We left San Antonio with it's heat and humidity and headed north hoping to catch some cooler weather. Our destination was Bardwell Lake; A Corps of Engineers Park outside Ennis, Texas. We like the COE parks as they are usually along a body of water, have at least partial hookups and many have 50amp service.
I promised Debi I'd take her to romantic places. Being the romantic I am, here we arrive in Italy. Sorry, no leaning towers or Eiffel Towers, but romantic in it's own way. I also took her to Paris but I'll be posting that journey later.
In 1879, settlers found the soil in this area perfect for growing corn, sweet potatoes, cotton and wheat and a town was born. In 1890 the railroad made it to Italy and made it an important trade center. The year 2000 marked an important milestone. That year Italy documented it's 2000th resident. Italy encompasses 1.8 square miles, all of it land. It is located at the junction of US 77 and Texas 34.
Most everyone knows we don't like freeways and prefer back roads. Getting to Bardwell Lake was no different. Here is a sample of US 77 which leads through the center of Italy. By the way, locals pronounce it, It-Lee as opposed to It Al Lee. I think this is done with a lot of towns to identify out of towners.
Texas Hwy 34 runs northeast out of the town of Italy and meanders through fields of cotton, hay and some corn fields. Cotton fields dominated the landscape when we passed through.
As we entered the town of Bardwell we almost missed it because I blinked. The town of Howard is just north of here but we never found it. We explored this area and look for a future write up in the near future. The largest nearby towns include Ennis, with the largest Waxahatchie. I had our mail sent to us here via General Delivery. After driving to the post office I found it's only open 8am-12pm M-T.
Leaving Texas 34 the roads kept getting smaller and narrower, but we trudged on. The sign said "County Road ends in two miles", but GPS said this was the way, so off we went. Actually, I don't rely on GPS directions. I use Google Maps, view the route, then put in the coordinates so I know exactly where I'm going. The COE gatehouse was just ahead.
Our 'home' for the next two weeks. The weatherman called for rain for the next two days then promised great weather for the remainder of our stay.
P.S. Don't rely on the weatherman.
Puffy clouds and a large lake welcomed us to the facility. Unfortunately the site I had picked and reserved turned out to be too unlevel for our coach. I had to nearly drop the nose on the ground to get level. Back to the gatehouse and the nice lady moved us to a better spot although it was across the street from the lake instead of directly on the lake itself.
Our new site was spacious, fairly level and within spitting distance of the lake and the swim area. Only issue was the tree seen in this picture. A couple of nasty Mockingbirds had built a next in it and they did not like Jasmine. She incurred their wrath every day. I had to stand next to her while doing her business otherwise she got dive bombed.
The weather finally gave in and we had many beautiful days. This was the swim beach across from our site. I used the tube for a couple days before we went into Waxahatchie and bought a couple spring floats. Floating mindlessly on spring floats on a beautiful sunny day is my idea of paradise. The water was very warm but refreshing.
The day before we left, Mother Nature treated us to a spectacular rainbow. We never received any droplets but this rainbow over the lake was beautiful. I tried to get the full arc in one picture using both my camera and my phone but neither could get it all in.
That's it for tonight. I'll post pictures of the surrounding area in my next post.....D
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