We’ve spent the last few days with Rick and Suzy. Mainly, we’ve been eating extremely well. But we managed to do a few other things also. In Galveston, we visited the Moody Mansion. Moody was one of the wealthiest people in the US in the late 19th century. The family held onto their businesses, wealth, and house through the 1950s. The family lived a low-key life style for people in their economic bracket, but they had all the comforts … a state-of-the-art intercom system, a first-class Victrola, and even a radio. If you visit the website, you can see a few pictures. The house was built in the late 1800s. There was already an electric power plant on the island. The house was fitted with electricity from it’s initial construction.

A trip to Houston would never be complete without a visit to the San Jacinto battleground, Of course I knew the Texans lost the battle at the Alamo. I knew they also lost several other battles. And I knew that Santa Anna had the habit of taking no prisoners, it being easier to just kill all the survivors. What I didn’t know was that Texans won the war and their independence with the only battle they won. The key was that they not only decisively won the batte, but they also captured Santa Anna. It seems Santa Anna didn’t want the Texans to follow his example of killing all the survivors, and was willing to cede Texas their independance in exchange for his life.

There are many cool stories about the monument. Here is one. It was politically important that this monument not be taller than the Washington monument in DC. After several surveys and studies, they decided the proper “zero level” from which the monument’s height is measured should be 15 feet above ground level. Presto! The Washington monument is taller.

Another fascenating trip was a boat ride through the Houston port. The Houston port is the largest in the US by several measures. Seeing the ships, refineries, and other plants from the river was fascenating. On the website, you will see a picture of an orange boat on a freighter. This is the only lifeboat for the ship. Ships are so automated the entire crew can fit in this one lifeboat. The most common use for lifeboats is to escape from pirates. Once the captian soulds the “abandon ship” signal, the crew have 5 mintes to get themselves in the lifeboat. After that the door is sealed, the release triggered, and everybody on the lifeboat gets a very fast and intense trip away from the freighter and into the surrounding ocean.

You might have heard about the ice storm and power failures in Texas. These are in the Austin area. Our next stop is San Antonio. We won’t be in Austin until Feb 8. They should have everything patched up by then.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.