Back into the Gulf Coast Region, where it is at least a little warmer and less rainy! On Tuesday, March 1 we made the (happily) uneventful drive from Sam Houston National Forest/Huntsville TX to the charming town of Goliad and Goliad State Park. We arrived pretty early, around 3pm, to a more or less parking lot camping scenario, but not at all busy, so still good. We’re starting to see that there are three main types of TX parks – recreation focused (almost always featuring a lake), land/wilderness preservation-type, and historical. Though we had picked it primarily for location, Goliad turned out to be more of a ‘historic’ state park. So without any real intention, between Sam Houston and Goliad we ended up getting a pretty good crash-course in Texas history! Within the grounds of the park include a misison (Espiritu de Santo) and a fort (Presidio la Bahia) both dating from around 1750, as well as memorials to a significant battle (and subsequent ruthless slaughter of captured Texans) in Texas’ war for independence from Mexico in 1836.
Once again, we arrived on a beautiful afternoon. We set up camp, then kicked off our stay with a short ride on our mtbs to explore the surrounding area. Riding on the highly-touted 2 mile paved bike path in the campground, we saw the mission from a distance, and found that the path continued south beyond the park to the Presidio la Bahia where we saw the Fannin memorial mentioned above (Fannin was a very young, not-too-successful Texan lieutenent slaughtered with some 300 of his men after he surrendered to the bloody Santa Ana) and the charming Angel of Mercy statue of a Mexican woman who apparently disapproved and helped 30 or 40 of the Texan prisoners escape certain death.
Though outsiders might only know the cry “Remember the Alamo”, apparently the real battle cry was “Remember the Alamo, Remember Goliad” which Sam Houston used liberally to rally Texans to fight, and ultimately defeat, Mexico to gain Texas independence (for only about a year before it became a part of the US). If you are an amusement park fan, and have ever visited a ‘6 Flags’ amusement park, you’ll be interested to know the first one was in Dallas, “6 Flags over Texas”, which got the name for the 6 flags that have flown over the state of TX (so far…): the kingdoms of both Spain and France, the Republic of Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the Confederate States of America and ultimately the good old US of A. The trail also went on north outside the park, apparently into the nearby town of Goliad, and featured a series of the largest ‘boardwalks’ we’ve ever come across! After our ride, we settled in for a quiet evening with *70* TV channels to choose from! Ah, civilization!
On Wednesday, March 2 we woke to light fog and chilly temperatures. But it warmed up nicely by noon so we headed out for a longer ‘exploratory’ ride on our mountain bikes so we could get some idea of road riding conditions – how busy, existence of shoulders, what roads were paved and what roads turned into dirt! We stumbled around a bit but got a sense of the ‘lay of the land’. We also had our first close-up encounter with Brahman cows, which Janine fell in love with, on sight! The pure ones are grey, but they come in other shades of light tan as well. They have tons of skin, big floppy ears and a huge hump! They are purported to be super gentle and shy. Janine was quite taken and resolved that she would definitely add in a Brahman to go with the horse, goat and a couple chickens she already wanted, if we ever got some land! The afternoon was mild enough for us to enjoy some ‘outdoor time’ in the lounge chairs for happy hour, then dinner and a (DVD!) movie.
Phone and internet signals in the campground were both sparse, so we got up on Thursday and headed into the charming town of Goliad (population 3000) for a library visit (with poor to moderate internet) located in the charming downtown. So much history! Plaques everywhere acknowledged everything from ‘The Hanging Tree” and “The Regulators” (vigilante justice…) at the courthouse, to the Bull Durham advertisement painted on the side of a building. We had lunch at a local cafe, and explored around the town square on foot. We were registered for a nearby race on Saturday, and felt tired, so we enjoyed a day off of the bikes.
<photos of downtown goliad>
Friday we woke to a 55 degree gorgeous morning that led to a beautiful day. After a leisurely wake-up, we headed out on road bikes for an easy ride at noon and spent the rest of the afternoon resting our legs and getting prepared for our race on Saturday. Jeri tried her first outing in the Bubble Backpack, and we got Squeaky in her leash and “halter” and we watched in awe as the campground filled up with a steady stream of cars, trucks, campers, trailers and RV’s. WOW!
Saturday dawned gray but warm. It was 65 degrees when we headed out at 7am! We got to the “Come and Grind It” race HQ (at a cemetery in a tiny town called Leesville!) late but ready, and were quickly herded into line for the start. This event only offered an option of 33 miles or 62 miles and we both opted for the 33. Janine was really just overjoyed to be out riding at all, and recovering from her mishap several weeks before. It WAS windy but the gravel was great, the racers were friendly and we both had a great time. Sorry, no photos when racing!!!
We finished up before noon and were SO ready for the promised post-race BBQ hosted by the Leesville Cemetery Friends Association. It was incredibly home-cooked delicious! Chicken and sausage, assorted salads and of course, post-ride beers. Yu-um! They posted the results right away and we felt pretty satisfied, Mike finished in 2 hrs, 24 minutes (21st out of 53 men, and the oldest finisher but one!) and Janine finished in 2hr, 27 minutes (9th finisher out of 35 women and one of the oldest finishers!). Our greatest reward, though, was the relief that we only did the 33 miler – it was CRAZY WINDY out there, and on the mountain bikes, 62 miles would have been exceptional suffering!! We headed home, dirty, sweaty and happy, and, after well-earned showers, enjoyed doing nothing the rest of the day!
Sunday was our planned “History” and post-race recovery day, and we immersed ourselves in Goliad State Park’s wealth of information. In the morning, we walked back out to the Presidio and enjoyed walking the grounds of the fort as well as exploring the museum and the sad memorial to all of Fannin’s fallen soldiers. As if Texas history isn’t confusing enough, we learned that THIS part of TX flew a sequence of not 6 but 9 flags over the years.
And we learned the story of General Ignacio Zaragoza and Cinco de Mayo. He was born in Goliad while it was part of Mexico (his father fought in the Goliad battle in 1836) and was displaced further south when Texas became independent. He ended up fighting Santa Ana in the 1860s (VERIFY!), and his claim to fame revolved around a battle on May 5, 1863 – you got it, Cinco de Mayo. Interestingly, this date is celebrated more in the US than in Mexico, and the holiday originated in Goliad! So Cinco de Mayo commemorates a key battle rather than the anniversary of Mexican independence as most think. That date, which is more celebrated in Mexico, is in September.
On tired legs, we walked back to our camp for lunch (a total of about 2 miles), then drove 5 miles out of town to visit the ruins of another historical site, that of the less-successful Mission de Rosario. All that remains is the footprint. On our way back, we stopped at Goliad State Park HQ to go inside the adjacent Mission Espiritu De Santo and to our good luck, a guided tour was starting in 5 minutes! The tour lasted about an hour and we really got a lot of insight into what life was like in the late 1700s to 1800s and learned what parts of the mission had been restored, and what was original (in the photos, anything with whitewash was restored back in the 1930’s, by the CCC when they built the state park). So interesting! This is just skimming the surface… If you want to learn more Texas history, here’s a great place to start! We got back to camp later than expected but still in time for Mike to enjoy some NASCAR. It was even warm enough for an evening walk!
As our tour guide explained, “The Presidio protected and the Mission produced”. The Mission had a long history of ups and downs, from a high in the late 1700s where it ran over 40,000 head of cattle, making it the first large cattle ranch in Texas. Using free Indian labor, it was pretty wildly self-sufficient. In addition to cattle and other livestock for the Mission and the Presidio, and to trade for other items. It also raised the mustangs used by Indian vaqueros to manage their own and other herds. It grew, harvested, preserved and prepared large crops of grain, fruits and vegetables for their own use and for trade. In the mid 1800’s, it began to lose momentum with Mexican independence, mandatory ‘secularization’ and the loss of free Indian labor, and ultimately its best acreage was lost to local Mexican and American colonists and the Mission fell into ruin. It became part of Goliad State Park in 1931, and its restoration was one of the very first CCC projects, starting in the 1933. Additional reconstruction was done in the 1960’s to 1980s to return the site as close as possible to its original state.
Monday was supposed to be rainy and cold – and it was… so we took the opportunity to drive 30 miles to Victoria, the nearest big city. We needed to get a propane refill, do laundry and it was just a good opportunity to see the local sights. Laundry can definitely be a hassle when living on the road! But, interestingly, we’ve noticed how doing laundry gives us a chance to glimpse the underside of a community, as laundromats are located in the neighborhoods where people actually NEED a laundromat! Victoria was no exception, but the place was clean, the people were friendly and we were done in about an hour and a half.
We were ready for some sight-seeing. With a population about 60,000, Victoria should have seemed somewhat like Chico (population about 100,000) but to our eyes it seemed much larger. And it definitely had an incredible amount of historic neighborhoods and houses. Wow! We finished off our adventure with lunch at Fossati’s Deli. Having opened in 1882, it is purported to be the oldest deli in TX, and amongst the longest-running restaurants in the US!
We loved the decor, and the food was great! A quick trip to the local HEB supergrocery and we were on our way home. The campground was back to being almost empty, and it was COLD and damp! We hunkered down and prepared to move on – next stop Fairfield Lake State Park!