We stopped in Bryan/College Station for two nights on our way to Austin. The Marino Rd RV Park was very welcoming even if it is a flat field across the street from the airport and has little going for it in the way of amenities. It is Passport America which endears it to us – 50% off always makes me happy – and the staff people were quite nice and very accommodating. We settled in and Carol got to do the laundry and make dinner on board.
On Thursday the 19th we set out to see the George H. W. Bush Library. His mother couldn’t choose among the family names so he got them all. This is the first Republican presidential library we gave visited. It has not really been intentional, it has just happened to work out that way ever since our family visit to the JFK library sometime back in the 70’s. This library is definitely worth a stop if you are anywhere near Aggie Town. If you didn’t know, College Station is the home of Texas A & M, known in these parts as the Aggies. A & M stands for Agriculture and Mechanical. I had surmised this but did not know and had to ask as everything in the area refers to A & M and we never did see it spelled out anyplace.
On Friday morning, with the coach and car freshly hand washed we set out through the drought stricken East Texas plains for Austin. Washing the coach did it, sort of. We had enough rain along the road to require a thorough wipe down upon arrival. We pulled into Austin Lone Star RV for our second time and were greeted at the gate and welcomed and guided to our site. We were also informed we had a package waiting, thank you Kathy. The weather was delightful, sun shining and temperature of about 80! I got out my clothes and cleaned up Gee 2 again, tempting fate. Then we showered and sat in lawn chairs and read until time to drive to Leigh and Pat’s new home. We had lovely conversation and dinner at a neighborhood spot that featured a longish wait and good food together with pleasant ambience, once past the noise of the waiting area.
As always Leigh had researched a wide range of options for Saturday and after Study Group and services at Temple Beth Israel we joined them for lunch at Ruby’s, famous for there barbecue. The chicken and brisket were wonderful; we wondered how we would ever eat dinner. We went on to the Umlauf Gardens, home of a collection of sculpture by George Umlauf. It was a wonderful stop.
Afterwards we toured several areas of Austin we had not seen and returned to their wonderful house in the city where Leigh prepared a wonderful meal the featured Soufflés and a Gratin Salad. Here is Leigh preparing to serve the soufflés.
On Sunday for something entirely different, we picked Pat and Leigh up at their house in Gee 2 in full travel mode. We had learned of a US Army Corp of Engineers campground not too far to the north on Lake Georgetown. The reputation of these parks is very good and this seemed like an ideal time to do some research. We found the campground with no trouble and there was plenty of room, it is winter here too. We drove around the loop twice looking for the ideal view and a relatively level site. The view is great, the slope is a bit much, both front tires are off the ground. We had lunch on board and then set off for the town of Salado, another 20 miles up the road. This little strip of a town has more shops per person than seems proper. We shopped until we dropped and then drove south to Georgetown where we had dinner at Wildfire Grill. It was very nice and then we took them back home in Austin and returned to Gee2 for the night.
Monday we hung around the campground most of the morning doing various things and at about noon we drove into Georgetown for lunch at the Monument Diner which was highly recommended. The recommendation was well deserved. The meatloaf was wonderful and the accompanying vegetables were excellent as were the rolls, Yum!
For the afternoon we went back to Salado to retrieve a gift we had bought that was being gift wrapped. We spent a lot more time wandering the shops and we had sent home a Mexican style dinner set for our own casual use, made in China. Saw a lot of other stuff we didn’t need to buy, but might have in another time. We returned to Gee2 for a fancy dinner prepared by Carol using our convection oven, still learning how to use that item. Today was another day spent in the campground through lunch. My practice was calling and I had to “go to work” for a bit. We also began to project the next phase of our wandering. Tomorrow, Wednesday the 24th we will set out for Falcon State Park, not too far from Zapata, TX. If you actually have a map out, look to the south and east from Laredo directly on the border, just north of Zapata. We will pass through Fredericksburg, not on the most direct route, but more interesting and it takes through Johnson City. I expect it to take at least two days to cover the 350 to 400 miles to Falcon SP. The Verizon Wireless coverage map seems to project that we will have full internet service there. It remains to be seen.