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| New Braunfels, TX |
Three months and twelve days later and here we are in America (Again). Every time we get near an Interstate, corporate America lines up like tin soldiers. It's not bad, and in many ways it's comforting. However, after a nice jaunt through the Texas Hill country, reaching I-35 was somewhat of a shock. As we nestled Frac into slot 217, we met our neighbor, Roger, a long term resident from Wisconsin who spends four months a year here. The RV park itself isn't quite the pristine state park we were in last night, but the comfort part comes from the quick access to San Antonio and Austin, and as it turns out, a lot of other things as well. After securing Frac, we set off to find downtown New Braunfels via the old roads. One thing about American cities is that the old highways from the Eisenhower era still exist. Typically, they now run through the lower income neighborhoods because of suburban growth, but the roads are also usually centrally located and lead to the heart of the "old town". This is true in New Braunfels, so after we crossed the tracks, we drove straight into the old town square, which is now sort of a boutique center. There are antique shops, the court house, a couple of stately churches, a great old hardware store, a couple of bars, and at least one steak house. And of course, right on the edge of the central round about where local brass bands used to play evening concerts in the 1900s sits Naegelin's Bakery, open since 1888, and claims to be the oldest bakery in Texas. The cute gal in the flour dusted apron didn't look that old, and the one piece of apple strudel we chose showed our restraint. We did run into a friendly guy hanging a sign advertising the carol sing at the Civic Center on December 20 whose theme is put Christ back in Christmas. It's free and the local church choirs are the performers. We'll be there. We toured a few of the shops besides the bakery. We went into the hardware store, which is reminiscent of the oldie but goodie in Halstead, Kansas. This one, Henne Hardware, is still vitally active, but the real treat was the wire pay line from the days before cash registers. A customer would hang his paper money on a clip, which would then be run back to the cash box via a gondola like device. These lines criss-crossed the store just over six feet off the ground. Of course, there was the sliding ladder to reach the goods way up high. After there, we were drawn to the cheese and chocolate shop (Naturally, another food stop). Satisfied that we had met our goal of ten thousand steps, we drove into the countryside to scout out our ride for tomorrow. We found a nice little town called Marion about ten miles away, and since we were having soup night in Frac tonight, we stopped at a market to buy a can of tomatoes for out Minestrone soup. But wait, the market was actually a family run meat market so aromatic that we floated by our noses right to the counter to buy pepper bacon, summer sausage, and Boudin (Cagin') sausage with shrimp (We did buy the can of tomatoes, too). We enjoyed the Minestrone soup (Laced with pieces of the Boudin sausage) for dinner, and now we're relaxing in our warm little tin shack, gathering strength for more adventures tomorrow (God willing). On a somewhat sad note (For Judy), the wily cager came up short this morning in the Goliad Open. She played well to tie the score, and she thought she had her JuJu flames burning, but unfortunately the cribbage gods smiled on me for the last game. I'm now leading the over all series 10-8. I did soothe her wounds by finding another great little Texas BBQ joint in Seguin (Pronounced SEG GEEEN): A brisket plate with beans and slaw as sides. The sauce was a slightly sharp tomato vinegar. Delicious! Judy's cousin, Jean, says that our adventure should be called a food tour. This is true. We are guilty as charged. We are blessed to live in a country brim full of local delicacies. For that we are grateful, and we continue to believe life is good, especially today.
The wily cager was feeling pretty good after tying the score in Goliad.
But, alas, the cribbage gods smiled on me. On the last hand, I needed twelve-got fourteen.
Johnny's helped soothe the wily cager's saddened heart.
Eight bucks! We share.
Not a great view, but that brown handle is a sort of clip device designed to hold paper bills. The money traveled to the back along a suspended wire, Nineteenth century efficiency!
New Braunfels town square. The roundabout holds a gazebo built in 1902. Summer evenings, the local brass band would entertain the locals.
Just one of Naegelin's pastry counters. There were four plus a back wall full of bagged goods.
These are cream horns (Judy's dad, Abe, loved bringing them home for his girls).
The building is nestled just across the street from the gazebo.
The center roundabout has a fountain and a few statues that serve as war memorials.
Cival War monument in the foreground; World War I in the background; City Hall way back.
We plan to add a big juicy steak from this counter into our panniers tomorrow so we can barbecue like real Texans tomorrow night.
Penshorn Meat Market, proving once again that locally fresh is best.
The Hunny Bunny whipped up our Texas version of soup night. Happy as we are, we still wish we could make it home for soup night next week. Slurp a bowl for us!
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