Texas and Audie Murphy

Just a moderate drive west across the Mississippi and through southern Arkansas brought us to Texarkana and then Atlanta State Park in Atlanta, Texas.  We volunteered just up the road a few winters ago so it’s almost like being home.  We stayed long enough to have a nice visit with Bob and Dee who met here and have stayed in touch with. Our visit included what has become the traditional catfish fry whenever were here.  Nice to see them, they are doing well and still catching a mess of fish.
Then it was down the road to Lake O’ the Pines and Brushy Creek campground another COE park.  It is near Jefferson TX, Jefferson is a quaint little town with lots of antique shops and history.  It somehow use to be a port city even though it’s way inland from the Gulf.  Something about the Red River being damned up (Ok I’m going to have to look).  Memory served!  Until 1872 the Red River was damned up by something called the Great Red River Raft, a log jam that raised the level of Caddo Lake, the only natural lake in Texas, to make riverboat traffic possible between St. Louis, Jefferson, and New Orleans via Caddo lake and the Red river.  Then in 1872 with the invention of nitroglycerin the Army Corps (corpse if you’re Barrack Hussein, couldn’t resist) of Engineers blew it up.  Don’t know why?  But they did!  It was true that the railroad had pretty much killed the need for any riverboat traffic by this time along the whole of the Mississippi and Ohio River system.  At any rate at its peak Jefferson was the 6th largest town in Texas with a population of 30,000.  Now it’s about 2000.  Legend has it that Jay Gould, a railroad magnate had the Great Red River Raft destroyed but there seems to be no basis for that happening.  However his private railroad car is on display in town.  Very fancy!  And Jefferson has a kind of New Orleansish flavor and flair to it.  We enjoyed it! Although we only had pie at the ‘Hamburger Store’.  Damn!

Then it was on to Livingston and the Escapees park to pick up our mail.  Didn’t stay much longer than that.   
After a couple of months of just not feeling right and two stops at VA hospitals in Ohio and Indiana we decided we needed to stop in San Antonio at Audie Murphy, South Texas VA hospital and get me checked out again.  So we did and I am.  I won’t go into it, but suffice to say they are working me over.  They have it all at Audie Murphy including a real competent and pleasant staff.  Nurses Vicky and Cheerie (sp?) deserve particular mention.  Both very competent and nice people. 
After a couple of weeks in San Antonio we moved out to Hondo and an Escapees park. Got here just in time for a really neat Veterans Day celebration.  The high school band from D’Hanis, airplane fly-by, lunch and the whole works.  Very nice!

Now all we need is to get my medical done and be on our way to the Valley for the winter.  Won’t be long I hope!