dare2go

Texas


Continuation from < Page 1 < !

Thursday, 11 January 2007, Kerrville, TX
I'm sorry to say that the beautiful weather we experienced on Friday didn't last. Saturday morning we woke to very cold weather and drizzly, overcast skies which stayed all day. We had hoped to go out and do a little shopping and spend the afternoon lazing around in the sun by the river. With that plan thwarted, we went to do some shopping rather later than we would have and then went looking for an internet connection. We discovered Schlotzsky's Deli has free wifi for its customers, so we had a coffee and a cake and became customers! It was also quite warm inside so we sat for a couple of hours and did quite a lot on the internet.
Since we would have to wait at least a week for parts, we left Austin on Sunday and drove south toward Gruene and New Braunfels to sample the German heritage that is supposed to exist there. But before we could do any exploring we had to find a campground with a laundry, as our washing was several days overdue! We turned off highway 35 just north of New Braunfels and found a campground, Rio Raft & Resort, at the small settlement of Sattler, right on the banks of the Guadalupe River. There was a laundromat over the road and we spent almost all of Sunday afternoon there! Clear skies and sunshine had returned, but the temperature hadn't risen much - there was still a bitterly cold wind around, so the warmth of the laundromat was welcome. And I met a lovely local couple there who were really interested in our adventure. I just love talking about what we are doing, and getting such encouraging reactions from people.
Monday morning we woke to a real frost. We had hooked up the water to the camper and wondered why we weren't getting any out of the tap in the morning - the hose was full of ice... On the advice of the woman managing the campground, we set out to drive the River Road on Monday morning. It follows the Guadalupe over 4 narrow bridge crossings all the way into New Braunfels. She had said that it was the most beautiful scenery in Texas. I'm not sure if that is true, but it was pretty nice. The water of the river is a lovely shade of green. Judging by the number of campgrounds along the river, it must be a really popular place in summer. Most of them were empty and closed for the season so we had a clear view of the river and its banks. We even saw a Bald Eagle sitting in a tree and he was still there when we drove on - no one to disturb him.
New Braunfels wasn't particularly exciting. We looked for a bakery that might make some halfway decent bread and weren't successful, but we did find the Crossroads Coffeehouse, which had free wifi. We also drove out to the small town of Gruene - pronounced as 'Green' by all the locals. It is a bit more interesting and has some of its old buildings left. But it is also one of those restored tourist towns. Somehow we don't find it all that interesting to look at restored buildings when they are full of tourist stuff that we would never buy. A favourite t-shirt spotted in one of the windows - "You can all go to hell, but I'm going to Texas". We returned to the riverside campground for another frosty night, and then drove on to San Antonio the next day.
On the way we stopped again in New Braunfels, as further research had yielded us the location of a truly German bakery and restaurant - Friesenhaus. It is run by a couple who only migrated 2 years ago, and brought a German baker with them. We bought some fairly decent bread and bread rolls. Juergen also managed to pick up a recent copy of 'Der Spiegel', a favourite news magazine from Germany, and I had a piece of cake - I'll take cake over world news any day!
On reaching San Antonio, we went seeking a campground and decided on the KOA. It seemed to be in a fairly quiet location - for a city - and was on a bus route directly into the downtown area. We knew there were freeways nearby but hoped the campground was far enough removed not to be too disturbed by them. As usual we were told that it is very quiet. The day had turned out sunny and reasonably warm so we caught a bus into the downtown and took a walk around the Alamo and then along the Riverwalk. There are some really nice buildings in the centre of town and the Riverwalk is just gorgeous. We walked a bit too much for Juergen's foot and knee, but it was a pleasant afternoon. Unfortunately we can't say the same for the night we spent! It was not quiet at all - there was an endless stream of trucks on the nearest freeway and the sound carried on the clear night air, right into our camper. We were situated on the edge of the campground with only a golf course between us and the freeway.
The next morning we moved to a campsite much closer to the entrance to the campground, which put a lot of RVs and also some cabins, between us and the noisy highway. We caught the bus into town again and took a boat trip on the river. The driver and tour guide was very informative and personable and we enjoyed it very much, despite being fairly exhausted. After the boat trip we caught one of the city trolleys to an historical area, which boasts many Victorian houses. We stopped first at Guenther House and mill which is "The oldest family-owned business in Texas and the oldest milling company in the United States continuously owned and operated by the same family". Guenther migrated to Texas from Germany as a 24 year old and began a mill in Fredericksburg in 1851. Eight years later he moved to San Antonio and set up a mill on the San Antonio River. The business is still there and operated by his descendents. We walked a little along King William St, which has most of the Victorian houses, but quickly decided that our hearts weren't really in it. Somehow they were too familiar and not really special.
We went back into the city centre and had a late lunch - or maybe an early dinner - at the food court in the Rivercenter Mall. The food court looks out on the Riverwalk, which made it a pleasant place to sit, pizza without any garlic was available, and there was a Marble Slab Creamery within easy reach - what more could we want? San Antonio doesn't go down in our list of favourite cities we have visited, but the Riverwalk is really something. It must be an enjoyable place in summer: just sit under the shade of a large tree in one of the many bars and restaurants, right next to the cool river, enjoy a drink and some nice food, and let all worries slide... In the middle of winter we couldn't quite get into the same mood, although other tourists from up north did seemed to. The Alamo surprised me too - it is a quiet haven in the midst of the city, with pleasant gardens and shady spots to sit. It must also be really something in the summer, although the crowds might then detract from the serenity.
After a quieter and more restful night, we left San Antonio this morning in the direction of Fredericksburg. We decided to drive the 16, which is not as direct as Highway 10, but was marked as a scenic route in our road atlas. It took a while to become really scenic, as the first 20 miles or so are taken up with leaving San Antonio. But once the city is left behind, it winds up and down through the hill country, as this area is known, and it has its own type of beauty. It is very dry and the trees which haven't lost their leaves for winter are not a very vibrant green. The grass is all brown and the earth and stones are fairly colourless. But it is much nicer than being in the city and it has a feel similar to parts of the Mediterranean. We drove as far as Kerrville and have set up camp in the Kerrville-Schreiner Park. It is really great to be in the countryside again and to watch the many deer wander around here. The campground is fairly empty and seems to be quiet - it's time to remind ourselves again, why we don't camp in cities!

Thursday, 25 January 2007, La Pesca, Mexico
Well, 2 weeks have passed and today we finally made it into Mexico. And now I just need to catch up on how we passed these 2 weeks and then we can all move on to the next exciting phase of our journey!
Kerrville proved to be a very friendly and useful small city. We found a book exchange and stocked up on reading material for Mexico. We went to a great chiropractor and both had a much needed and very satisfying adjustment. And we went to the movies for the first time since we left home. We stayed Thursday and Friday nights at the Kerrville-Schreiner Park and had planned to stay one more night before heading back to Austin. We were booked in to have our work on the camper done on Thursday and thought to spend the beginning of the week doing a few things, including shopping, and also looking at Austin, and then drive out on Friday. Saturday morning dawned mild and pleasant. We ate breakfast with the camper door open. It was around 17 C at 7.30, but it was all downhill from there. The temperature dropped so rapidly that by the time we left at 10.30 it was 7 C!!! We had kept hearing that there was some freezing weather coming, but we had heard that so often and it hadn't happened, or it would get to freezing overnight and then warm up in the day time. But this seemed a bit different. We decided to head to Austin and check into a motel before the day was out... We drove through Fredericksburg on the way - another German settled area - and would have really liked to spend some time exploring the town. Unfortunately it was so cold by then that we just did a quick drive through the historic part of town, and then stopped in at the Fredericksburg Coffee shop for some excellent coffee and great conversation before driving on. It was unfortunate that the weather turned bad so swiftly because we liked the hill country of Texas and found the people incredibly friendly. In fact, Texans now join the people of Montana and South Carolina as being amongst the friendliest we have met in the USA.
Back in Austin we checked into Studio 6 - motel rooms with kitchenettes - for a week, since the weekly rate was the same as paying for 5 nights. In hindsight this worked out in our favour. The temperature dropped to almost freezing that night (Saturday) and stayed at freezing or lower from Sunday night until Thursday! It's hard to believe that a city the size of Austin almost completely closed down. We ventured out on Sunday and again on Wednesday, and the city seemed to be deserted. And it was colder than I could have imagined. The photos of our ice-covered truck tell the story most clearly. Not a pleasant time, but we caught up on a lot of movies on HBO - however, there are only so many times you can get a kick out of hearing Harrison Ford say, "GET OFF MY PLANE!!!" We also had quite good internet access, which helped us catch up on some stuff that had been waiting a while. The connection was good enough to talk over skype and yahoo messenger to family and friends in Australia, which was also great.
The deep-freeze meant that our camper work had to be put back until Friday and we also spent from Thursday until Saturday doing the things we had planned for earlier in the week. We had a hepatitis booster shot that was due, tires rotated and an oil change done, as well as visiting the hairdresser (for one of my best cuts yet!) and shopping for things we suspect will not be readily available in Mexico or beyond. In the end we left Austin on Sunday, 2 days later than we had originally planned, and headed for Brownsville - our last stop in Texas and the USA.
We had to make one overnight stop on the way at Choke Canyon State Park and arrived in Brownsville on Monday afternoon. It was raining and continued to do so until early this morning. Pauls RV Park, which is a popular destination for Winter Texans and must be pleasant under normal circumstances, was pretty much a bog! The sites are normally grassed, but the unusual amount of rain had reduced most areas to a soggy mess, which was even worse where it had vehicles driving in and out. The people were so friendly, but everyone was really tired of the constant rain. This part of Texas has an average annual temperature of 73°F - during the 3 days we spent there it didn't get over 45°! We still had some things on our shopping list and we had to organise insurance for Mexico and visit the Post Office everyday in the hope that a small parcel we were expecting arrived before we departed! We were rather busy despite the weather.
It seemed to be a sign, when we got up early this morning to prepare for our departure, that there was actually some sky showing through the cloud. While we were eating breakfast the sun shone - hadn't seen that for a while! The temperature was slowly climbing also, but it was still colder than we'd like. We left the campground soon after 9.00 and, with a bit of encouragement, the clerk at the post office found my parcel. The border crossing went without any sort of problem - they didn't even want to check our camper. And now, at last, we are in Mexico!