December 19, 2016

December 11, 2016

 We’ve been working on our spring travel plans the last few days and have pretty much got it figured out.  Here is the “written in Jello” itinerary:

1-3 Mar:  Enroute to Fort Bliss, TX.
3-7 Mar:  Fort Bliss Famcamp.
7-9 Mar:  Elks Lodge, Wilcox, AZ.  Going to take a drive through the Chiricahua National Monument.
9-13 Mar:  Elks Lodge, Tempe, AZ.  Visit family and friends.
14-17 Mar:  Nellis AFB, NV (Las Vegas).  We have done Vegas before but what the heck.
17-20 Mar:  Pahrump, NV.  Going to spend some time in Death Valley National Park.
21-26 Mar:  Elks Lodge, Fresno, CA.  See Mom and my brother.
26-30 Mar:  Calistoga, CA.  Visit Joyce’s family.
30 Mar-2 Apr:  Travis AFB, CA.  Visit friends.
2-6 Apr:  Back to Calistoga.  We really like the Napa Valley.
6-9 Apr:  Elks Lodge, Petaluma, CA.  A stop while traveling through the Sonoma Wine Country.  We’ll probably go see the Charles Schultz Museum.
9-12 Apr:  Healdsburg, CA.
12-16 Apr:  Elks Lodge, Eureka, CA.
16-20 Apr:  Klamath, CA.
20-22 Apr:  Crescent City, CA.
22-23 Apr:  Cave Junction, OR.
23-27 Apr:  Valley of the Rouge State Park near Grants Pass, OR.
27 Apr-1 May:  Oakridge, OR.  Hang out with Jim and Jeanne Glaspey.
1 May-1 Jul:  Tumalo State Park, Bend, OR.
1 Jul-31 Aug:  Smith Rock State Park, Terrebonne, OR.

 If you live near any of those places and have some time it would be great to see you.

December 16, 2016

 Joyce and I stopped in at the Commercial St. Bar last night for the weekly Thirsty Thursday gathering but the regular “Cackling Hens” took the night off.  Here’s a picture from last week:

The Cackling Hen's and one old fat guy photo bombing.

 Last night was the parks Christmas Party which was a lot of fun.  A lot of great Mexican food was consumed and then we had a White Elephant Christmas gift exchange.  Joyce had found a framed picture here in the park so that was our contribution.

December 17, 2016

 Last night we drove up to Weesatche to have supper at The Corner Cafe and Saloon.  We had been told by several folks that this place served some great steaks.

 We elected to sit in the bar instead of the dinning room just to say we did.  We struck up a conversation with a couple for Yorktown and then I said howdy to an older gentleman sitting by himself.  Pretty soon three other cowboys joined him, one at a time but none of them said much, just a nod and a “how’er y’all”.  It was obvious that they come in the bar regularly since the bartender knew exactly what each of them drank.  The whole time we were there they said very little to each other, just smiling once in a while and nodding their heads when one of them did speak up.  I suspect they were life-long friends who didn’t need a lot of conversation to enjoy each others company.

 The steaks?  Fantastic.  We both ordered the 16oz rib-eye and I have to say it was the second best I have had in Texas.  They were cooked outside on an open pit barbecue, done just right and just seasoned with salt and pepper.

December 18, 2016

 Yesterday we drove up to La Grange, TX for our volunteer gig at the Monument Hill and Kreische Brewery State Historic Sites.  Every December the park staff put out numerous light displays and open the Kreische House for viewing.  We were assigned to be Stroller Valet’s, helping park child strollers when folks went into the house.

 Two very important events happened here during the fight for Texas Independence, the Dawson Massacre and the Black Bean Death Lottery.  The remains of men that died in the area are entombed in a granite crypt that is below the memorial.  You can read more about the park and the Kreische House here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monument_Hill_and_Kreische_Brewery_State_Historic_Sites

I took this picture off of the internet.

  After spending the night at the local Best Western and having lunch we visited the Texas Quilt Museum.  This museum is much smaller than the International Quilt Study Center and Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska but it is impressive.  The curators put up a new exhibit every three months making for a new experience overtime you visit.

December 19, 2016

 The cold front that is moving through the Midwest made it’s way into south Texas last night.  As I am writing this the outside temperature is 29 degrees with a 10 MPH wind.  Last night we took precautions to prevent damage to our house buy disconnecting our water hose and running both of the heat pumps all night.  “Come to Texas they said.  It’s warm in Texas”.  They lied.


 Gotta throw some family pictures in:

Michelle, Abigail and Skyler, December 2016

Travis playing in the snow, New Haven, CT, December 2016

Carol Smith took these pictures at Smith Rock State Park last week.  Beautiful!

More later when we thaw out.

Barry & Joyce

December 11, 2016

Since we are in Texas, here’s another place you might like to visit:

Fredericksburg

 This city is almost smack dab in the middle of the Texas Hill Country in Gillespie County.  Founded in 1846 and named after Prince Frederick of Prussia, Fredericksburg is now the tourist hub in the Hill Country.

 West Main Street (US 290) is lined with shops, restaurants and also the National Museum of the Pacific War featuring the life of Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, the Commander in Chief, United States Pacific Fleet during World War II.

 One notable eateries in Fredericksburg is Hill Top Cafe, owned and operated by grammy-winning blues artist Johnny Nicholas and his wife.

 Another cool place to hang out is at the Fredericksburg Brewing Company.  They have some really great brews and the burgers are amazing.

 Like the Old 97’s said in their song “Stoned”, ‘Take a Greyhound to Fredericksburg’.  You need to get there some way that’s for sure.

 November 27, 2016

 After visiting Shiner and on the way beck to Goliad we decided to stop in Cuero and look around.  Sure glad we did too.

 Cuero in the home of the Pharmacy and Medical Museum of Texas.  How ‘bout that.

 The museum building was built in 1889 and during all that time it has never housed any other business until it was purchased by the city in 2013.  I can’t even begin to tell you about all of the drugs, artifacts and other things on display.  You just have to see it for yourself.

Cuero Courthouse

Sts. Cyril & Methodius Catholic Church

Bank

 This morning we went into town and had lunch at the Hanging Tree Restaurant in Goliad.  They had a nice little buffet set up with turkey, fried catfish, fried chicken and smothered pork chops and all the trimmings.  Yum, yum!

  After eating way too much we drove to the little community of Berclair to visit the Berclair Mansion. This steel strand home, the largest in the United States, was built in 1936 by Etta Terrell.  The reason for the steel framing is because she never forgot seeing her parents home that burned to the ground in 1898.

 Miss Etta built this house at the age of 75 installing the latest in plumbing, heating and electricity.  The home features 10 bedrooms, 4 full and 2-half bathrooms and even an elevator.  It is furnished with beautiful antiques and the several priceless paintings.

 Miss Etta lived in the house with her four sisters.  The last sister, Carlyle Wilkinson, know as Dimple, died in October 1975 at the age of 94.  The mansion was boarded up and unoccupied for over 27 years.
December 2, 2016

 Joyce and I headed downtown last night to the Commercial Street Bar for the weekly Thirsty Thursday gathering.  Several of the ladies in town have been doing this for a long time and Joyce joined right in.  Some of the gals brought in some munchies and later we ordered a pizza.

 December 5, 2016

 On Friday we went to downtown Goliad to watch the annual Christmas Parade.  This little hometown parade is a very big deal in Goliad with participants coming from all over the county.

 Saturday we went back into town to checkout all the booths on the square.  Then Santa Claus came riding in on a Texas Longhorn steer, a tradition here.

"Here comes Santa Claus", Texas style

 Yesterday we made a run down to Corpus Christi to get some shopping done.  As you can imagine everything was very crowded and traffic was very busy.  We finished up the day having supper at Cheddars Scratch Kitchen, one of our favorite restaurant's in Texas.

December 11, 2016

Movin' right along in Texas.

 On Friday we drove up to Waco, TX to attend the Christmas At The Silos event that is hosted by Chip and Joanna Gaines of HGTV’s “Fixer Upper” program.

It was a tad cold!

Joanna's mom.  We can't remember her name.

 After checking into our hotel we drove down to their Magnolia Market for the Christmas concert featuring Shane and Shane.  Joyce and I had never heard of the group but I can tell you that their music is fantastic.

 After getting a good nights sleep at our hotel we went back to down to Magnolia Market to look around at the things we didn’t see the night before.  Of course we had to get some cupcakes and cookies from the bakery.

"Cupcakes are muffins that believed in miracles"

 By the way, if you haven't read Chip and JoJo’s book, “The Magnolia Story” Joyce and I highly recommend it.

Wherever you are, have fun!

Barry & Joyce 

November 27, 2016

November 18, 2016

 Joyce and I are often get asked where in all our travels is the best place we have visited.  That question is always hard to answer since we have seen so much in our nine years of full-time RVing.

 In that light I have decided to add a new feature on our blog highlighting places we have been and where you might want to visit as well.  I may not do this in every issue of the blog but I hope you like the posts when I do.

The Texas Hill Country

 As y’all know Joyce and I have spent a lot of time in Texas.  One of our favorite places in this beautiful state is The Hill Country, a region situated roughly north of San Antonio, west of Austin and centered in Fredericksburg.

 One of the most unique places we have visited in that area is Lukenbach, a small village made famous by the song recorded by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson.

 There are just a few buildings in Lukenbach, one being the General Store and the other a dance hall.  Even though the town is small there is always a lot going on, especially on the weekends.  You can always check out the Picker’s Circle and the many dances they have throughout the year.  In January they have their Annual Blues Festival and the annual Hill Country Run Motorcycle Rally in May.

 The following site has some great pictures of Lukenbach:  https://www.google.com/search?q=luckenbach+texas+photos&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi1sp21wrLQAhUH3YMKHf1dA8kQsAQIHg&biw=1280&bih=698

 “In Lukenbach Texas, ain’t nobody feelin’ no pain”.

November 20, 2016

Goliad, TX

We also took a drive down to Port Aransas.
On the ferry from Aranass Pass to Port Aransas.

 Happy Anniversary to my beautiful wife.  We have been married for 23 years today and after all of this time she is still putting up with me.

 Yesterday we took a drive up to Hallettsville, TX to check out their Market Days.  We both thought that it wasn’t as good as the last time we were there but we did pick up some pickles and candied jalapeños.

Some of the best salsa on the planet!

 Since we didn’t have anything else to do we decided to go to Schulenburg just for the heck of it and we’re very glad we did.

Who knew there was such a place.

 As always, when we visit a new place our first stop is at the the visitor’s center if one is available.  At the one here we learned about a couple of museums in town and something that really intrigued us, the “Painted Church Tour”, a self-guided driving tour though the countryside of Fayette County.

 I don’t have time to tell you about each church on the tour but suffice it to say it is amazing.  However, I do want to relate what we learned at the Catholic church in the small village of Praha.

 During World War II Praha lost nine of the town's young men in a community with only one hundred folks at that time.  This gave Praha the unfortunate distinction of being the U.S. town with largest ratio of war deaths to residents.

There are three of these on the church grounds.

 Read more about the brave young men here:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-moore/in-memoriam-the-boys-of-p_b_10458.html

November 24, 2016

 Yesterday was Joyce’s birthday and even though we had some work to do in the park later in the day we took in a movie in Victoria.  She wanted to see “Allied” but didn’t know the movie would end the way it did.

 Our next stop was at the HEB to get a couple of beautiful rib-eye steaks for Joyce’s birthday supper.  We had a nice evening at home.

November 26, 2016

 The other night at the Commercial Street Bar in Goliad we got word that the Scott Taylor Band will be playing at the TKO’s Bar ’N Grill in Shiner, TX for New Years.  Since we really like the band we decided to drive up check it out and find us a place to park our rig for the night.

 We stopped in and the bartender confirmed that Scott would be there but she had no idea where we could park a 40’ motor home.  So we went to plan two, go to the police department.  No one was in the office but there was a number to call and the officer said he would be right there.

 Officer A. K. “Trey” Hermann III said, “Y’all follow me and I’ll show y’all where to park ‘er”.  We did and it’s only a half block from the bar.  So, on December 31st we’ll head up that way and do some two-steppin’ and maybe have a Shiner Bock or two.  Anyone out there want to join us?

 After that we went over to a restaurant to have lunch and guess who showed up?  Yep, Officer A. K. “Trey” Hermann III and Chris, his ride-along for the day.  We had a good time getting to know them while we ate lunch.

 Later!

Barry & Joyce