One of my favorite pictures of our travels through the Texas Hill country. A Bewick's Wren in the warm summer rain.

A lot has happened in the weeks I haven't blogged and it has taken a while to recall when was what and which pictures are from where but I finally got some of it sorted out, so here we go!

On Friday the 20th of July we hooked up the RV for a 10 day trip to see a little more of Texas and to get me to Houston, from where I would fly to Holland for a month long visit with my family.

After picking up some groceries in Alpine we didn't have very far to go to our destination of that day, Fort Stockton, where we arrived somewhere around 2pm. 

We'd booked a spot in advance at the Overland Trail campground and were given an easy drive-through just next to the office.

The main reason for visiting this area was to attend a Star Party at the McDonald Observatory, home to the famous Hobby Telescope (designed and constructed with a unique objective: to gather a very large amount of light, specifically for spectroscopy, at extremely low cost).

The reason the Ft. Davis Mountains were chosen to build the Observatory is that these mountains are home to the darkest skies of any place in America.

               

The 39 mile drive up to to the observatory is very scenic (read: steep and windy)!

They have several programs day and night offering "a wonderful opportunity to view the stars and ask astronomers questions first hand". 

We first attended the 'Twilight Talk' at 8.15 and enjoyed the expert and very entertaining lecture about the constellations and various bright objects in the sky. 

Unfortunately we had chosen one of the very few days that it was completely overcast so when it was time for the second part of the program we'd signed up for, the 'Star Party', to begin at 9.45, there wasn't a star or constellation to be seen!

We were graciously offered a 'rain check' to come back any time but we were rather bummed! Oh well.....

Next day we took the I-10 to Sonora for a visit to it's Caverns. 
They have their own small, but nice, campground which makes it a comfortable place to stay overnight and attend one of the tours.

The cave is 71 degrees with a 98% humidity level which makes it feel about 85 degrees, no jackets or sweaters are necessary! 
The guided walking tour takes about an hour and a half and is well worth it. The cave is (only) explored for about 8 miles and you walk about 3 of it.




In 1966 this cavern was designated as a National Natural Landmark by the United States Department of the Interior, and is one of the most active caves in the world with over 95% of its formations still “growing”. 

It's beautiful formations go on and on, there's no end to it!


                          

Outside/above on the premises they have a large gift shop and a menagerie of all sorts of animals. I really liked these purple martin 'apartments' they'd put up:

Being awoken early by the peacocks (man, do they scream) and

guineas we were soon on our way to Canyon Lake, after making a small detour to drive the scenic loop through the hills around Kerrville and Boerne.

We'd made reservations for a couple of days at the Lake Point RV Resort, a nice campground smack in the middle of the 'Hill Country' of Texas.

This campground caters mainly towards full-time 'members', most of which are boaters or fishermen.
We'd become Passport American members just before we left and because of that this campground cost us only $15 (half price) a night. It's a little 'tired' around the edges, I would say, and needs some tender love and care but for that price it's OK.



It has 2 pools, which, after a hot day exploring the hills of this Hill Country', are very nice to come home too!
The campground is often visited by a large herd of (wild) deer which are friendly enough to feed close by and some even take treats out of your hand.

 

I was having a ball discovering all the different birds that hang out in this area, among which was my very first cardinal!

What a vivid red! And what a beautiful song!

The one on the right is the beautiful Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, also known as the Texas bird-of-paradise or swallow-tailed flycatcher. What a gorgeous and elegant bird, but also a pretty feisty one when defending it's nest!

              

                A scissor tailed flycatcher feeding it's young!

The fella below is a Texas Spiny Lizard. The male has a peculiar habit when challenged by another male for its territory. The two will have a push up contest, or so it seems. Both males will begin doing push ups until one of them gives up and runs away.

But of course we did something else beside bird watching too.
We were very lucky to hit some unusual cloudy days and cooler weather, normally it's very hot and humid in July.
Just what we had wished for, perfect sight-seeing weather!
So that is what we did.

Not surprisingly, the Hill Country is rather hilly, with lush rolling green fields and lots of smaller and bigger rivers and lakes.

Early settlers here were predominately Germans, in fact a lot of people still speak the language and a lot of towns and cities bear German names.
One of the quaintest little villages is Gruene, now a district within the city limits of Braunfels, on the Guadalupe River.

It has a lot of cute shops with antiques, clothing, and all sorts of nicknack's, a good bakery and pickle shop and a main street with beautiful old houses lined with huge, huge oak trees!

 

We also visited Fredericksburg, but apart from the very German looking 'Ausslander Biergarten' (that turned out to be closed that day ;-( ) it was really nothing but a busy, noisy street with lots of traffic, lined with super touristy souvenir shops. A real tourist trap and other than having some good sausages for lunch at a German restaurant we quickly moved on!

James had his mind set on getting some peach pie that the area is famous for in summer so we picked up a cobbler at 'das peachhaus'. Unfortunately it was rather disappointing. I make a better one if I say so ;-).

Some shots of Gruene. The one at the bottom right is a famous dance hall "the oldest continually run dance hall in Texas".  Every famous musician there ever was and even some not as famous have played here.
No AC but huge fans and a potbelly stove for winter, original (warped) wooden floors, long tables to sit at and lots of room for two-steppin'!

Next day we visited San Antonio. We'd planned for a visit a little later in the afternoon and first went to see the famous Alamo.




We've all seen the movies and heard the cries (remember the Alamo) so a visiting this historic mission that once served as the fort for a fight that would become the decisive battle in Texas liberty is imperative.
Smaller than I'd thought but (free) great displays, lovely grounds and a very good 45 min. movie tells the story of great courage and strong beliefs as well as the tragedy and reality of war.
Impressive. We'll remember ...

Next on the program was a walk along the River Walk, also known as 'Paseo del Rio', a network of walkways along the banks of the San Antonio River, one story beneath the streets of downtown.

It winds and loops under bridges as two parallel sidewalks lined with restaurants and shops.

It's the perfect place, especially towards the end of the day, to have

something to drink and eat and do some 'people watching', hence the reason we went into town a little later.

             

We spent a day 'while we were in the area' visiting the 'Texas White House' or the LBJ Ranch House, home of President Johnson and his wife 'Ladybird', in Stonewall (near Johnson City).  

                                                               

                                   

This ranch was where President Johnson was born, lived, died and buried. After his death in 1973, Mrs Johnson continued to live at the Ranch part time until her death in 2007.

Visitors are now able to tour the Ranch after obtaining a driving permit at the LBJ State Park and Historic Visitor Center, with the ability to stop at sites along the way such as the President's birthplace, the family cemetery and the (working) cattle farm.

                 

We also took the guided tour (by a ranger)of the ranch house. The whole house is set up as it was during the years of his presidency, including his office, living quarters for the secret service, lots of cars and his jet.
It was an interesting glimpse in a difficult time gone by and in the life of one of the 20th century's most colorful characters.




                       
Right next door to the LBJ Ranch is the Sauer-Beckmann living History Farm which recreates rural farm life from 1900-1918.  It is an actual, working farm, where the park docents wear period clothing, and work it….milking the cows, canning the beans, or working in the gardens. 

Visitors can walk along the farm, interacting with the docents and farm animals.  The employees love to show you their daily chores and talk about what life was like “back then”. Each day, a docent slaves over a hot stove to create food of the time period for visitors to get a good perspective of how it was done.

They had a good looking meat loaf in the oven while we were there but unfortunately it wasn't done yet.

                            

Now, if you're still with me, this is where this story gets an interesting, and rather unfortunate, twist!

We knew already for a while that one of the truck's injectors was having problems, which showed itself in less power (especially uphill) and leaving behind grey smoke, especially when idling or pulling up.

We'd planned to take care of the problem over the winter since it is a costly repair so we were saving up for it.

But when we left canyon Lake after 3 days to continue our trip the truck decided it had enough and blew not one but, what was later revealed, two injectors, completely! The result; a loud pop, lots and lots of black smoke and almost a total loss of power!

To make a long story short we managed to crawl to a nearby mobile home park, unhooked the RV, rented a car and inched our way to Rush medium Truck Repair Center, that by some miracle was only about 10 miles away!

                                          

 

                                  

The injectors

But you know how that goes, the guy who does the electric stuff, and would have to hook the truck up to a computer for diagnostics, was on vacation and would not be back until Tuesday (this was on a Friday) so there was nothing we could do but leave the truck there and wait.

Fortunately we had ended up just outside of San Antonio so there would be no problem getting me to Houston on Tuesday morning (using the rental car), but we quickly realized the rest of our trip was hereby canceled. 
So much for all our 'well laid plans' ....!

After some brainstorming we decided to at least make the best of the days we had left, so the next day we drove to the coast, as had been our plan, and spent a day exploring around Corpus Christi, Rockport and Port Aransas/Mustang Island.

It was a rather cloudy, muggy but warm day and with an overall haze, not the best for pictures as you can see. We really started to feel the humidity here, quite different from the dry heat in Lajitas.


 

If you like fishing you've come to the right place in Port Aransas on Mustang island. People were fishing everywhere but especially on all the piers. The restaurants all serve their fresh 'catch of the day'.
We had some pretty good oyster po'-boys for lunch in a really funky fish-shack.

             

Standing on one of the piers we were lucky enough to see a small pod of dolphins go by in search of food and a couple of brown pelicans gliding above them to try beat them to it!
All of a sudden I spotted a very different 'pelican'! It turned out to be a Magnificent Fregatebird (left picture), sometimes named ' man o' war'.
This huge bird is about 3' in length, has a wingspan of over 7' and is an excellent flyer and glider. 
So thrilling to see one!

Overall though, we weren't too impressed by this coast. It's rather messy and 'rougher' than the California beaches and without any of the beautiful rocks of the Oregon and Washington coastline. 
I prefer it a little less humid also (or maybe a lot less ;-)

 
            Hurricane shelter



On the way back I tried to ignore these disturbing hurricane signs along the highway. Don't even wanna think about it!
(Same goes for that shelter we saw in Gruene)
As a Californian (sort of) and RV-er, I'll take an earthquake any day over a hurricane!





I'll end this humongous post with a picture of our campsite in San Antonio (and the rental car).
After our day at the coast we took it easy the next day and played a very enjoyable round of golf on a nearby golf course and grilled a nice T-bone in the evening! (hey, somebody has to do it)

The next day James drove me to Houston where I boarded my flight to Holland. Well, actually, it was a different flight than planned but I'll save that for my next post!
Enough already! :-)