Busy day in Waco

October 17 – Since I’m writing this the day after, I might miss something!  Once we had a good breakfast, we headed out for our full day in Waco!

2 mammoth teeth

First on the list was the Waco Mammoth National Monument.  They claim to be the largest site under cover with regard to mammoths.  Bill and I recall going to a huge place that was not a national park.  In looking it up, it is The Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, SD!    Anyway, today’s location was pretty special.  We did have to pay a $4 each

Male mammoth

fee for a ranger led tour.  She did a great job as she explained the differences of a mammoth and a woolly mammoth and the ones we saw today would tower over a woolly mammoth.  The facility is very well done with out disturbing the site.  In addition to the mammoths found there was a camel as well.  The first one found by 2 young men who were friends in a pit type area just outside of the current building in

With femur bone

1978.  They took the leg bone to Baylor University in town.  Due to the wetness of the find area the fossils were quietly excavated and placed in plaster jackets and stored in Baylor’s museum storage to avoid poaching of the site.  These animals died 65,000 years ago!

From the walkways you can see whole skeletons partially exposed and the rangers explained how you can tell the ages and sex of the animals.  Because the study of each bone and testing done takes so long, they are currently not removing any further fossils from the site.  The bones in storage have not been studied as it takes years for the funding and staff to run all the tests so it will be years before they remove any more.

On the way into Waco proper, we stopped at the Suspension Bridge that was built in 1870

Suspension bridge

as the first bridge across the Brazos River.  It originally was a toll

One of the many sculptures

bridge used to take cattle across along the Chisholm Trail.  There are nice sculptures of cowboys and steers along the entrance.  Of course we got some photos to prove it!

The Texas Rangers Hall of Fame and Museum was great!  The movie covering the history of the rangers was 90 minutes

In the museum

and even showed when they captured Bonnie and Clyde.  There were displays for a lot of the rangers who have died.  There were displays of the different guns they have used over the years and about many of the “bad guys” they have dealt with.  It’s amazing the dedication these guys

In the museum

had/have.  One family had 5 of their men serve as rangers.  Bill really enjoyed it, especially the room with the Lone Ranger and Tonto and all of the toys, games, etc generated due to the show. 

Lunch time!  We headed back over by the river to find a place for lunch and went to a great little bbq place.  We both got double brisket and 2 sides and brought half of the brisket home.  The cojito cheese mac and cheese was awesome!  The slaw was good but I REALLY like the mac and cheese!

The silos behind the bakery

Then we parked the truck in public parking and walked across the main street to catch the trolley.  The trolley runs every day but the route changes for special events and we had no idea today was the start of the 5^th Annual Silobration!  We were chatting with the couple we met at the stop who are new full time RV’ers and missed our stop and we road the circuit again!

They had a bag check to get in and boy, was it crowded.  The line for the bakery was ridiculous so needless to say, we didn’t even get close to it.  There

The Magnolia Store

were a few things I wanted to check out at the Magnolia Market.  It is 2 rooms:  the front is smaller and has mostly wall and table décor, then you go down the steps into the old grain barn where it is mostly soft goods and coffee mugs.  The lines were long but by the time we had our items secured they were at a lull so I got right up to a cashier.

Of course we took photos of the silos and the Magnolia Market, then we spoke with a greeter about the crowd and she said today was slow compared to what it will be on

Bill is sad he can't get a pastry 😖

Saturday and Sunday.  We heard that Chip and Joanna would be around on Saturday.

We checked out the booths set up on both streets.  They are primarily craft booths that are all selected by Joanna.  There are food booths and some free game booths.  I did the ring toss and got 1 on and picked a key chain.  Bill wouldn’t try it – party pooper!  We were ready to head back.  Bill thought we should walk back instead of walk to the trolley, then walk to the truck so we walked and we overshot the street (Bill’s call), and back tracked.  My back and hips were killing me! 

One thing Bill really wanted to visit was the Davidian Compound, even though we were told there’s not much there to see, but he decided he was tired and we’d do it the next time we were here.  So we headed back to the RV.  While I was doing my thing, he took the truck to have a car wash.  He took so long I thought he went to the compound! 

I heated the leftover brisket and make a small quickie potato salad and tossed salad for dinner.  Then we settled in to watch some TV.