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After a little bit more of a process than we planned for, we are now registered to vote in Texas. It was a little bit surprising, but quite satisfying when the lady at the driver’s license agency gave us our temporary licenses and said “Welcome to Texas.” And our voter registration cards arrived in our mail today.
The process did require us to stay here in Livingston for a couple weeks longer than we planned, but we have had a very nice time here and learned a whole lot more of the Escapees club, which runs this RV park, than we would have learned in the week we had planned to be here. We’ve attended the afternoon services here on Sundays and the ice cream socials on Sunday evening, Natalie’s enjoyed some game nights and crafting get-togethers, and we’ve met some most extremely nice people. They have given us some really good ideas, including restaurants and museums. We’ve also seen and driven through some amazing rain storms, but have not seen any severe storms and hope to never see one at all, especially if the storms we have seen don’t quite qualify.
At our first ice cream social, a
lady suggested we visit the National Museum of Funeral History, mostly because they had an exhibit of the Shroud of Turin. It proved quite interesting, though not something we would have considered except for the shroud exhibit. The museum had exhibits from the great pyramids of Egypt through the histories of casket construction, embalming and cremation. They had quite a few hearses, from the old west up to fairly modern models. There were exhibits about the presidential memorials, especially the LBJ and Bush ceremonies, as well as fairly extensive exhibits about many other presidents’ services. There were exhibits devoted to many famous people who have passed on, and an exhibit devoted to the kind of services I would think of as belonging to New Orleans and the jazz musicians of the area. And there was a large section in memory of all the popes and the process of memorializing them. The museum had a whole bunch of stuff I never would have even been curious about. It was quite a display.
When we had wandered through every display we thought was there, we met up again and neither of us had seen the shroud exhibit, so we had to
ask where it was. The docent took us right to it, and it was quite an exhibit all by itself. The section was made special with an entry made to look like an entrance to a tomb, with a big rock rolled aside. The shroud on display is not the real one; the real one will never leave Turin, Italy. This one, though, is a certified replica, made with the same material as the real shroud. The replica is mounted on a wall, 14 feet long and just over 3 feet wide. We didn’t get a good photo of the displayed shroud, but we did get photos of the photos with notations describing points of interest to support validation of the shroud’s origin. There are documents describing the process historians have used to determine whether it could actually be the authentic burial cloth from a couple thousand years ago. I’m not willing to commit one way or another, mostly because I expect to find out from the Source one day. However, the case is certainly well made, and it was amazing to see the shroud along with the supporting evidence.
A very good friend suggested we ought to visit
the San Jacinto monument and museum. Because we didn’t know much more about Texas history than the Alamo, we didn’t have a clue just how important San Jacinto was for Texas. After Santa Anna’s massacre at the Alamo, this was the next big battle, and it was Santa Anna’s last, because he lost, and surrendered to Sam Houston and the Texas army. Even more important, this battle marked the end of Texas’ battle for independence from Mexico and the establishment of the Republic of Texas, one of the six flags that have flown over Texas.
The monument itself is amazingly similar to the Washington monument and reflecting pool in D.C. and, in keeping with much of Texas, it’s just a little bit taller than the Washington monument (567 feet vs 554 feet 7 inches.)
When we entered the museum to pay our fee, the lady at the desk asked if we’d like to take the van tour of the grounds, which started just long enough after we entered to let us use the facilities. We ended up being the only two people on the minivan tour, and the tour guide was very knowledgeable. She took us to the
areas where the two armies camped in preparing for the battle, the area of the battle, and the spot where Santa Anna surrendered to Sam Houston. As she took us around the area, she explained the nature of the terrain: uneven marshy ground with grass at least knee high. The armies were camped on opposite sides of a slight hill, and Santa Anna let his men rest after a long forced march. Sam Houston, though, decide to start his attack early and had Texans advance quietly through the tall grass. Because Santa Anna hadn’t even posted sentries, the battle was almost as if it was a surprise attack, and it ended after only 18 minutes.
After the tour, we were able to watch a very good video describing the battle.
Then we took the elevator to the top, and the view was amazing. It’s a bit difficult to visualize what it might have been like during the battle, because this area around Houston is refineries and chemical plants as far as the eye can see. However, the view is still beautiful, probably similar to the view from the Space Needle. Our photos do show some of the clouds
in the area at the time.
Amazingly, our entire time at the monument and touring the grounds was free of rain, but the drive getting to it and back home from it were very, very wet. I don’t know if I’ve ever been driving through rain this heavy, especially in traffic as busy as the freeways in Houston were. The drive through Houston was truly an exciting adventure, and we survived just fine. It helps to be patient, but it helps enormously to have a talking GPS and video map to help us go the right way.
One little episode proved most interesting, though. As we began to approach the exit for the road to Livingston, we began to see signs that the freeway was closed ahead. And it turned out, the freeway was closed just before our exit. Fortunately, our GPS handled it perfectly and we ended up on the right road with barely a hiccup. Sometimes, technology can be a very good friend.
A few days later, after we had finished all the stuff we had to do, and had our Texas driver’s licenses and domicile filing taken care of, we decided to use the
last couple days here to find a local museum. That proved to be the Polk County Memorial Museum, which proved a very nice little treat.
The Polk County Museum is currently in the building which was the home of the family who sponsored the museum in the first place. The first museum building became too small for the displays they had accumulated, so the lady of the house convinced her husband to leave their home and its grounds to the county for the museum, and they have set it up very nicely.
The town was one of the many early settlements in Texas, and the main business was lumber and agriculture until oil was discovered, then that led to the growth of the area. The town, like so many cities we’ve visited, had a fire that leveled much of the main business district. This one started during the tensions which led to prohibition. Much of the current town of Livingston was built during the recovery from the fire. There is a nice collection of memorabilia on display, and they’ve turned the garage into a mini replica of an early frontier downtown.
A hurricane in 1900 and another
in 1961 destroyed a Galveston convent, and bricks from the convent were used in the construction of the museum’s current home. The property around the home was turned into a particularly nice garden, and much of that has also been preserved.
We’ll be leaving Livingston tomorrow, May 25th< for Austin, having really enjoyed our time and the people we’ve met here at the Escapees RV park.
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Linda L Rogers
non-member comment
Further Areas to Visit - Suggestion
If you get to Pennsylvania in your travels, and haven't visited Gettysburg, I highly recommend it. There is a wonderful museum there, and in the museum is a theater in the round which gives a very touching description/narrative of the Battle of Gettysburg. It's narrated in the round with paintings of the battles that are over 20 feet high. If I remember correctly, there is also a tour of the battle grounds, with monuments to the soldiers from all over that fought in this battle. It was absolutely amazing. I hope you get to see it.