Where’s Groesbeck, Texas – November 3 – 5, 2012

One of the fun things about our trip is I never know where Jim has us going and the RV parks we are staying in.  This is one of the more “interesting” locations we have booked but according to Jim its my fault because I insisted on having cable and internet on election night.  So here we are in the middle of no where, (actually 40 miles east of Waco) in a small RV park surrounded by some very old mobile homes and RVs that appear to be permanent rather than travellers.  The grass is mowed and the services are good, but there are some places that look really rough, and its the least expensive place we have stayed this entire trip.

The population in Groesbeck is somewhere around 5,000 and not many options for my two favorite things, restaurants and retail stores.  The next closest town is Mexia (pronounced Mehaya) with a little larger population and two restaurants,  aWal Mart, and lots of churches.  We found two locally owned restaurants that we liked, Farm House and Drilling Rig.  At the Farm House (the sign said, “One bite and you’re hooked”) where Jim found something on the menu called chicken fried chicken.  Can’t you hear him asking the waitress to tell him what that is?  You should have seen the plate full of fried chicken covered in this thick white gravy and my first reaction was “heart attack on a plate”.  After church on Sunday, we went to the Drilling Rig and although it looked iffy on the outside, the inside was nice and the food very good.  We spent the rest of the afternoon riding bikes in the local State Park and checking out a restored early settler’s fort and hearing the story of a nine-year girl who was taken hostage by the indians.  She was adopted by the tribe’s chief and actually became totally indoctrinated into the life.  Interestingly, when she was forcibly rescued at the age of 35 years old, she never was able to assimilate back into the culture and died shortly after.  The Cynthia Ann Parker story and the Parker Fort were definitely moving.  Little did we realize that story would reappear on Tuesday, but more about that later.

Bike riding in Ft. Cooper State Park

Restored Ft. Cooper

Monday was my day for hair and nails.  I know none of you realize it but I color my hair to cover some gray (actually a lot of gray hair).  I have the color with me, thanks to my hairdresser, and all the tools you need.  So Monday, Jim became my hairdresser and helped me put the color on my hair.  You should have seen him with his rubber glove and paint brush putting this mixture on my roots.  I didn’t want to wash it off in the bathroom and take the chance it would stain the shower or sink so we went outside and washed it off into the grass.  Lucky for me we have a connection outside that has hot and cold water.  Of course, my clothes were soaked when we were done but the hair looked pretty good.  Note to self:  Never give Jim a hose to help rinse your hair.  I guess the next step is me trying to cut Jim’s hair.  Won’t that be interesting.