Awake: 6:48am Temp 67 Sleep 6+41 partly cloudy overnight @ Nacogdoches, TX.
We leave the Piney Woods RV Park @ 10:49am just as it begins to drizzle. (2) miles up the road, we are ahead of the rain. Both Hwy 69 & TX 64 are busy roads but very smooth.
We arrive @ the # 1 RV Park in Tyler, TX @ 12:38pm. Good thing I called yesterday & made a reservation; they are maxed out & turned (3) RV units away who didn’t call in.
Today’s travel: 1+49 time 76.3 miles 11.1 gal used 6.9 mpg 48 mph avg speed.
I call Craig on his cell phone as soon as we get parked & leave a message. About an hr later, Craig returns the call & invites us over to their rubber plant “Rex Hide” for the executive tour. Now we’re talking.
The Rex Hide plant is over a hundred years old with a few new employees, of course, & updated equipment since its inception. Craig takes us through the corporate office area & then into the chemistry lab where mixtures of different chemicals, oils, black carbon etc are formulated to make the rubber in accordance to the customers needs & specifications. Before a mass production is run, samples of the finished product are also thoroughly tested & retested in this lab.
Next, Craig takes us upstairs where that package of different chemical mixes: oils, carbon, etc will be added & mixed with the raw rubber that changes the rubber properties for whatever the customer wishes. These powerful & huge machines grind up & stir the batter like it was bread dough. Then another even larger machine (like a giant old fashion ringer washer machine) flattens the new rubber mixture out & cuts it into (3) inch strips which will be hung on a moving dryer rack for cooling plus sprinkled with flour like “stuff” to make it non-sticky. What a process. I have pictures.
Along the way, Craig introduces us to some of the skilled workers who explain the process in even more detail but then, that’s top secret & highly confidential knowledge so I’d better not say any more. I will admit however, I have never had a more thorough tour of a rubber plant in all my life as I have experienced with Craig. He was most impressive.
Tonight the Nanette & Craig family schedule is busy: 5:30 Soccer game for Nathan; baseball practice for Elaina; tennis lessons for Trevor; & little Olivia is left to tag along with her mom. Nanette has Nathan & Olivia…..Craig drops Trevor off for tennis lessons & stays with Elaina during her baseball practice & then reverses for the pickup.
After the soccer game, we follow Nanette home by the high-speed highway route system so she can start the dinner prep. Those mansions I spoke of often during our many tours in Texas & other states; well, in this Craig & Nanette neighborhood, the modern mansions are very much alive & well. As we drove into this area, the different architecture & huge homes everywhere were absolutely beautiful & stunning. The C & N structure is no exception.
Nanette started giving us a tour but then her kitchen called her back into action. Craig took over & completed the home tour. . A guest wing provides a private area ideal for long or short stays. The enormous kitchen is open to a very large family room. Beautiful, easy to maintain non-marking bamboo floors run through much of the house; Nathan loves to roller blade thru the house while Trevor is skating on his Healeys. The boys share a bedroom as do the girls. The pool and yard are protected by a mosquito killing mist made from Chrysanthemum flowers which automatically sprays twice a day from under the eaves around the house.
Wine before dinner, then spinach salad, grilled steaks, baked potato, Brussel sprouts, & warm bread. Cheesecake for dessert.
We enjoyed a lovely evening with the Craig Kirsch family and some wonderful adult time after the kids went to bed. The (4) of us realize this is the most time we have ever spent in conversation, getting to know each other, without the distraction of extended family and/or friends. It was great!
High travel temp=86 elevation 469 Lights out: 12:43am
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