Texas BBQ, Round Two

It turns out that Lockhart is one of the best BBQ towns in Texas.  So we gave it another try.  We went to Smitty's Market, which is one of the "Big 3" of Lockhart BBQ.

Terry had pork ribs, which are big ribs, not the baby back ribs you get in Illinois.  They were not as tough as the other day, though.  And the flavor was very good.  I had beef brisket and hot sausage.  The brisket was tasty but too fatty.  Which I assumed.  Later an employee told me you can ask for a lean cut.  The sausage was excellent.

You buy the meat at one counter, in bulk.  Lots of the business is by the pound as carry out. They don't even give you a fork, so it's greasy fingers time.  Then in the dining hall room you buy your sides and drinks.

To finish it off, they sell Blue Bell cones for only a buck apiece.  Yum.

Bandera: Bluebonnets, Beer, and Barbeque

We have spent the weekend in the town of Bandera in the Texas Hill Country.  People from states with real hills and mountains probably laugh a little when they get here.  But relative to the populated areas of the state, this is very hilly country.  It's also a major tourist draw, so we decided to find out why.

We don't have any photos to post.  That's a little perplexing but nothing jumped out at us.  And I've been putting off this post because I wasn't sure how to explain things.  So what is this place?  Well, it's a lifestyle destination, I suppose.  Based on cowboys, ranches, and western life.   It's not make believe, but then again it is a little bit.  Like any tourist area, the locals know what people want to see and do.

It's busiest in the spring, when wildflowers cover the roadsides and meadows for miles.  Mostly bluebonnets.  At that time, it's just like leaf peeping in the fall in New England.  The inns and bed and breakfasts are jammed, and so are the roads.

Beyond that is the cowboy thing.  And country music in bars and honky-tonks.  Bandera has two well known ones, Arky Blue's Silver Dollar, and the Eleventh Street Bar.  They are legendary, and authentic as a place can be while still being a tourist draw.  On nice days, motorcycle tourers are parked outside all the bars, eateries, and on main streets of all the small towns.   By far, most of the visitors are from Texas.

The towns are small.  Bandera is 950 people but feels a bit bigger.  There is plenty of space between towns, so there are lots of people living out in the country.   On ranches.  But not the Texas ranch of tens of thousands of acres you might  think of.  No, these are lifestyle ranches.  Ten, twenty, fifty acres.  Country living.  There is a big Wine Trail, especially on the north end near Fredericksburg.  We visited a couple wineries and bought some good vino.

Every town has a little restaurant that has a newspaper clipping declaring it to have the best BBQ in Texas.  Or the country.  Or anywhere.  Terry and I tried a couple, but we just might not be the right stuff.  We didn't care for it; must be an acquired taste.  It's a lot tougher than Chicago style BBQ.  Today we stopped in at the old fashioned soda fountain in the Bandera General Store.  I had a chocolate shake (Blue Bell ice cream of course!  YUM!), and asked the lady to make sure to make it with vanilla ice cream.  She was going to use chocolate.  This is a regional thing that varies around the country, I've noticed.  I plan to personally research this in all 50 states. :)  Anyway it was delicious made my way and I talked the proprietor into tasting it.  She had to admit it was pretty good.  By the time we left, I think I had her talked into adding it to the menu as a specialty and promoting it.  She wanted to name it after me but I hope I prevailed with my idea that a Blondie would be a more catchy name than a Don.

Maybe I shouldn't have messed with tradition.

Good weather continues, around 70 and sunny, and low 30's at night.  Monday we are heading to Lockhart State Park south of Austin.  It's not known for much except for having a golf course.  So I'm going to knock the rust off my golf game for a few days. Thursday we are running into Austin for a big RV show.  I believe we will head for home after that.

Terlingua Ghost Town

Terlingua is an unusual place.  It's known for a ghost town, but it's more than that.  It's a haven for people getting away from it all.  Hippies (the modern variety), doomsday preppers, corporate dropouts, and those who just want to live a very simple life for any other reason.  Sunday I hope to get out to grab some photos of some of the dwellings along the highway.  But first, let's check out the ghost town.   Let's start with some website info:

http://ghosttowntexas.com/
The gathering place is the general store.

The ghost town is not deserted.  Various buildings have been rehabbed as either homes or businesses.
Wikipedia summary of the town

The general store photos show the porch loaded with tourists.  But the two times we've been there, it has been locals hanging out.  Around sunset they get together to drink beer and play guitars.  Yesterday afternoon it was a group of young-twenty-somethings and their dogs.  Fitting into the modern hippie mold I mentioned above.  We were going to eat at the Starlight Restaurant, but after looking at the menu we took a pass.  We were not in that frame of mind, so we headed out down the dark road to the Long Draw for some good pizza.

There is quite a little music scene here too.  Last night a good act was playing at the Starlight, the other night the Long Draw was the place to be, and so on.

Our first day, we did wander around the ghost town a bit.  We snapped a photo or two; here is the best of the lot:

We had lunch in the ghost town at a little place called La Posada Milagro.  Terry had their chili, and I had a breakfast plate.  Plus homemade deserts.  It was all DELICIOUS.

Great day in Ft. Davis TX

Yesterday was another great day.

You've probably noticed I seemed obsessed with writing about internet connectivity.  Well, yes.  It's just that we take it for granted.  We have a phone and iPad which have 3G and 4G/LTE cellular data capability, respectively.   And they have wifi too, of course.  As do our two ebook readers and my laptop.  Plus, if the iPad gets a Verizon data signal, it can be turned into a wifi hotspot to feed the other devices.  Or, my phone can receive a Verizon signal, and be tethered to my laptop, getting the laptop onto the net.  Or, if the laptop can pick up a wifi connection, it (laptop) can be turned into a wifi hotspot for the other things.

You following all that?  LOL.  On this trip so far we have had to do each of the above!  Right now, the laptop can connect to the park's wifi signal, but the iPad and other gizmos can't find it.  Meaning the laptop has better wifi hardware, I suppose.  So ANYWAY, I turned the laptop into a hotspot and now Terry can use her iPad too.  When it comes to paying bills, filing, and such, Terry is a control freak.  No doubt about it.  If you look up backups for backups, Terry's picture is there.  If she can't keep an eye on our electronic bill paying, she gets very nervous.  When her hands start to quiver, I figure I better find a way to get connected.
:-)

When we came into the park the first time to browse for a site, we had the iPad turned on and kept checking to see if there was wifi and/or Verizon.  We found a nice site right up the hill from and overlooking a park interpretive center building.  And the building has public wifi.  So with the laptop connected, and turned into a network, Terry is hammering away at her bill monitoring and paying passion.  Let's not even talk about her problems with her email on the iPad.  Suffice to say we had to make an emergency run for ice cream yesterday:

Texans like to brag about Blue Bell ice cream.  Let me tell you, it's all true.  This soda fountain is in an old hotel on the main street of Ft. Davis.  The town has a very nice authentic main street.  Not a re-creation of something from the 1800's, but a legitimately-preserved old resort/tourist feel.  In the local paper we read they are up in arms about Family Dollar wanting to come to town.  I can see why it would be a concern.

What about the Davis Mountains, you ask?  Well, let's check out the photos from our campground:

We are camped at right about a mile high in elevation.  The first day I felt a little off, which I think was altitude sickness.  We have both noticed more aches and pains, which I assume are also due to altitude?

Last night we drove 13 miles up the mountain to the McDonald Observatory for a star gazing event.  Our great luck with weather kept on.  It was virtually cloudless, and moon-less.  You probably couldn't ask for a better view of the sky.  They gave a presentation using a very cool laser light (like a flashlight) that looked like it was pointing to infinity.  The speaker used it to outline the constellations and gave a bit of the Greek mythology attributed to them.  He readily admitted that you had to stretch your imagination a lot to actually see the figures ascribed to the star groups.

At the end, we lined up to view 5 different fixed telescopes, looking at the remains of a supernova, at Jupiter, and, oh, I can't remember, a bunch of stars.  :)  We both enjoyed it but sort of felt once is enough, we wouldn't need to go to another observatory and do the same thing again.  Heck, even at our campground, the night sky is spectacular.  The Milky Way is so obvious to see, it's like cheating.  As the song says,

The stars at night

Are big and bright

Deep in the heart

of Texas

Whew, that's enough for one report.   I have some photos of critters to put up, but they can wait till morning.

An old favorite

Guess what they had in the store at the Goldfield Mine?  You have to be at least 40-something, I suppose, to remember this.  We bought two.  I love the stuff.

Thought we'd throw in a campsite photo tonight.  This is still at the Arizonian.  We are still speaking to each other, believe it or not.

The dog had a bad day or so with her arthritic front leg.   But after a couple of days of doggie anti-imflammatory medicine and some rest, she's pretty good now.

We are leaving tomorrow, headed down to Tucson.  That begins the turn back towards home.  Terry is doing something unique tomorrow before we leave.  Stay tuned for the report.

Super Bowl Sunday

Homemade from scratch pizza, anyone?  This is roughing it!
I don't know about anyone else, but I base my beer purchases on which one has the best advertising.

Great cheese

On Saturday Nov 12 we left Topsail in the general direction of home.  We were unsure whether or not to milk another couple of days along the Gulf somewhere, or just turn north.  But one thing we wanted to do was visit a mom and pop cheese producer we had read about.  It's a few miles west of Pensacola, in Elberta, Alabama.  Farming country.  Just a small dairy farm where they make and sell their own cheese, open on Fridays and Saturdays only.

I wonder if we could make a camper out of their old delivery truck:

We bought three good cheeses, a bag of pecans, and some other goodies.  Then we sat for a few minutes to decide whether it was time to turn for home or not.

Nov 10-12: Topsail Hill Preserve State Park

Ridiculously, we took no photos of this very nice place.  Well, just this cellphone photo of the dog enjoying being outside.

That's a typical campsite.  It's a highly-regarded park and was full on the weekend.  We had fairly chilly weather here, so we never bothered to take the tram to the beach.  One day we spent pretty much inside the trailer. Another day, we went into Destin and Ft. Walton Beach to look at RVs and buy a couple of items for the trailer.  Destin was too frantic for us, traffic-wise.  I don't mean we could not handle it.  Just that when you're on vacation, you don't need that.

Oh, the highlight of the trip was our first ever visit to one of these. (A realtor's photo of a typical one:)

Anyone from the south, go ahead and laugh at us, we deserve it.  :)
Those of us from the north, you know you've seen Waffle Houses "down south", but maybe like us you've never been to one.  Driving from one end of Destin to the other end of Ft. Walton Beach, there are no fewer than FIVE Waffle House restaurants on US 98.  So one morning we left the campground and drove to the closest one.  Breakfast was just fine, thank you. We decided it is a small version of Denny's, but with better service.   Two thumbs up.

Nov 4: Nashville to Falling Waters SP, Florida

Today's route is I-65 from Nashville to Montgomery, then US-231 down to FL.  It was a beautiful day, and a good drive.  I'm starting to get used to towing the little house behind me.  Actually, it tows great.  I can literally drive with one finger on the wheel, if I cared to.


We didn't know what to expect in Alabama.  Terry's never been there, and I was only there once, as a kid. That would have been 1967 or 1968.  We had stopped to visit one of Dad's air force buddies.  We stayed in the Jefferson Davis Hotel in downtown Montgomery, across from the bus station.    Dad was distressed by the people boarding buses to go to DC to protest.  That is my main memory of Alabama.


Anyway, Alabama looked a lot like Tennessee, until we got onto 231. Down there, in the south, it is farming and ranching country.  Not too fertile by the looks of things. Cotton, cows, and peanuts.  


Have you ever eaten boiled peanuts?  It's a local, um, delicacy.  If you haven't tried them, you will probably be surprised.  They are sold in roadside shacks, and I do mean shacks.  We stopped in at an actual store, the Bama Nut Shop in Brundidge, AL.  We sampled the boiled peanuts, but they were not for us.  Maybe if we had been able to try them hot.  Did buy some peanut brittle, taffy, jam, and a small pecan log.  I remember Stuckey's used to be famous for pecan logs, and we did not know what they were.  So I've had one, and eh, it's okay.  Maybe Stuckey's were better. Here's a photo of the place I found on the web

As we passed through Dothan, they were gearing up for the National Peanut Festival.  Judging by the traffic control setup, it is officially a Big Deal.  http://www.nationalpeanutfestival.com/

On the way to Dothan, we kept seeing mysterious signs saying ToadLick 3-22-2012.  Turns out it's a big music festival. http://toadlick.com/.  Apparently they know how to party in Dothan, Alabama.  Sounds pretty cool. You might be a redneck, if....


The surroundings seem to get poorer the closer we got to our destination.  Shacks, old mobile homes, old vehicles.  The Florida/Alabama border country is definitely not prosperous.  OK, we're burnin' daylight, pilgrim.  Time to get to our state park before sunset.  We find it just fine, meandering through the back roads near Chipley, FL, using Google Navigation on my smartphone.  Although, as usual, we later realize there is a better way using bigger roads at the cost of an extra mile or so.  Google Nav is very frustrating like that.  Oh well, we are here.  Let the vacation commence!

Nov 3: Florida Panhandle RV journey begins, to Nashville

We figured two fairly long days to get to Falling Waters State Park in Florida.  It's about due south of Dothan, AL.  Google Maps suggested route was to go down to Champaign, IL, take I-74 east, then IL-1 down till crossing over to Vincennes, IN.  Then US-41 to the KY Pennyrile Parkway, to I-24, to Nashville.

We just took I-74 across to Indiana, then IN-63/US-41 down to Kentucky. I like driving on the "yellow" roads, the secondary four lane highways.  We only go about 62 MPH, give or take, because the fuel economy goes down a lot as speed goes up.  With diesel fuel nearly $4 a gallon, and 10 MPG, it adds up.  Anyway, the routing was pretty good.  It was a slog getting through Terre Haute and Evansville, though.

As a side note, our 70 lb dog has some arthritis, and can't just bolt up and down from the pickup truck cab like she used to.  We have to carry a ramp for her.  And you can't just lay the ramp in the truck bed, because when towing a fifth wheel trailer, the wind in the truck bed is just crazy.  Anything you can lift is too light to lay loose in the bed.  I mounted a truck tool chest up near the front, with an inch or so slack at the front of the bed.  We slide the ramp into that slack area, and it stays put. We also have a ramp for the trailer, as shown in the photo.  (Taken elsewhere.)

Back to our story, the Pennyrile Parkway was excellent.  One of those non-interstate four lanes where you have the road to yourself.  Peaceful driving and nice scenery.  Then I-24 down to Nashville.   It was a 440 mile day, which with the towing is about the max we care to do.  We had read that Camping World, an RV store chain, allows overnight stops.   And there was a CW right off the interstate at the Grand Ole Opry area.  But instead we chickened out and stayed at the KOA a few hundred yards away.  

Very nice place, and right next door to a well-known fried chicken and catfish place. Terry loves catfish, so I hiked over there and bought us a mess of fried stuff.  Ask Terry about the fried pickles.