Wayne Roberts
Friends in Texas Are Special
We had a delightful trip from the Rio Grand river to the Cedar River last week. It took from Monday to Saturday because we stopped to see three special friends in Texas.
Folks in Texas usually have plenty of time to discuss current events or past events. I suspect the fact that our friends there are retired might have something to do with that.
Oil Boom
We traveled Monday from Mission to Seguin, just east of San Antonio. On that leg, we passed Alice, Three Rivers, and George West. These cities are undergoing an oil boom in the area. Oil field suppliers of all sorts were highly visible, as were many, many, muddy pickup and larger trucks.
We drove past several “instant RV parks,” which could more descriptively be called work camps. It looked like they took a bulldozer and leveled the area, brought in many loads of crushed rock for roads and pads, trenched some water and sewer lines in, added electricity, and moved the worker’s trailers in.
There were also some “instant” motels, probably more of the dormitory style.
Business is indeed booming there!
Wayne, Miss Peggy, Pat
Dinner with Wayne
The goal of the first day’s driving was to have dinner with Wayne Roberts and Miss Peggy. They chose The Grist Mill in the town of Gruene (pronounced Green). It was a nice, large, old mill sitting high above the river which, in olden days, powered the mill.
We had a special treat as Gruene is Peggy’s hometown. It was like having our own personal tour guide! Her childhood home is still in the family. In fact, she and Wayne were readying it for a family gathering that week.
It was a great old mill, but no picture of Herman Lidtke was on the wall! I guess that would have been a bit much to expect. But we thought of Herman and all his boys!