OK then….., after an eventful 3 days driving we are in, what we thought at first was fake, the German town of Fredericksburg, TX…….but it turns out it’s pretty real. Some of the first immigrant Germans, feeling opportunities would abound, made their way to TX in the early 1800’s where parcels of land had been granted to them. As the immigrants got settled on their various acreage and Fredericksburg grew, the travel by horse and wagon into town was often a long day’s ride. So those farmers built tiny little limestone houses in town called “Sunday” houses to stay overnight when they came in for church or business. There are many of these still inhabited and they are really charming!
There are things to do here! We spent 4 hours at the Pacific Wartime Museum, also known as the Nimitz Museum because Chester Nimitz was born as 4th generation here…..fascinating place with great exhibits. We’ve spent some time driving around the Texas Hill Country and tasting some pretty good wines. There are many wineries in this area of TX ….grapes grow well in the limestone hills where the stones are quarried for the many stone houses in this area.
A big treat not to miss is a short drive to Luckenbach. Some guy named Hondo Grouch, a humorist and real Hill Country character bought the old 1850 town (3 old wooden buildings) and turned the PO into a general store with a bar and jammin’ room in the back. We spent 2 hours, Texas Longhorn Beer in hand, listening to these old, and not-so-old, guys singin’ & pickin’ their original songs (see pix). Hondo’s good buddies, Willie & Waylon, spent a lot of time there after Hondo purchased the “town”, hence their world-renowned song “Luckenbach, Texas”.
Ah yes, the eventful drive……… First, the water pressure at the RV park in Las Cruces has a pressure of 150 psi (45 is about normal) so no way could we hook up for water so had to rely on the few drops in the tank which we forgot to fill before we left. Then next morning we leave (sans showers or anything else that requires water), get down the road about 30 miles, gas up and our tow car – my precious Jeep Wrangler X – comes loose! Fortunately, it made a clunk against the back of the RV and Peter saw it hanging out in the side mirror and, very luckily, we were not yet on the freeway. However, we did have to travel back to an RV dealer in Las Cruces who replaced the whole tow unit……fortunately on warranty…..a total 4 hour ordeal. We arrived in Fort Stockton 290 miles later to literally freezing temperatures. We waited until 9:30A the next morning to leave to avoid the icy roads then ended up 300 miles later in the above-mentioned Fredericksburg, the Texas Hill Country, also freezing and it was only 3:30 in the afternoon! We hustled, hooking up all the stuff outside in the freezing cold, while fortifying ourselves with quick swigs of Southern Comfort. We’re headed for Austin tomorrow (Saturday) and for 3 nights will take in all that good TX music….remember “Austin City Limits?”…..it’s still there!
More later……we feel like we’ve been out here for months already!!!
