The Clowns of Corpus Christi

This is the motorhome backed into Bob and Renita's backyard between their fence and gate.  As you can see, there is barely enough room for us to open the bedroom slide.  In one try, Carol backed it there.

This is the home of Bob and Renita Harvey and the temporary home of Carol and Mary Mulvany.  We call it the "Harvey RV Resort."

 

We drove down Seaside Street which runs parallel with the Corpus Christi Bay.  The homes on this street are gorgeous. 

We had lunch at Whataburgers by the Bay.  The owner, Harmon Dobson welcomed us.  Whataburger's first location was Corpus Christi.

Taken as we were driving Seaside Drive.

Between the bay and Seaside Street is a park.  The tall building is a hotel.

Tonight the Yorktown Baptist Church had a Trunk or Treat event.  Over 1,000 people attended.

Our friends and another couple hosted a truck.  The theme for the event was carnival games.  Their truck had a plinko game and was decorated in the circus theme.  The six of us wore clown clothes.  

 

This young man was in a wheelchair. His grandmother figured out how to decorate his wheelchair like a boxing ring.  I thought it was a very clever costume and asked if I could take his picture.  He proudly said yes.  I heard him tell his grandmother as they left tonight that this was the most fun he had ever had.

This guy had decorated his truck in yellow, had a huge yellow rubber duckie on top , a ring toss game, and dressed in all yellow.  It took courage to dress like this.  I admire him!

There were three lanes filled with trucks.  There were 45 all together.

Here are the six clowns who operated the plinko game.  It was so much fun.

Those who attended voted on the best game/truck and our group won "most creative."  This was the prize.

The event ran from 6-8 and we were all very tired when it was finished.  It was a fun evening, we enjoyed it, and I know all the kids and parents who attended had a fun time as well.  Hopefully, many of those people, if they don't already attend a church, will be a part of this church.

Follow that Buick

We left campground at 9:15 heading south for Corpus Christi.  We drove US 77 all the way to I-37.  We could see the landscape changing as we drove south from hill country to coastal.  We stopped for gas in Victoria.  Bob and Renita Harvey text us to let us know that they would be in the town of Odem waiting for us.  When we drove by, they would speed up, get ahead of us, and then by following them, we would go to their house.

The traffic seemed heavy and, of course, there is always road construction so we were very happy to follow the black Buick.

At Odem, they saw us pass and then sped up to get ahead of us.  The traffic was heavy and, of course, there was the ever present road construction.  They did a great job of staying close and signaling turns in advance so we could make the lane changes.  We got to their home about 1:30.  We had to unhook the dolly and unload the car so Carol could back into their driveway.  To make it even trickier, they had a wooden fence with a gate from the garage to their fence that Carol had to back through.  Carol backed the motorhome up the driveway and through the gate with only inches to spare.  I was going to take a picture of proof of his great backing ability but I forgot.  Maybe tomorrow I will get one.  We are only able to open the bedroom slide but that is all we really need.  We spent the rest of the afternoon talking.  We ate a delicious supper before Renita had to leave to attend the final Bible study she was involved in.  While she was gone, Bob took us to the beach...North Padre Island.  

Bob has a four-wheel drive truck so we were able to drive on the beach.  Speed limit is 15 MPH but who wants to go any faster.

I was able to take a picture or two as the truck was moving down the beach.  

After we got back to their house, Carol and I went to the motorhome for the evening.  It is good to be here in Corpus Christi with Bob and Renita.  We have never been here.  It is quiet where we are parked.  There are no interstate noises or train whistles.    We should sleep well. -

Monday - Our Church Going Day

Today we visited four of the twenty ""Painted Churches."   These churches ae on the National Registry of Historic Places.  This is the first one we visited.  This is the only one that we were not able to go into the sanctuary.  They had a gate between the foyer and sanctuary.  We were able to put our camera through the bars and get some pictures.

A little history:  In 1840's German and Czech immigrants came to hill country Texas in search of cheap land and opportunity for better lives.  The trip would sometimes take up to four months and they left everything behind in their home country.  They tried to preserve their heritage, food and values.  One thing that was important to them was their church.  They decorated the churches with the colors and designs they had left behind.

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The interior of the church is painted a beautiful blue with gold stars.  In the 1950's the blue was whitewashed because the diocese thought the color was too distracting for the worshippers; but a restoration effort in 1983 brought the color and stars back to life.

We walked to the cemetery. This picture shows both the old and newer gravestones.

Every section was surrounded by concrete slabs keeping everything neat and orderly.

There was a child section that had evidently been well taken care of.  They had put new stones showing the date of birth, date of death and name of the child.

This was one of the older stones.  He was born in 1818 and died in 1887.

The families respect the burial place of their family members as evidenced by these flowers on a grave that is over 100 years old.

The old outhouses still have the German identifications on them.

Beside the church was a road that lead over a bridge called "Piano Bridge."  It is said that when it was first built with wooden planks, the planks made music like a piano when driven over it.  

The bridge is paved now so there was no music as we drove over it.

This was different from the usual longhorn we see in the pastures.

This is St. Mary's Church of High Hill.  It is known as the "Queen of the Painted Churches."  It was very beautiful.

The ceiling of the church is actually painted canvas.  The canvas was then attached to wooden slats making the ceiling look vaulted.

These posts are handpainted to look like they are marble or granite.  They are really just wood

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This is St. Mary's Church of the Assumption.

We only took pictures from the back of the church.  There was a woman praying and we did not want to disturb her.  The floors are so polished that they shine.

This was in the foyer just inside the church.

This church had a cemetery attached to it and this was the sign for the cemetery.  I looked the words up and they mean "Go with our Lord.":

This is the fourth church we visited.

The dusty rose was very pretty.

One thing we noticed about all the churches was that they are all in rural areas.  As we were driving to them, we could see the tall steeple long before we saw the building.

We had lunch at a Whataburger.  This is the second time we have eaten at one.  The burgers are LARGE.  Their burgers made McDonald's look like miniature ones.  We had heard about the Round Top Antique Show which is held in Round Top and surrounding towns two times a year   This happened to be the fall date.  This town is Warrington and booths lined the highway.  We walked along the highway for awhile before the heat got to us and we had to find some place cooler.  We both decided that this made the Covered Bridge Festival look small and they do this twice a year.

When we went into the town, he population sign had been altered to read 90,000.  I suppose someone is making a joke, but twice a year the population probably does swell to 90,000.  Actual population is only 90.

We drove back to camp and and found some shade outside the motorhome in which to sit and cool down.  I think we both took a nap.  Tomorrow we head south to Corpus Christi to spend a couple of days with old friends, Bob and Renita Harvey.  Carol worked with Bob for 30 years at Firestone.  They have a concrete slab  beside their driveway that we will pull into.  He has a hook-up as well.  So we will be staying at Harvey's RV Resort.