Monthly Archives: April 2016

Three years ago there was lots of publicity for the opening of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum and I decided I wanted to go see it.

Presidents Seal in 3D in Lobby of Museum

I didn’t always agree with his decisions but I admired the man and wanted to compare his library to the Clinton library we visited in 2012.  Today was my day.

Before we ever completed the 54 mile trip to Dallas, we reinforced our decision not to live in or near a large city.  Believe me when I tell you it took every bit of two to travel that distance because of traffic, accidents and congestion.  The return trip was 2 1/2 hours for all the same reasons and add rush hour.  Knowing all the issues with the traffic, I would still go see it again even if I took longer because it was that good.

We left Sanger at 10 this morning arrived just in time to have lunch in Cafe’ 43 which is very similar to “42” the restaurant in the Clinton Library.  The restaurant is open to the public so there were lots of people from the University eating there as well as some visitors to the Library.

Cafe ’43

The library is located right on the SMU campus.  Of course the menu was different which is right up our alley and we started with portobello mushroom fries as an appetizer.  (all that traffic mad us hungry).  Jim had crab meat salad on field greens and I had grilled salmon on greens with olives and baby blue potatoes.

This was a far cry from our lunch yesterday.  One of the interesting options on the menu was the Laura Bush favorite sandwich of mozzarella cheese, avocado and tomato with mayo on a soft roll.  I saw plenty of them being served and they did look good.  For dessert we had some Laura Bush Cowboy Cookies.  Our waiter told us that Mrs. Bush comes for lunch about once a month and is always very kind to the staff.

After lunch we entered the museum and immediately made the decision that we would need our coats because it was so cold in there.  While Jim went to the truck to get them, I was talking with one of the staff members who had been there since the beginning.  She told me a story about George Bush about three weeks after the library opened.  He had heard that a group of 5th graders were coming to the museum and went in the back door to sit in the replica of the Oval Office.  He sat very still and they thought he was a mannequin at first and they went wild when he started talking to them.  The Clinton Library also has a replica of the Oval Office but it is roped off and you are not allowed in it.  This exhibit allows you to walk through it and actually sit at the President’s desk and take a picture.

Oval Office

So much to tell about the library but one thing permeated in all that was said and done was the absolute humbleness of both George and Laura Bush and their sincere motives for all their actions, whether you agreed or not, that were for the benefit of the American people.

We both came away from the library after spending 4 hours with new respect for the man.

We decided this would be a good night to eat at home because we were invited to join the owner at 7:30 pm when she fed the alpacas.  What beautiful peaceful animals!  There are six adults and two babies or “crias” which is what the baby alpaca are called.  There was a terrible rain storm here while we were gone so their coats were kind of muddy but their faces were so sweet.  She told us they have no teeth to speak of so they can’t bite you and no hooves to kick with.  They don’t ruin the grass, they don’t eat much, the proceeds from their fur pays for a years worth of food, and they don’t smell, plus in Texas you get a real estate tax exemption which makes them the perfect animal.  I was sold.  If I had acreage in Texas I might have to have a few alpacas myself.The Guardian dogs that protect the Alpacas

About one hour away from our destination, we got a phone call from the RV Park asking when we thought we would be arriving.  They were closing early and would leave us an envelope with our campsite information and we could see them on Monday to settle up because they were also closed on Sunday.  No big deal; this has happened before.  When we arrived, we were a little surprised to find out our campsite was “next to the barn” and we had no sewer connection.  This was going to be my laundry location!  There is nothing to do but set up and wait for Monday morning.

Something interesting about this park is that it is also an alpaca ranch and our campsite was right next to their pasture.

There were also two large dogs in the area with the alpacas and it was fascinating to see how the dogs appeared to be guarding the alpaca while acting like one of them.  They sleep together and run and play together but if humans come close to the fence, they bark like crazy.

After church right in Sanger (Texas has lots of Church of Christ churches) we were directed to a restaurant one block away called Babe’s.

Babe’s Restaurant in Sanger, TX

Last night we saw lots of people waiting to get in so we felt like it was going to be good.  We had to wait about 10 minutes to get a table and we were escorted to an old kitchen table that didn’t match anything else in the dining room (actually nothing in the dining room matched anything else).  It was dark and said to Jim he was going to have to read the menu to me because I left my phone with my flashlight app in the truck.

Inside Babe’s Restaurant

The waitress arrived quickly and we asked for menus.  She said “I guess you’ve never been here before.”  “We have 5 meats to choose from and you can share if you like because they are big.”  “They all come with a house salad, and all the vegetables you can eat and biscuits.”  We chose smoked chicken (a half of a chicken) and the rest of the food never stopped coming.  Their menu was carbs on steroids with homemade biscuits, house salad with sweet (sugar) vinaigrette dressing, fresh made mashed potatoes (lots of milk and butter) and gravy, corn, and something that started off healthy, green beans, but fixed to taste good and destroy vitamin content.

Fried Chicken and the fixins at Babe’s Restaurant in Sanger, TX

The food was excellent but very filling and not what we would usually eat, but we ate it until it hurt.  The best part was the bill was $25.00 for all that and two iced teas.  Unbelievable!  We went straight back to the RV and promptly went into a food induced comma until our bodies recovered.  No dinner tonight.

Waiting chairs at Babe’s

Our last day in Vicksburg was spent doing things that had nothing to do with the Civil War beginning with lunch at The Tomato Place.  Check out these pictures first.

Inside the Tomato Place

It appears this was a produce stand, primarily tomatoes, in the beginning and over the years evolved into one of the best locally known lunch places in town.  We looked at each other when we first drove up because it looked a little worse than the picture we were shown by Mary (our octogenarian friend) but all the cars parked had Mississippi plates and there were already plenty of cars at 11:45 a.m.

You walk in and stand on line to order, then they find you with your order because there are no more than 15 places to sit.  We decided to keep it simple and ordered fried catfish Po Boys with a thick slice of ripe tomato and something called Mississippi Fever sauce which was a sweet pepper sauce that Jim even put on the catfish and enjoyed.

Catfish Po Boy sandwich

After lunch we drove to the Coca-Cola Bottling Museum where the first cokes were bottled 8 years after the formula was invented by the pharmacist in Atlanta.  I was struck by how small and manual the operation was.  Each bottle was filled with the right amount of syrup and then filled with carbonated water.  The person doing the work had to wear a metal mesh mask because some of the bottles exploded when filled with the carbonated water.  Then they were capped and put into a case.  It took one-half of a day to bottle one day’s supply of coke bottles.

From there we traveled to the Old Court House Museum filled top to bottom, approximately 7 rooms on two floors, with artifacts and memorabilia from the Civil War and post-Civil War periods.  The large court room is still intact with the spectator’s benches, Judges bench and witness box as well as a beautiful ornate iron railing separating the judge and attorneys from the spectators.

We had a light dinner at Walnut Hill Restaurant, another local recommendation, but found the seafood gumbo and fried oysters (me) and grilled chicken salad and vegetable beef soup (Jim) to be less than spectacular.  We should have gone back to 10 South for dinner!

The next morning we left early and drove a little over 400 miles to get to our next stop in Sanger, Texas (outside Dallas).  A Long day without much excitement.

We have a big trip planned for this summer, so we decided to use our Spring trip to Texas to see our oldest Grandson for his birthday as sort of a shake down trip to test our the RV and our memories.  You would be surprised what you can forget in six months.  Our trip is going to be about two weeks long and takes a different route to Texas rather than I-10.

We left home on Monday morning and drove all day to our first stop outside Montgomery, Alabama.  The trip was uneventful and I was amazed what we retained as far as packing everything, securing things so they didn’t shake loose, and setting up without any mishaps.  Although if you see Jim after we get back, ask him about almost making a HUGE mistake by forgetting one important step that we corrected before we got out of our development gate.

I asked Jim what we were going to see in Montgomery and he had no idea but some Alabama natives we asked simply said, “nothing”.  Montgomery is the capital of Alabama with all the State offices you would expect to see, but when we went into the downtown area we didn’t see very many people.  It was only at the Capitol Building we saw a large crowd of young people and found out it was Community College Day in Montgomery and bus loads of students from all the of those colleges were gathering.

Union Station in Montgomery – Old train station now welcome/visitors center

We had bad Mexican food at a restaurant named “Jalapeno’s” and saw the Dexter Avenue church where Martin Luther King preached.  One last stop was the Confederate White House and then off to the Montgomery Zoo.

Church were Martin Luther King Preached

First Confederate White House

According to the activity app on my phone, we walked over 16,000 steps and burned lots of extra calories.  We also accomplished part of our objective and found out the antenna for the TV is not working.  First item on the “Get Fixed” list before we leave in June.