We arrived here from driving directly from CC, TX. We thought we might boon dock along the way but it was a nice drive and really wasn't very far. This is an Escapee's camp ground, with the spaces mostly owned and then rented out when the owners aren't here. We weren't sure if there would be one available but there were several and we got a good one and set up the rig. we planned to stay for three days and then move on but it's pretty comfortable here so we decided on a few more days. The area is pretty arid, not desert but very dry. The water table is way low so they're on a conservation program which basically means no car washing and grass watering. People do it anyway but .....
Here's a couple of pics of where we're staying.
Here I'd just finished cleaning the Motor home up some.
The clubhouse, kitchen,pool room and general activity center. Also in here is a huge library of books covering everything and every subject. We had several we left here but we replenished our personal library to last several weeks while heading west.
The Lone Star Corral SKP Park Hondo,Texas
As you can see from the opening pictures, this is, or was a big train stop for farm products and passengers. That must have been a while back, trains don't stop here, they fly by at about 60 mph! long trains, loaded down with everything, coal, tankers, shipping containers, autos, grain cars, and about every 20 -30 minutes!
This train was moving ! it way gone before the camera could reset for another picture!
This area has a lot of history, the town dates back to the late 1700's and early 1800's. We're between Hondo and D'Hanis , actually closer to D'hanis but it's real small. We decided to geocache some and some of the caches were in D'Hanis so we got to explore the area some. Now the really great thing about cacheing is they are usually located someplace you would never go to just visiting the area as an outsider. This was true again here! We had a travel bug that we needed to relocate in a cemetery so we found one in Hondo. This was way back in a rural neighborhood of shanty's and dirt yard hooches, for lack of a better term, but typical of the area. Some really old graves but the cemetery was very well maintained. Then we went to find the D'Hanis sites. One was also in a cemetery and that one was really old, here's some pics we took....
There were actually graves that just had old wood crosses, some rotted and fallen over. Some were from the very early 1800's and families/decedents had added additional new markers with dates and period notes. The ground was dry and hard and large cracks went all around the area so markers were leaning every which way. This was Holy Cross Cemetery
Here's Mo reading one of the markers.
We left this place feeling as though we had visited a special place. We drove a short distance and both gasped at what was ahead.
It was an old stone church, obviously, but it was so beautiful in it's crumbling majesty.
We drove up to it and it was built in the 1800's, St Dominic's, by the French and German settlers. The limestone was quarried by hand and it was all built by hand. Some of the remaining stone window sills and headers were huge and showed how tough and dedicated these first families were.
If you look you can see the cacti growing up in the high opening. We couldn't decide if this was a big window or if maybe the bell hung here since there seems to be a window below. There was a big bell on the ground next to the church.
Along the North side there was the cemetery of the original families. Some had the history of the person engraved on the headstone or iron cross. One such told the story of how the man died fighting the Indians, another had died in the War with Mexico.
This was real U.S.A history, not book stories and you could feel the presence of the souls here.
While exploring we found the Catholic church, Holy Cross, the third Catholic church here, the first being St Dominics', second St Josephs' and then the third, after St Joes burned, Holy Cross. This is where we attended Mass on Saturday evening. The Priest was 75 yo and was very conservative but very active and had built the area Catholics strong and devout.
Tomorow morning, Monday, we will leave heading west on Highway 90. We're trying to stay off the interstate as much as we can and enjoy the trip.
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