Montgomery, TX & the HHAI Rally parking

We made the 175 mile trip to Montgomery and are getting ready for our Haulin' HitchHiker chapter to park incoming HitchHikers for the rally which starts next week. You can see the CG is pretty empty but not for long. We are meeting up with some good RV friends we haven't seen for months.

Texas Ranger Museum

Today Dave & I made the drive to Waco to check out the Texas Ranger Museum. The Rangers started long long ago to protect settlers in Texas when it belonged to Mexico. The Rangers had a no nonsense reputation and even fought at the Alamo. They fought Indians & outlaws & criminals. It was from the Cherokee Indians that the Rangers learned their fighting tactics. It was a Texas Ranger that finally caught up with Bonnie & Clyde. In one of the pictures there are guns the 5 lawmen used in the ambush and some of Bonnie & Clyde's arsenal taken from their car in which they were killed. Frank Hamer was called out of retirement and spent 101 days following them and living in his car just like the two outlaws until he caught up with them in Louisiana. The Rangers even offered to go to Britain during WWII to help educate citizens how to fight. We were told that the Germans learned of this & were concerned that the Texas Rangers were going to be used to invade Europe, apparently even the Germans were aware of the rangers reputation.

Visit with Patches big cousins

Today we visited a large cat sanctuary. There are 53 lions, tigers (snow, yellow & white), leopards, & mountain lions at the non profit shelter. Some were former entertainers, pets, & some seized by officials. We learned more here than at any zoo we have visited. When we arrived there was a sick horse in a pen nearby & we figured this was a dumb horse being so close to the big cats. Well, during the tour we heard a shot & the horse wasn't there when we left. They fed the animals old or sick cows & horses.....sorry Kristi. We were told it was better for them than meat chunks that zoos use. This way they can also gnaw on the bones and use a horses mane to clean their teeth, really.....sorry Kristi.You can see one carcass in a picture. The most interesting was a white tiger transvestcat. There was a growth that was removed that turned out to be a testicle on a female. None of the other cats, male or female, will associate with it. Another tiger was constantly moaning....it's mate died 2 years ago and she is depressed and still grieving. The keepers talk about them as if they were almost human with their emotions & feelings. An interesting visit!