Monday September 13, 2010-Lake Tonkawa RV Park

We woke this morning to a little cooler temperatures. It threatened rain last night but I don't think it ever rained and while I was talking to Janie, we both heard thunder. Before we hung up, she said it was pouring down rain in Center. Whatever the reason, it was cooler this morning.

After eating breakfast in the trailer, I went for a walk around the park. This time I walked down to the lake to see what it was like. It is very small and seemed to be man made to me. There are concrete walls with a diving board on one end. I have read that it is spring fed, so it may be that someone just improved on the original lake and made it more user friendly for guest use.

We drove over to Center to Janie's house today. We stopped off at a Whataburger in Timpson and drove the 30 miles or so to Center. Center's population has always been pretty small and the city limit sign said there are 5800 people living here now but it seemed to be much bigger and busier than I remembered. I had many family members that lived here as a youth, but sadly most of them are now gone. I have many memories of coming to Center to visit and later remembered that when I was about 8 months old, we actually moved to Center to live for a short time. I drove Stella by some of the old houses where family lived.

When we arrived at Gail and Janie's house, and after hugs and handshakes, we decided to go for a ride around Center and some of the nearby towns. Gail drove us over to Joaquin and over into Louisiana to Logansport. Gail is the former president of the bank here in Center and also in the chicken business, which is a huge business in east Texas. He stays on top of all things connected to business in and around Center so it was a very informative trip. We all enjoyed the drive and even found a new RV park for us to check out for another trip.

We came back to the house and sat outside on the back patio, chatting and eating appetizers and drinking some wine. It was nice and cool and we had a very nice visit. Janie had fixed us a delicious meal of chicken and spaghetti and we had more good conversations about the family. I learned a lot of things about my family that I either didn't know or had forgotten. It was really good to get back here and visit with Gail and Janie and we look forward to the rest of the week with them.

We made a slow drive back to Garrison. The back roads that we drove were windy and hilly and since it was getting dark, I didn't want to take a chance of hitting a deer, which are abundant up here. I drove very slowly but there wasn't any traffic and we made it back home just fine. It had been another fine day for us.

So long.