Thurs-Fri March 6-7 2014 - Admin / Austin Bones and Bats

Thurs-Fri March 6-7 2014 - Admin / Austin Bones and Bats

Admin day for us while Tiina, Mychael and Breila went to San Antonio. They had a great day. We managed to plan our way back to Ontario…mileage and camps and timing. Target to arrive in Niagara Falls on April 9th traveling weather permitting. Other admin stuff and blog caught up and we are ready to go.

Fri Mar 7^th  Downtown Austin

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Kind of sad to see

Very kind of sad

Not how we want to see them.. roll on May Safari

Lazy morning then out to visit The Corner Store i North Austin…. a rarity of retail. In fact we have categorically NEVER seen anything quite like it. Taxidermy-ed animals, lions, giraffe, bison, fox, snakes... in fact hundreds and hundreds of breeds and a massive collection of animal skulls and bones. Breila bought an armadillo (a real one stuffed!!!) and she also bought some earrings made from the rattle end of a rattle snake and they really do rattle!!

Thousand of Antlers for sale

These are well preserved, but still .......!!!

The 'Corner Store" .."skulls anyone??"

We carefully put the armadillo in the back of the truck and set off to downtown Austin, all chirping merrily about what to name the armadillo... which we voted unanimously was a female. We went straight to Capital Cruises bat tour on the Ladybird Lake. We were early so enjoyed a drink in the Hyatt patio on the banks of the river. After boarding the 'bat mo-boat" we cruised around until dusk and were given a bit of a tour of the Austin skyline. We then saw the bats emerge from under the Congress St bridge. Not a huge display as its too cold and the females have not yet had their babes.. but impressive nevertheless. There are an estimated 750,000 pregnant bats under the bridge and when they all give birth in a month or so and the babies mature enough to venture out, then 1.5 million bats emerging would be quite a sight. There are no males in the colony... they are in Mexico sipping tequila... go figure.  

We (and Tiina) then walked up Congress St. (Mychael and Breila took a pedi-cab). We had a fine dinner at Manuel's and then walked over to Sixth St where the road was blocked off for the duration of an annual film/music festival called South by South West or SXSW. The street was full of party goers and the scene was in full swing. The whole street teemed with bars, and it seemed every bar had a live band. We wandered around and soaked it all up for a couple of hours, fascinated by the crowd, the music and the atmosphere.. electrifying to say the least.

Neat carriage on Congress St

Graffiti ... forgot the story!!

Janice's Batty husband

Mychael about to take off

Crowd in 6th St for SXSW

Cat video in window (it was a 2 story cat)

Bar on 6th St... Photo taken from outside

Wed Mar 5 - LBJ Ranch / Fredericksburg / Salt Lick BBQ

Wed Mar 5 - LBJ Ranch / Fredericksburg / Salt Lick BBQ

Great day sightseeing. Five of us left late morning and we stopped for a photo-op at a bridge over the Padernales to, once again, show in photo form the extent of the drought conditions here in this part of Texas. Docks are now on land instead of water and litter the banks of the water-starved river.

After the photo-op we headed straight for the LBJ Ranch in Stonewall, Tx. Breila and Mychael wanted to see Longhorn cattle, so we did a drive around until we spotted some. They were across a field, but we stopped for a few photos before continuing the drive around the ranch. Derek and I will be coming back to spend more time here in the next week or so, and will describe it in more detail then. We bought the CD driving guide which helped us appreciate the history and feel for the ranch. What a place to have called home.  

LBJ And individual ID # carved into horns!!!

Longhorns at LBJ Ranch

Peek a boo--- 2 week old Hereford and Mom!

Weights on Bull's horn to train them to grow  down

3 Musketeers at Beckers Winery

Leaving LBJ Ranch we headed directly into Fredericksburg, a small town somewhat like a Texan version of Niagara-on-the-lake but instead of artsy stores, there are cowboy hat stores, hot sauce stores and Texan style gift shops. A sign that has a map of Texas, a gun, and the words "we don't call 911"... and they mean it!!! LOL!! Don't mess with Texans!!!  I must mention here that most Texans we meet are extremely patriotic, extremely friendly and just great people. We had lunch in Fredericksburg and then walked around town. Derek and I picked up some spices and Tiina, Michael and Breila picked up a few souvenirs before we headed out of town, stopping at the pecan store (new crop) and then on to the Becker Winery for a tasting .. note to self ... great spot for a packed picnic lunch and glass of wine!  Slow drive to the Salt Lick BBQ in Driftwood for dinner. This place is unique. It is a truly original Texas BBQ. It is out in the middle of nowhere and is a huge BBQ restaurant/picnic area etc etc ... The specialties are smoked beef and pork ribs, sausage, chicken and brisket.. and they serve massive portions. According to the guy manning the huge round 6foot diameter BBQ grill (with oak burning fire underneath), they go through about 3000lbs of brisket alone on a Saturday night and at least 1000lbs on a week-night. You can bring your own drinks (BYOB) and we took in a cooler with beer and wine to enjoy with our meal. This place is hard to describe. While the food is copious, do not expect gourmet, just plain, good BBQ food and lots of it. We each took enough home for another meal tomorrow! Over stuffed, we headed back to the RV park for a night cap and chat before heading for an early night.

Fueled by a fire of Oak wood

Two Pork ribs - Mychaels 3rd helping

Meat lovers paradise- Salt Lick BBQ

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Beef Rib dinner ... YUM!!!

One of several dining areas. 'Texas Atmospheric!'

Sun Mar 2-Tues Mar 4- Austin and Mardi-Gras

Sun Mar 2-Tues Mar 4- Austin and Mardi-Gras
On Sunday we stayed at the RV park as it was pouring with rain. Mychael and Breila decided that they would like to go to a shooting range... because they could. Here in Texas you can rent an AK47 or a hand gun or a rifle for as long as you like with live ammo and shoot away in an indoor range. No background checks... no age limits etc. Tiina took them there and they had a great time, although it can get a little expensive after you rent the guns, the shooting lane and buy the ammunition. (somewhere close to $100 for two people for an hour). Derek and I stayed at the 'condo' and cooked up a couple of large shepherd's pies for everyone and they came over for supper when they got back from shooting. Derek and Mychael jammed a bit on the guitar and we had a lovely visit with them. It is so nice to have friends here to stay. Just wish the weather would cooperate, but it looks like it will be colder than usual for the next few days. 
 

The gang at Stubb's BBQ

A bar, and a bar, and a bar, and a bar, and a bar!

On Monday, we all took off in the truck to investigate the city of Austin. Breila and Mychael like 'weird' things so they went to a 'weird things' museum and then we all went to some eclectic stores in the downtown area and in the South Congress area. We had wanted see the bats fly out from the congress bridge at dusk (you can see this phenomenon on you-tube), but it is too cold for them to come out, so we will have to come back another day later this week to see them. Lunch was at Stubbs BBQ downtown It is a famous BBQ, and was good, but not as good as others we have been to. After some shopping and searching for a 'taxi-dermied' Armadillo, that Briela wants to acquire (we did find one but it was a bit pricey, so we left it in the store), we had a quick drink before heading back to the RV park. Derek and I watched '12 years a slave' and thought it was excellent. (should have won more awards at the Oscars!!!)

Changeable weather - so I'll wear shorts and sheepskin jacket!! 

Armadillos don't come cheap... but they are kind cute!!

Allen's Boots where they sell.... uhhh...!!!!

BIG cacti and old truck!

Tuesday Freezing overnight, no mains water available, but our on-board tank is full. Our friends went out for the afternoon to some caverns on the road toward San Antonio.  It was a day for Derek and Janice to catch up on admin and then join in the Mardi-Gras Parade. We rode on the large wagon, which also held a small live band. Others rode golfcarts, walked the route with their dogs, or rode their bikes.. of course all decorated in Mardi-Gras colours of Yellow, Purple and Green. We toured the RV park  jamming to the music and throwing beads out to all and sundry along the way... including a few dogs, much to their surprise and delight. The parade was followed by drinks, snacks and music in the pavilion. We stayed for a while and then headed back to the RV to do some computer research and emails etc. 

Handle on the condo!! - Staying in today!!!

Table cloth froze solid! (on the patio)

YeeHaa!! Mardi Gras!!!

Mardi-Gras Cakes

Sat Mar 1 Visitors arrive and Olympics

Sat Mar 1  Visitors arrive and Olympics

Silver Medal in the Making

The back wheels are multi-directional - tough!

AND THE GOLD GOES TO...!!!

Posing with the Gold Medal

"Okay Left, NO right, NOOO left, oh S--T"

Our visitors (Tiina, Mychael and Breila) arrived on Saturday just after noon and they were very tired after a long day traveling. A beautiful day here in Texas, sunny and warm. It happened to be the day for the Hacienda RV park Olympics and Lasagna dinner, so while our friends rested and took a quick trip to a local store, Derek and Janice entered the Olympics ... 4 events .. golf cart (with the driver blindfold), pin the tail on the 'cat', a weird little bike course and beanbag toss). Now you may think that the golf cart thing sounds scary.... it is!!! The driver has to maneuver the golf-cart through a bunch of orange cones, receiving verbal instructions from the passenger. It was hilarious to watch... people screaming at each other ... "Left!!!  I said LEFT!!!!" etc. One couple drove right into a bunch of (empty) chairs and into a tree.. one husband jumped out of the cart waving his arms in defeat leaving his confused blindfolded wife in the drivers seat heading for a field. Derek and I did very well both times (we took turns at driving and just missed the medals)... HOWEVER... it was a Canadian sweep in the 'Pin the Tail on the donkey' (which was actually 'stick a star on the cat's nose'). Derek and Janice stole the podium winning gold and silver medals respectively. What a proud moment!! Derek was ace at the little bike thingy, but Janice couldn't do that one (arm too fragile)... and we were pretty rubbish in the beanbag toss. After the games were officially closed and the flame extinguished, we enjoyed a fabulous homemade lasagna dinner... each serving was enough for 3 people, but we were hungry after the exertion of Olympic stick-the-star-on-the-cat's-nose. Much music and dancing after the medal ceremony. All in all,  a fun day. Tiina popped by during the music, but they were all heading for an early night after their long day.  

Mon Feb 24 - Friday Feb 28 - Hanging out/golf/prep for visitors

Mon Feb 24 - Fri Feb 28 - Hanging out/golf/prep for visitors

Lakeway Marina... see the original water line!!

One of the things that I am told is, when writing a blog, it is better to say nothing than blog about the mundane happenings that inevitably form part of life 'on the road'. So I will try to avoid details of laundry and such except in dire circumstances... the Brisket we cooked in the crock-pot on the previous night turned out to be delicious, though somewhat salty... we puzzled about how that could be... when we never add salt to any cooking... until we took a trip back to Costco later in the week to discover it was actually 'corned beef brisket'... brined !!! Note  to self and others... beware of brisket that is brined... delicious but SO salty. 

Going going Gone!!!! ALMOST!!

Monday we headed out to explore Lakeway and the Marina. We were really shocked to see just how low Lake Travis is (not really a lake.. just a dammed area of the Colorado River.) It is 51 feet below its normal. A woman at the marina said that the last time it was at 'normal' was in 2009. 

Used to be a prime lakefront property!!!

The photos here are an attempt to demonstrate how desperate the situation is here. The Marina and Bar we went to last year in Hudson Bend (Carlos and Charlies) has recently closed for good... such a shame.

Not much marine traffic these days

The following day Derek was lucky enough to get another golf game in. He was thrilled with his game... he felt he played one of his best games ever. Today was 'Happy birthday' to Janice's brother, who she was able to talk to by phone... good to catch up with family. Janice was also invited lunch with about 20 other women from the resort.. went to The Black Walnut... nice cafe-style restaurant.. great salads and everyone had a great time. Wednesday it was back to physiotherapy at Texas orthopedics... my range of motion has improved, but still lots of pain and no ability to put any pressure on the hand or wrist. But baby steps are good! We also did another quick trip to Costco for supplies for visitors etc.  Thursday was clean-up and laundry... not a good blog topic, except we rented a carpet cleaner from 'Wallymart'... and after our carpet was soaked through we realized that it was leaking from the bottom as Derek was cleaning.. so we have a soaked carpet, but quite a clean one... it'll be nice when we can walk on it again!!!!! LOL.  Friday we finished our cleaning and went out and got supplies for the cabin we have rented for visitors. We got the key in the late afternoon and got stuff into the fridge etc. The cabin is nice, but much smaller than we expected in the main area, a result of having a queen bedroom at each end... Still it has everything anyone will need and I think it will be comfortable.

Imagine when it was at 'normal levels'... so sad...!!  They really need water here!

BLOG DELAY EXPLAINED - LIFE HAPPENS

Following this post will be some updates of a more regular kind, including photos and travel descriptions. But first I think it appropriate to explain my absence from the blogging world for the last 2 months.

Unbeknownst to me, life had some stuff in store for us over the Christmas holidays that we least expected. As a result the blog became stuffed into the back crevices of my mind and focus switched abruptly to dealing with life ‘writ large’.

It all started happily enough and truly, until New Years Eve, all was ticking along merrily. We left South Carolina, on Dec 10th excited about spending a month in Niagara on the Lake and then continuing our journey on Jan 11. The plan then was to take our time time getting to Texas, travelling through Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, stopping to explore various cities and sites along the way. The upshot is we left Niagara on the Lake on Feb 3^rd, raced down to pick up the rig in South Carolina on Feb 4^th and then had a marathon drive through South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, with short stops for quick sleeps and one 2 hour stop to visit an interpretive centre on the Montgomery-Selma Freedom highway.  I will now explain the reasons.

On Dec 31, while Derek was planning to go and pick up some new specs, I thought I would walk into the village of Niagara on the Lake for a bit of retail therapy (as if Christmas hadn’t been enough!!). As I walked along, a piece of ice, unseen through a light covering of snow, caused me to accomplish an unplanned Olympic-style double back flip, but I didn’t quite stick the landing.  Instinctively I furtively looked around for unwanted witnesses. Phew, not a soul in sight.  I am unsure to this day how I managed to stand up and 'try' to sweep myself of snow., when I realized that my arm was not co-operating, and my mouth was twisted in an agonized yelp… a quick stagger home to our rented cottage and a painful, but swift drive to the hospital (thank goodness Derek hadn’t left the cottage yet!). The upshot was a break in both the ulna and radius near the wrist, which were displaced, so they knocked me out and re-aligned the bones. … OUCH!! Cast from fingers to elbow. Travel plans in danger… I was not a happy camper to say the least. Especially as Santa had bought me new golf clubs!!!!

Life was not finished with me yet however. A few days later, a call came in from my doctor. Some routine skin tests that I had not been in the least concerned about, and which I thought frankly to be unnecessary at the time had revealed that I was now going to have to deal with a malignant melanoma on my neck. Sometimes things actually do happen to you that you think only happen to others, and quite frankly it sucks!!

It is amazing how, and I know many of you will have already have experienced this, one’s philosophy on life changes when cancer decides to take ride on your body. I am fortunate. This malignancy had not spread, as far as they could tell, and local surgery later that same week appears to have removed it all.

It is only recently, and since arriving in Texas, that I have fully digested what happened and, quite frankly it is scary. I would like to take a moment to encourage all of you reading this to go to your doctor if you have any marks on your skin that are new, or changed in any way, don’t hesitate. While many skin cancers do not spread readily, malignant melanoma is the worst kind, and is very aggressive.  It spreads easily and quickly. So please take my advice… don’t delay!!!!

Now back to the arm… one of the unfortunate realities is that, along with such a bad break, one has to deal with damaged and torn ligaments in the hand and wrist, so driving is out of the question. I am now over six weeks in and the pain is still impressive, but far improved. After 4 weeks in the cast we explained to the surgeon that we were hoping to get back to our ‘condo’ in South Carolina, so he agreed to remove the cast early and put a removable splint on instead. And so it remains… slowly healing. I feel so very lucky, and indeed I am. Poor Derek has had to cope with me - a caged type-A personality, while he is driving, cooking, dressing me and dealing with my mood swings (well .. he is used to that part, I guess!!!).

So the Christmas holidays were quite an eventful time. The wonderful part was staying in a fabulous cottage in Niagara on the Lake and spending lots of time with two of our boys. We also had the opportunity to see many friends and are so grateful for all the support we received during some of the tougher moments. We did in fact have an extremely joyous time in so many ways.

I am going to start on the blog again now, and will compose some updates, which will describe our travels, with a few photos, from when we left South Carolina on Dec 10^th until we arrived here in Texas on Feb 6th. So check back over the next couple of days and you will see some postings dated earlier than this one... but they will be new posts. In the meantime stay in touch everyone. 

“start today, use what you have, do what you can”.

Thurs Feb 20 – SUN Feb 23rd 2014 – RV show/more party time/ Olympic Gold

Feb 20 – Feb 23^rd 2014 – RV show/more party time/ Olympic Gold

Half a pound of sausage as an Appetizer???

The last few days has been low key but fun. We watched the women’s hockey final on Thursday against the USA and loved watching them get a well deserved Gold Medal. Both the men and women got Gold in Curling and by today we were bathing in gold when the men's  hockey team also won Gold this morning against Sweden. On Friday we drove into Austin to have a look round the RV show at the convention centre. We thought that we would see some units to trade up to… but no..! For the price and the design, ours still shines out better than most, so we are content to keep it for a while longer. Of course we saw a great  motor-home with heated flooring etc etc .. but at over $350,000 we thought better than to do any more than drool over the luxury.  Who needs it??  LOL!!

Happy anticipation and a cold Shiner Bock Beer

We had planned to eat in Austin but the crowds were large and parking difficult, so we hightailed it back toward the RV Park. We were driving passed a Texas BBQ restaurant and decided that we would try it out. We have never experienced one before and …. Holy moly… the food was quite overwhelming, both in taste and quantity. True Texas smoked BBQ. We left with full stomachs and with plenty of food left over for tomorrow’s lunch. Derek had smoked prime rib.. it was cooked to perfection .. pink throughout and Janice’s lean brisket and smoked chicken was fabulous. Homemade bread, beans, coleslaw, potato salad etc etc.

Back home we had a Downton Abbey extravaganza and finished watching the rest of series 4 including the final Christmas Special.

Cheers Lisa - Happy Birthday!!!

Saturday we did some local shopping and some much needed housework before heading out with Lisa and Mike to celebrate Lisa’s birthday. Went to Nik’s Italian restaurant and met a bunch of other people there. Great evening. I gotta tell you though that there are some strange ideas here when it comes to beer. Lis’a daughter ordered a draught beer and a side order of stuffed olives and dill pickles.. then proceeded to dump the lot in her beer. So after I spent a few minutes staring in shock at the insanity of what she was doing, she offered me a taste… Not sure who thought of the idea, but the taste was not too bad.. but the best part was when the beer was gone and I got to try the beer soaked olives and pickles… SO GOOD!!!

Jehan and her strange beer/olive/pickle drink

Weird people these Americans!!!! The meal was fabulous and we had quite a few laughs. Headed back to the RV parks and the group gathered around a campfire to share a few drinks and exchange stories … just a great night. We watched the news on TV until about 1am, when we discovered that the Men’s Gold Hockey game final was on at 6am… argghhh! Clocks set we dove into bed for a few hours sleep.

Up at 5:45 am this morning we settled down to watch the game…. Whoo hoooo!! Gold again. So Canada won both curling golds and both Hockey golds, and came 3^rd in Gold Medal count and 4^th overall medal count… GO CANADA!!!! So Derek and I donned red and white clothes, picked up our Canadian flag and did a victory lap around the RV park. Much to the confusion of most of the Texans down here!!! Hockeys not a big sport in this area. After all it is 27 degrees celsius today… Ice hockey is not a major … but we had fun and a few people did know what our celebratory air was all about!!

Mini -rocket in a Texas shaped tequila bottle

Set the crockpot going with a beef brisket and veggies ready for tonight… and that is it…!!!!!! FINALLY got the blog up to date. We are looking forward to getting visitors from home over the next few weeks and have booked a 2 bedroom cottage in the RV resort for the month of March so any visitors will be comfortable.

Excellent food... and company

Sunny and warm today 27 c