Lake Medina

We arrived at the Thousand Trails Lake Medina on Friday, June 12, 2020.  The ranger indicated that there were not that many 50 amps sites at this park.  NOOOOOO!!!  I told her that we just really suffered with a 30 amp site at Columbus River and she went to see if she knew of one that was empty.  She came back to say that someone did just leave one.  If nobody claimed it yet we should go there first.  She felt sorry for me I guess. YIPPEE!!! It was free and we took it.  

It has this dilapidated old awning that is pretty disgusting.  Apparently this was once a full time site - there are also a couple of wooden deck areas.  But why would the park leave this awning up? 

What is that noise?  I hear this faint chirping sound.  I look under this worn out awning and there are two light fixtures.  One has a bird nest in it and 3 little bitties in there!!  I heard mom and dad replying to the chirping so I knew they were near.  I sat real still just outside the awning with my phone ready and finally they both came and fed the babies.  I didn't get a good shot of the daddy, but wow.  That was such a cool beginning to our time at Medina Lake.

 

The next morning I went out to check on our little friends and they were gone. 😭😭😭  I guess momma don't trust no stalker!!!

We got our bikes down and went for a ride around the park.  The hills are pretty extreme for this grandma, but we made it a couple of times around the park and the deer are just as abundant here as they are at the Colorado River Thousand Trails. The miniature golf course was full of them as were several of the camp sites.  You aren't supposed to feed the deer, but they do.  We also took off down a trail and it reminded me of paddling the Mangroves in Florida, we called this the Cedar Groves.

 

Above are in our campsite

 

These are around the lake campsites

 

Another thing similar to the Colorado River is that there is a large area here without sewer connections. Here is because the level of the lake may change and flood some of those sites.  Other non sewer sites are at a higher elevation, so not sure why they haven't gotten around to that. They do have a honey wagon come around if you need it (for a price $$$$), but most people have their own portable waste tank they hook to the back of their trucks and/or golf carts and take to the dump station.  We may look into one if the need arises in the future.  So far we have been pretty lucky.

We needed to have our front end aligned so we hit a Firestone on Saturday near San Antonio.  They said it would take about an hour, so we walked over to the Hobby Lobby across the street to get me some more yarn.  I had finished my first 'Market Bag' the other day and it is quite lovely, so I wanted more yarn to crochet more of those.  We got back to the Firestone and waited for an additional 3 hours. I kept looking and it was still on the rack.  The manager finally came over and apologized.  He said it was so out of alignment they were having trouble.  We had only had trouble with it for the last 2 or 3 days, so not sure what was going on.  Anyway, they finally get it finished and comped the job since it took so long to get it done.  WHAT??? How cool is that. 

So, by the time the truck is finished we are pretty hungry.  It is about 3pm and we hadn't had lunch.  We had planned on trying out this Peruvian food that was just a block away from the Firestone.  So we go down there and they are set up with tables blocking the entry.  I asked if they were only doing take-out and they said they were doing dine-in, but masks must be worn.  😏😏 Really?? How am I supposed to eat with a mask on?  She said, 'Oh, you can take if off when you food arrives.'  Well, we just asked ourselves to leave the premises.  If I can be there without a mask, then why do I need to wear a mask.

We found a Mediterranean place, Express Mediterranean, in the Hobby Lobby center so we went there.  The staff was wearing masks, but none of the guests were.  It was delicious!

We have seen more masks here than anywhere that we have traveled.  Come to find out the Bexar County Judge has ordered that we all wear masks in public. Apparently, San Antonio is quite the hot spot for Covid19.  Guess we better check things out better on our future travels.

On the way home we darn near hit a deer!  These winding, hilly roads are treacherous!! 

We decided to go see what all the fuss is about Fredericksburg and found ourselves in Bandera.  My friend Ellen loves Bandera.  It is a cute little town, but traffic is terrible down that main street.  There was a neat brewery just on the outskirts of Bandera, The Bandera Ale Project, with a winery, Hill Country Cellars, at the other end of the strip center.  How lucky are we????????  I highly recommend both!  The Chardonney at the winery is aged in stainless steel instead of oak barrels.  I had a glass and went back for a bottle.  Yeah, I know!  I am usually a red girl, but it was so hot!!! You could walk back and forth between the two as long as you used the front doors.  Where do they make these rules???  They had a shared beer garden in the back, but there was not much shade out there.  They need to work on that a bit.

So we took off to Fredericksburg and not everything was open, but most shops and tasting rooms were.  I really wanted German food, so we walked over to the Old German Bakery and Restaurant.  They had one table with guests and no one came out to greet us.  We stood there for a minute or so and decided to hit the big restaurant, the Auslander.  Glad we did.  It was delicious and the service was great.  

We sampled wines at the Perspective Cellars and Fiesta Winery.  At Perspective they have other peoples wine and it is housed in the old home that General Nimitz was born in.  They have several separate rooms set up as living room type spaces!  Loved this place.  So comfortable and eclectic!   Right up my ally.  I had a white blend that was to die for.  Wish I had written down the name.  They even had wine from Israel!  

Here we are in our living room on our couch!!!

We walked down to Fiesta Winery and they were only doing tastings at the bar, so we did a tasting and everything we chose was great.  Then when we were finished she packed up the glasses for us to take home.  What are we gonna do with those.  We ain't got room for another glass in this place!!!  Especially not a glass glass.

We went back to Bandera a couple of days later to really check the place out. Found out that all residents are required to smoke cigarettes.  At least that is how it seemed.  They even had this stuff for sell at the General Store:

As you can see they have bubble gum cigarettes, chocolate cigarettes 

and the old stand-by candy cigarettes.  

We had seen a really neat looking place called the Chicken Coop and decided to go there first.  The doors are all open, but you walk in and you are hit with a cloud of smoke.  They are only two occupied tables, but everyone at them is puffing away at the smokes.  I checked out the patio outside and it is hot without a breeze to be had.  I walked back in and Dennis said, 'What do you want?'  I just had to so no thanks and we left.  

The HUGE Cowboy Bar is around the corner so we tried that place out.  Guess what???  We walked into a large plume of smoke in a tiny little room with about 10 smokers at the only table.  We only had to walk through there to enter the amazing patio area. During their busy time it looks like they have 5 bars and two stages.  They had plenty of fans going outside so we had a couple of beers there and can't wait to go back in cooler times of the year.  I cannot believe I didn't take any pictures of this place because I was really impressed with it.

Found out that one of my besties, Kristal Voth, was gonna be at Fredericksburg on the weekend, so we planned to get together.  Come to find out, her group had rented a bus to do some wineries, but one couple did not show up.  So we crashed the party.  We went to Luckenbach, and it was hoppin'!  

 

This salsa is pretty good.  A little on the spicy side!

If there was one motorcycle there, I would swear there were 200!  After we left we tried to go to one winery, but because there was 13 of us, they would not let us in, so we moved on to another and had a couple of beverages there.  The driver left us in Fredericksburg and we found another drinking establishment called Der Daiwel.  It was an interesting place!  By then I needed some food. So I got me some more German deliciousness at the Silver Creek Beer Garden and Grille restaurant.  They had a great front patio and we ate there since it had cooled off so much during the evening. All in all a great day with my friends!

Time goes on and Dennis decides to redo his rack for our bikes and kayaks and while he is doing that we get a new neighbor moving in.  It is pretty funny watching people make camp.  They are all different.  This guy did not rely on his wife for any instruction whatsoever.  She stood aside and he backed up, got out to check it all out.  Pulled out and backed up again . . .  Over and over until he got it precisely where he wanted it. When he let her know he was finished he told her he had to make sure her car could also fit in the spot and I guess that is because he doesn't disconnect from the RV.  But that is not the funny part.

 

He put out traffic cones and a caution sign.  There is even an orange painted 4X4 with a post and reflector on it.  He must have been a safety guy in his former life!!!

We talked to them and they are very nice people.  I am sure they have some inside joke about the safety stuff.  They are from Florida and sold everything just like me and so many of my friends.  Traveling and seeing the country while they are still young and can!

Another GREAT thing, we got to meet up with Greg and Ruth Lynd!!! And I did not get a picture!  They were here seeing her sister and mother before their big take off to see the country.  We were talking and decided to meet at The Four Way Bar and Grill - we are both staying in Lake Hills - Imagine that!!  Ruth wasn't sure what time they'd make it, so I told her we'd just go ahead and for them to take their time.  We are on our second cup of coffee and Dennis said.  It sure is taking them a long time.  It was THEN that I noticed the menu said La Cabana Cafe!!!!  We were at the wrong restaurant.  Dennis was outside with his GPS trying to see how we could be in the wrong place and I asked the waitress if this was also called The Four Way and she started laughing.  NOPE!  I told her I needed to pay for this coffee and she laughed and said not to worry about it.  So we hightailed it out of there and 1/4 mile down the road was out real meeting place!!!  They were getting their breakfast when we got there - LOL!!!!  We got our breakfast and enjoyed the visit.  It wasn't crowded, so we were not in a rush.  The Four Way was actually recommended to us by one of our neighbors in the Columbus River Thousand Trails.  Great breakfast and great getting to see our friends! We are hoping to find each other again along the way.  

We have another week and a half here in Lake Hills before we head out to see more family in Abilene, but since we have decided not to visit the San Antonio Riverwalk, we may just rebuild our toy rack and enjoy the wildlife and the lake until we pull out on July 1.  

All in all this has been another great leg of the trip!

Until next time . . . 

Columbus, Texas

We arrived at Thousand Trails Colorado River precisely at check-in time on Friday, June 5, 2020.

When we checked with the Ranger said they had no 50 amp RV slips available.  This park has 138 sites, but apparently many of the 50 amp sites are out of commission.  We resorted to a 30 amp site and determined it would not be too uncomfortable to run one A/C unit at a time.  They offered to put us on a list when a 50 amp came available.

So we got all set up in our 30 amp site and went inside to get a bite to eat. 

 

It was pretty hot outside and the RV just wasn’t cooling down much at all.  At 10:00 pm Dennis was sitting in his underwear in the recliner sweating.  Poor guy :(.  I don’t really sweat much, but I was pretty miserable too.

When we went to bed that A/C did keep up pretty well in the smaller area of the bedroom. So we slept pretty good.

We decided not to cook breakfast inside because we didn’t want to heat the place up too much.  So we went outside and cooked breakfast.  That was pretty uncomfortable too.  It is just hot here right now. But we made it through.

The ranger called on Saturday and said that a 50 amp site across the road from us would become available and we said we’d take it.  But on Monday, we saw no evidence these guys were pulling out, so I stopped a ranger and asked about it and she said, ‘No, they aren't leaving today.’  She had no explanation and I even asked if they had mistakenly given the wrong site number and she said no. So I guess we dreamed that phone call then!

So this is what we have in the evening on Monday. We have still been cooking outside, so as not to heat the place up.

 

There is no outside temperature because we drove off a couple of times and left the outside thermometer velcroed to the RV so we haven’t replaced that again to get an accurate outdoor temperature.  Funny, one time we found it in the back of the truck so we didn’t loose it that time. Actually, another time we hung it upside down and it filled up with water and it no worky after that!!! Anyway, we just gave up buying any more replacements.

We road our bikes around to see the boat ramp and check out the status of the 50 amps and there is a lot of permanent residence in the really nice area of this park.  We counted about 27-30% of the spots taken by full timers.  And those are pretty much all 50 amp sites and beautifully shaded.  Combine that with the whole row of out of commission 50 amp sites and no wonder they don’t have any available. This place also has a lot of non-sewer sites.  I asked why those had not been upgraded and they said they are waiting on approval and funding.  I may have to find out how all this works and become a squeaky wheel.

We get back to the RV and meet our neighbor, Jerry.  Jerry is a retired fishing guide.  He is an old country boy and a joy to be around.  He and his wife were full time travelers for 11 years.  Then she was ready to give it up.  He put her into one of the Reserve vacation homes in the Conroe Thousand Trails and bought a cab over for his pick up and continued on.  Within about 30 minutes of meeting him he is over at our site asking if we would test drive a recipe of catfish enchiladas he made.  OMG! They were restaurant quality enchiladas. He made the enchilada sauce and everything from scratch. They were too good.  The following day he popped over and asked if we wanted some fish.  He pulled out an enormous catfish and filleted it up for us.  That is easily 4 meals for us!  What a nice guy.

The days really are starting to get hot and the only way we can stand to be outside is when the breeze is blowing and we are on the back side of our RV.  The front is just unbearable.  This heat is really something.  The news said it was record breaking, I don’t know about that, but it is bad.  We have been cooped up for 3 days inside this RV and I feel like I am going stir crazy. In the late afternoon we sit over behind the RV and talk to Jerry since we cannot enjoy our own porch.

As usual the deer are everywhere here in Columbus.  I even got a shot of a mother nursing her fawn in the field.  We are in a pretty crowded area of the preserve so they don’t just walk through our site like they have before, but they are walking all around us.

 

Some other pretty wildlife.  The birds don’t think it is too hot at all.  They are loud and proud.

There is some kind of moss in these trees too.  Not sure what that is, but has to be related to Spanish Moss.

Things are finally starting to cool off around her and we got out of the house for a while on Wednesday.  We went to eat breakfast at Schobels Restaurant and headed into downtown Columbus to browse the junk shops and see what is going on.  It is a really cute old town - Courthouse on the square place.  We were walking around the Courthouse and looking up the relatively new sidewalk and noticed that the flag pole and the street lamp are not centered with the building, but centered with the new sidewalk.  What the heck?  Who made that call?  At first glance I could tell it was off, but took me a second to notice why.  The sidewalk on the right goes to the outer windows and the sidewalk on the left goes to the next one in.  I just cannot believe they let that fly!!!!

Some more beautiful old buildings on the square.

 

Anyway, we will be pulling out tomorrow and heading for Lake Medina.  We plan to check out a lot while we are there, weather / heat permitting.  We will make our first ever trip to Fredericksburg, check out San Antonio, and maybe even make a trip over to San Marcos. I haven't been to Natural Bridge Taverns since the kids were little. We are planning to be there for three weeks, but if we really like Fredericksburg we will move over there for a bit.

Our time at Lake Conroe - The Photo Edition

We have enjoyed our family so much during this leg of our journey.

 

We have played games with my parents and enjoyed eating out with them.  

  

We went to a brewery with my son, Joe, in Magnolia, The Lone Pint.  

 

Spent time playing games at his house on another day. with my daughter and her kids too. (Poor thing is always working) 

 

 

 

Helped my daughter, Jenna, with her 1000 piece puzzle that was so darned hard.  

Got to visit with four separate nephews, Jonathan, Austin, Dallas (and his step daughter, Ariana) and Mitchell. It was fun just getting to go over and drop in on my family.  It has been a very long time since that was possible.

 

  

My nephew, Mitchell Morris, moved back to Texas from New York City.  He is an instructor at the Aveda Institute (that means he is a hairstylist) so I scored a new short cut from him and had a great visit.  So glad he is back in Texas.

Of course we kayaked on Lake Conroe, but we didn't bring our phones.  Conroe can be a very rough lake, so you never know - I coulda lost my new phone!

We biked around a few times, but the roads here are simply awful.  My wine would just spill out of my cup holder the whole time!

Wednesday, May 20, was Dennis’ birthday.  We had to be in Beaumont, so we met up with my friend, Donna Hevia, for lunch at Jason's Deli.  I am sure Dennis had a great birthday lunch with us.  He even bought me a new phone for his birthday, a Samsung S20. The camera is 108 megapixels.  Hopefully my pictures will start to reflect this great camera.  It has taken some getting used to, but I am sure I will figure it out.  Now I just need to find a smart watch to go with it.  

We got back to the Houston area and Jenna had made her daddy a birthday cake!  So we stopped and visited with them for a while.  So glad someone did something for him on his birthday - he is so mistreated.  LOL. 

 

 

This was before Mitchell cut Hunter's hair. I think he needed one! Whatcha think?

We found a farmers market in Huntsville and scored some green tomatoes, They were amazing.

We had new shocks put on the truck and they had this beauty on display.

I FINALLY got my much needed pedicure.  She did a great job!

 

We finally got to go see my little brother, Rex.  He is a paramedic and works quite a bit.  He has a beautiful home in a new neighborhood near the lake. The view when you enter his hood is remarkable.  I hope this picture does it justice.

A few years ago Rex starting making wooden gun cases and some other wall hangings and things.  He does a magnificent job.  His garage is his workshop - NO CARS GET IN THERE.  And since they bought their new home, his wife, Della, needed a bigger dining table.  So he made this one!!! (That is Madison at The Table doing her homework. She is studying to be a paramedic like Rex is 😁)  He said he gets ideas off Pinterest.  What?

I knew he was good, but wow!  He may even make chairs to go with it.

 

This is my talented little brother!!!

This is his wife.  She is protecting me from their cat (I am allergic).  Funny how all cats seem to love me.  They are mean!  I bet they sense that I am allergic and want to see me get all puffed up.

 

COVID 19

As far as the virus goes, they have opened the pool at the RV Park, but limit each two hour session to 25 people and they close for thirty minutes to sanitize and reopen for the next shift.  The last shift ends at 4:30 PM.  The lake, and the beach they have here on the lake, is open, so families have been taking their canopies down there and spending the day playing in the water. The playgrounds and community center are closed, but they have basketballs as well as tennis and pickle ball equipment out on the courts so you can still play those.  They also have miniature golf here, I haven't seen anyone playing, so I don't know if they have they equipment out or not.

They are not letting anyone in for day use, so our family was never able to come out to visit us, like we had hoped.  But our neighbor who lives here had his son into the park.  I guess he probably has a pass, since he sometimes stays here too.  But they cooked boiled shrimp one afternoon and brought us a huge bowl with corn, potatoes, carrots (never had that but it was really good - I may even like it better than mushrooms) and pods of garlic.  Took us 3 days to finish it off!  So nice of them!!!

We have had several rainy days.  Grateful we only had one with bad wind.  We had to get out in it to take down the lights and shades and roll up the awning.  Probably funny to the other people in the park.  Not so funny to us - 😕

Rainy days are the ones that the community center are usually pretty handy.  People would gather and play games / cards or even just to visit.  They have actually still been doing that in the outdoor area of the activity center, but don't tell anybody, okay?

We haven't had any trouble getting into the restaurants we wanted to since they have begun allowing fifty percent capacity in Texas.  We really scored when we went out with Dallas and Ariana!  Ariana wanted seafood, so we went to The Catch. They were serving free alcohol with your meal!  They even had refills.  WHAT!!!!

We will be pulling out tomorrow a little before noon and heading out to Columbus and spend time on the Colorado River.  We have been there many times so we will likely not do any sightseeing there, but hope we can find a place to kayak the river.  I will keep you posted.

HOPE YOU ARE ALL WELL.  WE MISS OUR FRIENDS AND WILL TRY TO PLAN A GATHERING WHEN WE GET TO YOUR AREA AGAIN.