Travel day to Kerrville TX and German Dinner

Tuesday - Wednesday: November 7-8, 2012 

This was our site in Balmorhea TX.  Still desert.

We left Balmorhea TX around 10:00 for a 5 hour drive to Kerrville TX just outside of San Antonio TX.  This was a trip that took us back from the desert to real natural grass and trees, the kind that weren't planted.  The temperatures so far are the same just a tad more humid now.  It was really different to walk out of the RV on Wednesday Morning and smell fresh cut grass; it was like a summer day in the east.

The trip was the nice lazy type.  There was no wind and constant 75 – 80 degrees and no clouds.  The road was mostly flat and straight.   As the climate changed from desert to green the fuel prices also went down.  We now have diesel fuel well under $4 a gallon.  We filled up 200 miles from Kerrville for $3.89 a gallon.  In Kerrville we filled up again for $3.77 a gallon.  That is the cheapest fuel we have seen for 2 months.

A lot of nothing on the way.

Just starting to see some green now.

Cool hill.

We spent the first night watching the election returns.  It wasn't very exciting as it went about as I had expected.  But, I had hopes of a more exciting event with a different outcome.  Oh well, here we go again.

The Kerrville RV park is a rustic type place that we like.  It is right on the Guadalupe River and it has its own island for tent campers.  The trees are just now changing here to their fall colors which are something we thought we weren't going to see this year.  So Wednesday morning we took a walk over to the island and hiked the trails.  This area is right on the edge of the desert so there are still a lot of cactus mixed with cypress trees.  There were also a lot of red ant hills that weren't so great.

On the Island at the Kerrville RV Park.

RED ANTS!!

More color.

Still have lots of cactus.

View back at our site. We are in the center behind the white truck.

 

Guadalupe River.

Our site.

After the walk we went to get a propane tank filled and to wash the truck.  The town of Kerrville is very western in character.  Lots of non-chain BBQ restaurants with large smokers out front.  We didn't get to eat at one of these this time, maybe in Houston we will. Also, bars are mostly called saloons here.  We filled a 40 lbs propane tank for $16 here.  In California it cost $27 and in Phoenix it was $21.  The last time I filled one of the BBQ 20 lb in Oregon it was $18! The truck wash place had a hand held air dryer to use instead of the usual hand wiping we do.  We weren’t impressed with the hand dryer.  It was expensive and didn't do as good a job.  However it was a little bit easier than hand drying.

The camp host told us about the town of Fredericksburg a few miles away.  It is the hometown of Admiral Nimitz who was the commander of the Pacific fleet during WWII.  Fredericksburg has the only museum about the war in the Pacific.  I like WWII history but I am not much on the Pacific part of the war so we decided not to go, this time. 

Another interesting fact about Fredericksburg is that it was settled in the late 1800’s by German immigrants.  So the town has a very German feel to it and with lots of German restaurants.  Patty and I love German food so we just had to go and eat there.   

Fredericksburg is 25 miles north of Kerrville.  We got there just before 5:00 and were just going to walk around for a bit to take in the town.  To our surprise, this town is a go to town, a destination on its own.   The downtown has been largely preserved and is loaded with shops that sell unusual stuff along with South West and Texas items.  For example, there were clothing shops that sold items from various periods in time.  This is not costume stuff, nice and beautiful stuff!  Another small item but reader sunglasses that are styled  from the 60’s like Sinatra would wear.  Also many games both electronic and manual from the 50’s through the 70’s that are reproduction new.  The bad part was that most shops closed between 5 and 6 pm.  We really should have come at least 3 hours sooner.   If anybody is ever in the area, Fredericksburg is a great place to visit and it is just off of route 10.

We went to the restaurant Altdorf  and had a great German meal.  The food, service, and decor were excellent.  It was very comfortable evening at 70 degrees with low humidity.  It felt to us just like one of those perfect evenings in June back east. We ate outside in the Biergarten that had a dirt floor and barrel tables.  We both ordered the same thing which is usual for us.  We usually want the same thing but we choose to get different things, but not this time.  We got the Zweibel Schnitzel which is a fried breaded pork cutlet with onions, bacon, and brown gravy.  It also came with warm German potato salad, spiced noodles, and red cabbage.  It was so good!  It was a good thing we parked ¾ of a mile from the restaurant so we could walk off the food.

Fredericksburg has their Christmas lights up now.

The Altdorf Biergarten.

Tomorrow we travel to Houston TX.  I have an appointment to get the oil changed in the truck in Houston on Friday morning.  It’s real hard to believe we have driven the truck 5,000 miles from Salt Lake City where it was done last time.  We have been 8,000 miles since we left NJ in August!  In 2 weeks we will be in Florida and then we will only  travel with the rig 2 times in the next 6 months.  We will be in Fort Lauderdale for 4 months, then near Tampa for 2 months and then Disney World for about 10 days before we start to move back up north.

Stay tuned!