Week 30 – Kerrville to New Braunfels

Week 30

Last week we left New Mexico and crossed the border into our childhood home state of Texas.  This week we continue our journey through Texas and enjoyed spending time catching up with family along the way.

Day 206 Mon 10/30

This morning we woke up in Kerrville, TX  and hung out a bit before we said our goodbyes to my Cousin and family.  We drove to John’s cousin Kristen and her husband Andrew and son Kieran house in Ingram.  On our way, we needed to fill up with propane and the first place we went refused to fill it because of the overflow valve but luckily at the 2^nd place they agreed to do it.  When we made it to the house, Cooper met their dog Suena.  We checked out the garden and met the chickens.  For lunch we went to The Market and enjoyed a delicious meal on the patio with the pups.  It was a great little farm and market near their house.  I even tried their homemade pimento cheese…it was way better than what I grew up eating.  They made it with white cheddar and it had a kick to it too with a bit of heat.  After lunch, we went to their Hunt house and shot skeet and went on an unsuccessful dove hunt with Cooper around the property.  It was not the right time of day, but it was fun anyway and Cooper enjoyed the adventure.  It was a beautiful warm sunshiny Texas day in the country.  I hit a couple of clays, so maybe thats ok since it was my 2nd time in my life to shoot a gun.  Andrew hit several, John’s shot is like his golf game he can put it away for a long time and look like a pro when he picks it back up, but Kristen was the best shot of the group!  You could clearly tell Kristen and John had done this before.  We were impressed at how good Cooper did around the sound of the guns.  We think his trainer must have desensitized him since she was a gun dog trainer even though we have never taken him hunting before.  For dinner we made chimichurri veggie bowls and it was delicious!  Kristen is a health coach so they eat healthy and I really enjoyed looking through her cookbooks and learning from her.  After dinner, Kristen and Andrew taught us to play spades, and we ended the night with Andrew’s Habanero infused tequila…Wowser it was HOT!

Day 207 Tues 10/31

This morning we woke up and drove to Lost Maples State Natural Area to hike the East Trail with Cooper and Suena this morning.  It was cold today with a high in the fifties and cloudy so it was great hiking weather.  We all got in our steps for the day that’s for sure and the dogs loved all the creek crossings.  After the hike and the long windy drive home we hung out at house and made cauliflower mushroom tacos for dinner.  Tonight was Halloween so we went Trick or Treating with Kieran.  He dressed up as a Ghost Buster, and all the kids rode on a hay ride trailer through a few streets in the neighborhood and the parents drove behind it.  Kristen and Andrew bought back candy from Kieran for a quarter a piece to minimize the sugar overload.  We tried to stay up for the Astros game 6 but didn’t make it quite to the end (they lost).

Day 208 Wed 11/01

This morning we said our goodbyes and drove to Fredericksburg.  We had donuts and kolaches at Hill Country Donut…the cream cheese kolache was soooo gooood, and the first one we had since being back in Texas!  Of course, we had to walk off breakfast so we strolled through downtown, and I bought me a Texas flag trucker cap!  On our way to our campground stop for the night we drove thru “wine country” with wineries lining the highway like Napa only it seems like most vineyards get juice from vines not grown on properties because we didn’t see any vineyards.  We made it to Pedernales Falls State Park and took a nap with the AC running because we were able to get an electric site.  Today the high was almost 90 degrees and the humidity was rising so we were HOT!  We ate left over veggie chili and I made vegan cornbread to go with it since we now had a full tank of propane.  Before sunset we hiked to the falls overlook but part of the trail was closed so we didn’t get to see much.  Most of the campsites were closed so that is why John thought the campground was empty online.  We think that now that it is getting cooler in the south we will still have to worry about busy campgrounds because this is actually peak for the south.  On our walk back to the RV we saw our first armadillo in the grass for this trip.  John was able to find a way for us to listen to the Astros game 7 tonight, so we listened to that for a bit before we dozed off.  I did wake up when I heard the fans screaming and knew that the Astros had won!  Pretty special for a city that has been through so much recently with the hurricane flooding to get a win!

Day 209 Thurs 11/02

This morning John and Cooper went for a run on the loop trail while I blogged.  It was a short jog because nobody is used to the high humidity yet.  We drove to the Emma Long Metro Park for camping on the Colorado River tonight.  On our way we stopped at huge HEB in Bee Cave to restock on groceries.  Our site tonight also was electric so we could run the AC.  This afternoon I blogged while we relaxed in the cool air.  For dinner we ate left over veggie chili and cornbread then took Cooper for his evening walk and foraged for pecans.  The property was covered in giant pecan trees and the pecans had dropped so we snagged a few pockets full.  We both remember cracking nuts as a kid at our grandparent’s houses.  Tonight was warm enough for skiing on the river and I was jonesin for an evening boat ride.  You would not believe the size of the boat houses on the water…they were bigger than most houses which means the real houses must have been ginormous!

Day 210 Fri 11/03

This morning I took Cooper for a run and did some new exercises.  It was a typical hot and humid Texas weather day…we just didn’t remember Austin being this way…it is a heat wave for November with highs of 85 with 85% humidity…We drove into Austin to the Wheatsville Co-Op for groceries that we couldn’t find at the HEB and then planed on some day drinkin and patio sittin at Still Austin and St Elmo Brewing company at the Yard.  John was able to get a personal tour of Still because my BIL Dan set it up.  Dan did the graphic design for them and also some of the interior design display storage.  Lisa, one of the owners told us the story about the distillery and bought us a couple of cocktails to sample the product.  Since they just opened they don’t have any aged whiskey yet but the unaged was really smooth and they had a chili pepper infused whiskey too so we had to get a bottle of that to share.  We talked about the trouble in getting equipment because of the long lead time because of high demand, and what they do with all their spent grain.  There was a great food truck on the dog friendly patio that was a Texas/Indian fusion and we had some delicious vegan tacos…we laughed when we were looking back at the photos because we didn’t realize they also had pie….otherwise we would definitely have bought a slice, it sounded amazing!  We tried to find an RV park in town that wasn’t full, but were unsuccessful, so we had to leave town and couldn’t volunteer at a local farm like I had wanted to unfortunately.  It wasn’t meant to be.  We moved on to the Walmart in Kyle, Texas for the night.

Day 211 Sat 11/04

This morning we drove to the Potters Creek campground on Canyon Lake.  This lake feeds the Guadalupe river.  It was another hot day so we made sure to get an electric site again for AC.  It feels just as hot as the 100+ temps we saw in Montana and Oregon several months ago.  The humidity is the killer.  We got the last spot and it had a waterfront view.  John went for a run and I took a nap in the AC then we made Thai salad for dinner.  John downloaded a documentary called The Organic Life that followed an organic farmer for a year at Paul’s Produce in Sonoma.  It definitely looks like hard work but fulfilling work.

Day 212 Sun 11/05

Today was daylight savings time fall back so we got an extra hour of sleep.  This morning I ran with Cooper around the lake and there was a nice cool breeze to cut the 95% humidity.  Today we drove to New Bruanfels and were able to get a campsite at Landa RV and Campground on the Comal River.  The last time we were in New Braunfels was the summer after we graduated from undergrad to float the river and we were remembering the hottest camping trip of our life.  This time Wurstfest was going on so there was the loudest live polka music on blast bumpin the RV the whole afternoon into the night.  This afternoon we walked around downtown with Cooper since it was blazin hot and the festival did not allow dogs, but luckily our campsite had electricity again to run the AC.  Thank goodness the electric campsites are dirt cheap in Texas otherwise we would have broke the monthly camping budget a few days ago…

There was another mass shooting in a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas about 40 miles from where we are staying this time…25 people plus an unborn child were killed (half of the church’s congregation)… turns out the gunman was from New Braunfels and his background was full of domestic abuse and animal cruelty issues.  I had just read an article about how most of the mass shootings are by abusive people.  I just don’t know how they have the weapons they have.  According to a Washington Post article recently published apparently “Federal law prohibits anyone convicted of a misdemeanor or felony domestic violence charge or who is subject to a domestic violence protective order from possessing a firearm…The biggest issue, they say, is that the federal statute doesn’t provide a mechanism for those convicted of abuse to turn in the guns they all ready own.”  I personally did not grow up around guns, my dad did not hunt and we did not have a gun in the house.  John on the other hand had his first shotgun at age 10, and went bird hunting growing up.  He shared some funny stories about hunting birds in the morning and butterflies in the afternoon….When I moved in with John 3 months before we got married (yes we lived “in sin” for 3 months) I was horrified when I found out he kept his shotgun under our bed!  Needless to say we have never shot it and actually the week we left town turned in old unused bullets to the police department in Alexandria.  I do not believe that guns should be banned and understand the purpose of the 2^nd amendment and I have definitely enjoyed my fair share of freshly hunted meat, but I do believe that there needs to be a change in the gun regulations.  Powerful mass shooting capable weapons are for the military, and under no circumstances should abusive and mentally ill people have guns.  Period.  The recent gun related tragedies are horrifying and I can’t even imagine the anger and pain in the people left behind….Man, I just pray for forgiveness and healing and light to shine in so much darkness.

This week we enjoyed spending time with family and are both looking forward to this leg of our journey and some much-needed down time and time out of the RV 24/7.  We will be heading to Katy tomorrow to stay with John’s parents for a few weeks and spend the Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends.

This map below indicates our route this week from Kerrville to New Branfels.