Day 7 - Spring TX to Baton Rouge LA

June 20th

Happy Birthday Shannon M!

We usually eat breakfast at our host homes, but this morning we all ate together at the church.  We had fruit, donuts, eggs, and kolaches. Kolaches are a filled pastry, which were, in this case, filled with sausage or sausage and cheese.  They are apparently a Texas speciality and they were delicious. 

We loaded up the bus, ate breakfast, sang "Happy Birthday" to Shannon, then headed east.  The traffic in Houston was terrible last night, so we asked our hosts about an alternate route toward Beaumont TX.  They suggested a route that kept us out of Houston and was very scenic, too.

We took a slight detour on the way to Baton Rouge and went to Avery Island LA to tour the Tabasco Sauce factory.  The kids really liked the tour and especially the gift shop, so don't be surprised if you receive Tabasco Sauce-branded gift from your child.

That's one big bottle of Tabasco Sauce behind the ringers

Don the bus driver with his favorite condiment

Waiting for the tour guide

There was a mirrored wall in the waiting room that was perfect for selfies:

Happy ringers waiting for the tour to start:

We've had our first lecture on Tabasco sauce, now we're going to watch a movie about it:

Huh, maybe Alicia doesn't like the smell of Tabasco Sauce...

We discovered that the traffic heading east on the I-10 bridge across the Mississippi River can be VERY heavy on a Friday afternoon.  Luckily, we discovered it before we actually got stuck in it.  I was using my iPad to figure out how long it would take to get to the church and I noticed a lot of red (which means traffic) on the map.  Our contact at the church in Baton Rouge happened to call a few minutes later and he suggested an alternate route.  The alternate route was longer than we had planned and we we arrived at the church about 30 minutes later than we intended, but it probably saved us an hour over staying on I-10. Thank goodness for technology (and knowledgeable locals)!

 

The concert tonight was at Broadmoor United Methodist Church in Baton Rouge LA, which is a beautiful church with a very nice campus.   

I wasn't kidding when I said "campus"

For dinner tonight we had jambalaya, prepared (and served) in a huge cast-iron dutch oven. Smoked brisket last night, kolaches this morning, and jambalaya tonight. It's been great to get a chance to sample a little of the local cuisine.

The sancuary at Broadmoor UMC is beautiful and the concert went very well.

Tomorrow we are going to tour New Orleans and then head to Hattiesburg MS.

Day 6 - San Antonio TX to Spring TX

June 19th

We left San Antonio this morning and headed east towards Houston and the Johnson Space Center. 

Before we left, we took a group picture in front of the Alamo.

We ate lunch in Katy, which is a suburb on the east side of Houston.  Kevin told me he would give me a dime if I could find a Popeyes for lunch. Well, I can't refuse a challenge, especially when there's money involved, so I found a Popeyes for lunch. Gaye, Kevin, and about 2/3 of the choir went to Popeyes.

Yeah, we pretty much overwhelmed the place...

After lunch, we braved the Houston traffic and headed to Space Center Houston, where we took the Tram Tour to Mission Control and the Saturn V rocket, then checked out the space-themed souvenirs.

Not the Saturn V...that is much, much bigger

That's the Saturn V behind the girls

The concert tonight was at the Living Water Church of Spring in Spring TX.  The concert was arranged by WBR alum Janet (Vandegrift) Tapia. It is a small building (they are in the process of building a new one), but Terry, Justin, and the kids made it work. 

Berfore we could setup for the concert, we had to eat dinner because we were eating in the same room that we were playing in.  The dinner was BBQ beef brisket smoked by one of the church members (this is Texas, after all). It was fantastic. 

The concert was kind of like being in the bell room for a rehearsal, but the kids wore their uniforms.

  

We had a lot of notable guests tonight. 

Janet (Vandegrift) Tapia with her family. 

Doug Whipple (WBR alum) and his wife Sydney. Doug played in the choir with Terry. 

Dick Bailey, former CUMC member and father of WBR alum Becky (Bailey) Lambert

Ben and Sandy Findeisen, parents of CUMC member Kelly Carpenter 

Day 5 - Celina TX to San Antonio TX

June 18th

We had a long drive ahead of us and we wanted to get to San Antonio before most of the craziness started (more on that later), so we met back at the church at 7:30 AM.  Once again, loading went very quickly.  I think the under-bus loading crew has figured out a good way to pack the stuff.  It helped that a number of people arrived at the church early and started carrying the equipment out of the building.  There was a big pile when Justin and I arrived at 7:25 AM.

I told you earlier that one of Terry's goals on this trip is to show Ed some things that he has never seen before.  Well, he did it again today.  We ate lunch in Austin TX, then made a brief stop to see the Giant Sofa and Couch Potatoes.

 

Austin's Couch Potatoes?  I didn't know that Austin had...oh wait, I guess they mean Austin TEXAS, not Austin McDowell.

The original plan was to go to the hotel, let the kids have some time to go swimming, eat dinner, then go on a boat ride through the San Antonio Riverwalk.  Then the the Spurs won the NBA Championship, and the city decided to have the celebration parade, via boat, on the San Antonio Riverwalk.  The boat tour operator called us on Monday to tell us that the boat tour was just not going to happen, so we came up with an alternate plan.  That was snag number one.

About 15 minutes away from our destination, we hit snag number two.  Lucy called the hotel to let them know we were almost there and they said "we don't have a reservation for you".  Terry scrambled and called the travel agent to find out what happened.  It seems we had a reservation, but it was for Thursday, not Wednesday.  Like Terry said, this was pretty much a "nightmare situation" - a busload of 29 ringers and no place to stay.

But, through a lot of quick work by the travel agent, the hotel staff, and Terry and Lucy, we were able to get into the Menger Hotel, which is the sister hotel of the hotel of the Crockett Hotel where we were originally planning to stay in.  And the best news - it was right across the street. 

While we were waiting for Terry and Lucy to sort out the hotel situation, we went to the Alamo (which was right across the street from the hotel).  After we got checked in to the hotel, we let the kids have a few hours to swim and/or shop. Then we broke up into small groups and walked around the San Antonio Riverwalk.

Tomorrow we head to the Space Center in Houston and a concert in Spring TX.

Day 4 - Lubbock TX to Celina TX

June 17th

This morning we left Lubbock and headed to Dallas.  It was a long drive and we had an appointment to keep at the Sixth Floor Museum at the former Texas School Book Repository.  We took a very scenic route to the Dallas/Fort Worth area.  The traffic was very light, which was a good thing, but the towns were few and far between, which can be a bad thing when someone needs a potty stop "RIGHT NOW".  

Anyway, we found a stop before there were any accidents and while we were there, Cullen and C.P. got ice cream cones. Unfortunately, it was hotter than they expected and the ice cream had melted by the time they got back to the bus: 

We made a quick lunch stop outside of Fort Worth, and thanks to some amazing (and lucky?) driving by Don and some awesome planning by Terry, we made it to downtown Dallas at 2:05 PM, only five minutes later than we had planned. 

The Sixth Floor Museum is a museum about the assination of President John F. Kennedy.  The kids (and adults) really enjoyed it.   

You weren't allowed to take pictures on the sixth floor of the former Texas Book Repository, but you could take pictures from the seventh floor.  Terry took these pictures of the route of President Kennedy's motorcade. 

There's a gift shop at the museum, of course...

After spending not quite enough time in the museum (we all would have liked to stay longer), we loaded up and headed to Celina.  The traffic was actually lighter than we expected and we arrived at the church early.  I know, it's hard to believe.

The concert tonight was at the First United Methodist Church of Celina (pronounced exactly like Salina, KS).

About the same time we arrived at the church, this guy pulled up on this cool motorcycle with an awesome sidecar on it.  Ed looked out the window and said, "Look, it's Dave Haun." Dave is a former Wesley Bell Ringer and for years he has ridden his motorcycle to a concert somewhere on the tour. 

The church is a beautiful building in the heart of Celina.

The church uses a store front in "downtown" Celina for it's youth activities.  We walked over there for dinner.

It looks like Lucy liked Celina so much she decided to open up a little shop...

The kids played another great concert in the beautiful sanctuary of the First United Methodist Church of Celina.

We had some special guests tonight.  Rebecca Herman, daughter of WBR alumni Jeff Herman and cousin of Jill, Jake and Emma, drove over from Denton TX.

Jill, Rebecca Herman, Jake, and Emma

Karla McCain, former member of CUMC, drove up from Sherman TX.

Kelly with Karla McCain

And of course Dave Haun picked Celina to see the concert this year.

Dave Haun (WBR alumni) and Terry - a couple of "relics"

Tomorrow we head to San Antonio for a much deserved night off.