Today was just a great travel day. We had few hours on the road which gave us time to explore. Last night was a nightmare trying to get the blog posted. As I mentioned we had been in quite a storm and lost power for a while due to a lightning strike at the end of the driveway. The cell reception was all but non existent which made uploading photos a maddening task. Each photo took at the least two minutes to upload, and in internet time that is VERY long. Tonight I have a better signal so hopefully when I get to uploading it will go faster, but enough of my childish whining.
The Olive Ranch, 1200 dead trees from the February Freeze of 2021
Yesterday morning we woke up to 85 degrees and climbing, this morning it was 60 and felt like it was falling. We had a good early start and were out of the Olive Ranch by just past eight o’clock and headed straight into Austin, Texas’s State Capitol. What a beautiful city and it has many new building being constructed downtown.
Driving into Austin, following the GPS
Our son used to live here and he made a few suggestions. First up was a hike along the river. We found a great park, Zilker Metropolitan Park, which was a perfect place to take a hike. It had great parking for the Doodle and large fields for harper to play in and a very pretty trail along the river. We walked a little over two miles and only wished we had longer but there was still some miles to put under our wheels.
Happy travelers, Austin river walk
One of the other places that was recommended for the traveling Doodles was a BBQ place called Rudy’s BBQ - and it was in the same parking lot as a Shell station. I pumped diesel as Carol washed the windshield and all before having lunch. I then tried to maneuver around the tightest damned parking lot I have seen to date driving the Doodle. There was a lot of backing and forwarding, mixed with an appropriate amount of swearing, and a couple of misses by fractions of inches, but we never hit anything so it was all good. We parked in the back of Rudy’s where there was plenty of room.
Carol has windshield duty
We didn’t know what to expect, and got even more..of not knowing. So it was somewhere between a Subway and a Cafeteria. Beers and sodas were in a bid ice filled cooler and you ordered everything by the pound and it was priced by the pound…awesome. Carol and I each had a half pound of pulled pork, with a couple of sides. Cole slaw, potato salad and beans, Lunch was a fantastic experience. Thanks Jason.
Food by the pound
On the road again, fueled up we kept our eyes peeled for propane (fuel for cooking, fridge and generator) and found a place right on the roadside. We topped off and were rolling again. Our destination was Luckenbach. The smallest town in Texas, population 3, and a Mecca for music. Willie nelson among others and we found more than four stages. A couple of folks were performing and we had a local beer and listened, and I think even Harper enjoyed the music. We decided to keep rolling and cut an hour or so off of our day tomorrow. Using one of the many apps for just this sort of thing I found a campground right on the river in Junction Texas, just an hour or so down the road.
Nothing like live music in a cool place.
Carol spotted a sign for the LBJ Ranch State Park, 14 miles ahead. As we were heading for Junction. We had to stop and it was a beautiful Texas ranch and full of wild flowers, thanks you Lady Bird.
At the LBJ Ranch
After a while we moved on and arrived at the campground just after 5 pm. We got checked in and set up nearly on the bank of the river. We sat out and watched the flow of the water with wine and orange soda..you can figure out who had what. Harper played off leash right around the Doodle and we walked to the rivers edge several times where she waded in a bit just out of curiosity. Carol made a delicious supper, spaghetti and meat balls and lima beans, iced tea and a really yummy banana sundae that came from the local grocery store back in Louisiana.
Another great supper in the Doodle
So now Carol is reading and I am typing, the sun will be setting in a little while, it is 64 degrees outside and just the gentlest of winds is moving through the trees. Hopefully I can get this posted in the next half hour. Oh, and don’t expect a blog post for the next couple of days. We are heading to Big Bend tomorrow and from what we have been told cell service is pretty much non existent - so here we go again.
