Travelog - Day 9, Feb 9

My sister-in-law collects frogs. This one however will have to become part of her photo collection. Even though the pot was surprisingly light, I figure he would have gotten broken during our travels. Best to leave him here. Sorry, Maureen.
If I couldn't buy this sculpture for my older sister, I decided to take a picture for her. He would look absolutely fabulous on her front porch, weighted down with a goodly amount of cement of course since the gusts of wind prevent her from displaying or having anything there.
Can you imagine the music these fellows might make?
I took this picture because from a distance the horn blower appeared to be a supporting column for the roof. As you can see, I was mistaken.

Having extended our stay at the Oak Forest RV park by 3 days, we are now on our way to Fredericksburg, via such places as Oak Hill, Dripping Springs, Johnson City, and the LBJ Nat’l Hist. Park. This should take about 1.5 hours.

We’ve been on the road now for about 15 minutes and Al is turning into a gas station. I’m thinking ‘not more gas again’, but he turns around and shortly pulls into a parking lot full of imported rusted ironworks. How can I have missed it? What a sweetie! I’m all agog! I get out and do a bit of touring amongst the cacti, grackles, and various other garden ornaments & furniture. I resist the urge to purchase ‘my’ grackles as I have visions in my head of crossing the border back into Canada with a ‘forest’ of rusted iron ornaments standing upright and lining the interior of the trailer.

Shortly afterward another wonderful site, only this time I see it too – a pottery with huuuugh urns, vases etc. I wonder if they weigh a ton. I soooooooo want one. I wave and we pass by. Hmm! imports from Mexico maybe. Maybe I should wait, but then ‘s/he who snoozes, looses’ – my husband’s expression not mine.

Just outside Johnson City we encounter a restaurant sign bragging “The world’s best chicken fried steak – almost 3 dozen sold” What a hoot! For a second I am worried that Al will want to stop. The steak he cooked last night (and 2 nights ago) were definitely not memorable due to lack of flavour and tenderness. We’re beginning to get worried about Texas beef.

The weather – how can I NOT ask the person (or persons for that matter) who have caused this cool (notice I don’t use the word ‘cold’) 42F, dreary, drizzly … to stand up and take responsibility. After all, WE are here.

Our first vineyard – Grape Creek. A peach orchard opposite a display of very large granite slabs. Now our first goats grazing in amongst scrub trees. Al does another of his bumpy U-turns and voila I missed yet another wonderful sight – more Mexican pottery & iron sculptures. This time I take photos. If I can’t buy, I can at least take pictures. Following this – Wildflower Farm, more upscale pottery places, also advertising wildflower seed. We don’t stop, and I’m left wondering if we made a mistake. Oh well, there’s always the return trip. This is obviously peach country as more orchards fly by.

Now I’m trying to watch the countryside more than the keyboard as I type. I can correct the typos later, right? Fredericksburg is as advertised – very nice town, fascinating architecture with a strangely ‘western’ frontier main street look. Al visited the National Museum of the Pacific War. Worth visiting for an hour in his opinion. Admission (reduced for retired military personnel) is good for the next day as well. Unfortunately the Admiral Nimitz museum was closed for renovations. I walked the main street with the dogs. I was gladly welcomed by another visitor from Florida who declared that she and her husband were looking for a breeder of flat coats. Needless to say I took her card and said I would be in touch with details about Gypsy’s hoped-for breeding this summer. Flying from Florida was not an issue, nor did she blink at the price. I had no intentions of ‘shopping’ until I came across one particular store, called Garden of Beaden (http://www.shellivandegriftdesigns.com/). I was very impressed with the samples on display, showcasing the creative talents of the store clerks. The store offers 2-evening workshops. Too bad for me.

Next stop is Kerrville which offers two possibilities, the first we take advantage of, the second we don’t. The Alcapulco Mexican restaurant (opposite the largest Home Depot we’ve ever seen) has beautiful tiled floors & tabletops, Mexican blankets (possibly cut in half) hung at the ceiling’s edge in half circles, and good food. Today it’s jalepeno chicken enchilladas for the two of us. Al chooses to take a ‘pass’ on the second attraction – the Cowboy Art Museum. Since I had seen some excellent examples of this genre in Austin, I agree. Too late I decide that we should have taken a drive up to the top of one of the hills to get a closer view of the houses perched on the edges. Sure look mighty big.

We’re now on our way to Comfort, TX via yet another 4-lane divided boulevard (I-10 for those of you consulting the map as we go along). Hill Country is exactly that and surprisingly pretty on this dull day. Lots of scrub containing redwood cedar (?) and what looks like live oak, dirt roads that are a bright sandy colour, not yet green fields, some containing goats.

I stand corrected in my references to sandstone. These stone walls etc. are limestone and absolutely gorgeous colours – peach, crème, and tan. That explains the colour of the ‘dirt’. Comfort is a tiny town of 1500 residents, founded in 1854, no traffic light, and 10 blocks of the main street are lined with pre-1900 buildings. One of them has unfortunately been gutted by fire. What is known as Central Texas style, creamy blocks of limestone cubes sit next to Victorian, which in turn sit next to what I call wild west – false façade front at the roof line disguising a flat roof.

We are now wending our way back to Austin via a 2-lane asphalt, back road which obviously services some pretty large ranches. Serious fencing follows along the road, every once in a while broken by a large gated entrance way. Just when I think the animals must be hiding, a few cattle come into view. Then – WOW! massive, curved stoneworks, maybe 20’ high line the entrance way to … unfortunately no sign. Next comes a ‘quarry’ where the limestone is being ‘harvested’ at ground level. We stop at Sister Creek vineyard where we take the 10 min self-guided tour of the processing operation which is housed in an old cotton gin. The French barrels are declared ‘old’ at around the 5-year mark and can be bought when available for $50. American oak barrels are more ‘aggressive’ (I think the term was) in their flavour.

Following this road is the most interesting so far. Let’s face it, big highways are designed for speed, not interest. Fencing varies beween wooden posts with some wire to 10-12 footers complete with barbed wire. My first ‘real’ watering hole, but no livestock in sight. We cross lots of creeks at the bottom of hills. Ranch entrances are less ornate now; but all seem to have cattle grates. Oops! A rather grand entrance with limestone and inside the gates, a sizeable structure with waterfall. Then a novel solution for entrance pillars for the person in a hurry - limestone rocks in round wire baskets. Must find out what a large number of goats is called. And I’m still none the wiser as to what kind of beast needs 12’ high fencing.

Floods are obviously frequent events. Last creek has a pole entitled flood guage. The land appears so arid. Entrance ways with gates often have small solar-powered panels operating the gates themselves.

We’re now turning north toward Twin Sisters via 281 and our loop will be complete 10 miles south of Johnson City where we will pick up 290 leading back to Austin. I have really enjoyed our little cross-country tour on 473 and would highly recommend it to anyone travelling in this area.

The antiquing business appears alive and well, unlike eastern Ontario where businesses are having a tough go of it. We’ve probably driven past several dozen of them just today.

Well that's it for today.