Searcher: Jan 7th - Not quite ..."Deep in the Heart of Texas" ...

Not quite so friendly Armadillo-Sam Houston State Park

Spanish Moss in Sam Houston Jones State Park, La

We have crossed over!!....well not that far but we slipped into Texas yesterday from Louisiana and it seemed the terrain changed almost immediately. It went from the water bayous of the craw fish and fishing industry to the mega producing equipment of the oil business near Port Arthur, Texas. I often wonder what aliens from outer space would think if they landed anywhere near all the petrol producing and refining machinery in this part of the country. I know some would or could find a kind of beauty in all of this but I can't even though all that equipment produces the gas we use to motor along the back roads of this beautiful country. We do live a double standard I am afraid.

On a brighter note we stopped at a little RV park right on Highway 87 that runs along the coast on the Bolivar Peninsula on the Gulf of Mexico. This area was completely and totally demolished in the fall of 2008 from Hurricane Rita. Every home, business and the school was gone! We saw the destruction when Richard and I rode through this area in the spring of 2009. They were in the process of clean up then.. They have come a way since then. I heard the pride in the voice of the owner of this park yesterday when visiting with her about the destruction of their little city. She said everyone worked together to clean up the rubble; they had benefits, gatherings to organize and rebuild the area and every man woman and child participated in the rebuilding of this community. Her eyes shone and sparkled when telling me this story. It reminds me of home, of Crystal Falls and Iron County, how everyone pulls together to help each other out in rough times. The world is not such a huge place after all! Oh......she also told me that she had lived in White Pine, Mi in 1973 for a year when her husband had worked on escape vents at the White Pine Copper Mine there! Again, small world!!