We’ve left Waxahachie and undertaken a long, 52 mile, one hour drive, south to Waco Creekside RV Resort and Treehouses, eight miles north of Waco, TX. We made the journey in good order and slipped into site 14 without incident.
The park is new, with paved roads and concrete parking sites. It resembles an “L”, with a row of pull through sites on each leg of the L. On one side of our site, a catch and release fishing pond provides a relaxing evening view, and on the other, a swath of green grass. Nice!
And there really are some treehouses! Much like other rv parks, Waco Creekside has small cabins available to rent. The difference is that these are built up off the ground and nestled in a forest of green trees!
This is a nice park!
We’re in Waco, like so many others, to visit the areas highlights: Magnolia, the site of the Branch Dividian attack, and the Waco Mammoth Excavations. I’m going to guess that we might find something else to do…and that’s what we’re here to find out.
The Waco Mammoth Excavations are just a few miles from where we are camped, so we made it our first stop.
This excavation site was discovered accidentally by two boys chasing snakes. They thought they had come across the bones of a ranchers cow, but the local veterinarian identified one of the bones as the femur of a Mammoth! A number of animal remains have been found, and more may be found.
The excavation site is managed by the Park Service, but the actual dig site is privately owned, so a small charge is requested to visit the enclosed dig site to offset maintenance costs.
Several sets of remains have been located, the animals likely dying 50,000 years ago from getting stuck in soft mud during periods of high water as ice sheets melted farther north.
Our guide was very informative and led us on a short walk to the dig site while telling us about the history of the area. For a time, this was the only known mammoth skeleton site in the United States.
The next stop was in downtown Waco at the place where Donna’s favorite drink was invented.
The original bottling plant for Dr Pepper, a carbonated beverage invented here in Waco in 1885, has been converted into a museum. Waco was originally known as Geyser City, due to the many artesian springs in the area. Water was clear, clean, and abundant, and when the technology of carbonation was developed…Voila!
The museum holds thousands of artifacts relating to beverages, including a bit of carbonated history along with old bottles and such.
A turn of the century soda fountain seemed a good place to have a photo of a lovely lady, and around the corner, another lovely lady pitched some soda!
During renovation, a well was discovered in the floor of the bottling room. It is surmised that it was the source of water for the first batches of Dr Pepper!
I had heard the slogan about having a Dr Pepper at “…10, 2, and 4…”, but never placed much importance on it until today. The drink was meant to invigorate at mid morning, early afternoon, and just after the work day ended. Possibly due to the currently illegal ingredients of the beverage….
Leaving the Dr Pepper museum, we found a huge park that follows the Brazos River through town. At the old toll bridge near the center of the park a series of bronzes called Branding on the Brazos recalls the Texas cattle drives and the men who rode the ChisholmTrail.
The first bridge across the Brazos, now a pedestrian walkway, saw many a character in its day, I’m sure.
Waco has the dubious distinction of being the site of the Branch Davidian incident in 1993. Conspiracy theories abound as to why the 51 day standoff occurred, and why the federal government somehow determined that they needed to storm the compound with 80 personnel, snipers, and 3 attack helicopters, armored personnel carriers and tanks, eventually resulting in the deaths of 82 Davidians and 4 ATF agents, but that happened and history will hopefully judge the actions that occurred in a proper manner.
Approaching Mount Carmel, the name given to the compound, the soft Texas ranch land wouldn’t hint of the horror that took place over 30 years ago.
As you approach the compound, the first thing you see is the house across the street that was used by ATF and FBI agents to monitor the activities of David Koresh and his followers prior to the raid.
The Branch Davidian group was originally an offshoot of the Seventh Day Adventist organization, and was formed in the late 1800’s. A variety of leaders changed the focus and direction of the group, until Victor Houteff formed Mount Carmel in 1935. A series of financial issues allowed David Koresh and his followers to take control of the Mount Carmel compound on Road Ee, a few miles southeast of Waco, with Koresh in total control. Koresh had joined the group a short time before, and soon got into disagreement with the leadership over who was actually a prophet and who was chosen by God to lead the group to salvation.
David Koresh was an abused and mistreated boy, born Vernon Howell. He legally changed his name because “David” made a direct connection to Biblical King David, and “Koresh” is the Biblical name of King Cyrus The Great, a Persian king who is credited with releasing jews during Babylonian captivity. As a result, he claimed to be a direct descendant of King David and a messianic figure. The disputes soon involved beatings, property destruction, and even murder. Koresh and his people took over by physical force and proceeded to reform the organization. One of the activities used to fund the group is alleged to have been the purchase of semiautomatic weapons, converting them to fully automatic and reselling them at a huge markup.
There is no doubt that Koresh was a psychopath. His control of so many followers is uncannily reminiscent of so many other madmen in history. His end came as would have been predicted: violently. But somehow the force brought to bear by the government just doesn’t seem justified in retrospect.
Nevertheless, we each probably have our own opinions on the matter, and we decided to visit the site to see if we could gain a fresh perspective.
At the entrance to the site, a memorial to the people who died, including two unborn children, sets the tone.
A small church has been built on the site of the former compound, with a small museum.
One section of the display presents an alternate reason why the event happened.
Obviously, there are vastly differing opinions of the events.
Very little remains of the original compound. The swimming pool, the storm shelter, and a few bits of concrete.
From my limited knowledge of the tragedy, I am unable to understand this:
A somber visit, indeed. The reasons why may never be known, since the FBI and DOJ reports have been sealed, but the fact that so many lives were lost is a horrible fact. Maybe this is just another historical footnote, but, just maybe….it didn’t need to have happened.
On a brighter note, Waco is also the home of Magnolia Market. Chip and Joanna Gaines have been featured on several home improvement television shows, and some time ago purchased and renovated a deteriorating area of downtown Waco known as The Silos.
The city block has been wonderfully repurposed, with everything from high end home decor stores to food trucks selling $10 cups of lemonade. Donna was in the mood for some furniture and decorating ideas. No on the first, yes on the second.
There are large green areas available for lawn games, tables and pergolas for enjoying a cup of coffee. Families and kids are playing corn hole games, soccer, and baseball at a small ball park.
A part of the renovation included the relocation and renovation of a nearby church that had been left abandoned for years. The result is part of the Silos project and is a quiet place for a respite from the hubbub outside.
The downtown area has been completely revitalized by the Gaines’ project, including the boutique shop across the street.
On a back haul note, we had a great view of the Pink moon last night!
On the way home from Magnolia, we stopped at Big Ward’s Smokehouse for dinner. Operated by a former Texas Tech linebacker (Wreck ‘em, Tech!), the BBQ dinner was excellent! The brisket, sausage, and pulled pork with green beans and potato salad were great, but the conversation with the shop owner was the highlight. His five children have worked or still work in the restaurant. His oldest, at 6’ 6” and 350 pounds, has been recruited out of high school by six colleges as a football player, and will make his decision soon. Good for him! Dad says football is great, but education is better! A great all American family!
We discovered that Willie Nelson’s boyhood home was in the burg of Abbot, TX, about 20 miles north of Waco.
On the way to Abbot, we discovered this old farmhouse. There are a lot of these out in the country. Old homes are hard to refurbish. Much easier to move in a mobile home.
In Abbot, we saw that the small town honors the young man who lived here with his sister at his grandparents home.
We couldn’t tell whether anyone lives in the house, but the yard has been tended.
Leaving Willies former home, we made our way to West, Texas, and Slovacek’s.
There is a large East European population in Texas, most of whom originally immigrated in the 1800’s. Slovacek’s is a gas station, truck stop, garden center, clothing shop, souvenir stand, dog park and restaurant all in one!
The young lady keeping an eye on the garden shop looks like a real party girl!
A Czech lunch counter provided us with a couple of klobsnik’s, probably best described as “hot pockets”. Meat and cheese, some spicy, some with sauerkraut, some with various sausages are baked into a sweet roll and typically served warm.
Of course, we had to finish with some sweet kolaches!
We left Slovacek’s with a full stomach and a chuckle.
Seek shelter Immediately!!!
We needed to take a day for laundry and housekeeping, so a trip into Waco happened. While we were enjoying the comforts of The Super Clean Coin Laundry, we received warnings on our phones about thunderstorms, lightning, and possibly tornadoes, but couldn’t pinpoint the locations.
When we got back to the trailer, we switched on one of the local tv channels. The local news feeds in the midwest do a wonderful job of tracking bad weather, and oftentimes have mobile cameras out driving around, looking for areas of concern. The channel we watched had multiple radar screens available as well as “Josh” out on the road, racing around with a cameraman to each location where a possible tornado had been spotted.
As it turns out, four confirmed tornadoes were seen in the area of the town of Abbot, where we checked out Willies house the other day. That’s only 20 miles or so north of our location, so we watched carefully for the storm direction. That turned out to be away from us, so while we received a bunch of rain, lightning, and thunder, it seems that we dodged a bullet. At least for now!
As we approach the end of our time in Waco and at the same time, keep a close watch on the weather, we decided to drive through a bit of the countryside. Heading west toward Meridian, we got a taste of Texas. We were surprised at the thousands of acres of corn.
The topography is varied in this area. This rangeland is beautiful.
In Meridian, the county courthouse caught our eye, and Sashas nose.
Heading back to our rv park via CR 6, we came across Lucky Dog Longhorn Ranch and a couple of young guys,
looking for a mid afternoon snack.
That’s it for Waco, I think…
If the weather is crummy when we get ready to leave tomorrow, we will probably stay another night and ride it out. The forecast as of tonight is for a lot of rain tomorrow.
Oh yeah, the wind is blowing….
And the wind did, indeed, blow all night! We were awake several times during the night, checking on weather conditions. At about 8 in the morning the wind got worse, and the heavy rain started.
At eleven am, at what would be check out time, we decided to stay put for another day.
And…immediately, the clouds started to break up and butterflies came out!
Just as we were beginning to question our decision, the sky clouded over and the rain started again. We flipped on the weather channel and saw that three tornado watches were in effect about five miles south!
Glad we stayed! We see that the weather conditions don’t seem to change anyone’s plans, they just say “ it’s Spring, and it’s normal…”
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