Austin Camping

Our last stop in Texas is McKinney Falls State Park which is just a short drive from downtown Austin.  There is no easy access to the city with our bikes so we drove into town, found a parking spot and walked around, ate lunch, shopped and went back home.  MeKinney Falls is a large park so we were able to ride our bikes around to see the two different falls and an old home site.  We also hiked a circle trail.

While in New Braunfels John discovered a new system for delivery of Amazon purchases - Amazon Lockers. John orders so much stuff from Amazon that I think he was going through a withdrawal of sorts since he hadn’t been able to order anything for most of this trip.  Now with the lockers, he can order from Amazon and have it delivered while we are in the ‘wilderness’. He found one near MeKinney Falls. 

As usual we stopped in Norman for the weekend to spend time with our daughter and her family.  It’s always enjoyable to play with our grandsons and visit with their parents.

We dropped the new RV off at the dealership in Carthage MO to have several issues repaired, replaced or corrected.  John will have to drive back down next week to pick it up again.  I think we have located most of the issues to be attended to.  We should be about ready to head out for the winter in January.

Austin Waypoint

The KOA campground is about 8 miles from  downtown Austin.  We know this because we rode our bikes on a trail from near the campground to near downtown where we found a group of food trucks.  We had a choice of Thai, Greek, Italian and BBQ.  We chose the BBQ that was very good.

The bike ride was partially on the trail and part on city streets but enjoyable none the less. Our bodies let us know that we hadn’t done this for awhile so naps were in order when we got back.

Today we move to a state park that is even closer to the city.

German Experience Continues

Monday started out nice so we took a short hike down to the river and back before we moved to New Braunfels, a German community outside of San Antonio.  As predicted the weather turned nasty with temps dropping 20 degrees in two hours, the wind kicked up and then the rain fell!  We found a delightful German restaurant for dinner.

Friend and former colleague, Ray and his wife who live in a San Antonio,  joined us for lunch on Tuesday and again on Thursday.  We spent Wednesday walking the downtown of New Braunfels, shopping and viewing an art gallery.  We also walked around the small community of Gruene which is a very popular place in the summer due to its location on the Guadalupe River but was fairly quiet today with the gloomy, cold weather keeping folks at home.

Guadalupe River

We have spent the last couple of days in  the Guadalupe River State Park near San Antonio.  The once lush prairie is now covered with live oak and cedar trees which house lots of birds, coons, foxes and deer. A ranger led hike in the Honey Creek State Natural Area helped us to recognize the live oak, white oak, and persimmon trees as well as bald cypress along the river banks.  He pointed out deer and coon tracks, scat from coons and fox and other natural wonders.

Today John and I hiked almost four miles on the cliff tops overlooking the river and the forests and hills on the opposite banks of the river.  This park must be packed during the summer months as there is plenty of access to the river from the shore where kids can wade and splash around in the cool shadows of the many trees.

The weather is due to turn really nasty on Monday so we will head to the city to escape the worst of it (we hope).

Shakedown Run

On Monday, October 28 we were in Carthage MO to pick up our brand new 2020 Newmar Ventana!  She is a beauty!  Following the walk around to view and learn about her workings, we began transferring everything from the Bay Star into our new home on wheels.  It took a full two days!  We worked in rain and cold, Pam caught a cold and a few things had to be repaired right off the bat.  Pam’s cold plugged up her ear, causing severe dizziness and a trip to urgent care.  She is now well.

We tried to leave Thursday and drove a whole 12 miles only to discover that the door is misaligned and the wind whistles through it.  A temporary fix will get us through this trip until we return to Carthage for our follow up repairs visit.

Friday and Saturday we drove through Oklahoma with numerous stops to check on things rattling, whistling or moving around. Our destination for our first stay is Fredericksburg TX, a lovely German town in the heart of Texas Hill Country. We could hardly wait to walk into town to get some exercise and to see if anything had changed since our last visit to this area.  

While here we visited the Enchanted Rock State Park where we hiked in the rain around a 425 foot tall granite dome.  We only got half way around and turned back since the way was blocked by a full creek further on. We still put in 4.5 miles.  And then the sun came out!

We also drove over to the LBJ Ranch State and National Parks and Johnson City, hometown of former President Lyndon B. Johnson. Again the weather did not cooperate but we still got to see the ranch and a few buildings.  The Texas Whitehouse is closed for repairs. The visitor centers presented his history as president and his life after office in very interesting formats.  

We’ve done our share of walking in town, shopping, and eating at some fine restaurants.  We are in Texas wine country but we have been reluctant to try their offerings as we are wine snobs and afraid the wine won’t reach our standards. (Ha Ha).