An oil change, a completed Texas history lesson and a return to my salty roots

An early morning oil change

With our trip home looming in just a little over a week, it was time to visit a local Chevy dealer and get the oil changed and the tires rotated.

(At the end of this post scroll down to the next post for additional photos of today's tour)

Checking online I found a dealership nearby and headed over at 8 a.m. for the service. About an hour later they told me my car was done, but when I reviewed the bill they forgot to rotate the tires so they had to return the car to the service bay and my wait continued.

Fortunately I took my latest “Master and Commander” book, “Treason’s Harbour” and while waiting for the car finished it. With all the activities and visitors it took me a full month to read it. It was a good book, but I likely won’t start No. 10 until our next trip.

Me on the gang plank

I have a good World War II book to read so I’ll finish the trip with that and then finish it at home.

After returning home, it was a little unnerving to find two Galveston County Sheriff’s cars patrolling the park, but it appears that one of the permanent residents may have had a domestic issue with a boyfriend.

I took a 3-mile hike to finish the morning and then got cleaned up for our afternoon adventure.

The queen bed in our trailer is not the easiest thing to make each day. So it has become my morning ritual to do it to save Joan the aggravation. You literally have to crawl on the bed to make it as it is tucked into a little cove of the trailer.

The San Jacinto Monument from the USS Texas

Fortunately, the fitted bed cover makes it a little easier to make.

In San Antonio we heard the story of the massacre at the Alamo. The cry “Remember the Alamo” was first used at the Battle of San Jacinto, a small battle between about 1,000 troops on either side that had a massive influence on the history of our country.

The capture of Santa Anna, the victor at the Alamo, but the defeated foe at San Jacinto put in motion the events that would eventually see the expansion of America into the West and Southwest.

Studying the exhibits and movie presentation at the San Jacinto Monument closed the loop on the early history of Texas for us. Our journey through Texas has followed the trail of Santa Anna and Sam Houston and we are richer for the knowledge we have gained.

Texas history at the San Jacinto Battle Monument

Also, it didn’t hurt my motivation that the USS Texas, a storied Navy Battleship is also moored at the San Jacinto site.

We toured the USS Texas for more than two hours and Joan was a trooper climbing up and down narrow Navy ladders on three decks.

My favorite parts of the ship, as you might imagine were on the bridge and charthouse, the places I inhabited during my Navy career.

Unfortunately, time and weather have had their way on the wooden decks and fund-raising is underway to put the ship in dry dock in its place to restore the rotting steel below decks. The USS Texas is the only museum ship that served in both World War I and World War II.

Pieces of Eight, which was the Spanish form of currency here

The fact it was commissioned in 1912 means it has been floating for 100 years, a remarkable achievement considering it served at Normandy on D-Day and then in a gunfire support role on Iwo Jima and Okinawa. And how about this for a thought, if the American President at the time had been from Texas and not Missouri, it likely would have been the scene of the Japanese surrender.

It was remarkable standing on those old decks and imagining what they could tell us if they could talk.

The length of the tour meant we didn’t get home until about 7 p.m. for a fashionably late supper.

Also on the way home I stopped for a fill up and Joan asked that we stop at Home Depot to pay our bill. One of the challenges of traveling is making sure all our bills are up to date and paying directly at a store is one way we accomplish that.

The weather today was absolutely picture perfect. Temperatures in the mid-70s and clear skies.