Luckenbach Again and Trade Days

Our adventure today was to hop in Chuck and Kathy's truck with Debbie and Rod and meet Bob and Molly in Luckenbach. Then we were going to the Trade Days they have outside of Fredericksburg and then dinner at a german restaurant in Fredericksburg. I borrowed a few pictures from Debbie cause my camera's battery was going dead when we were at Luckenbach and I didn't want to walk back to the truck.

Chuck and Kathy
Nolan and I (thanks Bob andMolly)
Bob and Molly (thanks Debbie) Debbie and Rod (thanks Bob and Molley)

Debbie and Rod found out from the clerk at the store that the population is now 1.......
One of the first things we did when we got there was check out this steer. At first it looks like it's not alive but it moved it's head and surprised the heck out of us.

Bob insisted that Molly get on to have her picture taken and then of course we all had to stand with her for a picture!

This is Nolan inside the bar.....he doesn't look very happy but it was just the picture.....he had a good time cause he got to drink beer!

They had people playing music under this shelter....just so happens there were tons of bikers there and Luckenbach was celebrating the return of the mud dawber with a festival.

When we left there Chuck and Kathy said we had to stop at this place to see this guy who carves on beer bottles and granite stones. When we got to the door that was open there was a note saying he was at the Trade Days and if we bought something to leave the money in the pot.....very trusting guy and lots of nice carvings!Outside his shop.

So, we were off to the Trade Days.....a hugh flea market with lots and lots of stuff. The others went off to find the carving guy while Nolan took off in the opposite direction. I finally met up with him and he had been through all the buildings but 2 already.
We made plans to meet up back at the truck at 4:00 in case we lost each other and of course we did......this is Chuck and Kathy making their way back to the truck.

Nolan waiting for everyone to get back to the truck......
I was getting hungry, the others not so much.....they had found a booth that was selling jellies, sauces and mixes and I think they tried almost every one of them. However, we still made it to the german restaurant (I can't spell the name). Very good food but not quit as good as The Hub in Waynesville. This is a picture that Debbie took of the whole group.....we sure did have a good day with all these friends!

Luckenbach

You never know what Nolan will want to do the next day or if he'll want to do anything.....today, he announced shortly after I was back in the trailer from walking the dogs that he wanted to go to Luckenbach, TX, you know the town from the song. I'm always ready to take off so that's what we did....not a very long drive and we were there. Below is all there is to this town. We had kind of planned to eat somewhere there but the only food was a concession stand and outside picknick tables....way too cold for that. In the "dance hall", they had someone singing but Nolan wasn't interested in that so we took a few pictures and went in the store/bar for a look.
The post office/store/bar.

Side view of the post office/store/bar.

"Dance Hall"and concession stand.

That was it.....we were still hungry so on the way back we thought about stopping in Fredricksburg but it was way too busy for Nolan so we stopped at Wendy's in Kerrville. That was OK with me cause I love Wendy's chilli and I was still cold. Back at the trailer, it was more knitting and watching TV. About 7:00 pm Rollie knocked on the door and said we were invited to their trailer for chocolate pie but I was way too warm and comfortable to get out again so I thanked him and said not this time! I'm sure they had a good time as this group always seems to do.

RV Dreams Gathering and Cold/Rain Activities

Mar 13, Friday: I hate it any more when I have to get up before just waking up when Lucy decides it's time to get up.....I wake up early even though I have the alarm set....was awake from 5:00 am on. Got up at 7:30 am and turned on the hot water and turned the furnance up a little. The whole time I was getting ready, it was pouring down rain.....Nolan even agreed to take the dogs out later cause it was raining so hard. By the time I got to Dortha's they had decided not to go....I was relieved! I wasn't crazy about getting in and out of a vehicle all day for shopping when I didn't really have money I needed to be spending. So, back at the trailer I was getting more comfortable and Joe knocked on the door and said some of them were still going, did I want to go....I was definitely out of the mood by that time and declined. We then decided to go get the stuff I needed for the "planned activity" today.....we enjoyed the Eggs in a Bag so much and some of the group had not been here so we had decided to have breakfast for dinner tonight. Walmart here we come.....we ate breakfast at the McDonald's there and then did our shopping. Back at the trailer I was knitting and Nolan was playing solitare and he said he wanted to go to this mexican restaurant that we had been driving by all the time for lunch.....good choice! Back at the trailer I wasn't going to be late again so I fried the sausage early and had everything ready to go just waiting for 4:30 pm.....we weren't supposed to eat til 5:30 pm.....wow, everyone must be slowing down.....only Dortha and Mark were there and no one else showed up until around 5:20 pm.....eggs were wonderful again! Thanks Mark for cooking. There were lots of goodbyes or see you laters tonight. Joe and Sherri, Rodney and Becky, Lynette and Mac, and Don and Cheryl will be leaving in the morning......Sunday morning, John and Brenda, Arlene and Kevin and Rollie and Gina will be leaving. Monday, Mark and Dortha leave......it's gonna be lonesome and quite around here!!!!

Mar 12, Thursday: During chat last night, we all decided dinner out again was a good idea. This time we were going to go to Mr.Gatti's. I spent most of the morning worrying about taking Lucy to the vet again...the skin infection was getting much worse. Finally, Nolan said we might as well take her. He stopped at a feed place in town and they recommended the Ark Vet Hospital cause the vet raises Yorkies. So I got an appointment for 3:45. We were a little early which was good cause of course I needed to fill out a form. While I was doing that I asked Nolan to hold Lucy....well he couldn't just hold her, he let her down....there wasn't any other dogs or cats waiting at the time. Well, that was a mistake, as soon as he put her down, she did her business in the floor.....Nolan found a paper towel to clean it up, HOW EMBARASSING WAS THAT!!! This vet basically said the same thing that the last one said....she is alergic to Texas!!!! So, after a steriod shot, some pills for her to take, more stuff for her ears, new flea medication (seems that this vet also said that Revolution was better than Frontline), and some shampoo we got out of there for $160......I won't be doing much more shopping at Walmart for the rest of the month!!!! Lucy was definitely worn out by the time we got back in the truck and not happy!

Isn't she so cute!!!

This time I wasn't going to be late....we left 30 minutes before we were supposed to be there. We were second to get there.....we had a great time talking and laughing with everyone but the food was not so great! While we were there Dortha announced that some of the ladies were going shopping tomorrow and everyone that wanted could go along. I initially said no thanks....remember the vet bill....but when they said there was a Michaels, I decided I would go. That means getting up early cause they planned to leave at 9:00 am. Off to the trailer and bed we went!

Mar 11, Wednesday: Not much going on during the day.....except more rain and very, very cold (for us). Last night we had all decided to plan a dinner out at Mamacita's.....yeah, no more fixing stuff to take, not one of my favorite things to do!!!! Mamacita's has to be about one of the best mexican restaurants we have ever eaten at....of course we were late again...we were the last onces there and they all were having a very good time again...of course, this group can't get together without having fun! Tonight was more special because it was Brenda's birthday and they had a cake for her and of course everyone sang Happy Birthday! I of course didn't remember the camera again but the rest of the group has lots of good pictures.

Mar 10, Tuesday: Nolan had asked me yesterday if I wanted to go out for breakfast but I needed to take a shower really bad and by the time I would have gotten around he would have been very impatient so I said no. But, today it came up again and he wanted to go to Lowes so he can work on his walking stick that he got while we were in the Big Bend area.....it needs a good sanding....I found a Log House Plan book and we were out the door of Lowes in record time.....I love that store and really like to walk around and see what I can fix or need to fix....Nolan doesn't enjoy that so much! The Lowes visit was after a lousy breakfast at Cracker Barrell....everything on Nolan's plate was cold and didn't even look good....I had my usual, "pecan pancakes" and they were wonderful. We still had lots of the day left and no "planned activities" today so off we went to the Museum of Western Art.....a great museum with lots of wonderful pictures and statues....a few statues are below:

Mar 9, Monday: This morning I noticed that Bob and Molly had started to get ready to leave. Morning was mostly cloudy and misting rain.....Molly stopped by before they pulled out and said see you later and invited us to visit them in Boerne where they are attending another gathering. We'll miss them alot! We spent about 2 hours in the trailer without electric.....that made my cheese dip in the crock pot not get done in time....I finally went on down and Nolan brought it when the cheese had finally melted. We were late again....most everyone wants to get to these things early...not us, we're always late! Still a good time with great people! Most of my day was spent finishing up this sweather coat I knitted for Carla's dog Maddie....of course Lucy had to try it on to see how it looked....what do you think? Lucy's not crazy about it!

Mar 8, Sunday: Sunday is the day I like to wash the sheets and today I decided it was time to wash the quilt that I use for a bedspread. So we were off to find a laundry mat with the large capacity washers. We found one and Nolan wasn't very happy that it cost $6.50 to wash it. Boy did it sure need it though....much better! Another trip to the grocery aka Walmart for more stuff to fix to take to the all these planned activities. Tonight we're gathering for Happy Hour at Rollie and Ginas. Had a request for popcorn again so that was easy......microwave popcorn with Longaberger amaretto mix sprinkled on top.

Mar 7, Saturday: Planned activities for today was a pot luck at the Big Red Barn in the Social Room. Nolan cooked a pork tenderloin on the grill and I made a blueberry cheese cake....both turned out really, really good. A couple of pictures from the group get together:

Ellie taking pictures of everyone and having a good time!

John (JB), Rod, Arlene, Gordon with his back to the camera and Keith.....all having a good time!Breand, Sandra, and Gordon waiting for someone to say "Let's Eat"!
Another fun event and way too much food.

Mar 6, Friday: Today's planned activities were 9:00 am Eggs in a Bag at the Social Room in the barn and then around 4:30 pm we are going to have baked potatoes and all the fixins. Wow, those eggs are sure good cooked that way. You put your eggs in a freezer bag with anything you might want mixed in it, i.e. ham, onions, bell pepers, bacom, cheese and there were more choices I just can't remember them all. You smash it all together in the bag and get the air out. Then drop the bag in a boiling pan of water and cook until the egs are not runny....they are really good. A great way to cook eggs! It was back to the trailer after that hoping the sun would come out....and it did....around 2:00 I went back to the pool to sun my back for a while since yesterday I didn't turn over like I should have. Nolan cooked the baked potatoes on the grill while I was at the pool. I came back just in time to get ready for the get together and off we went. Another great idea!

I'm Always Catching Up

Mar 3: Dortha said we needed to go to the Enchanted Rock State Park today.....I was not sure I was up for climbing a big rock so I did a little research last night and it looked like it was just a short climb but maybe a little steep. So.....I thought I would give it a try. It was a big, big rock!!!! Rod and Debbie asked us to ride with them which was good because the truck was not running exactly right. We have an appointment tomorrow to take it in to see what's wrong.....hope it's nothing big! Back to the rock! This is a picture from the bottom....maybe I made a mistake!

OK.....here we go!

Pictures to prove we made it to the top.....Dortha and Mark by the tree and Deb and Ellie in the front.

The view up there was wonderful.....it was really, really windy though!!!

After climbing the rock we were all hungry so we stopped at Subway before making our way back to the trailer. Tonight the park put on a dinner of pork tenderloin.....it was really good for a small place and serving so many....I was impressed. After dinner they had Sarah Gretto (I think that's how you spell her name) who was born blind playing the piano and singing. She was amazing! Wow, what a day....I'm ready for a rest!

Mar 4: Nolan got up and took the truck in to see what was wrong with it....he had a 9:00 am appointment. Lucy actually let me sleep til 9:00 today....much better than the 8:00 or 8:30 that she has been waking me up at. She has an alarm clock in her that goes off every morning without fail....she starts barking right in my face and if that doesn't work, she starts pulling the covers off! Again, Rod and Debbie were hauling us around....today it was to Fredricksburg to eat German. We met almost every one else at 12:30 to eat and then Rod and Debbie dropped us off to pick up the truck....it was just a rear U joint and it was covered under warranty so we were only a $100 poorer. Back at the park, we were having a campfire at Arlene and Kevin's trailer. Everyone showed up with snacks and drinks!!! The guys hogged the fire while I was trying to stay warm by Arlene's solar welcome light....didn't work!

Mar 5: So much going on that today I didn't want to do anything....started laundry and watched that all morning. Around noon the sun was shining and it looked so warm that I decided to go lay by the pool even though the cover was not off yet. Arlene had mentioned that she might go to the hot tub today so I was just going to wait for her to show up. However, Arlene never showed up but Kathy did. She sat by me for a while and then got hot. She decided she would go ask them when they were going to open the pool....within minutes a guy was back with the key for the cover and was uncovering the water....all you have to do is ask sometimes....much better! Kathy went to put her swim suit on and then we got in the water....warm 85 degrees. Molly and Bob join us and we sat around until the last minute until time to get ready for....you guessed it, more food. This time we were at Donna and Keith's for "heavy" snack foods. Lots more food! I left around 6:45 to walk the dogs and I had ever intention of going to the Big Barn to watch Australia but after I got the dogs in I was too tired.....just read my email and watched TV. These people can wear a person out!!!!

McDonald Observatory, Fort Davis, and Texas Cowboy Poetry Gathering, Alpine, TX

28 Feb, Saturday: Another day for the Texas Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Alpine, TX. I put a pork roast and potatoes in the crock pot for dinner and we took off. First stop was at the Museum of Big Bend at the Sul Ross State University. We attended more sessions of cowboy songs and poetry all afternoon with a break around 2:00 to 3:00 for a trip to the trailer to see how the roast was doing. It was done so we ate and went back for one more session. This was a really fun thing to do if you like cowboy songs and cowboy stuff. Tomorrow we move to Kerrville to spend a little time with fellow RV-Dreamers.

27 Feb, Friday: Reason for coming back to Alpine for a few days was to attend the Texas Cowboy Poetry Gathering. Opening session was held in the university auditorium at 10:00 a.m. Then there was a tribute to Marty Robbins performed by these two--Washtub Jerry and Jeff Gore. They were pretty good.

Then it was off to attend one of the many sessions of cowboy songs and poetry held at other locations on the campus. We attended a couple of the session and then made our way back to the trailer. Fun day!

26 Feb, Thursday: Several of the RV-Dreamers had recommended we visit the McDonald Observatory so that was on the agenda for today. This sign is at the top of the mountain where the observatory is. It was really beautiful up here but very windy today....our tour guide couldn' open the doors to the domes because of winds gusting.
This was taken from the road into the visitor centers.

This is up the hill to tour the telescopes.

This is the visitors center from the road that takes you to the telescopes.This is a picture of a controlled burn that was taking place at the Davis Mountain State Park. You could see forever up on top of the mountain by the telescopes!!!This is the building that houses the 107 inch telescope....the one the tour took us inside to see.

You can't really tell what this is because it's so big but this is inside the building that houses the telescope and a picture of the telescope. Was too close to get the whole thing in one picture!
The is the Hobby Eberle Telescope. One of the biggest in the world. We also went inside this building to see the telescope. A very good informative tour.

This is the historice site of Fort Davis....we decided it was too windy to pay the admission fee and walk around to all the buildings; but, we did drive close enough to see them from the truck.

Back at the trailer Nolan grilled some chicken and potatoes and I caught up on the blog!

Catch Up--Long Entry

25 Feb, Wednesday: Moving day and as usual, we were on the road around 9:30. Very uneventful drive and kind of boring since this was our third trip on this road....once to check the place out, once down to Big Bend for our stay and now on our way up to Alpine, TX. We had checked out the Lost Alaskan RV Park in Alpine on our trip last week and at that time they had tons of empty sites so we didn't make a reservation. Almost a big mistake. Guess lots of people come into town for the Texas Cowboy Poetry Gathering which is 27 Feb - 1 Mar. This is one time it was a good thing we left so early in the morning. I don't think if we had arrived in the afternoon that they would have had a site for us. Nolan backed into a pretty good site. There's plenty of room and a row of pine trees behind the trailers. I'll get around to taking some pictures and post at a later date. After Nolan got us parked, I started cleaning......wow there was a lot of dust!!!! We decided to just hang around and rest. Sure glad they had room for us!

24 Feb, Tuesday: We had basically seen everything that we knew to go visit and I think we both were kind of tired of the long drive into Big Bend National Park every day. So, today we just hung out at the trailer, except for walking up to the restaurant at the park and having a banana split....mmmmm it was good!!! I gave the dogs baths after our last outing and washed clothes all day. Life is rough!

23 Feb, Monday: Today was a big outing day.....lots of pictures. This was probably my favorite place in the park that we visited. We started our drive to Santa Elena Canyon, a 30 mile drive with lots of places to stop on the way or on the trip back. One of the stops was a the Sam Nail Ranch. Nolan tried to walk through the brush/cactus to the creek....he finally made it there and there was no water.....I didn't even attempt to get through the brush!
This is the remains of the ranch house. This is one of two wind mills on the ranch and this one is still working.
There was another ranch that was the Homer Wilson Ranch....I think they said this was a replica of the bunk house or something like that. It was kind of in a valley. Very pretty if the desert can be pretty. This is a close up of the building in the picture above.
This is just a cool picture I thought.
Then we got to where the canyone was!This is a picture of the canyon from an overloook on the way there. See the gap in the middle of the picture behind that flat mountain..... This is a close up from the same overlook.This picture was on the road a little closer.This is the canyon from the parking area.This is the canyon from the river access up the road a little.Nolan looking up river at the canyon from a sand bar. There is a path up the side of the mountain on the right that we went up. Nolan went all the way and I went almost all the way.This is the path.This was taken from the mountain path at the side of the canyon.This was also taken from the path on the mountain.....see the canoe?This is a close up of the canoe.Wow.....that was a great drive!!!

We had decided that we would go back to Terlingua Ghost Town to eat at the Starlight Theater. Nolan had talked to our neighbors who have been coming to Terlingua for over 10 years and they had said it was pretty good....especially on Monday when they have two hamburgers for the price of one. So off we went. Parking lot was busy and inside was almost full. For some reason Nolan decided to order tacos but I still ordered the hamburger. When we finally got our order.....a very long wait.....there was plenty of food but it was cold....not a great experience, but probably at times a great place to eat. Certainly was a different kind of place.

22 Feb, Sunday: We thought today would be a good day to go check out the Ghost Town......what ghost town.....there are some adobe ruins on a hill, the gift shop by the Starlight Theater restaurant that doesn't open until 5:00 p.m. We were there in the middle of the day and started looking for some place besides the restaurant where we were staying to eat. We didn't find anything around that looked open or some place we might like to try. So, we drove down the road to the town of Lajitas that looked a little more prosperous but couldn't find anything there either.....so, it was back to the trailer for sandwiches.

Later in the afternoon, Nolan decided we would walk the dogs back to the golf course and I got a few pictures of our trailer on the way there. Our trailer is the second one on the left side of the road.

This is looking back at the trailer park from the golf course.....nothing but lots of dirt and dust! Road we walked down to the golf course....the golf course is actually on the right and left of the road.This is one of the greens.....not the prettiest golf course I've ever seen!Back at the trailer we just watched TV and knitted (me not Nolan).

21 Feb, Saturday: We had watched the weather and they had said lots of wind today....boy were they not kidding!!!! This is a picture of the landscape on our drive to Rio Grande Village in the Park. Picture is not blurry.....that's dust in the air!!!This was not a good day for an outing and we sure didn't stay very long....we drove through both the full hook up and no hook up RV parks and then down to the river.....Nolan drove there at a river access area.....I didn't get out....it was too windy. We couldn't hardly even stand up! All the wind didn't put Nolan in a very good mood....back to the trailer to watch TV and knit!!!!

20 Feb, Friday: Hiking was on the agenda for today....I was kind of excited! We hadn't decided exactly how long of a hike we thought I good do so we started out on the small one that has great views of the "Window".

The "Window".That was a very short walk so we took off on the Lower Basin Loop which led to another path that led to the South Rim which later we found out was 6 miles......Nolan thinks we probably walked about 1.5 miles down or I should say up that hike. It was really going up a lot and I ran out of energy so we started back down and went the rest of the way around the loop for a total of around 3 miles.....I was pretty proud of myself. We picked an excellent day, not too hot!

This is one of the park resident houses on the mountain that we could see from the path.This is Nolan waiting on me after we had gone uphill for a while and I needed to rest.This is looking down from the path at the path below.....it's kind of hard to see but it really is a path.

This is where I got to and rested while Nolan went farther while I rested.This is Nolan walking backing down the trial.....what a fun day!

I sure was glad to get to the truck and a cold soda after drinking the bottle of water I had brought. Then it was back to the trailer and the Taco Soup I had in the crock pot. It was really good....thanks Linda for the receipe from the RV-Dreams web site.

Well, I think that catches us up....I'll try to do better.