Full Time RV Travel–Columbus TX–Lots of History and Beauty

The Heritage Society and the Historical Society

have done a great job of preserving the history of Columbus TX.

 

This is the third Court House that was built for Colorado County

I always research the history of an area before we go. . .however,

I don’t want to read a history lesson in a blog, so I will just post a few pics

that we found of interest, and when you get to Columbus,

maybe you will have an idea of what you would like to see.

The copper cupola with the Seth Thomas Clock is gorgeous. . .

and inside the Court House on the first floor

you can see the mechanisms that run the clock

on the second floor of the Court House,

inside the District Court Room

you can see the beautiful stained glass lined cupola.

It is definitely worth seeing. . .

Businesses lining the Court House Square always intrigue me. . .

and Columbus is no different than most. . .

an assortment of cafés, the local barber shop, a lawyer’s office, etc. . .

Once upon a time, families lived in the upper quarters,

and ran the family business below. . .

This town was founded during the time of Texas’ Independence. . .

and being located smack dab between San Antonio,

where the Alamo fell, and San Jacinto,

where Santa Ana surrendered. . .

plus being located on a major waterway, the Colorado River,

put Columbus square in the center of it all.

Can you imagine the stories these buildings could tell?

This water tower,

now the Confederate Women’s Museum,

also located in the

Colorado County Court House Square

is also an interesting story.

When the city no longer had a use for the water tower,

they attempted to use dynamite to destroy it. . .

as you can see. . .that did not work!

This is only a smidgeon of the over 80 historical sites

located in Columbus, TX. . .

Be sure to check out the Visitor’s Center

located across from the Court House.

Pick up a talking houses brochure,

and do the audio tour designed to be

listened to on the AM channel of your car stereo. . .

Also be sure to check out the historical City Cemetery. . .

renowned for it’s ghost stories

and of course,

the second largest oak tree

in the State of Texas

is located in Columbus

Here are a few more links to interesting sites and fact about Columbus TX

List of Museums in Columbus TX

Info on Audio Driving Tour for Columbus TX

More Pics of Columbus Courthouse

Enjoy,

Janice and Dave

Full Time RV Living–Colorado River Preserve Invasion

Ahhhh. . .after our RV Repairs trauma drama of last week

we reported back to the Colorado River Preserve in Columbus. . .

where we were invaded by dozens and dozens of adorable, angelic Cub Scouts. . .

no seriously. ..they are so cute at this age.

They ran, they played, they rode bikes. . .

they explored the little creek behind our RV. . .

they attacked ant hills with a stick. . .

It was a hoot watching them in action.

This is only a small sampling of the tents spread along the river bank.

That night they built them a huge bonfire out of the wood

rescued from the low water crossing incident. . .I hope they got

good and warm and had thick sleeping bags in those tents. . .

otherwise they were gonna freeze their little tushies off. . .

I would have taken more pics of their antics. . .but given the day and age

in which we live, taking pics of other folks kiddos is probably not a good idea.

Today is drippy and rainy. . .so we are staying in,

and I’m trying a new one dish experiment.

Has anyone tried this stuff. . .called Simple Suppers?

I browned some andoullie sausage (cause anything cajun

requires it) and a chicken breast, and then just added this sauce

which includes the rice and everything. 

Reminds me of making Manwich. . .hmmm. . .

not too bad for a quick lunch.  Will I try it again. . .

not sure. . .I’ll get back to you on that.

 

Tonight we head to the clubhouse where new RV friends,

Mike and Candi are going to teach us how to play

cards and marbles. . .should be fun!

 

Safe travels everyone. . .

 

Janice and Dave Evans

From Blogger Pictures

Dave and I have lived in our RV Full Time since 2003, when we sold the house and everything in it, and have traveled fulltime since 2009. Follow our tales by signing up to follow our blog, and check back often as we share the tips and tricks of living the lifestyle.

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Full Time RV Living–RV Maintenance–Spreading the Good News

Yaaa. . .we have our home back. . .it’s so great! AND. . .

they did not need to remove the slide. . .

which saved us a bundle on labor costs. . .thank you Lord!

I prayed a very specific prayer about that. . . and it was answered.

This was our problem child. . .the kitchen slide.

In order to remove it, they would have needed to remove both refrigerators,

and the stove! Isn’t that crazy? 

I was amazed to be told that this was the heaviest slide in the coach. . .

I would have guessed that the living room slide was heavier.

Apparently, this little one foot wall between the door

and the slide out was what was causing all the problems. 

No one had ever told me that once the slide touches the

wall to STOP pushing the button.  I thought you were supposed to push the button

until the slide stopped going out.  Our tech said the slide motor is so strong

that the slide had managed to complete dislodge this wall. . .hello! 

I will say that I had noticed the wall moving out a little bit the last few trips. . .

and I WAS greatly concerned. . .

mostly that the slide might just fall out on the ground. 

I’m not sure that could actually happen. . .but hey. . .

I have a vivid imagination. . .so in my mind, I could picture it!

 

Anyway, because the wall had moved a little bit. . .

the entire slide had gotten a little cockeyed in the opening. . .

and thus all the problems.

 

The living room slide only required a new motor and gear box. . .

which held us up a couple of days while the parts manager

was trying to figure out the model #. . .if only they would have asked us. . .

we told them we knew exactly where

to get the motor. . .seriously. . .one phone call. . .

voila. . .next day. . .new motor. . .

but did they think to order the gear box at the same time. . .

oh NOOOOO. . .another phone call. . .NEXT day. . .gearbox. . .

and finally. . .finally about six o’clock we see this beautiful sight. . .

the porter bringing the rig out onto the driveway.

 

We chose to use Camping World in Katy for the same reason

we use Ford Dealerships to service the truck. . .

nationwide accessibility and warranty service. 

We’re hoping everything is now ship shape with the slides,

but if it becomes necessary to have any further adjustments done

at least we can take it in wherever we are.

 

We told Jessie, (our service advisor) that we had never had a good experience

when it came to having major repairs done on the rig. . .

but I must say, that other than the delays with parts, he, and Lance (our service tech)

did everything in their power to get us back on the road in a timely fashion.

 

Lance did say he didn’t believe he wanted to be working on any Alfas anytime soon. . .

I can’t say I blame him.  

  He was working with zero ground clearance in the back. . .

thankfully, he was skinny.  

We did get him a little thank you gift for all his agony. . .

and to say we appreciated his extra efforts. 

Dave went up to check on things on a daily basis. . .

and both guys were Johnny on the spot to take him back, and show him what was going on.

 

Being away from “home” is miserable. . .

and we’ve gotten so spoiled to traveling with all of our stuff. . .

I’m sure the hotel staff thought we were moving in. . .it did feel that way.

 

I said before that we needed to empty both fridges. . .

so we had our big ice chest. . .both of our computers. . .

and various other paraphernalia to help us survive.

It was a nice hotel room. . .not a bad experience at all. . .

but we are very, very happy to be home.

 

The rig is so, so dirty. . .I’m hoping for a few days of sunshine,

so we can get it washed and waxed. 

With the drought, and water restrictions, we haven’t been able to do any washing. . .

we may hafta use a bucket and towels. . .but it’s gotta be done!

 

We have one more big remodeling project to do. . .

Dave’s desk is sad and pathetic,

so we are going to replace it, and the file cabinets. . .

and then our bodies and our budget will need to take a break!

 

More on that later. . .

From Blogger Pictures

Dave and I have lived in our RV Full Time since 2003, when we sold the house and everything in it, and have traveled fulltime since 2009. Follow our tales by signing up to follow our blog, and check back often as we share the tips and tricks of living the lifestyle. Connect with us on our FACEBOOK Ready To Go Full Time RVing Page. . .where you’ll meet lots of other RV’ers just like you. . .traveling and enjoying this great adventure. If you would like to receive our blog updates, just enter your email below. As a bonus, you will receive a link to our Seasonal Job Listings Page, and a follow up email linking to a sample copy of our personal Seasonal Jobs Resume. We respect your privacy, and never share your email address

 

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Full Time RV Living–Repairs and more Repairs

Before we even got started on slide repairs at the RV Repair Center,

we went by Columbus Tire Center in Columbus, TX. . .

I love doing business with people I feel I can trust. . .

and I tell you. . .this is one great owner.

We ended up here several years ago, after one of those tire incidents

where all the layers peel off the tire, but you still have air. . .

spent the night at the local KOA, (back in the day before Thousand Trails)

and limped in to the Tire Store the next morning.

 

We had been concerned for some time that one of our tires might be rubbing

on the fender. . .but had not been able to find a resolution.  Ryan, the owner,

offered the perfect solution. . .a narrower width tire. . .but with the same number

of ply.  He didn’t have enough in stock to fix us up. . .but ordered and had them delivered

right away. ..got us fixed up and on our way.

That’s why, when we needed replacements. . .I held out until we could get back here.

In addition to needing the tires replaced, I was very concerned about our wheel bearings.

These guys checked everything out. . .cleaned and lubed everything up. . .

took the time to show and assure hubby that all was well with the bearings and suspension.

 

Although we left with our pocketbook a little lighter,

it feels good to have faith in those you are doing business with. . .

 

Next time we have a tire issue. . .guess where we’ll go?

 

As you may have also noticed, we had the tires replaced with the rig still

attached to the truck.  I am a freak about not wanting the rig jacked up in the rear

when the front stabilizer jacks are down.  I once saw a rig, where the front

stabilizer jack had collapsed, and a wrecker needed to come lift and stabilize them

before they could get it back on their truck.  I am convinced that somewhere, sometime

too much pressure got put on those front stabilizers, thereby causing the collapse.

There’s enough things to go wrong, without purposefully adding to the list!

Across the street from the tire store is the second largest oak tree in the State of Texas. ..

the first largest being at Goose Island State park in Rockport, TX. . .the tree seems to be in

someone’s yard, so I just took this pic from across the street. . .however, if you want to see

a really awesome shot of it, click here. . .it is absolutely magnificent!

MORE WEBSITES WITH POSTS ON THIS SUBJECT:

Where's Weaver: SMALL TOWN SURPRISES

Monday, December 28 - We are going to explore Columbus, TX this morning. That should ... Her favorite is the second one below. It is the ... Across the street from the cemetery is the second largest Oak Tree in Texas. It is on ...

Publish Date: 12/29/2009 20:25

http://wheresweaver.blogspot.com/2009/12/small-town-surprises.html

Columbus – ghost orbs - Hollow Hill

Columbus City Cemetery in Columbus, Texas, is a wonderful, photogenic cemetery about an hour and a half west of Houston, where I-10 meets Highway 71. It's across from the second largest oak tree in Texas. Columbus is ...

Publish Date: 03/20/2008 17:09

http://hollowhill.com/columbus-ghost-orbs/

Evans Escapades–Low Water Crossings

 

As we drove across the bridge into the Colorado River Preserve RV Park,

a part of the Thousand Trails Membership System, in Columbus TX a couple of weeks ago,

I commented to David, “well, I’ll bet this is  a low water crossing.” 

Having had one of these on a mail route I delivered,

I recognized that low dip in the road, with the little creek trickling under it. . .

Lo and behold, the following Wednesday,

as we thought we were leaving the park, this was the scene.. .

After five inches of rain in two hours. . .and a huge tree from upstream blocking the culverts. . .

no one was leaving the park anytime soon. . .

it looks good here, it was almost to the top of the railing when we first arrived. 

At that point, we wouldn’t even consider taking our big truck across, much less a regular sized vehicle.

I told one guy, (on FaceBook,) who said we could go swimming. . .no way, that looks like class five rapids!

Once the rain stopped,

the guys at the park got out the trusty John Deere,

to move the tree, and debris, and had us out of there in short order!  Good job guys. . .

Our resident Red Tailed Hawk that we’ve been watching,

caught itself a squirrel when it made the mistake of running on the ground from one tree to the other. 

I had the camera out, trying to get a shot of it in flight,

when all of this took place.  I was thrilled to get such an awesome pic!

 

Now that we’ve decided to keep the fifth wheel rather than purchasing a motor home,

we’ve gotten started with the repairs it is going to need. . .

Our big living room slide has always needed an assist.

It’s almost like they didn’t put in a quite big enough motor for all that weight. 

It used to be that Dave could just go out, and give it a push as I was pushing the button inside. . .

but a couple of trips ago, it started making a horrible sound,

like gears grinding, or some such nonsense. . .so here is Dave with the crank bar. 

It’s like starting a Model A. . .he cranks away, I push the button and pray. . .

 

however, this is not even the worst of it. 

 

The kitchen slide opposite this one, has been hanging up in one corner. . .

but with a little assist from the trusty crank, would always just come right in. 

We’ve known it was somehow out of balance. . .

but after trips to three shops where they told us they just couldn’t see any problem. . .

that it was on all it’s rails. . .nothing was out of place. . .

we just accepted using the crank as part of our normal breakdown routine. 

 

Well, ladies and gentlemen. . .after putting it in the shop this week, we find out that, yes, it is on it’s rails. . .

however, one of the rails has come loose from the frame,

and in order to do the repair, they will need to completely remove the slide from the coach. . .oh Lord!

 

Not only will they remove the slide, they will remove both refrigerators from the slide,

before it is removed. . .so, we emptied out both the fridges. . .

I’m much, much too cheap to let all that stuff go to waste. . .

Thankfully, I had been holding off on grocery shopping until we got to San Antonio. . .

so this stuff managed to fit into the hotel fridge. . .

I know, I know. . .we could have came and stayed with you. . .

there were any number of friends and family who would have been more than happy to have put us up. . .

but. . .we are soooo independent. . .we keep weird hours. . .yada, yada, yada. 

A hotel room was so reasonable, and we were able to be right around the corner from the shop. 

That way, Mr. Dave pops in every day to check on progress!

 

AND. . .prayers going up, fingers crossed. . .

upon closer inspection, our service advisor says,

now they think they can make the repair WITHOUT removing the slide. . .

that sounds like really, really good news to me.

 

Keep us in your prayers that everything will go smoothly,

and we will be back on track in short order. 

Regardless of the cost, having the repairs done

is still way, way cheaper than a motor home payment. . .

well, at least that’s what I’m telling myself. . .

Safe travels,

Janice