Our Road Trips: June 2016

6/26/2016 6/20-25/2016

Last Sunday, we spent the day staying in the motor home, out of the heat. Even being a few hundred yards from the water didn't help. It rained pretty hard and basically flooded the parking lot at the beach and a lot of the campsites too. People were packing up in the rain or sloshing through puddles to get their stuff packed up. Then the new group started to show up, some parking in a huge puddle instead of parking at a dry site...we watched some of it with amusement. We loaded up and drove to a restaurant that we made the mistake of trying to go to on a Sunday. We got there, and noticed lots of empty tables but were still told our wait would be 25-30 minutes...which actually became 45 minutes. We guess they didn't schedule enough folks for a Monday...so we waited. We have noticed the wait staff is largely not too concerned about service out here...makes us miss the folks who wait on tables back home. But the food was OK and the sunset was very nice. After dinner, we went back to the camper and to the beach to get a picture of the almost full moon rising over the Gulf...won't see that again for a while.

The next morning we packed up and began our trek to Georgetown, TX, about 20 miles north of Austin. We thought it was about 5.5-6 hours, so we got an early start, but it was already hot. We have a broken part on the tow bar and we ordered a part to be delivered while in Georgetown, so I was able to cobble together a temporary fix and we are on our way (it held the whole way). We had to go through San Antonio & Austin and deal with the traffic, but the trip went fine. We arrived about 230 and got set up, pretty spot on Georgetown Lake with ample shade but a view of the SW sky so our satellite TV works. We are here until July 5, so we are pretty happy with our site. We decided to stay in and sat at our site and watched the now full moon rise over the lake on the summer solstice, something that hasn't happened since the 40's, so that was a fun evening. We drove down town the next day to make sure we knew where the Post Office is and find the Visitor's Center. The VC was on a central square, and while already closed, led us to a Winery tasting shop next door and a walk around the square which led us to a pizzeria with 30 craft beers on draft...so it was a fun afternoon.

The next morning, we were up early. I went to the Post Office, picked up a package from our daughter, came back and we were off to Dallas, first stop, a guided tour of AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys & the Cowboy Cheerleaders. We got there with 3 minutes to spare, after misjudging how long it would take and worrying all the way that we would be late. They gave us a very nice 2+ hour tour that took us to locker rooms, fancy suites, and down on the field. It was a fun time. Then we drove downtown and took a trolley ride that was supposed to re-trace the events of Nov 22, 1963, the day JFK was assassinated. We think the driver had somewhere to go, as we blew through 2 red lights at what was likely 50 mph....it was pretty crazy. Both of us thought we sort of got ripped off. But it was fun to get a grasp of where that happened 53 years ago. Believe us, we had seen it so often back then that it all looked familiar to us. From there, we went to our hotel, checked in and went to the bar. After a light dinner, we went to bed.

The next morning, we went to visit the GW Bush Library, thinking it would take the better part of the day to tour it, like it did at Bill Clinton's library in Little Rock. We were done in 2 hours, very disappointed. They charged way too much for what was there and charged us to park too...Dubya is trying to boost his retirement check. So, we drove north to the Cavanaugh Flight Museum, saw a bunch of old warbirds...nice display. Then it was about 10 miles back south to a Craft Beer restaurant where a friend was playing & singing for 3 hours, visiting from NY. He thought he was supposed to play indoors, but he was out almost on the sidewalk. He was in the shade & there was a breeze, but it was almost 100 degrees...pretty disappointing. But we had a couple of chilly ones, a light dinner and enjoyed hearing Nick Kody for a few hours...nice. When he was through, we said our goodbyes and headed back to Georgetown, 2+ hours away. We got home about 11 pm, glad to be back, but glad we went.

Yesterday, we slept late, hung out at the camper and then went downtown Austin. It was raining lightly when we arrived but it stopped shortly are we arrived. We walked 3-4 blocks to 6th Street and stopped at 6-8 different places and listened to the bands playing at each. About the time we got to the 8th place, it was getting crowded (lots of bachelor & bachelorette parties) and the entertainment was going steadily downhill, so we decided to go get the car & go back. It was a good decision, we got accosted twice by panhandlers, both of who were very rude...time to go. Maybe their weird isn't so cool after all. We will give them another chance...but it concerned me enough to worry. We have been to a lot of major cities in America and that had never happened, then it happened twice in 20 minutes...weird.

Today, it has been a take it easy day. We have a busy week planned. Stay tuned.

Steve & Barb Larson