Getting Ready for an Invasion

We started the past week by taking a short trip to New Braunfels, as documented in the previous entry.

Thursday night, we attended the monthly dinner at Rio Concho West. We had a nice meal and were entertained by a resident who played the guitar and sang. It was a nice, peaceful evening.

We continue trying to walk as often as possible. With the weather warming, we are beginning to walk earlier in the day. I prefer to walk first thing in the morning, so I look forward to the time when the temps are warm enough at daylight to do my walking then.

We often see deer and turkeys in Rio Concho West. At dinner the other night, a friend of ours who lives about a quarter mile up the street told us that she also has wild pigs visit from time to time, as well as other critters, including an occasional fox. But we've never seen anything other than deer and turkey. I snapped the photos below earlier this week as we were on our way home following a shopping trip. We have 2 rafters (flock or gang) of turkeys in our development. Both rafters number about 10 or 15. Sometimes they are close together, and sometimes they are nowhere in sight of one another. We see them often; in fact, we've come to expect to see them anytime we drive through RCW.

These 2 toms were trailing their ladies.

Most of the hens had already turned the corner and were out of sight. There are lots of oak trees in this section of RCW, and the turkeys are emboldened to hang around close to the houses.

I saw these turkeys the next day, while I was taking an early afternoon walk. They like to walk along the back perimeter of RCW.

This morning, just before posting this entry, I looked out the kitchen window and saw some turkeys across the street in between houses.

Daughter and grandsons are invading our peaceful world on Monday. I hope to take oldest grandson (age 14) on a short hike at the park, while Donna hopes to take him fishing. Let's hope the weather cooperates during their stay. We haven't seen the little desperadoes since Christmas. Grandma is excited about their visit; Grandpa is worried.

Short Trip to New Braunfels

Donna and I were getting a bit restless, so we decided a short trip to New Braunfels was in order.

New Braunfels is a city of about 70,000 folks between Austin and San Antonio. It was settled by German immigrants about 1845 and retains much of the culture of its founders. I've always enjoyed this place; in fact, Donna and I became engaged here more years ago than I care to remember. But the town has grown so rapidly since then that it is beginning to lose its unique character. But that is the opinion of an old fossil; I suspect most people would really enjoy the place.

The list of things to do in New Braunfels is endless, especially if you are young and you love the water. Some of the major attractions include Schlitterbahn Water Park, Natural Bridge Caverns and Wildlife Ranch, Gruene Hall, Wurstfest, and many, many more.

Donna and I have done many of the things in New Braunfels, so we really go there to just soak in the culture.

We made our headquarters at the Faust Hotel. This was our second time to stay here, and it may be our last. We picked the Faust because we like old hotels and it is conveniently located on the edge of downtown, but the rooms really are not that comfortable. I think we are just a bit more demanding these days, and rooms in old hotels are usually small, especially the bathrooms. Heating and cooling often do not work well, and lighting can be poor. But if you can overlook these snags, then the location is excellent.

Front of the Faust Hotel.

Lobby of the Faust

On the day we arrived, we visited the Phoenix Saloon, about 2 blocks from the hotel. We like the Phoenix, and we especially like their chile. This place has been highlighted on more than one travel show, including The Daytripper. One of the things we like about the place is that on Sunday afternoon, they have a music matinee. It's a pretty laid back event, and it's free. So, sit back, enjoy one of the many brews available on tap, and tap your foot along to some Texas music. During our visit, Jeffrey Ryan Vaughn was on stage. From time to time, a friend would join Vaughn for a song or two. It's a good way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

The bar at the Phoenix hosts an impressive array of beers on tap.

Front area of the Phoenix

Jeffrey Ryan Vaughn on stage at the Phoenix

On Monday, we set out to do some shopping. But first, we needed some fuel, so we headed a couple of blocks down the street to Naegelin's Bakery, which touts itself as the oldest bakery in Texas. I can't verify whether this declaration is true or not, but I can verify that this little bakery does produce some might tasty items. Donna and I both enjoyed a Danish cream kolache, and they were excellent. Donna had some type of white icing cookie while I enjoyed an apple fritter, though the lady called it by another name. There is no place inside to sit and eat, so we took the items out to the truck and enjoyed our makeshift breakfast there.

Interior of Naegelin's is rather small, but the taste is big.

Then we headed to the outlet malls in nearby San Marcos. There are 2 malls on the interstate just south of San Marcos, Tanger and San Marcos Premium Outlet. I'm not much for shopping, but I do appreciate a trip to the Haggar outlet stores. I find these stores are one of the few places you can find a pair of pants with an odd inseam length. My perfect length is 31, but most stores only stock even inseam lists. So I stocked up on a few pairs of pants while in the area.

After a morning of shopping, we headed to Lockhart for some BBQ. We've eaten at all the places in Lockhart, so we debated about which one to try this time. It had been 4 years since our last stop in Lockhart, so we wanted to choose wisely; however, we failed. We opted for Smitty's, which I've enjoyed in the past, but on this day, we were disappointed. The brisket had lots of fat; the ribs were dry; and the sausage was dry. None of the meat had the smoked taste we long for. Well, you win some and you lose some, so we'll cross Smitty's off our list for now.

We were disappointed with the meat at Smitty's this trip. Jalapeno sausage on the right, ribs in the center, and brisket on left. Notice the large amount of fat on the strip of brisket nearest the bread. The meat all lacked the smoky taste we crave.

When you enter Smitty's from the back, you get up close and personal to the pit.

Back in New Braunfels, we decided to visit Krause's. This turned out to be the favorite spot for us on this trip. One of the waitresses visited with us for a while and told us the place had just opened less than 2 months ago. There is a café inside, but we spent our time in the biergarten. The weather was perfect during the day, with a pleasant breeze blowing through. For chilly days and nights, there are 6 propane heaters that line the perimeter of the biergarten. We enjoyed watching all sorts of people come and go while we were there. This is going to quickly become one of the favorite watering holes in New Braunfels. Should we return to New Braunfels, we'll certainly visit this place.

Exterior view of Krause's. The domed area is the biergarten. A farmer's market is held on Saturdays in the area where the cars are parked.

 

Another exterior view of Krause's showing the mural.

The draft beer selection at Krause's is more extensive than that at the Phoenix, located across the street.

One end of the biergarten with stage at right. Notice the standing propane heater in left center.

People seem to just drop in, have a beer or two, visit a bit, then move along somewhere else. It's a nice place to spend some time.

The original party girl enjoying a pint of Fat Tire.

Springing into March

Well, February is gone and we are springing into March. Time continues to roll on.

It's been a pretty good week here at Rio Concho West (RCW). The week began with warm weather, even reaching the mid 80s once or twice. The last 3 days, though, have been cooler, only getting into the mid 60s. We've had pretty good winds as well, making the temp seem cooler than it actually was. One night we dipped to 27 degrees.

But this coming week looks pretty good, weather-wise, with daily highs in the 70s and 80s.

The RCW bus took a load of inmates to the Old Gin Steakhouse in nearby Wall for lunch on Wednesday. Wall is a small German community just east of San Angelo on the Lipan Flats. This is farm country, with cotton being the main crop. Right now, the fields are pretty bare except for some winter wheat planted here or there. The Old Gin Steakhouse is just that, a steak house in an old cotton gin. It's a pretty rustic place, but the food is good. All 17 of us on the bus ate the buffet, which had Tex-Mex, fried chicken strips, and all the sides. We had peach cobbler and ice cream for dessert. It's good grub, but just a tad on the expensive side for my cheapskate tastes.

We visited our local Home Depot this week and picked up a couple of chairs and small tables for our front patio. We normally sit on our back patio. We have 4 rocking chairs out there, and the view is nice as we can see so much of RCW from there. The front patio has a brick wall that comes up to my lower chest, so it is difficult to see anything from there when sitting. But during cooler times, it has almost full sun, so we can sit out there those times and let the sun warm our old bones.

We grabbed a burger on Friday. As we often do after eating lunch out, we decided to drive around a bit. We normally drive around Lake Nasworthy, but this time we drove out to San  Angelo State Park, which is just 2 or 3 miles from RCW. We were fortunate to find the bison herd next to the fence grazing, so we snapped a few pictures. Lake OC Fisher still looks pretty good. It seems to be holding what little water it has. It currently is at 14% or 15% capacity. That certainly is better than being bone dry, as it was just 2 or so years ago.

Below are some pictures from our drive through the park:

Bison grazing near entrance to the park

Lake OC Fisher from the Lakeview Camping Area of San Angelo State Park.

Lake OC Fisher from Pulliam Ridge, the highest point in the south section of San Angelo State Park.

Following Trail Journals

For the last 10 years or so, I've regularly followed people hiking the long trails of the U.S by reading their online trail journals. I enjoy following their daily progress,  and experiencing vicariously what they see, what they do, what they eat, and other things related to the trail.

If this sounds like something you might enjoy, then visit the Trail Journals web site @  http://www.trailjournals.com/.

You'll notice that the major long trails in the U.S. are listed. I have only followed folks who attempt to hike the big 3 trails: the Appalachian Trail, the Continental Divide Trail, and the Pacific Crest Trail. I wrote about these trails a few years back; you can find that entry at "The Big 3 Hiking Trails of the Continental U.S.A." (June 2013).

At the web site, just select the trail you are interested in. You will then be presented with a massive list of people who have signed up to maintain a trail journal for their hike. The problem is deciding which one(s) to follow. I usually scan through the list, mainly looking at the pictures. Normally, I try to select someone about my age so their trail experience would be something I might experience were I to attempt the trail.

I usually pick several folks to follow. Usually only about 10% of the people who start the trail finish, so there is a good chance that if you only pick 2 or 3, those folks may only last a week or month before dropping off the trail.

This is the time of year to do this, as most hikers opt to start their hike in early spring. A few will pick a later date, especially if they opt to hike north to south rather than the more traditional south to north, as most hikers prefer to "hike with spring".

The idea of doing a long hike has appealed to me for years, but I like my creature comforts too much to attempt such an undertaking. I'd rather others suffer while I sit in my comfortable house and read about their exploits. I'll stick with doing day hikes.

Spring is Bursting Out

I've seen several signs of an early spring lately.

On our recent trip to and from Winstar ("Winstar and Some Oklahoma Highways and Byways"), we saw several redbuds and dogwoods in bloom. I've never really been much of a fan of dogwoods, which is odd since I grew up in Fairfield, Texas, which is not far from Palestine, Texas and the Dogwood Trail; but I love the redbud. Redbuds are not really red, but more of a purple color, and that contrasts beautifully against the dark wood of the tree.

I get a bit confused about the dogwood. There is another tree that blooms about the same time, but is a bit "dirtier" in appearance. I'm not sure if that tree is a pear (perhaps a fruitless pear), but have a bit of trouble distinguishing between the two trees. I believe the dogwood has cleaner blooms, which are a bit brighter and lighter in color.

During our days in East Texas prior to retirement, I always enjoyed watching for the daffodils to bloom. To me, these were always the harbinger of new life in early spring. But the most beautiful plant in bloom, at least for me, is wisteria. My mother really loved seeing wisteria in spring. When you catch wisteria in its prime, the colors are so vibrant, and I love the way the flowers seem to drape through the trees.

But I digress . . .

I've also seen numerous trees in our area leafing out this past week, including the mountain laurel with its bluish lavender flowers hanging in small clusters. And this scares me a bit because we are still in winter. We could very well have one or more hard freezes during the next month.

Still, I enjoy the many colors of spring and the promise of warm weather ahead.

It's Warming Up

We've had another enjoyable week.

As reported in another entry ("Winstar and Some Oklahoma Highways and Byways"), we took a short trip this week. It's always good to get away for a few days, but it's even better getting back home.

The weather has been unusually warm for this time of year. On Thursday, the high in San Angelo was in the low 90s. What's going on? Back in 2011, I recall extremely hot weather early in the year, even in the 100 degree area in March. That was the year our extreme drought started. Hope we are not in for a repeat of that.

On Saturday night, we went to the Angelo Civic Theater to attend a performance of Love Letters, a play by A. R. Gurney. Throughout the play, childhood friends Andrew Makepeace Ladd III and Melissa Gardner sit side by side at tables onstage and read the notes, letters, and cards which they send each other throughout their lives. The correspondence chronicles the development of the characters as they progress from childhood, through boarding schools and college, and then as adults. The relationship they share is the core of the play, and each one influences the other in ways they learn to appreciate over time. It is an interesting and touching play. As someone who has been married for 40 years, it caused me to reflect on the many ways Donna and I have brought about changes in each other over the years.

Looks like a good week ahead. Temps should be in the 70s and 80s for the next week or so. We might even get out for a good hike at the park one day.

Winstar and Some Oklahoma Highways and Byways

Donna and I made another trip to Winstar Casino just north of the Red River on I-35 earlier this week. This is becoming our "go to" casino mainly because it is just about the closest one to us. During one day, we took a short drive about an hour east to visit Choctaw Casino in Durant, OK, but did not find the video games there we hoped we would, so we did not linger long there.

I've covered Winstar before (October 2016), so I'll not dwell on it this time. On our return to San Angelo, we decided to take something of a roundabout route to see some country we had not been to before.

We started by heading north from Winstar on I-35 for about 10 miles or so to the small community of Marietta. We then took State 32 west to Ryan, about 51 miles. Much of the first half of this section of the trip was under construction, with the speed limit about 45 miles an hour. It was our experience that the state highways we traveled on this trip in OK had a speed limit of 65 at best, so travel is a bit slow. That doesn't necessarily bother us, as we are out there to see things. But the highways we traveled were also a bit narrow with no shoulders, and I would not enjoy pulling a trailer along those roads, especially if there was construction.

But the countryside itself was quite nice. The land is gently rolling with scattered areas of trees and prairies. There are numerous creeks, and there had been good rain lately and many of these creeks were really rolling along pouring their water towards the Red River.

Just east of Ryan, we had a real treat. I always enjoy watching hawks as they sit atop dead trees and power lines surveying the countryside, looking for their next meal. Along this stretch, there was an unusually high number. Then ahead atop a power pole, I saw a hawk that looked a bit larger than the rest. When we approached, we saw that it was not a hawk.

What a treat for us to see this regal fellow along Oklahoma 32.

At Ryan, we took US 81 north for about 10 miles to Waurika. There we turned west on US 70 for 5 miles before veering left on Highway 79 to head back into Texas and on to Wichita Falls. Part of the highway along the stretch from Waurika passed through the Kiowa-Comanche-Apache Reservation.

At Wichita Falls, we picked up US 277, which took us all the way to San Angelo. Almost the entire section from Wichita Falls to Abilene is 4 lane, most of which is divided. It is really a pleasant drive. There are still a couple of short stretches under construction. This is a good road. Although it is not an interstate, the highway is routed around just about every town except for Anson, so you can really make good time on this highway. I think we will probably make future trips to Winstar on this highway, then pick up US 82 east of Wichita Falls for the trip to Gainesville before turning north for the last few miles to Winstar.

Most of the trip passed through rural agricultural land, and that is country I love to see. Most of the land in Oklahoma was devoted to ranching activities, while most of the stretch from Wichita Falls to Abilene was farm land. Perhaps the most interesting stretch was just south of Abilene where the highway passes through the hills of the Callahan Divide. The road curves and dips up and down for several miles in this area, and it is very scenic. Then it levels out and returns to traditional ranch country. A few miles north of Bronte, we passed the entrance to Fort Chadbourne, which I wrote about in August 2014.

I enjoyed the trip, but I was glad to get back home. We'll be heading out again soon, though, so stay tuned.