Two old friends

Beaumont to Schulengurg is 181 miles, passing through Houston. There are two ring roads around Houston, but, because it was Saturday we thought, "why not, lets go through the center of town on Interstate #10".

It wasn't a bad decision, but everyone drives fast! We got in the second lane (so cars getting off and on didn't have to go around us), and we drove 60 mph with cars whizzing by on the left. 

There are some beautiful effects made by the connectors - which are high!

Lots of Texas flags displayed.

A connector going up high and over.

We arrived in Schulenburg around 3 pm. It's too bad we aren't staying longer than overnight because there are some interesting places here and nearby. Here are some examples -

• Schulenburg - Texas Polka Music Museum   Recordings, instruments, costumes, artifact and histories to preserve Texas polka music.
• Schulenburg - Swiss Alp Dance Hall  The only regularly operated dance hall in the county built in 1900 by German settlers. 
• Columbus - Santa Claus Museum  More than 2,000 Santas on display.

And my favorite - 

• Serbin (34 miles north) - Texas Wendish Heritage Museum  Exhibits from the Wends, descendants of Slavic pioneers who settled in Serbin in 1854 in search of religious liberty and the right to speak their Wendish language. 

We settled for the Schulenburg Painted Church Tour. Within a 20 mile radius of Schulenburg are examples of churches having elaborate faux-finishes emulating gold leaf, stone and polished marble columns and ceilings. Germany and Czech immigrants fleeing the Austrian Empire celebrated religious freedom found in Texas by building churches with painted interiors designed after European cathedrals, with their elaborately painted walls and opulent altars.

It was recommended by the office staff that we visit the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church in High Hill as an excellent example of a "painted" church. Since we didn't want to un-hitch we asked how far it was because we wanted to walk. We were told that it was over 3 miles away, too far to walk, but off we went. What a great walk! We got to view Texas ranches and the rolling countryside. 

Cactus along the roadside.

There were lots of Live Oak trees - without the Spanish moss. We saw these two old friends growing side by side.

Many of the ranches have these stereotypical entrances.

Here we are arriving in High Hill with the church in the background.

It looks like a typical church on the outside, but...

inside it is magnificent.

This is Leo Dietrich. His parents were parishioners and he has been a member all his life. He was willing to turn on the lights for us since it was almost 5:45 pm by the time we walked the 3.76 miles from the campground.

The ceiling is painted canvas and last year the parish spent over $550,000 in restoring the interior.

See the column on the right? That is painted wood. It reminds me of the pavonazzo (faux marble) at the Providence Public Library.

Previous to the restoration last year, the walls were painted white. As they began the prep work to repaint them they found the leaves and delicate tracery along the sides.

Blooming daffidols in a yard that we saw on our walk back.

Just before we came to this one-lane bridge there was a sign that read - WATCH FOR HIGH WATER. Notice the gage on the side of the bridge with marking from one to five feet.