Messin with Texas

San Marcos River

 

Following the “Broken Wheel in Broken Bow” incident on the first of October of this year, we were ready to push off for Arizona, via a week plus hiatus in Texas.  We’ve been to Texas probably close to or more than 10 times since our first ever visit to Texas 17 years ago, each time either just passing through, OR stopping in Texas Hill Country for some sight-seeing, music and barbeque.   And we were headed to Hill Country again as we pushed off from Broken Bow for San Marcos, Texas, 30 miles South of Austin.  We planned to go on 2 lane highways, skirting the greater Dallas Metropolitan area, before connecting up with Interstate 35 South of Dallas and proceeding through Waco and then Austin to San Marcos.

What we discovered, barely 100 miles into our 400+ journey on the day, is that we HAD NO TRAILER BRAKES.  Won’t go into specifics here, but basically Big Bertha was now solely responsible for stopping herself and the 10,000 pound “Gorilla” on her backside (the 5^th) for the next 300+ miles… which included stop and go traffic through the greater Austin area.  But we survived, with no visible signs of smoke and/or fire from Bertha’s brakes, and arrived in a beautiful RV park set along the San Marcos River at midafternoon on that Saturday.

Pecan Park RV Park, San Marcos, TX

We were ready to experience, again, the best of what Hill Country Texas offers, namely… in no particular order… Music, BBQ, scenery, and, oh yes, WINE! But first we had to deal with a few RV issues, the aforementioned lack of brakes for instance; and also such things as no Water Pump and an inoperable Gas Fired Water Heater, for other examples.  All of these problems were dealt with quickly, and efficiently, by Will AND Will, a father/son team from nearby Seguin, TX operating Lone Star (RV) Services.   These guys, like Discount Wheel and Tire in Broken Bow (see previous blog post), were “lifesavers”, coming out immediately to our RV, diagnosing what needed to be repaired, and doing it. This is another shameless plug for a great local company! 

 

Kreuz Mkt in the middle of BBQ Heaven- no sauce needed!

Thanks to Will, and Will, we were set to head out on the next leg of our RV travels after the upcoming weekend with confidence that we had brakes, we could pump water if needed, and our water heater was fully functioning; all important matters while on the road. But, before hitching up again, we were determined to experience all that the beautiful Texas Hill Country offers; which leads, among other things, to BARBEQUE.  Barely 15 miles down the road from our RV Park along the San Marcos River lies the Barbeque Capital of Texas… and therefore the USA, if you ask any self-respecting Texan… in the little town of Lockhart, which is noted for one hellaciously beautiful Country Courthouse building AND at least 3 great German style slow smoked barbeque joints.  At a couple places, plates, utensils, and BBQ sauce, are mere secondary concerns, and certainly not necessary to enjoy the deep smoked wonderfulness of Brisket, prime rib,  pork and beef ribs, pork chops and loins, and hand crafted local sausages. 

Black's in San Marcos

During this trip, we went to Kreuz (pronounced “Krites”) Market and Smittie’s  (Smith’s Market) in Lockhart, and then branched out to Louie Mueller Barbeque in Taylor, Texas up Northeast of Austin, Luling BBQ 15 miles down the road (SW of) from Lockhart, and Black’s Barbeque in San Marcos… All were excellent.  I haven’t yet found barbeque joints in other parts of the country that quite compare to the slow smoked barbeque offerings in Hill Country Texas … hold the sauce please, it ain’t needed!

Louie Mueller's, been around a long time!

When we weren’t seeking good Barbeque, which wasn’t often, we explored parts of the Texas Hill Country around San Marcos.  We love Austin for its numerous live music venues and general ambience (shading toward the liberal side of things, always a good thing to me… and unlike most of the rest of Texas).  For me, Austin, Not Nashville, is the Live Music Capital of the Country.  But we didn’t even go to Austin this trip, except for the nerve-wracking weave through stop and go traffic on a Saturday with no trailer brakes.  Instead, we had lots to look forward to… besides barbeque… in the San Marcos area.  

 

Wine Tasting in Gruene, TX

 

For one, there is Gruene Hall, and the little community of the same name, on the outskirts of New Braunfels, just south of San Marcos.  Gruene Hall is the OLDEST music hall in all of Texas; and its rustic interior has seen pretty much all the greats of Texas Music, and beyond.  A then virtually unknown George Strait and his band, hailing from nearby San Marcos, played here for tips  way back when… WHEN they were still trying to get a foothold in country music. And others as well, Willie, Jerry Jeff, Dale, Chris, Bruce, Kelly, Rodney, and the list of Country luminaries goes on and on, and beyond…  On the weekend before we were slated to leave Texas, Aaron Neville headlined a music festival at this little music and dance hall… We, regrettably, did not go since we had previously committed to a weekend festival near Houston.

Gruene Hall

 

Just another live music night at Gruene Hall

About that festival, officially it was called the Conroe Cajun Crawfish Festival, Conroe being a bedroom community some 50 miles north of Houston.  We actually stayed in a pretty little RV Park a few miles East of Conroe in a community called (I kid you not!) “Cut and Shoot”.  Hey, we weren’t packing “heat”… so nothing to shoot with or at, and I only cut my finger once trying to break off a snagged fish line while dipping in the fishing pond (unsuccessfully) for a big catfish.  Lanie and I went to the festival on a Saturday night, eating Louisiana/Cajun flavored dishes and listening to good local Texas, and Cajun, music.  One downer here was it was damn tough to order a decent glass of wine…. Bud Light (why? I don’t know), ruled the day, perhaps because they were the prime sponsor… Hey, Texas ain’t huge on good local microbrews, what can I say?... so drink your damn pis… I mean Bud Light, and don’t hassle my choice of cheap red wine!

Cajun food in Conroe

Crawfish gumbo and something else Cajun... can't remember the details!

Two of our favored Texan musicians, who most of the rest of the World have never heard of, namely Cory Morrow from Houston, and headliner Roger Creager from Corpus Christi, closed out the Saturday evening music on the Texas stage.  A block away, a like number of regional Cajun and Creole musicians entertained the festival crowd. It was a good day, and night, despite my inability to land a single dang catfish back at the RV park.

The Crawfish Festival behind us, we set off of Sunday, October 11^th, for points West, ultimate destination Tempe, AZ… it was time to go “home”, or what passes for home for us when we’re not on the road.  We trekked some 300 miles across Texas to Kerrville, a San Antonio bedroom community, the first day, with a noon time stop at Luling BBQ in the heart of Barbeque Heaven. Did I mention that Texas is a BIG State?  We still had some 400 miles to go to get to the Texas/New Mexico border.  And the last part of the next day’s journey was through El Paso, which was… well, I won’t say anything GOOD or further about El Paso, other than we made it through without mishap… and put up camp in nearby Las Cruces, New Mexico.
 

Las Cruces, New Mexico

  We were done with Texas, but it had been a good trip, if a little trying with the RV maintenance issues.  Texas had done a little bit of “messin” with us it seems.  But we survived, and next day, a Tuesday, we were back in Tempe, our home away from our REAL HOME!