DAY THREE: Saturday, 28
March 2009
It had been really warm the
previous day, and it was that temperature Mum & Dad came down for. That’s only mentioned because we didn’t
really have any plans other than spending some quality socializing time
together, in addition to watching one of Caleb’s flag football games.
The old comment is if you don’t
like the weather in Texas ,
wait five minutes. That was very true,
generally speaking, today. Keeping in
mind how warm it had been the day before, the temperature took a noise dive
down into the 60s today. While normally
not that cold by itself, it is when the wind starts to blow. Add to that it had rained the night before,
so it was really damp.
The field was dry enough for the
game to take place without the kids getting too muddy, but for those who had
come to watch it wasn’t very comfortable.
Mum & Dad had their heavy coats with them, only because they wore
them to the airport back in Albany , and would
wear them again when they returned to Albany . They didn’t expect to need to wear them while
here.
The game only lasted through the
late morning, but that chill was in the air enough that we didn’t want to stay
outside any longer than we needed to. It
was a good day to stay in, and plan the attack for the next day. Mum had something particular in mind that she
wanted to try, and it looked like the weather would be nice and warm again
tomorrow, so we’d attempt it then.
DAY FOUR: Sunday, 29
March 2009
As we’d traveled west once this
trip, it was now time to travel east.
One of the movies Mum likes was film out in Smithville, so she wanted to
go out to see the area. That sounded
like it would be a good thing to do. Lee
commented there was something the travel book mentioned in the town of Rosanky nearby which might
be worth a look, although there wasn’t much of a write up on it.
Following a footnote in the travel
book, we hunted down the “giant gingerbread man” that exists in Smithville. Here’s an example of the town deciding to do
something fun, although I really have no idea how this would’ve began. Like most neighborhoods during December,
there’s a bunch of lights set up to mark the holiday season. One other item of the holiday season is
baking gingerbread men. The only
gingerbread man I ever liked was the one from Shrek, because he had one of the best retorts I’d seen. When faced with torture to give up
information about his friends, he replied rather aptly (and suggestively) “Eat
me!” Oh, I laughed hard at that.
Smithville decided to be memorable
in a different way. In 2006, the broke
the Guinness World Record for the largest gingerbread man. This giant cookie measured over 20 feet long,
and weighed over 1,300 pounds. I’m not
even sure how you would bake something that big. Must’ve been one hell of a bonfire. The cookie is obviously long gone, but a
monument was built near the Railroad
Museum
We drove around Smithville looking
for a place where we could get some nourishment, and did a double-take as we
passed this place. We first thought it
was a gas station, and even on second glance we still thought it was an old,
closed gas station. But when taking
another pass by, we saw it was an old gas station converted into a restaurant.
There wasn’t much of a menu, as it
was mainly a soup-and-sandwich place, with some ice cream on the side. But having the tables outside next to the old
gas pumps was rather interesting. Even
the interior (what had been the garage space) was left in original style as
much as possible to retain that feel of a 1950s fill-up station. The food was okay, but the atmosphere was
really nice. I think we got more out of
that than anything. Mum & Dad were
far more amused by the original artifacts hanging around, including the old
(obviously non-working) pumps, as this was stuff they remembered from their
childhoods. Looking at the cost per
gallon on the gas pump, which was “thirty-five and a half cents” made us long
for the days when we had reasonable gas prices.
From there, we made our way around
the twisting roads until we finally came to the town of Rosanky to see if this “automotive museum”
the travel book mentioned was worth a look.
This turned out to be quite the gem of a find. And I’m not saying that simply because of the
British telephone which was setting out front of the building (which seemed to
be out of place, but we just rolled with it.)
From the road or the small parking
lot, this building didn’t seem like much.
Even when we went inside, all we saw was a small room with some
automotive trophies and some signed pictures of racers. Didn’t look like anything worthwhile until
the gentleman at the counter mentioned this was only the foyer. He opened the door to the back of the
building, and we saw how far this went back.
It appeared this entire structure was the size of a football field, and
all we could see was old car after old car after old car. The Central Texas Museum of Automotive
History now had our immediate attention.
This started out as the personal
collection of vintage cars owned by Dick Burdick, but became an actual museum
back in 1980. A large majority of these
are American and European cars from the 1930s to 1950s, as well as some notable
ones from the later part of the 20th Century. All the cars are either “rarely driven” (so
they have low mileage), or have been restored to be as close to their original
condition as possible.
What caught my eye was a 1948
Tucker sedan. Only about fifty of these
cars were made before the Tucker Company was crushed by the major automotive
corporations. To me, that was worth the
price of admission right there. Now as
someone who is employed (although indirectly) by General Motors, my knowledge
and interest of things automotive has grown in many ways I never thought it
would. And as Lee works in the
automotive insurance business, she has similar knowledge.
I liked wandering around aircraft
museums, and this was very similar as there were so many things packed
together. Each vehicle had an
informational card to list make and model, manufacturer, production year, and
any notable things about it. There were
things I’d only heard about, or seen pictures of, and it was so interesting to
be able to see them up close. A Corvette
Stingray, and a Pontiac Gran Torino were among those.
Additionally, there were cars I’d
never even heard of before, from manufacturer’s I never knew existed. There was a Stanley Steamer present (which
was one that I did know), but that company changed with the times and got out
of the car industry. There were so many
others that either didn’t survive the Great Depression, or folded at the
conclusion of World War II. Names like
De Dietrich, Stutz, Duesenberg, EMF (Everall, Metzger, and Flanders ),
REO, Napier, Empire, Crosley, and International Harvester were among the ones I
saw. I personally thought the 1963
Studebaker Avanti roadster looked pretty nice.
One of the things which Mum liked a
lot was the 1970 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow Limousine which had been converted
to be used by Johnny Cash and his family during the later part of that
decade. It didn’t look any different on
the outside, with it’s maroon exterior and grey hard top. It got more inside which was of interest.
The Cash Limo sat there with a door
open so you see the same maroon colour could be found within the vehicle as
well. We noticed the plush cloth
interior. Neither of which are very
uncommon when looking at automobiles of any time. But when we took a peak to the backseat,
that’s when we saw how cool this car was.
Johnny Cash had a stereo (with tape player), a television (complete with
ancient VCR), mini bar, and phone. Based
on the colour of the phone, it made me wonder if it was hooked up to the
Kremlin and/or the Bat
Cave
Also there were also
representatives of brands which I’ve familiar with like Buick, Oldsmobile,
Cadillac, and Jaguar. Some of the more
notable items here were a 1917 Ford Model T, 1924 Bentley Three-Little
Speedster, 1961 Studebaker Coupe, and an Indian Motorcycle, as well as this
1912 era contraption known only as “The Bug.”
This turned out to a great find,
and was something which we’d have to come back to. I think we could’ve spent all day here just
soaking in the historical nature of the area.
DAY FIVE: Monday, 30
March 2009
Today was just another hang out
day, spent enjoying each other’s company.
We’d have to get Mum & Dad on the plane the next morning, so we just
were leisurely today. Mum wanted to
partake in her “guilty pleasure” of Austin ,
so we had a nice lunch at Shady Grove.
It was another ending to a great time.
I did suggest to my parents on subsequent trips we could take more day
trips so they could explore more of the area.
They seemed to be receptive to the idea.
Mum said she’d keep watch on the Texas Tourism & Travel websites to
see what other interesting things were in the area.
More information on the places we visited can be found at:
Smithville: www.smithvilletx.org
Shady
Grove: www.theshadygrove.com
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