Friday, May 22, 2009

Crawfish--not crawdads--and the Alamo!

We made it safely without any further mechanical trouble to Adkins, TX, and had a great visit with the Madrid family. Yesterday, we went into San Antonio to see the Alamo and later walked along the River Walk, enjoying the cooler temperatures and sights.



On the River Walk


On Friday we drove 197 miles from Adkins, TX to Sugar Land, TX. It was a lot of driving, but we wanted to reach Peggy's sister's before the holiday traffic picked up. We stopped in Gonzales, TX for breakfast at a small local cafĂ©. Just about the time we finished eating, Joe the Barber stopped by our table to visit and ask about the car—we also talked a bit about California and other travels. As he left, Erwin, a long time Gonzales resident, sat down and reminisced about his coupe that he had had “many, many years ago.” I am just amazed at the friendliness of the people we have met, and how they stop and introduce themselves—not just the nod, or “hi” you would typically get in California. I guess in these smaller towns it is easy to recognize the visitors. We drove another hour or so, and then stopped in Eagle Lake, just to stretch our legs. We met an older couple there who own the local furniture store and visited for awhile on the sidewalk, talking about the car, our trip, and the community. Eagle Lake is a big rice growing community similar to the Sacramento rice community, as well as a big goose hunting region. Driving along the road, it felt an awful lot like driving down the levy roads south and west of West Sacramento.


On Saturday we drove down to Galveston to the Hidalgo beach house for a crawfish and crab boil, and deep fried catfish. This area is still showing some signs of Hurricane Ike damage from last fall, but there are some neat, neat, houses. These critters we were going to eat? We did learn that in the south, they are called crawfish—not crawdads. This was as fun to watch as it was good to eat! They heated this huge pot of water with seasonings, a bulb of garlic, a bunch of onions, then dumped in a bunch of crawfish, along with potatoes and corn on the cob. The tables were covered with newspaper, and the crawfish were dumped on the table tops. After lessons on how we were supposed to eat these critters, everyone just dug in! After two batches of crawfish were cooked, the crab were cooked. Delicious!

7 comments:

  1. always glad to follow your writings. We went to the round up today at So Lake Tahoe and you were a big part of the conversation. Dave you will be able to do the the seminars next year.




    ralph and Phyllis

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  2. It looks like your just having WAY TOOOO much fun. so lets keep it that way. we wish we could be there with you.

    Joe & Karen

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  3. From Lynn & Dave
    Glad to see your latest blog, we were getting worried. All the members of our local Model-A club (Angelo-As) are patiently waiting for each new posting. Dr. Smith sends a personal hello. We are all getting ready for the "Annual Model-A Ford Texas Tour" being held this year in Waco. Wish you could join us. Keep posting and have a great trip.

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  4. Whew! I am exhausted reading this. Please pass the crawfish!

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  5. Love your adventure. My wife and I are from San Angelo. We still have the '31 coupe that she bought to drive to high school. The car was found about 15 miles south of town with a mesquite tree growing up through it. One of my high school classmates did the first restoration. We have driven the car to Maine, Utah, Colorado (3 times), LA, OK, and all over Texas. We also camped out. We have a '29 Zagglemeyer camper that we pulled to Utah. Would love to be with you.

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  6. Oh, by the way, Yates Smith started our club the Brazos Valley A's (Bryan/College Station, TX).

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  7. To raysrust...welcome aboard! It sounds like you have more "A-style" traveling experience than we do!

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