dern good.

by laura beth

Texas! The furthest east we've made it in the moho. After last year's plans to visit family in Texas fell through, it feels good to finally make it. We flew through New Mexico and then made a quick tour through The West Texas Town of El Paso: Chamizal National Monument, Scenic Drive, the free Museum of Archeology Museum, the free National Border Patrol Museum, and Ysleta Mission (established in 1680 and still active!). Scenic Drive gives an impressive view of the expanse of El Paso and its sister town, Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. These two cities sprawl out over a 320 square miles, with a combined population of over 2 million people. Huge. Even if there weren't a large fence separating the two cities, the line is clearly drawn by the building styles and colors.





The museums were a nice break from the heat, however the Border Patrol Museum gave off a subtle racist vibe. Most notably the miniature Border Patrol vehicle display, which used Homies to depict Mexican immigrants. Apparently I'm not the only one who felt this vibe: ABC news article.



We left El Paso, broke off Interstate 10 and headed south on highway 90 towards Marfa. This lonely highway is kind of out in the middle of nowhere, and several of the towns sprinkled along it are tiny and semi-abandoned. Just before Marfa is a small ghosty town called Valentine. I really want to some back someday to visit and take some photos. One small run-down building caught my eye. The word BEER was printed on the front, and a large tree was growing through the front door.

Between Valentine and Marfa is a Prada Marfa, an art installation piece along the side of the highway in the form of a Prada storefront, containing actual Prada bags and shoes from the Fall 2005 collection. I like it because it's unusual, I don't like it because I don't think it falls in the category of real art. And I don't care about Prada. Anyhoo, pretty weird. We caught it just at sunset, and the sky was beautiful.

Marfa would be fun to visit again too. Apparently it's got quite an art scene, and several galleries. As it is we rolled into town just after dark, spent the night just outside of town, and left the next morning. The main reason we came was to see the Marfa Mystery Lights, or MML. The MML are balls of light that appear after dark just above the horizon. Earliest records of the lights go back to the late 1800's. There is a ton of conflicting information about the MML, but according to the literature at the viewing area (nine miles east of town), they are visible most nights of the year. This is desolate country, and there was no light other than the moon, stars, a couple of red railroad lights. We watched for about an hour, straining in the dark, hoping to catch a glimpse of something mysterious. We saw several sets of headlights. Pretty soon some pink and orange flashes light up the horizon to the far left of the viewing area. We saw this over and over again. I was pretty sure it was just lightning, but didn't want to say anything out loud (there were several other groups of people there, and I didn't want to dash their spirits-they all thought it was the MML). I eventually went on to bed. However, Kenny stayed up and ended up seeing something altogether different than railroad lights, car headlights, and lightning.

by laura beth

Bisbee is a darn nice town. It's beautiful, historic, quaint, and the people are super friendly. It definitely maintains the charm that I think makes small town America so attractive. People know each other on the street and there is a lazy, laid-back vibe throughout the town. Bisbee is a mining town, and many houses were built in the late 1800's, before automobiles existed. Everyone got around by foot or mules, and homes are built on tiered hillsides with flights of stairs from street level on up. To celebrate this quirkiness, a local non-profit sponsors a fitness challenge called Bisbee 1000 which includes climbing up and down all of the stairs in town.



Our day in Bisbee pretty much consisted of this geocache. The GPS coordinates lead us to a cool little shop, where I bought my new favorite earrings, and where we met Roger. The rest of the photo clues led us around town and up a high winding road, aptly named High Road. It was a little warm to be climbing up stairs and hiking up hills in the middle of the day, but we were rewarded with interesting sites, awesome views, a pretty cool find. Later on we ran into Roger again, who was excited that our geocache hunt was successful. He joined us for a couple of beers at the Copper Queen. We really enjoyed shooting the breeze, but eventually had to mosey on out of town and on to New Mexico.

Check out these sites on Bisee, and be sure to visit if you ever get the chance:

Bisbee Chamber of Commerce
City of Bisbee
Discover Bisbee

by laura beth

We left Tucson and headed to Bisbee, Arizona. We had been told countless times that we would love this little town, but never bothered visiting. this time we wen tout of our way to check it out. We rolled into Bisbee in the evening and decided to settled in at Turquoise Valley RV Park in Naco, Arizona, south of Bisbee right on the Arizona/Sonora border.

In the morning we decided to cross the border into Naco, Sonora, Mexico for fun. As we headed towards the border (2 streets over from the RV park), we came across a gentleman who stopped to visit with us. Both his hat and t-shirt had "Jesus" written across them in big letters, and he was carrying a Bible. He asked us if we wanted to "burn something" before heading over (for those who may not understand, that's slang for smoking the marijuana), and then reminded us that it was June 1st, the day that the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative went into effect, requiring a US Passport or similar ID to get back into the states. He proceeded to tell us about the hard time he was given trying to walk home...basically he gave the immigration officer the "what for". What terrible luck! We no longer have valid passports. Mine is in my maiden name and Kenny's expired at the end of April. Neither of us had been to Mexico for several years, and this was really the most convenient opportunity for us to just cross the border for fun. We ended up talking to an officer before crossing, who basically told us to try our luck. And try our luck we did. Twenty minutes later we came from Naco, Sonora to Naco, Arizona, and to the same officer, who gave us the shpiel about not being in compliance, yadda, yadda, yadda, and then he literally slapped Kenny on the wrist. Whew! On to Bisbee.