Well the tour is in the bag already and I did not post any while the tour was happening - too tired I guess!
Anyways the tour was organized by Hugh Hemphill of the San Antonio T’ Club and was centered in Rockport, Texas.
The first day we drove across the island to the ferry to go to Port Aransas which is about 1 mile across the bay.
We explored Port Aransas, had lunch at a nice seafood place. The tornado / hurricane sirens kept malfunctioning and were going off intermittently which was very annoying! Lunch was fantastic though.
After lunch we drove the T to the ferry and drove home.
That evening we explored Rockport a bit more and found a little seafood place on the shore.
Needless to say it was all very good!
Day two in Rockport was picture day. We started by going to the Fulton Mansion which was about a mile from the hotel. A grand place, we had our photo taken in front.
From the Fulton mansion we drove our Model T’s to the airport, where you could ride in a WWII Steerman trainer and the club was making a video of all the Model T’s on the ramp. Then we had the lunch provided by the club which was a very nice hamburger and chips. Afterwards we drove back to Rockport for more antique store exploration.
The evening of day two we noticed there were Mexican restaurants everywhere so we had to try one. It was fantastic, the best Mexican food ever!
Day three was a big one. We started the day by driving to Refugio Texas (it’s pronounced Re - Fur - I - O) where the city provided a nice park where we had coffee and doughnuts. For some reason I did not take pictures but it was awesome.
From Refugio we continued on the Goliad, maybe 15 miles down the road. The fort at Goliad is the site of a massacre of over 500 Texans who had taken over the fort from Mexico. A very sad event.
The severed arm flag was flown over the fort back then. The settlers would rather sever a body part than subject themselves to Mexican rule.
We toured the fort, then sat down to a wonderful Mexican lunch.
Afterwards we went to downtown Goliad where the hanging tree was in the grounds of the courthouse. It was huge!
Afterwards we drove back to Rockport. It was a long day, about 140 miles round trip. We ended the day at an Italian restaurant near the Fulton Mansion. We highly recommend Bellino’s if you ever get to Rockport.
Day 4 was the last day in Rockport. We started the day with a tour around the island. I had a breakdown that happened because a freeze plug fell out, allowing the loss of all the coolant. I pulled over when I heard a rod knocking. Steve Bougauis from the Lone Star T Club gave me a ride in his '27 touring back to the hotel so I could get my truck and trailer. With the T in the trailer at the hotel, we disconnected the truck and rode to the first stop of the day. All the Model T’s had already left but we got to see “The Big Tree”.
We went from the big tree to the historic district of Rockport. There we had a nice lunch in the old restored Train station.
That evening we had the farewell banquet at a Babtist church in Rockport. Very nice barbecue dinner and the tour was quite memorable,
