Wed Mar 26- Fri Mar 28 - Ortho follow up and LEON RUSSELL

Wed Mar 26- Fri Mar 28 - Ortho and LEON RUSSELL

On Wednesday we went to see Dr Mackay at Texas Orthopedics for a follow-up and xrays. wrist is healing well and now it is just a matter if time ... I may not get back to perfect, but other than some possible nerve damage, everything should continue to improve. After the appointment we decided to eat at the Grove which is a great pizza/italian restaurant with a great view over Texas hill country. We met a couple of nice women on the next table who chatted with us about life in the area. 
Thursday we spent packing up the rig ready to take it to New Braunfels to get new tires and radio/cd/dvd player installed tomorrow. We hooked up the truck to the rig before heading to bed, to make the morning easier to deal with. 
Friday  -- We headed out to Camping World and had hoped to do some shopping afterwards at the outlet malls in San Marcos.. but it didn't quite unfold that way. While the rig was in getting new tires and radio installed, we wandered around the store. It took a few hours so we decided to get an oil change on the truck ready for the trip home. Went to a dealership in San Marcos and spent a few hours there, also getting tires rotated, purged and re-filled with nitrogen. Back to Camping World, the work was done and the 'condo' was moved to an overnight spot in their parking lot (has electric hook-up). We got changed and headed to Gruene to see Leon Russell perform at the oldest music hall in Texas.
At about 6 they empty the whole place, including the outside beer garden area and those with tickets for the show line up again to get in. At 7 they opened the doors. We had lined up early so managed to get in and get a bench area at the edge of the hall so we could stand on it and see clearly. Derek went out and got us a Reuben sandwich at a local restaurant ... humungous!!!  We could only eat one between us.. so the other one will be lunch tomorrow. Then the music started... WHAT A NIGHT. An up close and intimate performance. The opening act was ho-hum, but when Leon walked through the front door and wandered through the crowd to the stage, a transformation took place... He is quite a unique and fascinating performer, backed by a fabulous band. The music was tight and he rocked the place with his own music and a few other oldies, but goodies.  The hall itself had been emptied of chairs and the crowd just stood and watched and jiggled away, cheering and singing. It was a magical night we will not soon forget. So often, some of the old guard rockers don't know when to quit, and their live performance are almost embarrassing, but not this guy. Leon is 71 and still puts on a great show. His voice is strong and his musicianship is awesome. He looked a little frail walking from his scooter outside to the stage inside, but when his fingers hit that keyboard, he was Leon Russell, strong and confident. He has a grueling performance schedule in March.

Leon's Piano waiting

Gruene Hall Waiting for Leon

Opening singer Eric Himan

He has the words on a monitor, memory needs a jog!

And here he comes!

He shook Derek's hand! Blurred photo great memory

Let the show begin!!!

AWESOME!!!

A Western Santa!!

Great back up musicians

Telling stories

Fri Mar 20 -Tue Mar 25th - Dinner with friends, Vegging

Fri Mar 20 -Tue Mar 25th - Dinner with friends, Vegging

Friday Mar 21
Mostly just hanging out at camp. Derek went to guitar jam with a couple of the guys, while Janice made mint sauce and Carrot/curry soup. Janice has been spending some time over at the rental cottage at night... quite a different experience sleeping in a room with a bed and full size appliances to put her yogurt and heat the kettle. Watched the movie 'Mandella" ... worth watching, but not as powerful as we had hoped.
Saturday Mar 22
Spent much of the day sorting and doing laundry .. and getting dinner prepared for Lisa and Mike. They came over early and we sat outside for a drink before dinner. And enjoyed an appetizer, compliments of their daughter Jehan (spelling??) .. delicious chocolate dipped strawberries... yum!!  Served roast lamb, and it was their first taste of lamb... it seemed to get a favourable response.. I was in heaven with my favourite meat and roasties to boot. (We did the roasties in the cottage as the room was limited in our small stove) After dinner, we all trogged off to the Pavilion for the rest of the regular Karaoke Night. Great fun. Lisa sang a few songs, she has a great voice

Sunday Mar 23
Mostly just clean-up and planning,  low key day.  Caught up with Derek and Lin on Skype and heard all about their amazing cruise from Australia to Tokyo... sounded amazing.Went to get DVD's s we could burn some movies rather than watch them on my computer or through Apple TV. We got back and burnt a movie, only to discover that the DVD player seems to have jammed and will not work... did some research on new units. We went to the hot tub in the evening... really nice soak. Watched 'Monsier Lazhar' (subtitles) on my computer with the sound coming through the rigs speakers. Wow.. what a powerful movie... watch it if you get the chance!!!
Monday Mar 24
We  did some planning and research for our South Africa trip. Tried to fix the DVD player.. to no avail, so called Camping World and arranged to have new tires put on the rig and a new Radio/CD/DVD player installed this Friday at their store in New Bruenfels. Relaxed outside and enjoyed the warm weather and chatted with neighbours. Watched "Saving Mr. Banks" in the evening... excellent Movie. Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson.... both excellent.
Tuesday Mar 25th:
Were going to go for a walk, but we got totally lazy and spent the day basically on our computers and sitting around outside and going for a walk round the site. After dinner Derek went to guitar jam again and Janice went for a quick workout (feeling very guilty about not exercising enough) and then into the hot tub with Lisa for a while. Determined to get more exercise!!!!
There are no photos for the last few days as life trogs happily along and I tend to forget to take photos.

Tues Mar 18 - Thur Mar 20, Goodbyes and chilling

Tues Mar 18 - Goodbyes and Guitar

Goodbyes are often sad and this was no exception. We have had a great week with friends Tina and Al, and although they had to go back to family and friends at home in Ontario, we are left with some great memories of a fabulous, no stress, easy-going week. Lots of laughs and a chance for Derek and I to see some of this areas great sights, some for the first time and others for a very welcome re-visit. After they left, for their long journey home, we sorted a few things out and caught up on a bit of tidying etc. Derek went and jammed with a couple of guys for a few hours and Janice relaxed and read her book. 
Wednesday and Thur Mar 19/20 - Catch up and Street party

Street Party on 'Shiner-Bock Way'

Chickens getting ready for chickenshit bingo

Derek shooting the s--t (bingo in the background)

Derek started work on the rig cleaning the roof and Janice started work on the blog and uploading photos etc. At 5pm we headed over to the Street Party in a row in the RV Resort affectionately known as 'Shiner Bock Way' ... The street party is an annual event here which serves as both a fun party day, and as a way for the 'Winter Texans' to have a 'knees-up' before heading back to their home states and provinces.

This chicken must be full of it!!

Yum...!! (and the food is good too!!)

Some folk are heading back as early as tomorrow. The food was good ol' Texas style sausages, dogs and 'brats' with beans, chili, sauerkraut and desserts,  a band playing country / rock-a-billy and dancing in the street. A good time for sure.

Yeee haaa Y'all!!

One of the weird things around here is Chickenshit bingo!! A chicken (or two) are put in the bingo cage and folks bet on the numbers (pay money and draw the numbers out of a hat) Then everyone waits and watches for the chicken to 'shit' on a number ... literally!!! And the pot goes to whoever has that number.  It is a riot. These chickens were extremely tame and happy, so no cruelty issues... Just good fun and a great deal of laughter. The s--t is cleaned up and another round with a different chicken (or chick) starts again.

One relaxed chicken - being spoiled!

After the party  Derek and I sat by our fire outside and reminisced about our visits with friends and made some plans for the remainder of our stay here. This week we are relaxing and catching up on blogs, cleaning, laundry etc and enjoy some of the warm weather. So Thursday was spent doing just that... more rig-cleaning, blogging, laundry etc etc and catching up on phone calls/skypes to family.
Still eating left overs and loving it!!!! Hopped to the store for some supplies and groceries.

Gary and Ann ..... awwwww!!!

The suspense is electric

Rock-on!!

Come on number 25!!!

The chicken handlers

Sunset over the RV resort .. Live Oak!

Mon Mar 17th - Sights and packing

Mon Mar 17th - Sights and packing

Travis Lake from Mansfield Dam Park

Our last day to spend with Al and Tina and they were interested in a walk, so we thought we would pack in walk with a few local sights. We headed to Mansfield Dam Park (top of the Mansfield Dam) for a walk around and saw how very bad the drought has been for water levels of Lake Travis. After enjoying some great views along the way we headed down to the bottom of the dam to the edge of the Lower Colorado River and walked across the bridge, seeing some rather large fish swimming around .. not sure what they were. White Bass?? Carp?? 
Then headed to the Oasis for a drink and some nachos ... excellent sunny day and the views were beautiful. 
In the early afternoon, Tina and I went to the department store Dillards in BeeCave  and has a pleasant hour or two pottering around, but didn't buy much.. prices weren't brilliant. Back at the resort we got ready and all headed out to the Steiner Ranch Steakhouse for dinner... It is an expensive place, but the steaks were fantastic. It was our last evening together. Hard to believe how fast the time went. Thanks Al and Tina for a great week and good times great memories and great food... we were left with brilliant left overs for the steakhouse... steak, mashed and mushrooms in a red wine reduction... YUMMM!!

Al, Tina and Cacti

Sat sittin' in the park

Picnic spot with top of dam in background

Favourite pic of Tina. By Lwr Colorado R

Drink and Nachos at the Oasis

Great friends... thanks for coming to see us!

Map of the USA  - According to Texans

No Tina... you can't take it home!

Sun Mar 16 - Rodeo/Dwight Yoakam

Sun Mar 16 - Rodeo/Dwight Yoakam

Lots of patriotic stuff to begin

You get the idea... fast!

Waiting for the gate to open

Roping finals

Lazy morning in preparation to go to the rodeo y'all. It was a windy day and rather cold, so after a quick trot through the rodeo grounds we decided to go straight into the Arena to wait for the Rodeo finals to begin. Due to some filming (they wanted seats to show as full) we got to see most of the rodeo finals from great seat near the front. The most impressive filming I have was through video and I am yet to be able to upload videos to my blog... looks easy but doesn't work...frustrating, but I will try again sometime and upload some if I can later. In the meantime I have added a few photo's and will include a link to the videos if I can figure it out. The Rodeo was a blast and we thoroughly enjoyed something that was a 'first' experience for all four of us.  The guys on the bucking horses and bulls (please don't misread that one) were being tossed around like rag dolls... I cannot imagine what shape their backs are in .. and brain shake.... wow!!

Ride 'em cowboy!!!

Dwight Yoakam.. hohum!

It was impressive how they moved it along.. no waiting between events. The much anticipated performance by Dwight Yoakam, I have to say in all honesty was a little disappointing. Nothing special. His 'modus-operandi' seemed to consist of ... "jump on stage ... blast out a few songs and go home... " I may be a little critical, but after the excitement of the Rodeo finals and knowing this was the closing big act for the week, I would have thought he would put on quite a show. Anyway, any disappointment in the music show was dissipated greatly by the Rodeo final itself. 

Los Pinos - now them's Tacos

Brody stealing the show- he stole my hat- cheeky

Great music at the "pickin' party"

After we left the Rodeo we stopped in at Los Pinos for a bite to eat... it was great .. more left overs!!!!! We then headed back to the RV Resort and went on to the pavilion to see the remainder of the Freddy Powers Pickin' Party that is a tradition at the park every year on New years Day and again at the end of SXSW music festival. They had been going from 2pm and from all reports the music was incredible for most of the day. We saw a few acts and were highly impressed with what we saw. I wish I knew the name of the first band we saw .. fabulous. But I do know that one of the singers was a girl called Mary Sarah... she sang a couple of slow songs at the end... she is very 'country' but very good. A great end to another terrifically fun day. So good to share these days with Al and Tina.. friends indeed.

Young and older... all great!!

Mary Sarah

Sat Mar 15th - Back to Gruene and Salt Lick

Sat Mar 15th -  Back to Gruene and Salt Lick

Pete Anderson and band

Today was one of those days that are a gift out of nowhere. We knew it was supposed to be cool and maybe some rain so as a group we decided that an indoor free concert we had seen advertised at Gruene Music Hall would be a good option. So we piled into the truck and off we went. When we arrived it was a bit cloudy and threatening rain, but undaunted we managed to find parking. The first challenge complete we donned our macks and headed into the crowded street of the village. There happened to be a wonder craft fair on, so after a coffee at the Gruene coffee shop (THE best coffee EVER!!) we wandered around. The fair was great... unusual items and all local artisans... genuine, and not the 'same old, same old" jewelry and scarves!! There were wood products, jams, nuts, pottery and other wonderful items. After a couple of purchases we headed to the Music Hall (anyone interested in seeing the history etc of this hall go to Gruenehall.com ) It is a unique experience, but if you go, don't expect plush and orderly... it is like a huge honky-tonk type venue with wooden benches and lots of beer flowing.. even smoking allowed in the hall (for how long?.. who knows!!) But if you ever get the chance... don't miss this piece of Texas music history. The two performers we saw today were talented, but the second guy (Pete Anderson) and his band were great, foot-tapping fun. 

After a couple of iced waters (yes we actually did have that), we had one last walk through the town, including a quick snack at a german style beer garden.... (not Gruene's shining star!!!)  and a wander through the general store. It was time to figure out the next phase of our day, and considering the sun was shining and it was a lovely late afternoon, we figured the Salt Lick BBQ would be in order (we were all still a but hungry).

The Salt Lick is a Texas institution and has quite a unique story.. it is the most 'typical' Texas BBQ you will find in the Austin area... but if you go, go to the Driftwood location (  https://www.saltlickbbq.com/pages/Driftwood.html ) which is the original location... so cool, and you can BYOB. We forgot, but at only $12 for a bucket of six Shiner Bock beers, we were happy. The only problem (if you have read my previous posting) is that Saturday night is hugely busy there (remember they cook up 3000 lbs of brisket alone on a weekend night). Also a warm evening in March break added up to about 11/2 hour wait, if we wanted to eat inside.  We decided inside-eating was advisable considering the mosquitoes that were gathering to invade. But we were happy listening to the live music, drinking a beer and chatting to people around us. Once inside, the meal did not disappoint. Of course we were given enough food to feed a battalion and left-overs are on the horizon for tomorrow!!! Feeling like we would explode, we happily tested the springs on the truck and headed back to camp. Another terrific day and a gem of a surprise, considering the spontaneity of everything we did today.