Can we see it? Up early and ran outside at 7:00am to see if we could see SpaceX launch Starship. We watched the launch live on Kevin’s iPhone and we looked in the sky but we think two things might have prevented us from seeing it. One, it was very cloudy and two, they launch south so maybe we are just too far north at Lake Conroe, Texas. Anyway, the guy in the campsite next to us was out playing frisbee golf with his own stand in his site. He finally asked if we were looking for the sunrise, which is funny because we would have been looking the wrong direction. 🤣
The Lone Star Monument & Historical Flag Park, Conroe, TX 11/23
We headed south towards Houston and decided to stop at The Lone Star Monument & Historical Flag Park, in Conroe. Charles Stewart is the man who designed the current Texas flag, in 1845. He is from this area and helped settled Montgomery. It was fun to see and read about all 12 flags that Texas area has had. The “Come and Take It” flag, 1835: “After changing the original contract with early colonists, the Mexican army then demanded the return of a small cannon loaned to the Township of Gonzalez that had been used to ward off Indian attacks. Knowing that this was the beginning of Santa Anna’s attempt to confiscate weapons of the colonists to further his plans for dictatorship, the citizens refused the order. In late September 1835, Mexico dispatched 100 dragoons to take the cannon by force. As the town fortified against the approaching attack, Cynthia Burns and Evaline DeWitt painted a white cotton flag with a cannon, a lone star and the now famous slogan ‘Come and take it’. Texas Revolution was underway.” A lot of volunteering from surround US states helped Texas win the Revolution.
Behind the flag display is Veterans Memorial Park. As you walk across the small bridge, you come up 38 wind chimes. They honor heroic women from the past. On down the wall we saw a display of the round symbols of the different branches of military. See-through glass displays were farther down the path and these listed the wars and the names of local people who gave the ultimate sacrifice. We were almost to the end and saw a man walking. He came over and turns out he was a great talker. He is part of this organization. He said this area use to be a landfill and some legislature person (we didn’t recognize the name) wanted to build this memorial park here. Well, this little park has the city of Conroe, the county of Montgomery, the state of Texas, the Corp of Engineers, and the veterans all owning land right here! So, as you can guess, the paperwork was crazy in getting all this put together. Thankfully the legislature person kept up and got it set. When I-45 came through, the dirt from “right over there” was put here to fill in over the landfill. Awesome idea. He said a homeless person came through and destroyed a bunch of displays so now they have armed security at night and cameras all the time. Sad that is needed.
Travel Day: Lake Conroe, TX to Livingston, TX. With the slides in, Kevin pumped up HOWE’s (footnote 1) tires and did some greasing. I sat in the truck, double checked the route, and read a book. It is a huge travel day today – 50 miles. HA The drive was nice, nothing exciting, lots of trees and few hills. Green and humid. This is Escapees RV Club Headquarters. It is huge.
Very Long & Not Tall Dam (On The Left), Lake Livingston, Livingston, TX 11/23
After we got set up at the campground, we got drinks and ice cream from McDonald’s and drove to Lake Livingston Dam. Well, we couldn’t go on it because it is all blocked off but we drove around. The dam isn’t even as tall as a power pole, but miles long. I guess it is because it is so flat here and they have to extend surface area instead of having sides of a canyon. The grass on the dam is even mowed. 🙂
Lake Livingston, Livingston, TX 11/23
We continued on, trying to see the lake but there are just too many trees. We pulled off on one little road and almost got stuck in the deep mud. Scary. The sun was setting and I got a few pictures.
SmartWeigh, a program through Escapees RV Club, weighs each tire on your rigs. It is easy to have too much stuff and weight in your trailer/motorhome and that causes several problems. The big problem is it is harder to get it stopped in an emergency! It cost us discounted $60.00, and you have your truck & trailer loaded as normal. They weigh the truck first, with us in it and then we hook on HOWE (footnote 1) and they weigh it. Every wheel gets weighed. We were happy that we are underweight!They suggested if we wanted to make any changes, to add a little more weight to the backseat of the truck or put some weight at the back of HOWE but not necessary at all. Whew! We had thought the weight was fine because it drives so well but it is worth the money to know for sure it is all good.
One of the things recommended to see in Livingston, TX is Old City Cemetery. The graveyard started in 1840 with the burial of 4 years old Josephus Choate. The parents were from Kentucky and they moved here and received a league of land while this area was still part of Mexico. We are definitely in the south – we are now seeing graves with “Confederate States Army” on the headstones. In this cemetery buried here are at least 25 Republic of Texas citizens, 2 Mexican War veterans and 30 Civil War veterans.
What is a benefit of traveling the country? Seeing friends and family! In Houston, TX, we met up with my “bestie” from college days and her husband. We hadn’t seen each other in probably 27 years. We lived far apart but now as Kevin and I travel full-time, it allows us to see people we might otherwise not see. We had such a sweet visit; they are very special people. Love this life!
- “Home” is where we park it. Home is our 2022 Alliance Avenue, 36 ft, 5th wheel.
Travel Means Life 
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