February’s a time when some of the year’s coldest weather often descends over our neck of Texas, leaving many residents feeling stuck at home. You might call it the deep-freeze doldrums of winter.
No matter how cold it gets, though, you can count on GVEC’s team to be out and about in the communities we serve. Our team of marketing, media and community relations professionals love seeing the sights, catching up with old friends and making new ones, learning new stuff about our communities, and sharing their adventures on Cooperative social media. If you’re looking for something to thaw a chilly, house-bound February, we welcome you to visit our pages at Facebook (@GVECsocial), Instagram (@GVEC_INSTA) and Twitter (@GVEC_Tweets).
Hit the Road without Leaving Home
We cover a lot of ground on our accounts, including everything from energy efficiency to solar power, Cooperative products and services, fun activities for kids and families, video diaries, recipes, throw-back pictures, community events and much more. With this blog, we’re previewing two series of posts our team put together throughout 2021 that will continue through 2022: Road Trip Diaries and Native Knowledge.
What is Road Trip Diaries?
You might call Road Trip Diaries GVEC’s version of a buddy comedy/adventure series. It stars GVEC Social Media Specialist Shelby Mueller and GVEC Economic Development Director Gerri Lawing. The plot is simple: The two women hit the road in GVEC’s Tesla Model 3 electric vehicle, visiting various places of interest across GVEC’s service territory and having lots of fun along the way. The pair hit local hot spots, small businesses, historical places, and GVEC Power Up grant-recipient sites, and visit with locals. And most importantly, they always stop for lunch at some of our area’s notable eateries.
Experience Road Trip Diaries for Yourself!
To date, Gerri and Shelby have gone on three Road Trip Diaries adventures. In episode 1, they visited Yorktown, home to a noteworthy, Power Up grant-winning Vietnam War Memorial (also featured in November’s The GVEC Review), several other Power Up grant spots and a spooky old, abandoned hospital. You can see Gerri and Shelby’s complete Road Trip Diaries adventure through Yorktown here.
In episode two, Gerri and Shelby were joined by GVEC Community Relations Representative Kasie Tankersley for a trip to Schertz. The city is home to the Power Up grant-winning Veteran’s Memorial Plaza, the Guadalupe County Community Garden, the Schertz Community Playscape and the award-winning Purple Big BBQ eatery, all of which the trio visited. You can see Gerri, Shelby and Kasie’s complete Road Trip Diaries adventure through Schertz here.
Episode three found Gerri and Shelby cruising the streets of Gonzales, where they visited the Gonzales Memorial Museum, the Cost Memorial to the First Shot Fired in the Texas Revolution, GVEC’s original 1938 headquarters building (now abandoned, but still standing) Tinsley Texas History Center, Pioneer Village and the Old Gonzales County Jail. You can see Gerri and Shelby’s complete Road Trip Diaries adventure through Gonzales here.
[Native] Knowledge that You Might Not Know
Whereas Road Trip Diaries is a video-only series, Native Knowledge offers interesting historical/factual tidbits about our area, with an occasional video thrown in for variety. Did you know, for instance, that Elvis once performed in Gonzales? The hotel where he stayed during his time in the city was also briefly home to notorious outlaws-in-love Bonnie and Clyde, who jumped out a second-story window to escape the police. Did you know that part of season four of cable channel AMC’s zombie series Fear the Walking Dead was filmed in Gonzales or that Cuero was once a critical juncture along the famous Chisholm Trail cattle drive trail of the old west? The city is also home to a world-renowned museum that commemorates its old west heritage—The Chisholm Trail Museum. Did you know that DeWitt County celebrated its 175th anniversary in September? These are but a few of the interesting facts and stories you can read and learn about on GVEC social media through our Native Knowledge series!
There’s So Much More to GVEC Social Media
As we mentioned, both Road Trip Diaries and Native Knowledge will continue through 2022 and are just a small part of what we do on GVEC social media. We welcome you to log on now and see for yourself how GVEC Social can help keep you informed, entertained and maybe—just maybe—feel a little warmer on a cold February day.
