Alaska 2010 – Day 4, Kerrville, TX, & Hill Country Tour

On Sunday, May 9, our friends/neighbors from Retama Village down in Mission, TX, Doug & Laura Mayer, arrived to spend a couple of days at Buckhorn Lake RV Resort and to play some golf with other Retama neighbors, Ken & Sue Gambrell (who’d also arrived Sunday and will stay for the summer). Great to see them all!

We’d been looking forward to a visit with the Mayer’s. Life in Retama gets full and busy; this was a great opportunity to just hang out. The four of us decided to take a drive up the Guadalupe River; locals had said it would be a beautiful drive. It became an extraordinary tour of the Texas Hill Country. The Guadalupe is a very important watershed and water source for this central part of Texas. There’s also a lot of history to the communities which sprang up along its banks dating back to the early settlers and to the days of the huge cattle drives.

We headed west-southwest along the river from Kerrville. It developed into a fascinating loop tour! The countryside along our route was stunning. It was indeed the Hill Country – limestone hills (almost mountains!) and cliffs, sweeping vistas no camera could capture, cool green along the river, ranches, and a significant number of “game farms” where exotic deer, for example, are provided for “canned” hunts.

Each game farm has very high specialized fencing to keep the exotic wildlife IN; and white-tail deer are so common in this area, cattle ranchers sometimes use this fencing around their fields to keep deer OUT!

There were also many goat farms, so many as to pique our curiosity – were they grown for their milk (therefore artisan cheese-making)? Hmmm. Granted, they’re hardy creatures so can survive in this rocky country with its thin soil.

We did see a lovely herd of longhorn cattle. If they don’t typify the Great State of Texas, what does???

And wildflowers, such beautiful wildflowers, just covering the roadsides! Drifts of yellow, with bits of orange, and balanced by clumps of white, lavender and even burgundy. Fresh spring greens in many shades. A visual feast!

We kept seeing a striking burnt orange flower with yellow tips. (There are some in the picture above.) There were huge spreads of these here and we later saw them all the way up through the Texas Panhandle; I found them intriguing! They are called “Indian Blankets” or Fire Wheels”. Here are a couple of close-ups:

During our tour, we kept crossing the extremely curvy Guadalupe (known by many locals as the “Guadaloop”). Each crossing has a specific name as you’ll see by just these two examples:

(So who were the Smith’s?!?) The number of river crossings was amazing! Each one is named and helps to identify where you are or where you live.

Just past River Inn Crossing, south of Hunt, TX, on Highway 39 southwest of Kerrville, is the “Boot Hill Ranch”. We HAD to stop for pictures! How refreshing to see such whimsy! There was about an eighth or quarter of a mile of fence posts topped with boots, every possible kind of boot in every possible color!

Continuing on, the banks of the Guadalupe are lined with cabins, church camps, and weekend homes. This area is within an hour-and-a-half or two hours of San Antonio. It would be feasible time-wise to escape to a riverfront place here or one of the large homes up on a nearby hilltop or ridge spine.

Texas has a remarkable collection of state parks, expressing the diversity of this huge state. We toured Lost Maples State Park and it is no exception…a great place for hiking, wildlife viewing, and has a small campground with many long, level sites. It was lunch-time; conveniently a volunteer in the park’s Visitor’s Center was able to recommend a small Mexican restaurant, Mama Chole’s, in Leakey (“Lakey”), just down the road. It was very, very good! I would definitely recommend it if you’re touring in the area.

We saw country today that many visitors might not see while touring the Hill Country. What a special day it was! Great friends, spectacular scenery!

Alaska 2010 – Day 2, Kerrville, TX

Yesterday (Friday 5/7/10), we made it to Buckhorn Lake RV Resort, Kerrville, and are in Site 6069 for the next couple of nights. This is a lovely place: upscale, just under $40/nite with FMCA 10% discount, live oaks, Goat Creek, lots of activities during the winter, sort of the Hill Country version of Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort in Mission, TX -- typical regional architecture of limestone rock buildings with metal roofs, surrounded by oak trees. Very nice, clean, quiet. As mentioned in our previous post, we arrived about 7:30pm. It was way cooler than the Valley; ate dinner outside; slept with the windows open! Sprinkles today and tomorrow. Nice. Oh, and lots of star jasmine in bloom -- luscious! And a mockingbird sweetly serenading us all at 1am!

Breakfast was served here in the park this a.m. (and all Saturdays 8-9a.m.) Then we hung out in camp stowing some of our gear. Early afternoon, we went to the Museum of Western Art here in Kerrville -- small but really worth a visit. It's on a hill covered with live oaks and bordering on some fine, large homes. Below are photos of 2 bronze sculptures at the front of the museum. There's a larger scale one at the rear overlooking the museum's Pavilion, but a catered wedding reception was being set up there so I didn't get a photo.

“Wind and Rain” by William Moyer - (Being a cowboy is not always a glamorous life)

“Out of the Mystic Past” by Fritz White – (Look for all the symbols of a Native American shaman)

Next stop: late lunch at Bill's BBQ on Junction Street. OMG, it was exceptionally good! We'd have to rate it right up at the top. Meat was well-flavored and particularly moist. Sauce not overpowering. Best potato salad and cole slaw I've had in a long time. I make better charro beans, however! Here are some pix:

Look for this sign (above) on the front side of the building!

That thar’s the truth, I’m tellin’ ya!

This is the heart of the restaurant. Meat is slowly cooked first on the two flat pits (now-covered and seen on right and in center) then moved to the enormous cylindrical smoker on the left. It stays there for the remainder of its required time. The baby-back ribs melted off the bone, the brisket was unbelievably moist and tender, and the pork roast was the same. This restaurant is definitely a “must-do” if visiting Kerrville!

Sharon Marino (left, whose son owns the restaurant) and Sue Lesser (right, holding a bottle of Bill’s absolutely delicious BBQ sauce!) who, with Sharon, made us feel so welcome. Thank you, ladies!!

Sharon likes the afternoon shift; it was either that, or get up at 4am to prepare the meat and cooking pits! She happily leaves that to her son. The restaurant’s walls are covered with all kinds of photos, artifacts, stuffed deer heads, ubiquitous beer signs, etc. The TV in the dining area was tuned to The Outdoor Channel. (What else? This is serious deer hunting country, and anything else which moves or flies!!)

Tomorrow (Sunday), we may drive west out along the Guadalupe River (pronounced by some locals as the “Gwaddle-loop”) toward the town of Hunt. It’s supposed to be a beautiful drive.

Alaska 2010 – Day 1, "On the Road!"

As you’ll see by my previous postings, I quit blogging part-way through last summer’s travels. I got more involved in the “doing” rather than the “writing” about our travel experiences.

This summer’s jaunt to Alaska will be such a special one that I need to be more faithful in recording it.

A special friend of ours, Steve Westmoreland, has thrown down the gauntlet by saying he’s become a “follower” of our blog and awaited future postings. (See the upper right corner and please sign up. You’ll receive email notice of any updates I make.)

Boy, the pressure’s on! So, get out your atlas and find the places we mention. Hey, we’ll supply the story and pictures. You can sit back, be entertained, and not have to pay the fuel costs! Just heard they’re about to go up. (Naturally! It’s approaching summer time!)

OK, Steve, here goes!

We finally left our home in Retama Village located down in Mission, TX, at about 11:30 a.m., Friday, May 7, much to the amusement of our pals who thought we’d NEVER be ready! On our first day, we hoped to get as far as Kerrville, TX, in the Hill Country n.w. of San Antonio. We were looking forward to cooler temperatures. It was to be 94 degrees today here in the Rio Grande Valley and the humidity was already stifling! Time to go!

Our motorhome’s starting mileage: 29,382 – make note cuz we’ll be keeping track and there'll be a quiz later! Oh, and I was so excited to be on the road again, I forgot to take a picture of us or the rig. Oh, well!

As much as we love to travel, we also love our winter perch in Mission and, in some ways, it's hard to leave in the spring. We'd planted a vegetable garden late last fall -- yes, tomatoes are planted in Oct.-Nov. for harvest in Jan.-Feb.!! We'd endured a historically cold winter (3 hard freezes, absolutely unheard of!) so lost some of our original tomatoes, replaced them, and -- as luck would have it -- they were just reddening as we prepared to leave. So, I picked what I could and these lovelies sit on our dashboard, ripening in the sun. I had also picked fresh basil and Italian parsley from my garden. Dinner on this hot, hot day will involve these things and some fresh mozzarella on a bed of mixed salad greens with balsamic dressing. With artisan multigrain bread, yummy!!

Our "road music" today was courtesy of Asleep At The Wheel, an Austin-based Texas Swing group led by Ray Benson. The group's been around for over 30 years yet remains as popular today as ever before. Last summer, we attended a Wheel concert at the Birchmere in Alexandria, VA, where they appear a couple of times a year. The place was full, jam-packed FULL, and I talked to several people who had actually flown in just for the concert. Now THAT's band loyalty! Anyhow, we have just about every CD they've made and it is fine toe-tappin' music! Goin' down the road, be happy music!

Leaving the Valley, there’s only one main road north and that’s US 281. We drove up to the Pleasanton exit (#103), headed west to Jourdanton, n.w. to Devine, to Hondo, and due north through Bandera to Kerrville. This is a slick and scenic way to bypass San Antonio. (Thanks, Becky D., for the helpful hint!). Last year, as we headed south, we visited Bandera, Boerne (pronounced "Burny"), and Fredericksburg, in the heart of the Texas Hill Country. However, we missed getting to Kerrville, so it became a priority for our springtime trip north.

We were immediately aware we’d left the Valley because 1) RV’s were now replaced by horse and stock trailers, 2) signs were predominantly in English, not bilingual, 3) after the Inspection Station at Falfurrias, we didn’t see any more Border Patrol vehicles, and, 4) we were heading into the Bible Belt. The farther north we got, the more churches we saw and the bigger they got!

Our lunch stop was in Amanda’s BBQ in Premont, just north of Falfurrias, TX. It looked promising but, instead, made us hunger for true Texas BBQ!

An otherwise unremarkable building facade, unless you look closely both inside and out.

A detail over the entry door…our first hint. I found the next two signs inside very comforting! The rest of the interior decor was, at best, “undecided”. Everything from a calendar with the local high school’s football schedule; to the crucifixion; to oil drilling company ads; to silk floral swags. Randomly interspersed throughout, though, were items which frequently referenced “Apostolic” and “Pentecostal”. Some restaurant patrons wore t-shirts advertising their particular church. Hmm, I better mind my “p’s” and “q’s”!

After lunch, off we went, grateful for our air conditioning and to be on an adventure!

Along the roadside were lots of wildflowers still in bloom. Splashes of Indian Paintbrush, lavender Thistles, orange and rust of Texas Fire Ring, several yellow, pink and white flowers. As we headed west away from US 281 and began our curve to the n.w., between Devine and Hondo, we began to see live oaks and juniper. We’d definitely left the Valley now!

The last leg, from Bandera to Kerrville, took us into the hills, past ranches with high fencing (exotic game ranches offering canned “hunts”) and those which were working ranches thus needed to keep deer OUT! There were grand hilltop homes made of local stone and positioned to have sweeping views. These are prime examples, along with older ranch buildings, of typical Texas Hill Country architecture. Imposing stone gateways with decorative iron gates led to these retreats. It’s only about an hour or so to San Antonio from here.

Finally, at about 7:30p.m., we arrived at Buckhorn Lake RV Resort just outside Kerrville. Several friends had told us about it so it seemed like a natural first stop. What a lovely place it turned out to be (please see our next post). Here are some pictures of the entryway. The whole place is loyal to the Hill Country theme and includes a full-size windmill in the center of a traffic circle.

The main gateway of local stone with the center logo which resembles a brand, “BLR”.

The park’s Office and General Store.

The entry looking down toward the windmill

Our motorhome, as seen just below the entry road and main swimming pool. We’re shaded from the afternoon sun by nearby oaks.