Advertisement
10
th Teresa went into work late so she could have breakfast with us before we left. Keith and Teresa got us Texas shirts too. Now we really fit in. Neither of us want to leave here, it’s been so much fun, we’ve met some wonderful, friendly people and have had a great time with now lifelong friends. But time marches on…we’ll just have to come back. So we Drove down to San Antonio. We departed Hawkins about 0830 and took a leisurely drive down….stopping in at BUCCEYS for lunch and a couple of Harley Davidson shops on the way. A fairly easy drive really and only got very busy on the highway after Austin. Drove to the airport to drop off the hire car and waited for Lee to pick us up. Then back to their apartment to meet Trevor and Casaleah.
12
th Admin day yesterday, catching up on diary, sorting forms etc and relaxing. Today we caught the bus into San Antonio and did the Riverwalk. Well most of it anyway. It’s been developed with great paths all along the river, very stunning views and peaceful and quiet. Also went to the Alamo. I didn’t
know much about the history there, but Phil knew it….mostly through old songs. We both know a lot more now.
13
th –
We all drove up in two cars to ‘The Ranch’. This is a beautiful piece of land just out of Kerrville – just over an hour drive away. They have an established house on it, plus a few more buildings that they plan to renovate and set up as living quarters in the near future. There is a collection of animals residing here…3 horses, a donkey, 2 goats, (one of whom believes it to be the leader of the small flock of sheep), 2 ducks, a cat and a bird who lives inside the house. We came up on the Saturday (we were coming up Friday evening, but due to the fact it’s a long weekend, the traffic out of San Antonio was horrific, so Saturday it was. As it turned out, it was an easy drive up.
The boys got right into target practise with the guns that Trevor has locked away up here and the girls wandered around the property and enjoyed a relaxing sunny afternoon. Trevor is a great cook
and we’ve been enjoying fajitas, venison (caught by themselves) and other great meals.
14
th Happy Valentines Day
Trevor cooked up a storm for breakfast and then Lee gave us little gifts. Me..stud earrings and Phil a stainless steel cross. Both very beautiful and things we would wear. Mark and Hope (from Hawkins) had flown down for Valentines day, so we met up with them in a town not far called Fredericksburg. Had a great afternoon with them. Then back in time for dinner…cooked on the grill outside.
15
th –
Lee, Trevor and Casaleah had to go back today (it was a public holiday for school kids) but we’re now staying here for the rest of the week.
We’ve been doing all our cooking out on the grill outside and then enjoying the fire in the evenings. The dogs went back to SA as well, but the ginger cat who lives here “General” has been keeping us company..even he enjoys sitting outside by the fire. We’ve been borrowing the ranch car and driving around to the little towns nearby and just having an absolute ball. Life is great!!
17
th Went to Enchanted Rock today. Bit of a hike to get to the top, but we made it. Phil of course was ahead all the time and would stop to see how I was doing. Each time it looked like he was at the summit…but it was a false one and when I got up to him…I could see there was further to go. It was a beautiful day and there was a nice cool breeze once you got to the top. the view was amazing, and the colours just stunning. In some places the walk back down was more difficult on the knees than going up as it was quite steep and you had to make sure of your footing so you didn’t slide on the gravelly parts.
18
th -19
th Ok, so a big change of plans…we’re off today to a small town called Sour Lake. Just about a 6hr drive east..past Houston on the I-10. A pretty easy drive really as all the way through Houston, the 10 symbol is painted on the lane you have to be in. We had a really good car, set the cruise control, Phil at the
helm and me navigating and we usually get where we have to be with relatively minor problems. However…….the reason to go to sour lake???? TO BUY A HARLEY TRIKE of course!!! Phil’s been looking at them for years, and the plan always was to come to the US, but a trike, tour on it for a bit and then ship it back home. That plan was for in a few years time. But, after speaking Harley and biking to Texan friends over the last few weeks (yes, you know who you are…thanks for encouraging him) and finding this amazing deal, we couldn’t go past it…and now we’re the proud new owners of a Harley Trike. Well, we paid a deposit and as soon as we can transfer the money from Oz, we’ll wire it through.
It was strange…we didn’t sign any contracts or fill in any forms, just a handshake to seal the deal and a deposit made and it was ours. Daniel (the sales guy) said..no as far as we’re concerned a handshake is all we need to do. Love Texas!!!!!
Stayed last night in a hotel in Beaumont, nice hotel, would use them again! (Holiday Inn
Express) and then back to the ranch to catch up with Lee, Trevor and Casaleah. Weekend time again.
20
th Some people had a ‘late’ night round the fire last night, so a lovely, relaxing quiet day today and then we were taken out to dinner..the last supper as Lee called it. A beautiful Thai dinner in Kerrville
Sunday L, T &C had to head back to town and we had to pick up our hire care, so Lee took us a bit earlier to the airport where we were collecting it from. We then drove back out to the ranch as we didn’t want to be battling peak hour traffic in the morning and this way it gave us an hour headstart for our trip to El Paso.
Monday 22
nd big drive to El Paso
When we arrived at El Paso, it was very windy and so there was dust everywhere, I think without the dust it would be a nice place to explore, but as it was we just retired to our hotel room – it was late anyway and we were tired from the driving anyway. It was funny
as we were very close to the Mexican border for quite some time of our journey and my phone had no reception for a lot of the way. Then suddenly it beeped…had found a tower…and welcomed me to Mexico!!!
There were quite a few signs warning against picking up hitchhikers near the borders and also there was a prison complex nearby. We didn’t see anyone hitchhiking, but it made us wary. Just out of Tucson we had a ‘border inspection point’. Not that it was on the border, but they were checking every car. The first question was…are you a US citizen? If so, they just waved the car on, but to our ‘no’ we had to show our passports. An easy, process and very quick. Think they may have been looking for extra ‘hitchhikers’.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.104s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 8; qc: 28; dbt: 0.05s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb
Tarn
non-member comment
Love the photos and blog!
Hi Trina, reading your blog and seeing your great photos almost makes me feel as if I were there in San Antonio with you all! Sounds like you really enjoyed spending time with Aunty Lee (mom), Uncle Trev and Cassaleah! Aren't their half American, half Australian accents cute! lol Bit behind in reading your blogs but I'm catching up today :) Save travels xo