Don't let our greasy fingers (And even greasier faces) fool you, we were the models of perfect restraint. First of all, after the Cager whipped me, we set a new distance on the bike (15 Texas Hill Country miles). Stumpy said she even pushed up the steepest hill using BOTH knees. It was a nice ride out toward the Enchanted Rocks. Texas drivers, used to bikers or just plain polite, gave us as much room as they could. Most pulled over into the oncoming lane making sure not to wash us with their wake. This felt good, not only because of their courtesy, but also because the road we were riding had no shoulder. The white line painted the edge of the road, and ditching in the Texas Hill Country would cause scrapes, if not bruises, bumps, and breaks. The country is rugged, and not the least of its character is the sharpness (And hardness) of the rocks. It was near lunch time when we headed back toward the trailer. We stopped at one cafe in town (A healthy granola type place). It looked good, but we both decided that since we're in Texas, we should eat like Texans and headed straight for Cranky Frank's BBQ Company. This is where the restraint came in. We shared one brisket plate instead of slurping down one each. Then, as we drove away, we both wanted desperately to turn right around and have another plate. Stumpy even moaned, "Don't ask me again." After lunch, it was laundry time and a short trip to the Evil Empire (Wall-Mart) to buy a printer so we could send our lost tax information back home. We're still hoping the package our son, Steve, sent in the mail will return home someday. But no worries, thanks to the internet nothing is lost. All we had to do is download and print. After that bit of business, we went down town to buy some famous peach jam (An area specialty). I'm not sure why we bought the jam because Judy says she's not going to bake any more Semel and that we're trying to avoid bread, but sometimes our restraint does abate so there's always hope. We took a stroll up and down the main street of Fredericksburg just for the tourist obligation. On the way we saw a fabulous trio of young musicians playing on the corner. We listened in a haze of pleasant bliss for a little while. It amazes and saddens me that I can find great music just standing on the corner in Texas, but in Spokane I need my I-pod and ear buds to hear anything. In this part of the world, musicians grow like Texas bluebonnets in the spring. In fact, this week kicks off a music festival in Austin. I wish we were going. Instead, we're off to Victoria on our last leg of time gaining driving. We'll just have to come back to Austin another time. Victoria, from what we're read, has a nice historical district filled with cool turn of the century architecture. It's part of what we like about touring. We hope to stay over night in the city park, which has eighteen first come first serve sites. Thursday we're off to Galveston where we'll spend four days before driving north through the "piney woods". We can't wait, but then again, we like "right now" and right now life is good, especially today.
At the crest of the first hill. That's Fredericksburg in the distance.
Fredericksburg is filled with quaint structures called Sunday houses. The ranchers kept small houses in town. They would come in every Saturday to buy supplies and whoop it up. On Sunday, they would go to church. Monday it was back to the ranch for another work week.
I hope you can make out the imbedded wooden beams covered with stucco. Very cool.
A family ford wagon reduced to billboard status.
This is the place that was serving the whole grain bread and bean sprouts.
This is where we ate.
This is an example of our restraint. The brisket was simply fabulous. Lick. Lick.
Adding a wireless printer is like rocket science, but fortunately we were successful.
This cute little '63 Airstream Bambi rolled in right across from us.
Energetic, eclectic, enterprising, and quite entertaining.
Judy couldn't stand it. We had to return to rabbit food for dinner. Quite cleansing:)
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