BBQ and Beaches
We spent our first night in Texas at the City park in Junction TX. You can camp for free for 3 nights. During this time of year they light up the park every night. All the camper kids got to stay out and play way after dark because of all the lights. It is nice to see towns doing things like this.We ran into another past camp neighbor from Zion NP, Jeff and his family. It is funny to see people a thousand miles from where you met them in a small town, without a plan.
After a long hot drive from New Mexico to Central Texas, Ruckus was very happy that a river ran through the park!
The next day we headed through the Hill Country to Austin. The Hill Country is nice rolling tree lined hills, which is something we had not seen for a couple of weeks coming across the Southwest. There is a German town called Fredericksburg that looked like a Christmas heaven. Then you pass through a ton of wineries and into the town of Dripping Springs. This town had more wineries, breweries, and distilleries than anyplace I have ever been.
We stayed in an RV park in Austin, right downtown so that we could walk to the great restaurants and explore the city. It is called the Pecan Grove RV Park. Very old school with big trees full of squirrels dropping pecans on you! We mostly stay away from cities as much as possible, but Austin just seemed like a place to explore. Like most other cities, it is surrounded for miles and miles with suburbs and traffic, but once you reach the city itself, it was clean and moved at a slower pace than most. This is also a very dog friendly city, Ruckus was welcomed EVERYPLACE. It was actually kind of strange.
The brisket at Terry Black’s was some of the best I have ever had, but the Beef Rib was way better!
When we went through the food line the cooks gave Ruckus his own rib bone so he could enjoy dinner with us.
Texas is not trying to erase its Confederate past. The statues still stand at the State Capitol as they should. They will be here for people to come see and reflect on the past.
Austin is a very walkable city. A river runs right through the middle with the big buildings on one side and a park strip and museums and theaters on the other. There are lots of art installations everywhere you go.
Ever since we left Alaska we have been “headed to the Gulf”. Well, here we are, Padre Sand National Seashore in Texas. This will be our campsite for the next two weeks. After that we will move a few miles and repeat.
Ruckus has found a nice routine. We walk one direction up the beach in the morning and the other direction in the afternoon. As we walk we throw the ball for him and after a couple of fetches, he goes for a dip to cool off. He has not gotten used to the nightly shower to rinse off the ocean before bed, he fights it with all he has.
From here you can walk 10s of miles in each direction. Most of the days have been mid 70s to mid80s. Today Mother Nature decided to turn on the air-conditioning to give us a break, 64 degrees cloudy and windy. Tomorrow it will go back to sunny and warm.
This is what is on the “TV” all day.
This beach faces the Gulf looking East so the sunrises are spectacular. That is one of our neighbors dancing to the sunrise. We have met some very nice people staying here. A fair amount of them come here for two weeks at Thanksgiving every year. Perhaps we will have to mark the calendar!