Lost in Columbus

We opted to extend our Easter celebration this year by adding a " 'Round the Horn" road trip after the Easter Day Kmiec Family Reunion in Chapell Hill, Texas. We had a great time at the reunion with 160 of the Kmiec clan. As is the custom after the catered barbeque and potluck appetizers/desserts dinner, each family shared the news of their branch - all the changes and goings-on since last year's get together. Because our news was so special, Vince was afraid he'd get all teary-eyed so I was the designated spokesperson for our family. Speaking for the William Gurka part of our group, I told about Elaine's move from Austin to Houston and Valerie's move from Manhattan to Brooklyn - each following Tammy Wynette's admonition to "Stand By Your Man", thus not having to spill the beans about Valerie's boyfriend Fernando or Elaine's impending marriage to Ted. I didn't want any "tsk, tsks" so I opted for a chuckle or two and was warmly rewarded. Next I told about Leslie's December wedding in our home to Kip, and introduced him to the family. He and Leslie had participated in the Reunion Golf Tournament the day before and he not only survived that but showed up to celebrate the dinner and socializing on Sunday so I guess he's planning to stick around for awhile. Leslie's other big news was that she's graduating with her RN degree in May, an accomplishment for which we are all very proud. Last but not least was the news about Sara and Andre's new addition due to make his appearance in October. I say "his" because Andre' has many, many boy cousins and just a couple of girl cousins so what are the chances.
Although my monologue was outstanding it was followed by others also speaking eloquently for their families, telling of new babies, new husbands, wives, girlfriends, graduations, etc., all very interesting and impressive. However, by far the best presentation was given by one of Vince's cousins - Adam, speaking for Aunt Pauline and Uncle Slim's family. He said "I'm here and my brother-in-law's here and my sister's here and we're all okay except I cut my thumb on the table saw (holding up his heavily bandaged thumb for all to see) and oh, yeah, my dog's okay and I got a new mule named Rufus and he's okay too!" Adam received the loudest and longest ovation by far.

After the reunion Vince and I began the second phase of our Texas Road Trip and headed south to Columbus
where we had found a wonderful Bed & Breakfast called The Magnolia Inn. It's a Victorian home built in 1890, beautifully restored and brimming with antiques. When we called to book our room, the owners said they wouldn't be there when we were scheduled to arrive, but the front door would be open and our room key would be on the desk in the living room. It was like walking into our own house after a short trip to HEB. There were cookies and lemonade on the table for us so we had a snack and settled in. Bob the owner soon arrived to make sure we were happy and well established in The Warren Room. We were going out for supper and followed his suggestions to go to Nancy's Steak House as opposed to Nancy's Mexican or Nancy's Seafood Grill. Yes, the same Nancy owns them all. After a delicious dinner (neither of us eating steak) we decided to take a walk around the neighborhood of our lodging. A couple of blocks east is the town square where we enjoyed reading historical markers on the well-restored, nicely landscaped buildings. We then headed north: I had in my mind an image of a nice neat square-shaped route, keeping Spring Street somewhat in the center so we could get back to the Magnolia Inn within our 30-minutes of walking. Just past Town Square is the railroad track, so we kept our direction, crossed the tracks and walked a few more blocks before turning west - the third side of the box. As we headed west, the neighborhood began to get a tad more colorful: cars in the yard, pit bulls yapping and neighbors gathered in lawn chairs with beer coolers and stereos blasting. It was not yet dark so we were fairly composed but decided that we'd best head back south of the tracks. Columbus is a very ethnically diverse little town as we were more and more convinced.
We reached the tracks on this unexplored street - which by some strange irony named "Back Street" - but couldn't cross the railroad tracks because of the rugged terrain and inaccessibility, so we went west another block finally making our way to the other side. With some relief we were walking with a little brisker pace to reach Spring Street. At each corner we looked for our street - one, two, three blocks and no luck. Sundown was soon to be upon us and even though we felt safer "on the right side of the tracks" we also felt lost! I was thinking: "This is what I get for being so smug about my sense of direction!". We noticed a pickup truck pulling into a driveway ahead and watched as an old couple (older than us) got out, each holding a Whataburger drink cup. The looked safe enough (what could they do - throw ice at us?!) so we approached them and confessed that we were lost and would they please direct us toward Spring Street. "Why sure! It's a couple of blocks thataway! You can't miss it!" Our 30-minute walk turned into a 45-minute walk, plus more experiences than we had expected. We slept very well in our cozy room in The Magnolia Inn. After a wonderful breakfast we continued our trip south to Fulton, but nothing on the Texas Coast could come close to our adventure in Columbus.