Two for Texas!

From Louisiana, we headed to Texas Hill Country in mid-May, first stop Pecan Park RV Park in San Marcos, a lovely setting right along the San Marcos River.   This part of Texas is a favorite of ours, for two things in particular, Barbecue and Live Music, not to also mention the scenic rolling hills.  And we enjoyed a bit of both food and music during our relatively short 10 day stay in San Marcos.

Pecan Park, San Marcos

They have what is called a Texas Barbecue Trail in these parts, a meandering route through Central Texas small towns where German Style slow smoked barbecue pits reign supreme.  To  my mind, this is some of the best barbecue you can find anywhere; and one town in particular, Lockhart, conveniently located just 15 miles from our RV park in San Marcos, is oft-times billed as the Barbecue Capital of Texas, and therefore (by some Texans definition), Barbecue Capital of the World.  We visited all four barbecue joints in Lockhart and several more in towns stretching from the Austin outskirts nearly to San Antonio on “the Trail”.

Kreuz Market in Lockhart explains how it is with Texas Barbecue

The Pit at Smitty's in Lockhart

Slow-smoked meat served on butcher paper... what more do you need?

 

As to the live music, you can find it most everywhere in Texas Hill Country, and most particularly in Austin, arguably the Live Music Capital of the World…. Texans are big on superlatives, and rightly so in this instance, since Austin, the entire Hill Country really, comes alive most evenings with live music performers.  In Austin, we went to the Saxon Pub, set in a small commercial strip in South Austin, to listen to one of my favorite Blues musicians, Johnny Nicholas.   Nice low key evening marked by great blues.

Live music billing, mid-week at Saxon Pub

BluesMan Johnny Nicholas, at Saxon Pub

Soon enough we were off to Fredericksburg, Texas, on the Western Edge of Texas Hill Country, setting up camp there in an RV Park just a mile or so from the quaint German-flavored downtown area.  While in Fredericksburg we discovered that an ever growing wine industry has developed, with a couple dozen or so wineries spread among the rolling hills East and West of Fredericksburg.  To wine lovers like us, it was just like being at home in the Willamette, and Umpqua and Rogue, River Valleys.

Wine Tasting, Texas Hill Country Style!

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We were also conveniently located just 15 miles or so from Luckenbach… yes, THAT Luckenbach made famous by Waylon and Wille; and about as cute a little country outpost as you could ask for.  A Texas music favorite of mine, Chris Wall, was playing out back of the Store/Post Office/Bar in Luckenbach one afternoon, and we spent a very enjoyable afternoon there listening to Mr. Wall.  Quite in Luckenbach fashion, I hear, one of the bartenders was called on stage soon enough to play the harmonica for Chris and his “band” (consisting of one other guitarist).  

A lazy Luckenbach afternoon listening to Cowboy Poet/Singer/Songwriter, Chris Wall

We also experienced two straight days of booming thunderstorms while in Fredericksburg, both days while under tornado watches.  I admit it, I’m still scared to death of strange, violent storm events like tornadoes; but, truth be told, by the time we hit Fredericksburg, we’d already been through several Tornado Watches/Warnings over the past year; so we were, not blasé’ about this latest “watch” necessarily, but not in panic mode either.  This latest watch turned out to be just that, and nothing more, thankfully.

Texas storm clouds - "Uh, Dorothy, are you sure we're not in Kansas?"

We interrupted our several week stay in Fredericksburg to fly home (Eugene) in early June for my Mother’s memorial service on the 7^th.  As many of you may know, Mom passed away in late March, and now it was time for the family to gather in remembrance of her life.

 

Mom's Grandkids and Great Grandkids gathered at her Memorial Service June 7th in Salem

 

 It was great being home, however briefly.  Lanie hadn’t been in Eugene since the previous June (2013) before we set off on our grand retirement journey; I had been back just briefly when Mom was in her final days in March.  Before the Saturday service, Lanie visited the UO, where she’d worked for 34 years prior to retirement, and I snuck in to the ROC (EWEB) for a morning to say hello to whomever was there.  For those who I missed that morning, hope to see a lot of you again during our upcoming month-long stay back in Eugene in August.

Returning to Texas and Fredericksburg on June 9th, we had just enough time to pack up our remaining things before heading out the next day for Tornado Alley, aka the Great American Midwest.  Stay tuned for further updates to come (hopefully) soon.