Tuesday – 4/21 – We had
planned to take the Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory Tour today but after seeing all
the postings on Facebook about the recalls, etc., we decided we’d better call
first as it was an hour and a half away.
Sure enough, we got a recording that all tours had been canceled. Bummer.
That tour had been highly recommended to us, so we were
disappointed. Hope they can overcome
this. How sad that several people
died! How would you feel? Wow….
So….time to
regroup. We went into Temple – also
about an hour and a half away – seems like that’s pretty normal for Texas. We did some banking and walked around a mall
for awhile, ate lunch at What a Burger – another place we were told not to miss
(?). They’re all over here, so it was ok
– starting to crave a good salad though.
Then we decided to go to a movie so we saw The Longest Ride, a Nicholas
Sparks movie and it was gooooood!
Sometimes I haven’t been too crazy about his movies as they usually
leave me feeling a bit poignant and almost sad, but this one did not at
all. We enjoyed it a lot. We stocked up on groceries, came home and I just cooked dinner in the RV
and we enjoyed a restful night.
In the photo of the car dealership in the beginning, I just wanted to show you one of the things we have most enjoyed about Texas - the intense patriotism. I've never seen another state quite like it. Not only all the American flags EVERYwhere, but the Texas flag is seen almost as often. You gotta love people who love their country and state as much as Texans do!
Wednesday – 4/22 - Time to hit the road again. We left Rockdale in a leisurely pace about
10:30 and drove to Houston. Whoa….BIG
city! We marveled that when we were
still 30-40 miles outside the city, there were huge overpasses and throughways
that would have made you think we were already there! But nope, still 40 miles of heavy city
traffic ahead of us.
Our goal was to get to Lakeview RV
Resort before it was predicted to rain.
We chose this park not only because it’s very nice, but because it’s
only 20 min to Joel Osteen’s church, where we’re excited to go to on
Sunday. What a beautiful park! We are right across from their man-made lake,
and nice wide sites although a bit short – our RV takes up the entire length
from the tree in the back to the road edge!
Fortunately they have some extra parking spaces just a couple spaces
away, so we parked the car over there.
Gives us a nice wide patio area and just across the street is a
wonderful outdoor kitchen for our use.
That’s a first!
It feels sooooo
nice here after the dumpy place we stayed in in Rockdale! Ha For
our RVing friends who’ve asked that I include more info on the
parks/amenities/prices, etc., this is right in the heart of Houston, close to
so many things to do, and just lovely!
Gated, so you feel very secure, you have to have a passcode to get in,
beautiful facilities, pools, spa, game room with pool and ping pong tables,
nice laundry facilities. Sometimes if
I’ve let laundry pile up a bit, it’s nice to just be able to go do 2-3 loads at
one time so it’s much quicker than the W/D in our RV. We stayed on Site number 38 and the price was
$55 a night. Not bad. WiFi is excellent here – just like we were at
home! Cable TV with lots of channels for
what that’s worth, awesome biking trails and walking paths with nice benches
and swings all along the water’s edge to stop and take a little rest if
wanted. All in all, very nice park!
After we got all settled (it never did rain –
only a slight sprinkle as we were driving home after dinner), we drove around a
bit to get a “feel” for the area – I am NOT a big city girl! Yikes, people drive very aggressively here
and the traffic is heavy! We found a
great BBQ place, Hungry Farmer Bar-B-Q and enjoyed a nice meal.
We’re finally getting
used to the time change here and realizing that Survivor comes on at 7:00, we hustled to get back home.
Thursday 4-23 – For
some inexplicable reason, I did not sleep well last night, tossed and turned
and finally just read a long while, and about 2:30 a.m. went on to sleep. Woke up feeling refreshed though, and after
having our devotional time, we took a nice long bike ride before coming home
and grilling out for lunch. Some bird, I never got sight of him, was singing us
a glorious song to accompany our lunch.
We sat outside on our patio and read till mid afternoon, and then took another long bike ride, ending
up in the club house, where we played a rousing game of ping pong, and I’ll
have you know, I WON!!! That is rare and
would not have happened this time, but Earl kept trying to show off his fancy
spin moves and took it a bit too long, haha and I got up at 21 sooner than he
anticipated I’d get there. LOL We also played some game that was like a
tabletop shuffleboard, not sure what it’s called but Earl beat me soundly at
that one. What a cool clubhouse –
fitness center, etc.
There’s a beautiful
pool and spa here, we’ll take advantage of that this weekend. We finished our bike ride, went out on the
swing overlooking the water, and enjoyed a cool breeze till almost dark.
Tomorrow we go to Galveston to see what it’s like on the coast of Texas.
Friday – 4/24 – We left
for Galveston, about an hour away and most of it very heavy traffic. You couldn’t pay me to live in a big city
like this where I’d have to fight heavy traffic every single day! Once we got into Galveston, it was not nearly as bad as Houston. We drove
around the city a bit, to get the “lay of the land”, drove up and down The
Strand in the historical district, went to Pleasure Island for a little while,
and then decided to go and take the Ferry over to Bolivar Peninsula.
Once you get in line,
you’re pretty much committed, so it took way more of our day than we intended. We had checked online and it said something
about 10 min. to board and would hold 89 cars, and about 45 min ride. It was
pretty fascinating to realize they also take semi trucks and RVs on the ferry. Well we were stuck in line there for almost an
hour and by the time we got back, it had taken a good 3 hour chunk out of our
day, though the weather was beautiful and the breeze delightful. If we’d known more about it, we’d have waited
and done that at the very last as once you crossed over, you could have just
picked up I-10 there and gone on back into Houston, but…. Hindsight is
20/20. We went back into town - here are a few pictures of downtown Galveston, including the Strand, the Pleasure Pier, the Port of Galveston, and some of the homes in the area.
We both had steak and
shrimp, salad, garlic mashed potatoes and fresh seasonal veggies. YUM!!!
The steak was good, not the best I've ever had, but the shrimp, on the other hand, may have been the best I've ever tasted. Awesome...All while enjoying beautiful views of the Gulf. Doesn’t get much better…..
Saturday 4/25 - It stormed a good bit of the night, at least
that what Earl told me. I never heard a
thing till early this morning when a gentle rain was falling on the RV, which
is the most delightful sound in the early morning hours. We both went back to sleep and slept late
(for us). We did some housekeeping in
the RV – it doesn’t take long and we can keep this place spotless. I think I will never again want a great big
house like we had before. Earl can clean
the outside and I can clean the inside in about an hour! We had been reading for a while and I
suddenly realized the skies looked really clear so we decided to go on to the
Space Center today instead of waiting till tomorrow afternoon as we’d
discussed. What a perfect, beautiful
day! Warm breezy weather, but not at all
hot. On the way, we stopped at a nice
little restaurant and had lunch. The
Space Center is certainly worth seeing – I think it was about $22 a ticket and
$6 to park. Lots of things to see and do
as you can get a glimpse of from the photos.
Sorry, just had to throw this one in....LOL, guy with a really bad combover.
Sunday 4/26 - We got up and decided we’d not wait around
but go ahead and get dressed for church at Lakewood, as though the GPS said 22
minutes, we’ve seen this crazy traffic, and didn’t want to cut it too close. That was a wise decision, as parking took
much longer than we’d anticipated and was farther away than we’d hoped to
be. Our impressions? The church is huge as you can well imagine
with its 43,000+ members, and very nice, though nothing like some of the larger
churches we’ve been in like Willow Creek or even Christ Fellowship with the
impressive buildings, architecture, extensive kid’s facilities, etc. We didn’t tour the entire building of course,
but I didn’t see anything that was like some of the mega churches we’ve visited. What was incredibly impressive was the
people, the vast number of people it takes to run a service there, from the
parking attendants, the greeters, etc. One
surprise was out on the street in front of the church they had live musicians
playing and a big sign that said, “Welcome Home”. We’ve been in church work
long enough to know there is an army of workers behind the pastors! What all of us could learn from Joel Osteen’s
church is how to make visitors feel welcomed!
I assumed in a huge church built in an arena, we’d be just one of the
thousands of people attending, just a spectator. Not a bit!
We were welcomed by one of many
greeters across the lobby, and asked immediately if we were local or
visiting. We told them we were just
traveling through – our first time in Houston.
He immediately motioned to another attendant, who introduced herself,
told us how thrilled they were that we had chosen to join their service today,
and asked if we’d be willing to be taken down front where they have a reserved
space for visitors. We agreed and were
indeed taken right down to the front! Joel
and Victoria came out and welcomed everyone, asked if all the visitors would
raise their hands, that they had a small gift for us. I actually think one of the reasons they did
that, as their people are so well trained, that if you raised your hand,
several people around you made it a point to come and say hello and
welcome! They really made us feel
special! The music was just awesome,
which is not surprising. In a huge city,
in a huge church, there is a lot of talent to pull from, so it was first class.
One of the music directors is nationally
known Dove award winning singer and writer, Cindy Cruse Ratcliff.
One might expect that it would be like a
concert, or performance, but indeed, it was not. It was as intimate a worship service as you’d
ever find in a smaller church, and partly because of the anonymity, perhaps,
people felt very free to worship with abandon.
It was orderly and tasteful, but full of praise and abandonment to
worship, a truly wonderful experience.
Victoria came out and at first, I wondered if she was speaking instead
of Joel. She is a very capable and
inspiring speaker in her own right! Then
someone named Craig got up and they showed a clip of a new movie coming out May
15 called “Where Hope Grows”. I can’t wait to see it. The director of the movie and one of the
stars, the boy with Down’s syndrome was there, David DeSanctis. He of course, stole the show and won everyone’s
heart. He spoke for a couple minutes
(Joel joked he didn’t think he’d ever be able to get the mic from him), about
the movie, his role, and what it meant.
He is one proud Texan! He said
this is God’s country, and he believes God lives in Texas! ha
I also noted that on the whole, people at Lakewood dress really nicely to go to church. Many men in suits or at least business casual dress, ladies dressed very nicely as well - I saw very few jeans, no shorts (except on kids) or super casual attire as we've become accustomed to in the churches we've gone to in Florida. It was rather refreshing. Another thing of note, was how modestly the ladies were dressed on the platform and in the choir lofts. This goes back to my days of being on staff at the church we first attended in Eustis where I felt it really important that those on the platform had a high standard of dress, but unfortunately in most churches that is very relaxed these days. Another note of interest is that most people there take their Bibles to church and use them! That said a lot to me.
I know that Joel Osteen has been a rather controversial figure among conservative Christians. I go on record that I don't agree with everything he says or does (I'm sure there are many who don't agree with everything I say and do either - aren't you glad GOD is our judge!) but I was totally impressed by the spirit of the service. It was interesting to note the precise timing of his message was clearly done for TV purposes, but then he continued to speak an a very unhurried manner, bringing people forward to pray and be prayed for, no sense of being ruled by the clock. Church started at 11:00 - worship lasted till about 11:35. Joel started preaching at 12:15 and the final prayer was said about 12:55. All of the visitors were invited to go and meet with Joel which was surprising. He stays as long as it takes. There was quite a line, and we chose not to stay - (I'm not star struck - haha) but would have told him how much I truly enjoyed the service. I wish everyone who has been so critical of him could actually go and attend a service.
I pray that God will continue to bless the ministry of Lakewood.
A sample of the music - the quality here leaves a lot to be desired - just on my iPhone but it gives you an idea. Just beautiful! Oh shoot, I'm trying to upload it here, but it tells me it's over the limit. Bummer, I wanted you to hear a few clips.... oh well....
Tomorrow really bad weather is predicted for our area, and we'll be leaving to go to Rockport, so if you think of us, say a prayer for our safety. Love you all!
