Zedler's Mills, Luling

It was 76F today and you can actually see the green tinge starting ... We have been working most mornings on the 5th wheel, waxing, cleaning, etc. It's a lot easier to do than trying to stand in the dinghy and hang onto a boat!! We usually explore in the afternoons. Today we visited the Zedler's Mills, established in 1874. It was originally a gristmill and saw mill and later a cotton gin and power plant. There is a stone dam across the San Marcos River - the end of this part of the Texas Paddling trail.

These river barges go up and down the river but of course we hoofed it so that we didn't miss anything.

More views of the River Walk

Who's the handsome man walking along the river???

The River Walk

The River Walk or Paseo del Rio winds through the heart of San Antonio. We had a late lunch, early dinner at Casa Rio one of the outdoor patio restaurants along the water's edge, complete with cerveza - nice on Jan. 27 with the temp in the high 60's!

Remember the Alamo

Today we drove into San Antonio, the first of many trips I'm sure. We toured the Alamo with our friends Al and George who were wonderful guides. I was surprised to find the Alamo in the heart of the city. It was odd to step out of history into downtown!! More than 3 million people visit the Alamo each year.

Gonzales, Birthplace of Texas Freedom

Another old town with lots of history, Gonzales was settled in 1825 near the junction of the Guadalupe and San Marcos Rivers. The town was originally laid out with 7 public squares which are still in use today. The survey of the town was completed in 1832 and Gonzales is the only town in Texas that has retained its original Mexican survey. Gonzales rose from the ashes of the Texas revolution to become a mecca for ranchers and cattle barons who built cotton plantations and majestic homes, many of which are still standing today.

Above is a photo of the old jail, built in 1887 and in actual use until 1976 when a new jail was built.

This town looks like the original old west and how about that, the First Lockhart National Bank!!!

More of Lockhart

This is a photo of the Caldwell County Courthouse which stands in the town square in Lockhart. The building was originally completed in 1893 and has recently been completely restored. Court was in session so we couldn't take any interior photos but it is beautiful.

Lockhart, Texas

Yes, there really is a town named after us!!! Actually the town was named after a surveyor, Byrd Lockhart (no relation). In the 1800's Lockhart was a major northward converging point for the herds of cattle being driven along the Chisholm Trail. From Lockhart to Abilene was nearly 1000 miles - at only 10 miles per day it took three months to get the cattle to the railroad. The famous Texas barbecue of today originated on those cattle drives. Mesquite and oak wood was plentiful and those are the same kinds of woods used today to produce the mouth watering barbecue in which all Texans seem to take great pride. The towns of Lockhart and Luling fiercely compete for the best barbecue. We had barbecued prime rib in Lockhart and it was nothing like I've ever tasted - no sauce or spices just cooked over the mesquite coals - it was fantastic. We're hooked now and plan to sample all the local "pits" to make our own comparisons.

Granddaughter

For those of you who haven't heard about our granddaughter, Sienna Rae Gulevich, here she is at about 4 months. Isn't she just the cutest baby??? we sure miss her, she'll be crawling before we see her again.

Cold

Abby's wondering where the promised warm weather has gone. It's pretty chilly here today, only 40 F!!! Considering it's minus 20 something where we come from with 50 cm of new snow .... I better be grateful we are where we are. We had a visit today from old friends from our Mexican days, Al and George. They look the same, how can that possibly be???? They are now living in San Antonio so we're planning some get togethers.

Baking

This cardinal was just one of the lucky birds who enjoyed my first batch of molasses cookies. From my cruising days, I remembered that the flour here in the US has less gluten than Canadian flour. Since I couldn't find any Robin Hood I decided that self rising flour was just what I needed. Unfortunately I didn't read the directions until after the baking flop. The cookies were awful, which is understandable when you think that the batch had the equivalent of 9 tsp of baking powder and 4 tsp of salt with the self rising flour. The birds actually didn't seem to mind but I'm not sure if they suffered from indigestion afterwards. For my second attempt, I used regular Wal Mart all purpose flour and it worked just fine.

Shopping

We finally visited the outlet mall in San Marcos. WOW, 130 stores - San Marcos is rated 3rd in the world for shopping and apparently busloads of people come to shop and browse. It was pretty impressive. Can't say we found any great bargains - I guess if you are used to paying $1,021.00 for a sweater, then $398 is a pretty good buy .... We did however find some great buys at Marshalls and the 5th wheel is starting to feel like a cozy nest now even though Ray continues to growl about my "junk". Ray has a new camera so he's very preoccupied at the moment - it even has a remote control!! and I'm not going to comment any further on that.

Sightseeing

It's been chilly this week so we've been getting our shopping and some sightseeing out of the way in anticipation of warmer weather!! Despite the caption, we've decided against skydiving ...

Yikes, things are bigger in Texas

I can't believe it but it seems to be true - things are definitely bigger in Texas, get a look at this acorn.

The liquor store is unique, even has a drive up window for seniors (we qualify).

Luling

We bike into town most days - great exercise and lots to explore. Abby gets to hunt every day and she's discovered that standing on top of the hay bales offers a great view of field mice!! She sure is an enterprising creature, she will hunt almost anything from crabs to mice. There are two small cats here at the park and they play around the common buildings. Abby decided to chase them and had a great time putting them under a trailer in record time - great fun until one came out from under the trailer on his hind legs swinging with both arms and really put the run to Abby - she even had scratches on her butt. Very embarrassing to say the least and it happened way too fast for my camera. We mostly ignore them now.

The San Marcos river is very pretty, looking forward to canoeing on it. (above the damm of course, it's part of the Texas Paddling Trail)

Luling is a quaint little town, lots of neat shops and quiet streets. There are oil pumps all over and many are decorated. The one in the photo is in honor of the Watermelon Festival.

River Bend RV Park, Luling, TX

Here are a few photos of our "home base" for the next few months. The Cypress is only 32', 4' shorter than Sea Holly but sure seems like a lot more space - I still have empty cupboards!!

We're Here!!

Happy Birthday Ray, we're here, safe and sound, 2902km. Austin was really our only boo boo and that's because we couldn't decide which route to follow (Mapquest or Good Sam) so we ended up taking our own after a few moments of intense fellowship but we arrived without incident and I think our route was far less complicated. River Bend Park is exactly what we had hoped for, quiet and private. Our site backs on the San Marcos River (where we hope to do some canoeing) and we are well away from the crowd - don't even have to pull our curtains, the birds don't mind at all. The temperature was 22 C when we arrived at noon. Yeah, no more winter stuff (at least till we head home in April). We are actually in the little town of Luling, Texas (famous for it's barbeques and watermelon and still a few oil wells), about 20 miles from San Marcos; 30 miles from Austin and 40 miles from San Antonio so there should be lots to keep us busy for the next few months. Abby's loving this, lots of room to run free, no crabs to dig but she's making do with birds, cows, goats, a few horses and a llama (he's not too sure about her).

Texas

Texas at last!! not sorry to see the end of Arkansa. Some of the ranches we passed would make "Southfork" look like shantytown, WOW!! Had our first telephone call via On Star in the truck - we got a free subscription when we bought the truck - it's great. Stopped in Waco, TX for the night. Wal Marts here are stocking fertilizer, mulch, flowers!! We have almost everything unpacked now although the 5th wheel is still winterized and a shower would be sooooo nice. I think of the cruisers especially when the sun sets. Sundowners just aren't the same when you don't have company (but it's ok, we aren't doing without).

Sun

The sun is pretty bright!!! Check out the green grass. (Arkansa)