10 January – Galveston

Today we were meant to have a mobile service technician take a look at the coach batteries. The house runs off 2 deep cycle batteries, but they are overheating and not holding their charge. So we had a relaxed morning, walking, reading and getting the laundry done. By 1pm he hadn’t shown up, so we rang to be told that he was held up and wouldn’t be here til tomorrow. So we headed into the downtown area to look around. 

Our first stop was the Moody Mansion. The Moody's established one of the great American financial empires. Based on cotton, it grew to include banking, ranching, insurance and hotels. The Moody’s even bailed out Conrad Hilton during the depression and enabled him to go on to create his wealth in the Hilton Hotel chain.

The mansion was built in 1895 with no expense spared and has 31 rooms over 4 levels. The audio guided tours only covered 20 of the rooms over 2 levels, but it was still quite lengthy. The mansion was put up for sale after a hurricane in 1900 which devastated Galveston and killed up to 8000 people. The Moody family purchased it for $20,000 when it’s worth at the time was around $100,000, and they lived in it for 80 years. The hurricanes over the years have caused damage to the house that has required many tens of millions of dollars in repairs, so it is wonderful to see the house still maintained and as beautiful to look at today as it was in the early years. The rooms are decorated with original Moody family furniture, art and artifacts and it was a lovely experience.

We drove around the downtown area for a while but had no luck finding a park for the RV, so will go back on the scooter. A delicious dinner at a Japanese restaurant finished the day.