Adventure 73: Hill Country RV Resort/Post F

Table and awning out for the first time. Too cool!

We got back to the hotel room about 2 A.M. with our boots still scootin' from the Dale Watson show. It didn't matter to Judy; she slept in all the way to a little past 7 A.M. I rolled over to wait for the morning sun to peek into our window around nine. When it did, I relished the Austin skyline with a pretty good cup of hotel coffee. We managed to get ourselves ready and out of the hotel by about 10:30 A.M. The day was another in a recent string of pale blue sky soon to be near seventy degree days, so we decided to take the long way home.  But first, we scouted out the house our friends, Ulmen's have rented for the week after New Year. It's quite close to the Pecan Grove RV park, and it's perfectly located as far as everything else goes. It was a good choice. Still stuffed from our "double" dinner at the South Congress Cafe, we passed on breakfast and decided to scout a different Austin street (Just to see where it goes). Lamar Street took us west through a series of strip malls, small businesses and the like. It's like any other inner city arterial, except that this one is still used as a daily commuter into downtown Austin. We were going away from the city, so we had very little traffic. We merged onto highway 71/290, which wound itself out into the Texas hillside (The Oak Hill District). This part of Austin seems fairly affluent. The suburb is speckled with those pointy peaked houses that start at about two hundred grand. The schools are large and brand new, and there is evidence of children's activities everywhere. Soon we exited the suburbs until we came to the interestingly named town of Dripping Springs. This town is far enough away from Austin to have its own identity. It looked charming as we drove through. We headed toward Johnson (LBJ) City to see where Pedernales State Park was. This turned out to be a good thing because we discovered that it is closed. I'm glad I didn't pull Frac out there only to find the place shut for the season. We stopped for brunch, which was a cup of coffee, a piece of savory flat bread filled with spinach and smothered in cheese, dried tomatoes, and kalamata olives, and a cookie that we got at the Redbud Cafe. Everything was excellent, but I'm remiss in the documentation because I was still groggy from my late night. Lord knows how I would have felt if I'd given in to Dale's advertisements for Lone Star. Back in New Braunfels, after about a hundred mile back country jaunt, I pulled a McGyver (Or a Dave Ulmen as I call it). The microwave gave up the ghost in Frac. I pulled it out, we found one near the right size at Lowe's, and I changed it out with only minor Murphy moments, and miraculously, just one trip to the hardware store. We are now officially New Wave, and success always feels good, even if it's piddily. It was seventy degrees today, so we pulled the awning out, set up the table, and the chairs and Judy (The wily cager) extended her lead over me in the New Braunfels Open. I did manage to not get skunked, but I'm starting to wonder if I can overcome a 2-7 deficit before we leave on Thursday. We are living the good life right now, quite beside ourselves with the exciting prospect of seeing some of our family and  friends. What's more, I got word from my son that he saw the mother of a former student of mine who says she knows so much more than her classmates (She goes to Ferris High School-most Sacajawea kids go to LC) all because of Mr. Williams. That news felt pretty good. So who can argue: Life is good, especially today. 

Even the working parts in a Airstream wear out. The old Tappan model 9030B removed and ready for the recycle bin.

 The new Frigidaire, installed and working. I love these plug in solutions and you wouldn't believe how many different sized microwaves there are. 

 The Murphy's Law moment. These little star shaped metal screws didn't quite match my star bits because of this little nipple in the dead center of the head. When I used the star bit, even though it was the right size, all it did was strip the cheap Chinese metal because the little nipple wouldn't allow the star bit to seat properly. Grrr. I had to resort to McGyver tactics to get the screws out, and what was REALLY fortunate was that the regular phillips screws I removed from the old microwave fit perfectly. Life is good. What's even better was that I was able to wedge the slightly bigger microwave into the hole. Life is REALLY good.

 What could be more McGyver than an open air picnic table on concrete slab.

 The old microwave neatly settled in the new microwave's box, ready to be escorted to the recycle bin.

 Feeling pretty proud of myself, I await my Hunny Bunny for our game.

 It was all down hill for me after she won the cut. After five straight losses, I'm at a loss to see what wily cager technique she is using other than counting big hands every time. Grrrr.