Winter Trip 2015: Bryan/College Station/P.E.T. Workshop--Part One

View of old campus at Texas A&M

View of old campus at Texas A&M

Panorama of part of the  Bonfire Memorial

Sun. Jan. 25—Thu. Jan. 29: It was really nice to have a whole day to explore the area before volunteering started. So after a leisurely breakfast and reading some of the Lansing State Journal on our tablets, we headed into College Station. Without a guide we drove around the perimeter of the campus and found out that much of the Old Campus prohibits cars. So we circled around and out to West Campus and parked the truck so we could get out the bikes.  Then we spent a couple of hours riding and walking the mostly flat campus. It was interesting to see another Land Grant College. There weren’t many students out on a Sunday but those we passed were friendly and invariably greeted us and/or asked how we were doing.  The day was sunny and the temperatures were in the sixties so we were very comfortable. The Bonfire Memorial taught us a bit more about, not only the tragic collapse of the iconic bonfire in 1999 that killed 12 people, but also a bit more about the Cadet Corps, about which we would learn even more in the coming days. After riding about 3.5 miles and walking quite a bit in areas where bikes are prohibited we returned to the truck. As we were loading the bikes I asked two coeds who walked by where we should go for BarBQue. We followed their directions to C&J just off campus and had a delicious, late lunch. After frogging around for a while we found historic downtown Bryan and wandered around it without a guide, but reading the Texas historical plaques gave us a good overview of this railroad town that had its heyday in the first half of the 1900s. The downtown has very few shops now, but lots of Bonds offices and lawyers. There is an historic theater called the Queen which has been gutted for renovation but still has its large, lighted, revolving crown on the roof. One old hotel has been renovated and reopened. There is a German restaurant that has been there for a long time but, like most everything, it was closed on Sunday. We will try to get back to it sometime this week. When we had pretty much seen everything we returned to the campsite and relaxed in the warm sunshine before making chicken rice soup from last night’s leftovers and then watching the Pro Bowl.

Carnegie Library in Bryan

Monday we got an early start, after a quick bowl of Raisin Bran, and got to the P.E.T. workshop soon after 8:00. Most of the workers were already there though and we found out they only work until 11:00 here! That is one of the differences we found from the workshop in Penney Farms, Florida where we worked last year with Janice and Lou Oiens. The Personal Energy Transportations are about the same though, although in Texas they use treated wood instead of painting all the boxes in bright colors. Our contact, Ken, met us and showed us around and then the shop foreman, Jeff, put us to work. Marv built the front fork “drive trains” with Dick and I put together seat cushions and backs with Steve and attached them to the wooden frames. There were only about 8 people working and the only other woman was sewing in the office area. Like in Florida, most of the workers were in their 80s and 90s. Steve and I ran out of wooden parts because the shop’s router is broken, but then I put together seat cushions until I ran out of the covers and it was time to quit. It had been a good morning! Marv and I found a Tourist Information place and got ideas of how we could spend the nice afternoons we now had. After a sandwich and apple at the camper we drove to nearby Bryan Lake. It is a large reservoir just north of Bryan and pretty near the RV Park. There is a bar and grill called the Icehouse but it turns out that it, along with most of the park, is closed for the winter. We did get the bikes out and rode on the levy partway around the lake for 5.3 miles. We saw an anhinga and an egret and lots of coots, and very few other people.  There was time to read and relax in the sun again before dinner. Chuck at the RV Park told us that it had rained every day last week and the weekend looks to be down into the 50s so we’re sure enjoying the warm weather while we can. After a full day, Spanish Rice and salad at the camper tasted great!