Tuesday March 3, 2015

A great day and a great ride. We had contacted a warmshowers in Conroe at the last minute. Sheila called us back and told us we would be welcome to stay with her, she told us she was a teacher and would be home around 5:00pm.

We only had a short ride to get to Conroe. We left the motel late at 10:45 and had a great ride to Conroe.

We spotted this flea market and Ralf stopped to take some photos.

The flea market was for sale and had all the stalls custom built for the market.

As Ralf was taking the photos a car stopped and a lady got out for a chat. When she discovered I had an English accent, she wanted me to speak to her Mum who was in the car. Of course, I obliged and I chatted to a lovely lady who has all the episodes of “As Time Goes By”!

We went through the City of Cut and Shoot, but could not find out why it was called Cut and Shoot.

Conroe is a large city with a very fast growing population, primarily due to the oil industry. A lot of the Head Offices of major oil companies are moving to Conroe. Conroe has the dubious claim to fame of inventing fracking.

However, Conroe has a lovely historic downtown and we spent some time wandering around the area. In 1912 there was a massive fire downtown which burned down a large number of the buildings.  An ordinance was passed that all new buildings would be made from brick.  Ralf had his beard trimmed in one of the many barber shops downtown.

We went to the Flag Park –

In December of 2005, Craig Campobella envisioned the flag park while passing the Montgomery County Library. This beautiful and unique vision was soon in the planning stages as Campobella sketched and researched early Texas History. After approaching the city with his idea of a park celebrating Montgomery County as the birthplace of the Lone Star Flag, Campobella asked Dave Clements, a well-known photographer, to get involved. Campobella designed the concept of the park, complete with the flags and a maquette of the statue that would be named the, “Texian,” while Clements began researching sources for funding. Between the two men, two different City Councils, two Mayors, hundreds of dedicated volunteers, and a five year planning process, the groundbreaking finally occurred in 2010 with the grand opening on April 21, 2011.

It is a lovely park located next to the Montgomery County Library

The bronze monumental sculpture, by award-winning sculptor Craig Campobella, captures the look of the average fighting volunteer during the Texas Revolution, portraying a veteran of the revolution after the Battle of San Jacinto and on the day the Lone Star flag was first unfurled. The 14 ft. bronze is full of symbolism, with 13 rocks under the left foot representing the 13 day siege at the Alamo, 342 marks in those rocks, one for each man massacred at Goliad, 18 buttons on his coat, shirt and pants; each standing for every minute in the Battle of San Jacinto. Under his right toe is a stone inscribed with the name, Santa Anna symbolizing the years of discomfort he continued to give the Republic of Texas

At about 2:00 pm we headed up Hwy 105 towards the warmshowers host, but stopped at a small café for lunch. Everywhere we stopped today people  chatted to us, Texans are very friendly.

The weather forecast was for rain, although there was some cloud cover, it didn’t rain. The temperature was 23 degrees C and the sun kept coming out. Only one dog gave chase, what more could you ask for.  All in all a good day.

The bonus was the wonderful warmshowers host. We went out to a Mexican restaurant with her – on Tuesday nights she meets up with friends for half-price margeritas and dinner. She asked if we wanted to go or stay at home. We opted for half-price margeritas!! It was a really nice evening. When we got back to Sheila’s house we talked until past 11:00 about her upcoming cycle trip with her daughter this summer. They are going to cycle the western coastline.

Sheila is a wildlife expert and assists in rehabilitating wildlife.  At the moment she is feeding baby squirrels.