Tonight we're nestled in amongst the refineries just east of Houston, in Baytown, TX. It's been a hard drive, our usually successful strategy of trying to pass through big cities on a Sunday failed us today.
Tonight will be our last night in Texas, tomorrow we move into Louisiana. We entered this huge state from the west, through El Paso, and stopped for the first night at Ft. Stockton. We've stayed at the very windy Hilltop RV Park before. It's a no frills, neat, clean and friendly gravel park that, in the past, was in the middle of a range of sheep. They were protected by a huge and very sweet Great Pyrenees dog who would often come over for a little treat and scratch before returning to her herd. Neither the sheep nor their beautiful bodyguard were there this year....sigh. The scenery was....flat - nothing to stop the ferocious wind so we kept our slides pulled in all night and had a good sleep.
Our next stop was in Junction TX. Pecan Valley RV Park was set behind a huge, old Pecan grove and was, as touted, peaceful and very quiet. Just birdsong, chickens are birds, right? The park was virtually empty and the sites were large and grassy. An arm of the North Llano River ran along one side and added to the parks bucolic feeling.
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Beautiful free range chickens ( I mean, really free range chickens) roamed everywhere and, due to the Park's, suggestion that we toss them any non-meat scraps, they came running as fast as their little chicken legs could run when someone exited their rig!...in case. Deer passed through casually and calmly.
I hadn't been feeling well and there was no tv reception at the park, so it was an early night for us.
The next morning we continued on to our next Texas stop, Potters Creek COE campground at Canyon Lake. The dammed lake is south of Austin and a little north of San Antonio, the campground was spacious and relatively empty when we arrived on Wednesday (but filled up completely on Saturday!) The lake level was low, our lakeside site was quite a distance from the actual shore line, but it was still a nice view.
Beautiful Scissor-Tailed Flycatchers visited us daily at second cup. They kept the bugs away and we were mesmerized by their long and expressive tails and their precision flight.
I picked Canyon Lake for it's proximity to a couple of nearby German settlements. Gruene (Green), Bourne (Burn-ee) and New Braunfels. You guessed it, German Food! In the end, we never did have a German meal (the restaurant I'd chosen was closed when we arrived) but did manage to eat very well indeed. After being thwarted in our quest for a German linner, I found a hidden Gem, Huisache Grill. It was a really hidden gem......we drove the wrong way on a one way dirt alley to find it and then had to reverse down the alley to locate parking....it was very worth it.
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The food was wonderful, plentiful and the atmosphere was charming - filled with interesting original art pieces and a domed wooden ceiling.
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After stopping at the Visitor's Center (yes, Pam - the visitor's center!) we decided to take an afternoon's drive on River Road, along the pretty, clear Guadalupe River. The road was pretty, a canopy of live oaks overarched it and the river was maddeningly close - but not accessable at all.
Fencing (wood, wire and/or stone), "Toobing" rentals and Air bnb's abounded. Signs warning not to park or stand, trespass or enjoy (unless your were staying there or renting there) were everywhere. In one spot, on a small bridge, I managed to take a quick shot of the pretty river. sigh. We were disappointed.
The gentleman in the VC suggested we try the Gristmill Riverside Restaurant in tiny Gruene.
We found large crowds of people strolling the little sidewalks, enoying the beautiful day and pretty flowers. I held out little hope of getting a meal at this popular restaurant set in an old Cotton Gin (built in 1878, partially burned in 1922, and repurposed into a huge, multistory restaurant in 1977) but decided to give it a try. We were pleasantly surprised to be led directly to a window table with shady, cool views of the River below.
We enjoyed glasses of a nice Gruene Rose and only managed to eat half our enormous and delicous meals. The restaurant was not at all what we expected, it was quiet and cool (very hot and muggy outside) and the service friendly and prompt. And the food! A real winner. After we finally pushed away from the table we strolled around the rest of the place and marveled at the interesting stone and wood work left from the fire. We're both so glad we decided to not let our preconceived notions (crowded, touristy, huge) hold us back.
The sky was beginning to cloud over in Gruene and the weather forecast was for strong thunder storms, wind, hail and possible tornadoes in the late afternoon/evening so we decided it was time to head back to Beluga and hunker down. Before we did that, however, I may or may not have consumed a teeny tiny scoop of goat cheese/raspberry jam ice cream and made another grandma purchase......
On the way home we took a little detour to check out the huge earthen dam that keeps Canyon Lake where it belongs. Some wildflowers are still dotting the meadows nearby.
The sky was filled with oddly lit mammatus clouds as we arrived and we expected trouble. We pulled in the slides and waited, but the event, at least over us, turned out to be just strong winds and heavy rain. No hail or funnel clouds - phew!
Yesterday dawned beautiful and sunny. We hung around and enjoyed our campsite for the morning and then decided to try some Texas BBQ for our last meal out. We chose Coopers BBQ in New Braunfels.
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