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Market days and dinner
The first day of the
vacation that was not primarily used for transport! I had breakfast with a
couple who was also staying at the B&B, and while I was doing that, Tim got
ready so after breakfast we took off. However, we only drove a few hundred yards
down the road to Fort Inglish, a local fort from the late 1830s, built as a
defense against hostile Indians (Native Americans, not those from india), but it
turned out that the fort was closed and it was only open between 11 am and 3 pm,
and as it was not even 9 am, we decided to come back later.
Guy
selling lawn mowers at Bonham Trade Days
Right next to the fort,
however, there was something going on that most of all looked like some kind of
flea market. We chose to visit it, and we walked around and looked at many
different stands, where everything was sold from lawn mowers over mattresses to
cowhorns and antiques; some things were used (and some looked mostly like junk)
while other clearly came right from the factory. In addition, some small
animals such as chickens, rabbits, pigs and dogs were put up for sale; some of
these in cages that, in my opinion, were far too small for the animal but not
all treat their animals nicely, and especially not if they are to be sold. We
found out that the event was known as Bonham Trade Days, a market that took
place over a whole week once a month, at least during the summer, when people
from the town and the surrounding area came to sell whatever they wanted to sell.
Along the way, we got to chat with different people. While admiring a Texas
Longhorn skull with an impressive set of horns, we were addressed by a man who
we told of our hunting in vain for these animals on previous visits. He could
tell that if we drove northeast from the city, he knew a farmer in that
direction, who had such animals. Later another guy told us that we could see
some of these 'horny' beast south of town as well. We didn't go hunting for cows
though but postponed it to a later time.
When we got tired of walking around the market, we decided to visit Shaggy, who
were still on maternity leave and therefore at home at this early time of day.
Her husband, Jay was at work, but we had a nice chat with her and the two oldest
children, known as Squirrel (11 yo girl) and Squeaker (8 yo boy). If you are in
doubt these are not their real names
J. The youngest child, and the reason for
the maternity leave, was only six weeks old, so we didn't talk with him much.
While Shaggy was making, what we in Denmark call "flødeboller" (translates to "cream
buns"), a kind of chocolate covered, creamy marshmallow on a
bisquit bottom - yummi! Squirrel went to get her shotgun, which she proudly
showed us. In fact, it's not hers, but is registered to her father, because you
have to be 12 years old before you can get a gun permit in Texas. But she could
hardly wait to become old enough to register it for herself. Her father's
somewhat larger shotgun was also brought out, and then Shaggy had to show us her
handgun as well. We were in Texas after all! I don't think that any
selfrespecting Texans, at least living outside the big cities, could live
without their guns. Later, Addie arrived with her two children, Mayhem and
Mischief (not their real names either) and her husband. Addie's children are
only 3 and 1 and she's expecting a third. When they left, we chatted for a while
longer with Shaggy and her children, before heading back to our B&B to charge
the batteries on both our phones and ourselves (yes, we are androids) before the
next item on the day's program, which would be dinner.
On our way back to the B&B we passed the fort once more and now the place was
open, so we paid a visit (entrance is free), and was given a tour by one of the
volunteers who work at the place. Not that there was that much to see, but we
also got to know the history of the fort and how, from time to time, things had
been collected that are now on display in the few buildings. The fort itself was
originally just a palisade with a single block house in one corner in accordance
with the custom of the time. Around 4.30 pm we headed to Shaggy's home once
more. Tim and I had invited everyone for dinner at a restaurant of their choice,
as we didn't know any in that particular area (or elsewhere in Texas by the way),
and they had chosen a Mexican restaurant in the town of McKinney, one of the
outer suburbs of Dallas, about 40 miles north of downtown. Shaggy was driving
her own car and Tim and I followed along because we were going to pick up Addie,
and we didn't know at the time where she was living, as the family had moved
from the house where they lived when we visisted in 2018.
Dining
at Jalapenos in McKinney. From left, Addie, Maddy and Shaggy, and on the mens's
side of the table, yours truly, Ronin and Skep. Tim is not invisible, he just
was the one who took the photo, so you don't have to worry.
After having picked up Addie (both
ladies had appointed their husband babysitters), we followed Shaggy and Addie,
as they knew the way to the restaurant, which we didn't. Tim and the "girls" had
agreed that some of their Twitter friends whould join us there as well, Maddy,
Ronin and Skep (the last two being gentlemen, the first a lady). The food at
Jalapenos, as the restaurant was called, turned out to be really good (that is
if you like Mexican food), and the service was fine too. The company was nice
and we chatted (and ate) for about three hours before we broke up. By that time,
it was getting dark and we decided to call it a night as everyone was going to
drive about 40 miles to their respective homes and Tim and I was going the same
distance back to our B&B. We said goodbye to everyone in the the parking lot,
and then Tim and I set the course for Bonham.
We were back at our B&B around 10.30 and just said hello to our hosts before
going up to the rooms, after the shortest day of driving so far on this trip.
Only 90 miles in total. The day before, we had driven over 400 miles from New
Iberia to Bonham, and even on the first day when we drove from the airport to
New Iberia, it was around 125. However, longer drives would come later on the
trip. In fact, only two would prove to be shorter, and that was after I had
dropped off Tim and was on my own. I don't know about Tim's alone time because
he didn't record the mileage every day, but I'm pretty sure he didn't drive long
distances while in Florida, but only on his way down south from Kentucky.
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