Lunch with Celebrities and a Visit to Gruene

Wednesday Rae drove up from her RV park in Von Ormi to meet me and then I drove us up to meet Malia Lane (http://www.maliasmiles.com/blog) in Buda for lunch.  Another friend, Diana, drove down from Austin and met us there too.  Malia had a surprise for us too.  She invited Judy, another full-timer, to join us.

You may already know Malia.  She has been a solo full-timer for twelve years now.  You can read about her Inspiration to RV on http://www.maliasrv.com/.  Inspiration was actually the name of her first motorhome.  Now Inspiration will be moving on to inspire someone else because Malia just got a new RV and is in the process of settling in to her new home. When we arrived at Crestview RV park which is onsite at Crestview in Buda, TX, her sales rep, Rob, was visiting her to make sure everything was going smoothly.  We all chatted about our RVs.  Rob actually sold Malia Inspiration as well as her new RV but I will let her tell you all about that.

Diana, Malia, Colleen, Judy, and Rae at Chili's in Buda.  Everyone thought it was hilarious that there was a dachshund photo right over my head.  Really, I didn't plan it.

We had a great lunch.  After lunch, Malia had to get back to work while Judy and Diana headed north to Austin.  Rae and I headed south and made a stop at Guene Tx so Rae could see the oldest dance hall in Texas.

There wasn't anyone playing while we were at Gruene Hall but they were setting up for later.  Rae wondered about the floors being sturdy but they have crowds in there all the time.  We looked at all the pictures on the walls from the many different bands that have played there.

We spent some time looking around in the antique store.

We checked out the General Store.

And we looked at some of the local bed and breakfast places.  Not quite sure about the little low building in front.  I thought "storm shelter" but that wouldn't work with the windows in place.

It's always fun to visit Gruene and play tourist.  I think Rae enjoyed her visit to this small town and really liked Gruene Hall.

A Big Day!

My friend Birdie had a major event happen this week.  I couldn't be there on Monday when the big event happened but I made up for it as soon as I could.  What was the big event?  Well, if you have been following my blog, you will know that Birdie has been looking at RVs for over a year now with me as her faithful sidekick.  Now don't misunderstand, Birdie is already an RVer.  She is a full-time RVer and "Bunkie", 30 foot Class C, has been her home for a while now.  "Bunkie" is a very nice RV but maybe just not right for a full-time single since he has two sets of bunk beds in back and a queen bed over the cab not to mention a couch and dinette which can also sleep a couple.  The thing "Bunkie" is missing is a slide to give a little more space to a full-timer.

Monday about noon "Bunkie" was replaced by "Suite Pea" an absolutely gorgeous Winnebago Vista Class A.  We looked at this beauty a while ago and Birdie made up her mind last week.  Two other RV friends were on hand Monday to help move all Birdie's worldly goods from RV to another.  It was a very big job even though things were boxed.  She spent the night at the Crestwood RV dealer's park in Buda so she could give everything a good run through.  Tuesday morning about 11:00AM I headed up to give her a hand with stowing all her goods away and getting the RV ship-shape.  Here she is with her Suite Pea!

We worked really hard all afternoon and I was invited for a sleepover as she needed to stay one more night so they could install a fantastic fan in the bathroom.  It took a lot of labor to get to this point.

We were both exhausted when we headed to bed about 10:00PM.  I think Birdie fell asleep right away but I wasn't so lucky.  I had a nice comfy bed on the sofa airbed but was a little hyper I guess.  Too bad because by midnight, we were both awake.  The storm that blew through Buda was horrific.  Even with the  heavy duty automatic levelers we could feel a slight shudder with all the wind.  The thunder was absolutely deafening and the lightning awesome.  About 3 AM Birdie had the weather channel on TV (watching TV is something she never does!)  just to see if there were tornadoes.  The thunder was so loud that I'm not sure that we could have heard the typical freight train noise of a tornado.  At least the heavy duty bathroom was right across from us.  Anyway, we survived with no damage but not a lot of sleep.  We spent the morning putting things away and arranging some more.  Then we headed back to Potter's Creek where Birdie is staying.  Another friend, Liz, was patiently waiting for us to arrive.

Doesn't this look like a happy new RV owner getting ready to head out on the road?

Once we arrived, the three of us began tackling the outside storage.  Of course, we found more items that needed to go inside.  Liz and Birdie were still at it when I headed home at 6:00PM.  There is still more arranging and stowing to do but that will go on for a while until Birdie finds just the right location for everything.  Enjoy your new home my friend!

Lunch at the Driftwood Salt Lick

The last time I saw Diana, she asked if Birdie and I would like to go to one of her favorite places for lunch so we planned a little GTG.   

Birdie and I planned to meet in San Marcos and do a little shopping at the outlet mall before heading up to Driftwood.  She said she was going early and I told her that I would call her as soon as I arrived.  Otherwise, we would just meet up at 10:45.  My plan was to arrive by 9:00AM latest.  The dogs always wake up by 8:00AM and let me know they want out of their crates. Always, except for Thursday morning, when I was counting on them for an alarm clock!  Thursday morning I woke up to silence, looked at the clock and it was 9:05AM.  I quickly got ready to go and headed downstairs.  The dogs were outside.  Apparently DH got up real early, let them out, and went back to bed.  So much for plans!

About 5 minutes south of San Marcos, I got a call from Birdie.  I told her I was almost there and then she told me she was running really late and was far behind me.  She had one of those mornings too.  Normally up well before 7:00AM (ugh), she overslept by two hours and then made 4 circles around the campground before she finally had everything with her that she needed.  Made my morning look easy.  I did a tour of the outlet malls just to see what was there.  Once she arrived, we made one stop before it was time to leave for Driftwood.  Driftwood is pretty much out in the country but not a very long drive from San Antonio and even shorter from Austin.

This is the original Salt Lick out in Driftwood, TX where it all began in the midst of rolling hills, abundant wildlife, century-old oak trees and native wildflowers. Old barnwood looking buildings are surrounded by vineyards.  Of course, the vines were bare this time of year.  

 There are two main buildings, the restaurant and the vineyard building.  In between are lots of outdoor tables.  I guess this is where you wait if you don't time your visit very well.  There is lots of parking out behind the two buildings.

When you want in the place, the first thing you see is the barbeque pit.

You can even see them cutting the meat.  Of course, all those delicious smells make you hungry!

 Unlike many barbeque places where you place your order up front, here you sit down at a table with benches for seating and a waitress comes to take your order.  They only take cash here and you can bring your own bottle with you if you want.

Then she brings the food to you, lots of delicious food. Birdie had the ribs on the left while Diana and I had brisket and turkey.  The barbeque is different here but very delicious.  The sauce is a light translucent brown with a hint of vinegar flavoring.  Even the potatoes have a hint of this flavor.  Takeout boxes were necessary.  Birdie got a large order so she would have a couple of meals left over.

From here, we headed to Cabela's which was just a very short distance away in Buda.  Birdie found some hiking shoes she wanted but they couldn't find the 2d shoe missing out of the box????  She was going to order them but a couple of days later she found her missing winter hiking shoes stored in an unexpected spot in her RV.  Good thing she didn't get the new ones.

Diana headed back to Austin while Birdie and I made one more stop at Crestview in Buda.  She is still looking at Class As so we check them out whenever we find them.  And then we were back on the road to San Marcos.  We didn't get any shopping done at the outlet mall but we had a great day.

9 Aug 2010 - Heading home to Texas

My brother was back at work on Monday so I visited with my sister-in-law for a while and then headed down the driveway.  My brother overrode "Hillary's" navigational directions and routed me away from The Hill and down through Little Rock.  My nephew is going to college there but he was away on a training trip for his new job so I didn't get a chance to see him.  It was another beautiful drive down through very manageable hills and forested areas and again the roads are great.

My plan was to cross north Texas to Wichita Falls where we used to live to visit friends and co-workers in the area.  As I crossed into Texas, I knew I should look for a place to stop for the night.  When I talked to my husband on the cellphone and told him my plans, he convinced me to just push through to Wichita Falls. I knew it would be too long of a day on the road for no real reason but I let myself be overridden even though I was the one with the real travel experience.  Always follow your own instincts!

Wichita Falls has a city park with RV hookups right off the highway in town.  Many of the spots are pull-through but you must be self contained because there are no restrooms in the RV area.  The $10 fantastic deal is now a $17 good deal -- just don't expect to find an RV spot or a hotel room later in August when the "Hotter N Hell Hundred" bicycle race is in progress.  Attendance is huge and people book rooms months in advance and arrive days early to use the RV park.  The RV area is connected to the main park by a swinging bridge and you will find lots of walking paths.  You'll also want to see the "falls" which are man-made since the original falls disappeared a really long time ago.  The current falls are quite nice and, unless you take the path to the top, you wouldn't know that there is no river behind them--just a cemetery!  If you happen to come through after a storm, you may find a "chocolate" falls flowing down into the river.

Exhausted and more than ready for bed, I hit the button to raise the front of the RV to unhook it.  Nothing!  Replaced the fuse.  Nothing!  I hooked up the electric and water and headed inside.  More good news--apparently I clipped the vent cover over the bed on the way out of my brother's driveway and it was gone.  Too tired to care, I stuffed a pillow in the hole.  It NEVER rains in Wichita Falls in August but I wanted the A/C cool to stay in the RV.  A quick doggy walk and we were all ready for bed.  Willy, Gretchen, and Harley have no trouble sleeping at night even if they napped the day away.  Ah, the life of a pampered and well-loved dog or two or three.

The missing vent and the useless front legs on the RV were still waiting for me in the morning.  Since I was no longer exhausted, I found I was mostly annoyed to have this happen at the end of a really good first trip.  I started calling around and found that most of my friends were not around so I finally decided to pack it in and head on back to San Antonio.  Better luck (and calling ahead) next time.

That evening I was back in the driveway in Schertz.  The next morning the fridge, perishables, medicine, and clothes were unloaded early and we headed back up I-35 to Crestview RV in Buda for some warranty work.  A rather macho mechanic hinted that I just didn't know how to work the electric legs.  He popped a fuse in (been there, done that) and hit the switch resulting in ripping the motor right off the wall.  His tune changed quickly and a whole new motor set-up was ordered.  There was a reason that the fuses had popped a number of times and it wasn't operator error.  A couple other warranty items were also listed.  I only had to pay for the vent cover.  We left the RV in Buda and headed home until the next trip.

The Traveling Longdogs and I hope to meet you on the road soon!