Painted Churches and More

If you've read about Texas Tim in these last two blogs and tried to Google the name or looked on social media to find him, just know right now you will have no luck.  It's not that Texana Tours isn't something he enjoys, but technology, much less social media, have not met up with him.  Computer?  An old rebuild from Jeff, rancher and driver on this tour, that he hasn't plugged in yet. Hand held device?  See the answer to computer and deduce from there.

No, Texas Tim relies on word of mouth, or when he hears someone say they would like to visit a place, he offers to go along, although we believe it is to see it himself and less to tell the traveler about it.  Texas Tim has developed an "ambitious" business plan, but as he notes, getting too involved in a business at this point in life may interfere with his own travels.  So, after a hefty breakfast in Flatonia (working man's breakfast for us ranch hands on Jeff's ranch), we embark to see the painted churches, safe in the assumption that church is over for this Sunday.

First, though, Tim wants Jeff to see a house in Flatonia.  An old house with a front porch that wraps the house in the old turn of the 19th century into the 20th century style.  I later learn that Texana Tours has a schedule that it routinely ignores and sometimes goes out of its way to add and enhance your tour enjoyment.  We reach our first painted church and stop to look.  On the outside, it is a regular church, but once inside, you learn the Czechs and Germans brought items from the old country as they founded their communities, including altars and such.  The concept is simple, but breathtaking in its beauty such as this example from St. Cyril and Methodious in Shiner, Texas.

 

All you see around this altar is hand-painted, from the mural to the stencil.  I was impressed, as were clearly Texas Tim and Jeff or they wouldn't have taken me to this and four other churches on the tour.  There are seven in all, but with our schedule, or lack of one, we made our way around the area much like Magellan circled the globe, with a meandering here and there that got us exactly where we wanted to go.  We hadn't even made it to Shiner but after a day full of wandering and exploring, we were exhausted.  Shiner Brewery would have to wait until tomorrow, but we were content to once again go to the Jeff's ranch and enjoy a fire with friends.  Dave, another frat brother, came and joined us each night.  Monday, I would finally get to see the Shiner Brewery.