We're All Mad Here...

Here lately, it feels as if the Universe I'm living in is another remake of Alice in Wonderland and in this version I'm having tea with the Mad Hatter:

"I am under no obligation to make sense to you," says my Mad Hatter Universe.

I don't disagree, yet this weekend, I have reason to sit here enjoying my tea with a slight cheshire cat grin of my own over the rim of my cup....

While we didn't see any characters from the beloved storybook, we did have a chance to spend Halloween weekend at Huntsville State Park - one of our favorite close-to-home parks. The weather on Friday was not being very cooperative, dumping buckets of rain in the early afternoon, but as we continued onto I-45 northbound, we could see just the tiniest bit of blue sky ahead.  And we'll take all the blue skies we can get right now - including the very sudden announcement that my Sr leader, the one who chose not to hire me to backfill a role I was already doing, who's only been in his role for just over a year, has, ahem, taken another position and will no longer be a part of our business unit. 

See what I mean? WTF-Wonderland indeed. 

It was still drizzling a bit Friday evening, but I took shelter under the tongue of our camper and enjoyed the lake view and a conversation with a dear friend I hadn't spoken to in a several days (TBH, it's felt more like a weeks!) <3 I appreciate how people are giving me space right now, all things considered, but it really makes my day to hear from friends, talk this craziness out, and imagine hilarious new playlists... 

I had found a few fun events around town for RDB and I to venture out to on Saturday, and it started with a really great lunch down in Conroe at The Red Brick Tavern on the square.  Great food, incredible service, and I can still taste the roasted garlic in my mouth hours later!  I didn't realize it when I picked an 'on the square' place for lunch that we'd actually be in the county seat of Montgomery County. Almost not even worth getting a picture of the building, because the oak trees were so overgrown and large.

But RDB and I both agreed that this courthouse wins for some of the best landscaping around the building; the waterways and fountains, big trees and multiple sculptures made it feel like Underland, for sure.

From lunch on the square, we ventured over to The Field of Flowers Farm for their Fall Festival. We had a chance to meet one of the owners, Jana, as we arrived and talked a little about how they're working to grow the place into an event space (14 weddings booked this year - if they can triple that, then her hubby can retire.) The $15/person entry fee was reasonable for most festival settings, but unfortunately - either the drizzly weather, or the fact that there just wasn't much there - it felt a bit over priced this time.  I'd imagine though, a spring festival at their flower farm, when everything is in full bloom, is probably worth every penny.  

Leaving the flower farm, driving thru the tiny town of New Waverly, we couldn't help but notice the church spire spiking above the scraggly pine trees.  A few turns off the intended path, and we found ourselves in front of St Joseph's Catholic Church.

(And I interrupt this line of thought for another WTF moment about the work stuff.  Cause, seriously, all weekend RDB and I would just randomly laugh, or say Holy Shit, or WT-actual-F? It's just. So. BONKERS.) 

After a short stop over back at the camper, we made our way to downtown Huntsville for "Scare on the Square" - an annual town-wide trick-or-treat event.

We enjoyed walking around, seeing all the kids (and some adults) in costumes.  I even met a new friend:

And wouldn't you know it? Huntsville is the county seat of Walker County.  

I happened to notice, under the second story railings that support the balcony around the building, there are decorative stars and "W"s.  The historical plaque that mentioned the five county courthouses for Walker county - including two which burned - had me think that maybe someday I should take my fascination for courthouses and turn that into a book, especially with how many courthouses, at least in Texas, had been burned at one point or another.  I totally understand the desire to burn it down somedays...

And other days, I have to keep practicing letting it all fall away.

Sunday morning we slept in (I wonder how many times I've said that on this blog?) and made our way over to the Farmhouse Cafe for lunch.  There was a bit of a wait to get a table, so we strolled over to Farmhouse Coffee and Cream for a quick coffee. Super glad we did - not only was the decaf coconut flat white yummy, but I came back over after lunch to get a few of the white chocolate truffles for dessert. (RDB had the coconut cream pie at the restaurant, and it was, once again, splendid!).  The atmosphere of this little coffee shop would totally be a place I'd want to hang out at if we lived nearby.

Back at the campsite for the afternoon, I'm working on this blogpost while texting friends (how cool is it that my Apple Mac and my phone's texts sync up?) and watching the lake outside our window. 

This morning before we left for breakfast, RDB and I both walked down to the water's edge; I turned to him and said, "Diesel would have loved this site."  He smiled softly and agreed.  I was chatting about raccoons with a.Fox just a while ago, and shared with her the first post I could remember mentioning raccoons, which happened to also be Diesel's first camping trip with us. Miss that Pumpkin. 

We'll pack up here shortly, and head back home.  Who knows what's around the corner this next week; I can only imagine how crazy it will continue to get from here. It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world. 

Couldn't have said it better myself, Chessur. 

We were at Huntsville State Park, Raven Loop, Site #14. We'd had our eyes on this one the last time we were here and really enjoyed having the lake front view - even if the lake is low and mostly green right now. We bumped into Bullet, the camp host, as we were setting up Friday afternoon.  I couldn't help but giggle that he said "Yeah, all the campsites lean towards the lake" as we put two legos on the lake side to get somewhat level before letting the camper do the rest of the work.  I'll be honest - I've literally jumped in my seat a few times this afternoon when acorns dropped out of the trees and hit the roof of the slide out. Overall though, this might be my favorite site at this park and I'm so grateful that it's close to home.

2022 Texas Miata Roundup

If you've dropped in from the 2022 Miata Roundup (Hiee y'all!) and you're here for the pictures, you can jump over to the featured post and find a link there.  Otherwise, keep reading and relive the Roundup with us!

RDB and I packed up the camper and came across to the Hidden Creek RV Resort in Bryan/College Station Wednesday afternoon to get our 'homebase' settled before the roundup started.  We enjoyed a dinner at The Cookshack.  Holy cow, not only was the meal delicious, but the service was outstanding! (Go read my review by clicking on the restaurant name above.) We drove back home to Houston to drop off the truck and drive back over in Joy (our '21 Blue Steel Mazda MX5 RF). Lemme tell you, it felt like a much shorter trip coming back when you're _not_ hauling a 38' 5th wheel behind you!

Thursday RDB and I had most of the day to ourselves, since check-in with the roundup wasn't till 3pm. We made good use of it, taking advantage of the RoadsideAmerica.com app and finding a few interesting things around Aggieland to check out.

Starting, of course, with the original "like" (better known as the Gig'em hand signal).

I reached out to Bestie, a Texas A&M grad, and sent her a few pictures along the way. RDB said that she's been holding out on us with all the good food we're enjoying over in College Station.  We ate lunch at 3rd on Main, and WOW, talk about another outstanding meal. (And yes, lots of carbs.  I'm all about the comfort food this week #dontjudgeme)

Since lunch was "on Main," and Bryan is the county seat of Brazos County, RDB and I walked the few blocks over to get a picture of the courthouse. "Nothing to write home about," he said when we walked up to it.  If you looked up 'government building' in the dictionary, I'm pretty sure a picture of the Brazos County Courthouse would be there.

From there, we zoomed over to Bottle Cap Alley. I mean, I'm not against a few beers to drown my sorrows, but this just seemed a bit much!

Enough playing around, it was time to go check in. We grabbed our goodie bag, signed up for a Friday and Saturday run, and then went back to the camper to rest for a bit (I hadn't realized how exhausting the last few days have been because of what's going on at work.  Even with a Starbucks pic-me-up before we went to registration, I just didn't have the heart to stick around and socialize Thursday afternoon.)

Friday morning, bright and early, we lined up back at the hotel to join our first run: "Becky's for Lunch and Mail Box Antiques" with MA (he likes to lead a 'spirited' run, and we were here for it!). This ride was also only running on Friday, so the exclusivity of it made it attractive, too. 

RDB downloaded the Ride with GPS app that the Houston Miata Club used to create the routes - pretty cool, that you can see all the twists and turns, the mileage and elevation, and the % of paved roads before you get out there and drive it.

It was a great run with lots of these:

We made it over to Becky's for lunch - quaint little place, where they were ready for us and lunch was quickly served.  RDB got a few moments of drone footage in the parking lot while we lined up, and then we were out on the road again. 

Several more twists and turns (and a bathroom break) later, we pulled all 16 of our cars into the tiny parking lot of Mail Box Antiques. 

It was adorable - we arrived to a handwritten sign welcoming the car club, and then as we were getting ready to leave, the little lady who runs the place stepped out with her basket and gave everyone a "lucky dime" for the rest of our travels.  Seriously, so precious!

And back on the road!

Back at the hotel, we had a short break before the (much shorter) evening runs to dinner.  As we all gathered to line up for the run to Edge General Store, I passed out the QR code stickers for the blog, and snagged a few quick 'in the car' pictures.  I got lots of "oh, this is cool!" from the group. Glad to do it, y'all!

A short drive to dinner, a decent meal, and RDB and I called it an early night - more fun to be had on Saturday!

The pretty pumpkin of an MX5 up there is a rare 30th Anniversary edition.  It was a joy to get to know the various drivers and cars and stories - each one unique and fun and totally interesting!

Saturday morning we picked the HEARTS to Hunstville run (kinda on purpose - it was the latest-leaving run (and we didn't want to wake up super early) and in conversation with Mr Miata Friday night, we were confirmed as the run sweep (Sweep is the last car in line, has a radio to keep the lead runner informed of what's happening behind them, and goes after any 'lost lambs' if someone takes a wrong turn). Our first time sweeping we paired up with JP (who's first time leading was yesterday!), so we'll see how it goes!

The down side to being sweep is that you only run as fast (ahem, slow) as the car in front of you. The up side about being sweep is that you get great video and pics because all 15 cars are in front of you!

The beautiful yellow bird above was a couple in from North Carolina!  We stopped off at 7 Leguas Mexican Grill for lunch - and I think the group might all have been a little tired from hanging out the night before (or tired of me saying "hey! cheese!")

After a quick lunch, we made a few more left-right-right-left turns and arrived at the parking lot of the HEARTS Veterans Museum of Texas. 

From their website: "HEARTS Museum is a one of a kind Museum.  We are not a typical military museum, in fact, we don't consider ourselves a military museum at all.  We are a museum about people.  Particularly the veterans who have served to protect our nation, preserve our freedom, and to secure the freedom of people around the world."

The walls and halls are brimming with pictures of veterans and their stories. We were only there for a short hour, but you could have spent days walking thru reading about the lives of those who protect our freedoms; that there were several veterans in our run group today was not lost on me at all.  Thank you. Thank you so much for your service and sacrifice. 

There were a few displays that really caught my attention (beyond the dobie up there, of course. <3)  A wedding dress, made out of a German parachute for an Italian bride who married an American solider...

...a small display of Snoopy Red Baron paraphernalia...

...and a lot of information about the WWII POW camps across Texas.  I remember how I was startled to discover the historical plaque on one of my solo camping trips out on the backroads near town. 

Back on the road, with a few less cars (two people took off for homebase before we did .... the fast-paced twisties coming up might not have been their "speed") we pointed the heard of cars towards homebase. 

There were six lights we had to go thru once we got back in town - and we should've stopped off for a lottery ticket because we made it "all cars thru the light" SIX TIMES in a row! It was fun to be the sweep on this run and several people from different clubs commented on how well I did, the 'professional' way I communicated, that I was clear and loud... RDB joked that this is how they trick people into sweeping - give them TONS of compliments and they'll want to do it again. (I mean, he's not wrong...)

Back beside host hotel, the Douglass Mazda dealership was having their grand re-opening and invited the club over for an open house with refreshments and to check out the new digs.  Beautifully designed inside, and - smarties that they were - they had two new MX5s on display in the lobby. From what I can tell, owning a Miata is like opening a can of Lays' potato chips - betcha can't have just one! I wouldn't be surprised if those two beauties are sold by the end of the weekend!  (Guess what? We found out at the banquet that evening that a couple joining the round up from Arkansas BOUGHT ONE!!)

RDB retreated to the camper for a few hours to download footage, rest for a bit and blog some - cause there's no way I'd remember all these details if I tried to wait till Sunday night.  Rested, we returned over to the Brazos Center, just half a block from the host hotel, for the evening dinner/banquet. 

The HMC did a great job of securing a place for us to all come together (over 125 people this weekend!) have dinner, celebrate with a punny skit and door prizes, and then dance the evening away to an incredible 10-piece live band! RDB and I genuinely felt like we made new friends and I got called out _again_ for being a good first-time sweep (ok, ok, y'all, I get it! You've got this Sweatheart Sweeper whenever you need now! Positive reinforcement works!) GL, from one of the other clubs, even gave me his door-prize because he wanted to acknowledge again what a great job I did working my first run.  <3 

RDB and I enjoyed the live music, and danced for a bit, then drove back up to the campground for the night. (PS - if you didn't get one of those tiny bundt cakes from Nothing Bundt Cakes, you missed out!!)

What a weekend!!

Sunday morning we slept in (RDB was up till about 2am editing the video from Day 2 (you can find that on this post where I'll have the link for the photos this next week)).  We packed up the camper and went back into downtown Bryan to have brunch at 3rd on Main (yes, it was that good!) before going home to trade out the Miata and drive back over with the truck to hook up the camper and take it home for the week.

We couldn't help but smile as we were passed by one last Miata leaving College Station.  Hope you all made it home safely and we very much look forward to seeing you at club rides and at the next Texas Miata Roundup in 2024!