Buckhorn Lake RV Resort, Kerrville, Texas

Hi everyone. Roger here....

We are in Mission, Texas now on the Rio Grande River, but we still have a couple of posts to do from our time in the Texas Hill Country. We were so busy doing things that we did not have much time to write the blogs. (Dianne here: I'll be chiming in on this one, too, so the blue comments will be mine. We are posting two posts today in order to get caught up. Be sure to scroll down after reading this one to read about our fun day in Llano and the meal we had at the famous Cooper's BBQ restaurant there).

Today's blog is about the Buckhorn Lake Resort in Kerrville,

TX and - our home for nine nights, including Christmas and New Year's Eve. The resort was one of the nicest -- maybe the nicest -- private RV parks that we have stayed in.

Our first views were of a working windmill,

and a red barn (activity center) with a green John Deere Tractor in front, seemed like we were back home in Indiana. When we checked in at the yellow,

upscale, general store we discovered that we could arrange to have the RV washed and waxed, for a price, which we did.

(Dianne here -- doesn't the RV look great??)

The RV appreciated the washing away of three months' worth of Kansas dust, and the Indiana dust under that. We also signed up for a propane delivery directly to the site. Nothing but hassle-free convenience here.

When we parked at our pull-in site, we were very happy with the great view out the front windshield. Our concrete pad and patio was located above a small river (crystal clear water). Across the river our view was of a waterfall that tumbled into the river and a bridge that led to upscale RV homes.

Buckhorn Lake has wonderful facilities that included two pools, two spas, and an exercise center. There is also a cool outdoor

entertainment area that they use for outdoor happy hours and meet-and-greets, weather permitting. There were lots of other scheduled activities, as well. Dianne took advantage of aerobics with the ladies three times per week.

Our daily, three-mile walks to the end of Goat Creek

Road that we already blogged about were beautiful.

We passed cattle -- which Chaplin especially enjoyed --

horses, ranch entrances, small streams, and lots of cactus.

(Dianne again: Check out the barbed-wire wreath, complete with cowboy boots which hung at the entrance to one of the ranches on our walking route.)

On our last walk we spent about fifteen minutes talking to a friendly resident (everyone in this area is friendly) about our dogs and about his dogs (an intimidating bull mastiff and a rottweiler). He explained how he had rescued his dogs.

They were beautiful dogs, but we were very happy they were behind the fence. If they had gotten loose, our dogs would have been lunch.

New Year's Eve was our last night at Buckhorn Lake. We attended the gala New Year's Eve party in the red barn and sat with our new friends, Gene and Kathi (from Georgia),

and Spike and Linda (from Florida). (Dianne again: We had met Gene and Kathi on our bus tour of the Christmas lights in Johnson City. Kathi was also a "regular" at the aerobics workouts. They introduced us to Spike and Linda, and the six of us enjoyed a fun New Year's Eve, as you can tell from our happy faces!)

We had a great meal: stuffed cornish game hen, long-grain & wild rice, broccoli, and a most decadent chocolate dessert - unbelievably rich. (Linda remarked that the dessert had so much chocolate in it, it would probably keep her awake. She must be wired like I am, because the dessert DID, in fact, keep ME awake most of the night!)

There was a live band. Lots of people danced. The evening ended with an impressive fireworks

display. (Spike and Linda had recently come to this resort from the one we are headed to in Mission, TX. We got really excited about our winter stay there after talking with them about their visit. It's fun to compare notes with people sharing this lifestyle; we always come away with more places to go and things to do.)

It was a great end to our time in what is now one of our very favorite places!

Llano, Texas, Willow City Loop & Cooper's BBQ

Hi all -- Dianne here. This will be a short blog, but we wanted to share our fun day driving to Llano, Texas to eat at Cooper's BBQ and the scenic drive home on the Willow City Loop. (Roger here.... On the way to Cooper's we drove through the center of downtown Llano. The building in the picture is the county courthouse. What a neat looking building!)

Our Amazon friends, Rob & Tanya, had given us lots of good ideas of things to do in the Texas Hill Country. One of those was to eat at famous Cooper's BBQ in Llano, and to drive the Willow City Loop.

Cooper's was a very unique, "Texas" experience! Roger and I must have looked like aliens from another planet, because it took us a while to "get with the program" and figure out the routine at Cooper's!

First, you line up outside in front of the outdoor pits. Then you tell the pit master (or whatever he's called) which meats you want. There was chicken, HUGE pork chops, sirloin, brisket, sausages, ribs -- almost anything you could imagine! Roger chose brisket and I chose sirloin. Most folks chose a MUCH LARGER variety and quantity of meat. After they hand you your meat selections wrapped in butcher paper, you go inside and hand them over to the "weigh master" (or whatever HE's called), who weighs your choices and marks the price on them. Then you pick from a deli case of prepackaged cole slaw, or potato salad. There is also a dessert section of mouth-watering selections such as peach and blackberry cobbler. They looked really delicious, but I summoned up all my willpower and let them be.

After you put all that on your tray and pay for it, you go all the way to the back of the room to get your silverware, some Texas beans, and a saucer of famous Cooper's BBQ sauce to dip your meats in. The tables are long picnic-type affairs, so you just find an empty spot, sit down, and dig in! There were large jugs of pickles on the tables, loaves of white bread, and condiments. They give you waxed paper sheets to place on the table to put your food on (no plates!).

It was all very confusing to this Indiana girl, but I finally got the hang of it and boy, was it ever good!! They say this is George W. Bush's favorite BBQ restaurant, and it's listed as one of the top things you must do while in Texas. I'm really glad we did! Thanks again, Rob!!

We drove home via the Willow City Loop, which is a country

road through private properties and roaming cattle. There were lovely hills and outcroppings, sparkling streams, and it was really, really a pretty drive, even in December. I can only imagine how it is in the spring, because it is well known for its abundant wildflower displays, especially Texas bluebonnets.

Roger again... Our last stop before heading back to the motor home was at an abandoned railroad tunnel that has been turned into a wildlife preserve. Guess why? It is the home to millions of Mexican Short-Tailed Bats.

At twilight the bats all fly out of the tunnel to feast on the local mosquitoes. Since it was nearing twilight, Dianne and I walked down a trail to the tunnel entrance, searching for the flying mammals. My last memory of Dianne and a bat was when one woke us up while flying around the bedroom of our former home in Indiana

in the middle of the night. Dianne thought it was a bird. When I told her it was a bat, she dove under the covers and refused to come out until I assured her it was gone. It was very brave of her to make the trek to the tunnel considering she did not have a blanket to hide under. Back to the hike... there were several benches along the trail for viewing the spectacle. Unfortunately (or fortunately if you view bats as Dianne does), the residents of the cave were vacationing for the winter in Mexico. They won't be returning until March. We'll have to come back.

Fredericksburg, Texas

Roger here..... Still in the Texas Hill country!

We have driven through Fredericksburg several times during our recent exploits. On Monday we parked the car and spent the afternoon in this scenic town that is full of German Heritage. The town, named after Prince Frederick of Prussia, was founded in 1845. The town is about ten blocks in length and full of restaurants, shops, museums, parks, and music. We parked at one end and walked all the way down one side of the street before crossing and walking back on the other side.

Our first stop was at the Fredericksburg Coffee and Tea shop, where Dianne bought several six-cup packages of coffee. The lady at the counter recommended Texas Pecan coffee (everything here is Texas-something), so we were sure to get some of that. (Dianne here: Because of our new lifestyle in small quarters, our souvineers now tend to be either wearable (T-shirts) or consumable (wine or coffee).

Lunchtime was approaching and we were kind of hungry. We intended to eat at Hondo's (the door with the prickly pear cactus

Christmas tree), but it was closed on Mondays, despite the "open" sign. As we wandered on down the street we passed the public Markplatz (marketplace), a large park that included a twenty-six-foot-tall Christmas pyramid

that was handcrafted in Germany specifically for Fredericksburg. Dianne is standing in front of the tower, to help illustrate the size. In the far background, not visible, a public ice-skating rink was set up for the holidays.

We checked out several crowded German restaurants and finally opted to eat at the less-crowded Rathskeller, a small stone place located below street-level.

The reuben sandwich I had was delicious. The homemade

peach bread pudding with caramel sauce dessert that Dianne and I shared may be the best non-ice-cream dessert I have had in years, if ever. (Dianne here: I assumed the peach dessert would be good, because this area is known for its delicious peaches in the summer. There are peach stands everywhere, but of course they are all closed for the winter.)

On down the street, people were enjoying Texas-style food outside while a cowboy played his guitar and sang - the same cowboy that we heard at the Grape Creek Winery last Saturday! He obviously gets around.

Our longest, and most interesting, stop was at the Admiral Nimitz/National Museum of the Pacific War. Chester Nimitz grew up in Fredericksburg. His grandfather operated the four-story hotel

in the picture that now houses the Nimitz portion of the museum. At the rear exit, a huge propeller

from the Aircraft Carrier Essex dominated an interesting walk through memorial-ladened gardens, including a Peace Garden

donated by Japan. The outside walk led to the extensive Pacific War exhibits that were housed in the recently expanded H.W. Bush Gallery.

We spent a couple of hours wandering through the fascinating displays (many interactive), artifacts, and memorabilia. We could have spent days. Because the exhibits were backlit and in darkened areas, we only took one photo - that of an excerpt regarding the recapture of Guam,

where Dianne's father, a Marine, was awarded a Purple Heart and Silver Star. (My dad was stationed in the Philippines, where he built bridges with the Army Corps of Engineers).

If you want to read the print in the photos, click on them and they will enlarge.

(Dianne again: My dad told some harrowing stories about the Battle of Guam, especially landing on the beach amid machine-gun fire and losing friends who were running right alongside him. He was just a kid when he fought there, 18 years old. Like many other teen-agers, he enlisted right after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

He lay outside all night, severely injured, before it was safe for him to be carried out, then spent a year recovering in various hospitals. He came very close to not surviving that battle, which of course would have meant I would not be here right now writing this blog. Whether or not you have a family member who fought in the Pacific Theater during World War II, this museum is very well done and well worth the visit.)

After the museum tour, we crossed the wide, wide, wide street (wide enough for cattle drives) and started our trip back to the car. We hesitated in front of the Auslander restaurant to listen to the country music that escaped onto the sidewalk - too early for dinner, or we would have gone in.

I love architecture, so it was easy for me to enjoy the unique limestone buildings

as we sauntered down the street. The photo of the mansion-like building is actually the town library.

We made a short stop at the Fredericksburg Winery right on Main Street, where we tasted and purchsed two bottles of wine, including a bottle of white "Vintner's Cuvee" to share with our friends Chuck and Cindy when we see them in March. Dianne also bought a Save Texas Water, Drink Texas Wine t-shirt, that features the Texas flag that she likes so much. Then, on to the car and back to the boys in the motor home.

Check back soon, because we are really in the "tourist mode" this week, and have lots to share about this area.

Luckenbach, Texas + "Texasisms" We've Learned

Hi all, Dianne here --

Keep reading to learn about our visit to Luckenbach, Texas, and remember that some photos are better if you click on them for a larger view.

(Roger here... The sun is so bright here that when you do go into the shade, the shaded areas are very dark. It is a neat effect, but Dianne's suggestion to click on the pictures to make them larger brings out more of the details.)

But first, I want to share some "Texasisms" that Roger and I have learned during our brief time in Texas. Keep in mind, neither one of us had spent any time at all in the state of Texas before, other than one night in Amarillo ten years ago and a day trip to San Antonio for an Alamo Bowl football game. We are seeing this very-friendly state through "new" eyes.

Roger here... Every place we have visited in the motor home seems to have its own distinct culture. None of the places exhibit that culture more than the locales we have visited in Texas, where everything is bigger than life, and the very friendly and outgoing people demonstrate extreme pride in their state. Livin' the Good Life in Texas is an ongoing theme that makes this place special.

The first inkling I had of a "Texasism" occurred while we were still in Oklahoma, driving toward Texas. I kept seeing Hummer after Hummer with Texas license plates; we decided it must be the state car of Texas! (Jeeps take a close second place.)

As soon as we crossed the state line we learned another "Texasism": There are more Texas flags

waving in this state than U.S. flags! While in Indiana it is rare to see a state flag other than in a school or state building, here they are everywhere. And when you DO see a U.S. flag, chances are it will be paired with a Texas flag. I don't really blame them for this; after all, it is a really nice-looking flag! The pride Texans have in their state is obvious at every turn.

A third

"Texasism" concerns the lawn ornaments here. Many ranch entrances seem to have them. No little gnomes or angels to be found. Instead, there are huge, at-least-life-size statues of bison, horses, and all things western. We didn't have our camera at the ready to catch them in the entrances of the ranches and houses we passed, but we did get a good shot of a life-size horse at a place that sells them. It's true that everything is bigger in Texas.

There are two "Texasisms" that we learned about the highway system here: First, if there is a road paralleling the interstate highway, the cowboys here think nothing of gunning their pickup trucks across the grass to enter the interstate without the bother of an entrance ramp! (We saw this happen at least eight times in a two-day stretch. It is really not as dangerous as it seems, due to the fact that you can always see a trail of dust heading toward the highway in your peripheral vision. One time, there was not even a frontage road, the pick-up came straight out of a field!) The first time I saw this happen it kind of freaked me out; later, as we drove farther into the state, there were actually paved "mini-ramps" onto the interstate highway from the local roads. Not only that, but there are paved "mini-ramps" EXITING the interstate directly onto the local, parallel roads. There are even signs on the local roads warning motorists to yield to any exiting interstate traffic. That's a good thing, as there is no merge lane; you exit right into the traffic lanes!

Another quirky Texas highway custom is the fact that on some state roads the shoulder

is used just as if it were a traffic lane. If traffic builds up behind you on a two-lane road, you simply move onto the shoulder (not even slowing down) and let those behind you go past. This was convenient for us while driving the motor home. Those passing by always give a friendly Texas thank-you wave, too. This even happened in the Matrix after we'd been tailgated for a time. (I was only going 70 mph on the 70 mph road.) We moved over to let the tailgater pass, and they also gave us a friendly Texas thank-you wave. (All five fingers; imagine that!) I managed to get a shot of this custom in use while we were out driving on Texas highway 16.

Note the white car on the right. They are NOT in a traffic lane; they are driving on the wide shoulder of highway 16. Even the road shoulders are bigger in Texas!

We've been looking for a car wash for our dirty Matrix. We finally stopped trying to find them at the gas stations; car washes seem to be a stand-alone business here.

We also enjoy the no-litter signs in this state. They are indicative of the attitude and Texas pride shown everywhere.

Now for our afternoon in Luckenbach. My Amazon Workamper friends, Jose & Jill, told us to be sure to check out Luckenbach if there was anything going on. Our Texas A&M friends from the winery the other day suggested the same thing. Rob, another Amazon friend, who gave us several suggestions of things to do in Texas said that a visit to Luckenbach was a MUST, so off we went.

Luckenbach, Texas (population 3) consists of an abandoned

post office, a dance hall, an outdoor stage with seating, a concession stand with bottles of beer in tubs of ice, and a food stand and small

souvenir shop.

The town was purchased in the 1970s and turned into a music mecca for the likes of Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kenny Chesney. It was made famous by a song whose lyrics go like this:

"Let's go to Luckenbach, Texas

with Waylon and Willie and the boys...

Out in Luckenbach, Texas

ain't nobody feelin' no pain...."

It's out in the middle of nowhere, and not even that easy to find. People DO find it, though, and the day we were there, there was a live band rockin' the place. They were great! I'm not much of a country music fan, so I was happy to see that the band this day was more rock-oriented. They did a rousing rendition of "Bobby McGee" that Janis would have been proud of!

Roger and I purchased ice-cold bottles of

Shiner (Texas beer) and chili dogs and enjoyed the show.

When we first walked into town, we noticed a cowboy with a longhorn steer who was hawking photos to the visitors. I walked swiftly right on by, but after some atmosphere and beer, Roger talked me into having my photo taken on the steer. (I was shocked that I actually convinced Dianne to do this. I find that subtle persistence does pay off from time to time.) First we went back to the car to fetch our cowboy hats that we'd purchased in South Dakota. The longhorn steer was huge. The cowboy seemed to enjoy himself as he helped boost Dianne all the way up into the saddle. He told her that he would have to charge extra if he had to shove on her butt to get her up there.

When we paid the cowboy for his help, he asked where we were from. When we told him Indianapolis, he joked, "That's just a little north of 'Amarilla,' ain't it?" I answered, "Yep, a fer piece north of "Amarilla!"

What I wish we'd gotten a photo of was the cowboy riding the steer, trotting like a horse, back to its trailer for break time.

While stowing books at Amazon last month, I came across an old James Michener book, "Texas." Right then and there I ordered a copy, and I'm about a third of the way through it. It's really helping me learn about Texas history and have a new understanding of this place. And, just like everything else in Texas, the book is huge - 1,096 small-print pages!

That's a benefit of our new lifestyle; we can really immerse ourselves in a place, spending more than just a week on vacation. By the time we leave Texas March 1, we should feel like Texans, too!