11th Street Cowboy Bar; Bandara, TX

Tonight we went to Bandera and the 11th Street Cowboy Bar. You bring your own meat and grill it there, they supply the salad, tater & roll. Lots of Texans dancing & in between these youngsters danced too. Several more HitchHikers pulled in today & there must have been 20 or 24 of us at the Cowboy Bar. Bandera is the cowboy capitol of Texas.

Yesterday we stayed put. As you can see in the first picture it's not all play & no work! Mel had toilet problems and I had the part he needed so he replaced a broken cable. Dee is happy now. We gathered about 4pm for happy hour on the patio overlooking Johnson Creek.

Bluebonnets & BBQ

Twelve of us left at 11am for Llano for some sightseeing & go to Coopers for BBQ and then what's called the willow loop to check out the bluebonnets and scenery. We stopped along the way for the wildflowers and at Enchanted Rock. Coopers has some excellent BBQ, don't like their sauce but the pork tenderloin & sausage was great. After we were done I went back for more to take home. You can see the wildflowers and scenery pictures. We arrived home about 5:30, just in time for happy hour. One more HitchHiker pulled in while we were gone.

pre rally activities

Here's Judy at the entrance to the patio area of the campground with a shot of Johnson Creek behind us, very pretty. We liked it 4 years ago and still do. Several teenagers were jumping 30 off a cliff beside us 30 feet into the creek (11 feet deep) creek below.

Here we are eating again with the Guadalupe River in the background.

Here we are at a very good burger joint in Kerrville, Classics. Judy, Connie & Susan are working on a smart phone doing something.

Since we arrived on Thursday we have had time to visit with Stan & Connie. Stan is work camping here this winter , we were together last summer in New England and Canada. Ron & Roberta are also here, well their trailer is, they flew home for some family activities. We have washed the HitchHiker because we drove in the rain last week and we have gone out to eat a few times. The weather has been nice but a little on the hot side. Also arriving have been Jeff & Susan, Mel & Dee, Paul & Dottie plus two new to us couples. Every evening is happy hour.

Ingram, TX & Johnson Creek RV

We arrived at the rally site, Johnson Creek RV Resort, Thursday afternoon after a 170 mile ride from Bastrop. Driving over we drove through the area of the Bastrop brush fires of last year. We saw acres of burnt & dead trees and many foundations where houses use to be, including just fireplaces. There were many houses under construction too.

The last time we were at Johnson Creek we were towed in. The truck blew a turbo hose in January 2008 outside Kerrville and our home was towed here until the truck was repaired the following day. The park is in a pecan orchard & quite nice......no FEMA trailers here! Stan & Connie have been work camping here since December so we went to dinner with them. There are 26 HitchHikers coming in for the rally next week so we'll be seeing many of our RV friends.

Bastrop, TX

We weren't sure how much time we wanted to stay in Bastrop, 20 miles south east of Austin, as we have a few days of slop in our schedule. We drove through the rain so we'll have to have Jody & Renato stop over and help wash the truck & HitchHiker as they are both now quite dirty. After getting into the campground and we decided we'd only stay one night. For $15 we got to park next to a FEMA trailer. We did pass a field with acres of bluebonnets. It was quite overcast and hazy so you can't see how nice they really looked.

Livingston, TX......Escapees HQ

We left Kinder (with $85 of the casinos $$$) and arrived at the Escapees HQ park. We were here for several days in early 2008 when we had our rooftop satellite dish installed. This time we met up with Paul & Dottie so we went out for some good Mexican chow for dinner. They will leave in the morning. I wanted to stop here and have the rig weighted and get an insurance quote too. We'll get the quote today and tomorrow before we pull out we'll get weighed.

Couchatta Casino Kinder, LA & ants ants ants!!

HAPPY BIG 40 RANDY LAST FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, our fond memories of our first time in Abita Springs in November 2008 have not been repeated. Tuesday we did some running around, restocking food, refueling, lunch and checked out out best route our of here because of the low old live oak trees. Last time we broke a rooftop vent cover and we are now 2" taller due to the better suspension system. Wednesday, Thursday & Friday it rained rained & rained some more. Thunder & lightening made it exciting. One afternoon we had to take cover in the clubhouse due to a tornado warning. We just stayed put all the time, never even made it to Abita Springs Brewery for the tasting room! We wanted to leave Friday morning but it rained all Thursday night so it was too wet to depart. Friday afternoon the sun came out & started to dry things off. Saturday we made the 180 mile trip to a very nice CG at Couchatta Casino. After we set up we discovered a parting gift from Abita Springs.....ANTS, lots of em. Judy went bonkers between killing ants and cleaning from all the wet "stuff" we tracking in from the last stop. We have RV friends, Roger & Barb, who live 10 miles from here so they came down and we all went out for a nice supper then returned here to continue the visit. I have been busy insurance shopping as out truck went up 22% from last year and I haven't investigated insurance since we hit the road 5 years ago. The slide problems we had aren't causing any problems but I did make a service appointment in Chanute, KS May 29. It's on the way back to MI anyways. We always enjoy visiting there, RV friends show up all the time.
Today, Sunday, we will stay here as we'd like to spend some time, hopefully ONLY time, in the casino & enjoy the great weather. The park was pretty full when we arrived and we had to change sites as the first one was next to "partyville", kids, people, music, toys all over. Today LOTS folks are leaving , looks like locals come for the weekend with families & friends bringing lots of kids & golf carts and nifty little golf cart cars. Reminds me of when Jody & Randy were young & we went camping at state parks with Judy's family. Tomorrow we'll make the trip to Livingston, TX & the Escapee HQ park.