Day Three - in San Saba

Monday morning, prior to heading back home, we took a few more pictures.  This is the old San Saba Hospital, where our oldest son, Clay, was born.

This is a picture of the Mill Pond Park dam.  They were working on the dam when we were there and the water wasn't running over it.  Years ago, there wasn't a guard rail there and one had to step on the stepping stones to get across it.  Toni's Dad proposed to her Mom while they were crossing and told her that if she didn't accept, he would throw her over the edge.  She accepted.

 





The old mill where the park got its name.

 



 

Swimming pool where Clay learned to swim.  We were farming with my Dad at the time and Toni would take Clay into town to learn to swim.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The folks in San Saba County are extremely nice.  Everyone drives pickups but most of them will wave at a couple of old folks driving a Jeep!

 

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and would love to move back there but reality causes us to face the fact...................Midlothian will still be our home.

 

 

 

 





Day Two - Regency and around.

On Sunday morning, we left the Maverick at the motel and headed towards the Regency Bridge in the Jeep.  We came by this little church in the Neal Community and the tabernacle was across the road.

 

 

We finally arrived at the Regency Bridge, which is one of the very few remaining suspension bridges that still allow vehicular traffic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the bridge, we went over to Corn Knob, where Katherine Land and her family lived years ago.  Here is a picture of where the house once stood, followed by one of the "Knob".

 

 

 

Next, we drove by the old Locker store.  All is left is the rock portion that you can see on the right.  Toni and I both remember buying cold drinks and candy at the old store years ago.

 

 

Here is a picture where Catherine Land Starnes and her folks lived for years.

 

 

Next to the Locker Cemetery.  These are all of Toni's kinfolks.  Self explanatory.

 

 

 

The next one is the marker for Toni's Dad.

 

 

This marker was for Toni's second cousin, who was killed when a horse threw him off. 

 

 

 

From here, we headed back into Richland Springs.  The next picture is the house we lived in years ago when I was farming with my Dad.  Clay was about five years old here.

 

 

On to the Richland Springs Cemetery.  Next is the maker for my grandparents.

 

 

This the marker for Jack, Sherry, and my parents.

 

 

This is the building where Daddy had a feed store for years.

 

 

Time for lunch so we ate lunch in Richland with Jerry Wash, a friend of mine from high school and college. This next picture is one of the old Bethel School, where Daddy went to school as a young child.  My Aunt Vivian and here husband purchased the place and added onto it over the years making a really nice house out of it.  We stopped and visited with their daughter, Ruth.

 

 

On the way to the Wedding Oak, we came by the other suspension bridge in San Saba County, which is closed to vehicular traffic.

 

 

 

On to the wedding oak.

 

 

It is hard to get a feel for how big this tree is!!  Maybe this will help.

 

 

 

 

 

We went on back into the county roads to the "Vogle Hill".  When Toni was riding the bus, several of them told the driver that when they headed up Vogle Hill, they were going to rock the bus and cause it to slide off the road into the ditch, since the road was slippery.  He didn't believe they could do it but.................sure enough, they ended up in the ditch where Toni is standing in the picture.  The school had to send another bus out to get them.

 

 

 

The next is a picture of the First Baptist Church of Richland Springs where our family went to church for years and Daddy was the Sunday School Superintendent.  Toni accepted Christ as her Savior here and we were married in this church.

 

 

Many a night was spent fighting blister bugs during summer revivals in this old tabernacle below the church.

 

 

Back to the Richland school house for more pictures.

 

 

 

Grade school.  They will be removing all of the grade school buildings and building new.

 

 

The gym.

 

 

Old oak in front of the school. 

 

 

This was the end of Sunday afternoon travels so we headed back to the motel in San Saba for the night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day One - Our trip back to the home territory!

On a spur of the moment, Toni and I decided to make a trip down to Richland Springs, San Saba, and Locker on a beautiful Saturday in January.  When we got to Hico, we just had to take a picture of the statue of Billy the Kid.  Story goes that Brushy Bill, who lived in the Hico area, was actually Billy the Kid.



Here is a picture of the plaque that explains it all.  Sort of comical, as far as we are concerned.

We were sort of slow getting started so it was lunch time when we got to San Saba, so we ate lunch at this place.  It used to be the Modern Way Grocery where my Mom nearly always bought groceries.

The following picture is the front of the county courthouse.  This is exactly where my Dad would park his pickup load of watermelons on a Saturday to sell to the public.  I had to help at times and didn't really enjoy it much but Daddy loved it!

                                                                          
                                                                               
We headed on to Richland Springs to begin our road trip.  We parked the Jeep and trailer in front of the high school, unloaded the Maverick and headed out through the country towards the Billy Gibbons Boy Scout Camp.  This is the school in Richland that Toni and I graduated from.  More pictures of the school later but here is one of the front.

We drove out through ranch country south of Richland Springs.  After about 15 miles, we got to the gate going into the Camp Billy Gibbons BSA but didn't go in.

On the way back from the scout camp, we took a picture of the house that the Dutch McGregor family lived in for years.  We went to school with Forrest and Mary Jo.

We then went back east, after getting back to the main road and drove through the Sloan Community.  Took a left onto the Cotton Belt Road and came by Jack and Sheila's ranch.  Took a quick picture of the house that Sheila's Dad and Mom lived in for a while.

We headed on south down the Cotton Belt road and stopped just before the Cotton Belt bridge for a break and took the following picture of the old bridge.  The county plans to replace the bridge soon and is looking for someone willing to have it donated to them.  We were tired of wearing our helmets and wanted to take them off.  While I was rearranging the storage box on the Maverick to make room for them, I laid my pistol on one of the rear tires and.....................naturally, I drove off and left it!  When we got back into town, I realized what I had done and had to go back and get it.

We drove on south and took a left at the Cotton Belt crossroads towards our old homeplace where Daddy and all three of us kids grew up.  When Toni and I owned it, we did a lot of work on the house.  We met the young family now living there and were invited in to look around.  Looked nice.

We then went back to Richland, loaded up and headed to San Saba for the night.