Oct. 31: Gruene & Geo'ing

Wednesday, we went into Gruene (pronounced Green by the locals). "When German immigrant farmer Ernest Gruene and his wife, Antoinette, and their sons reached the newly established city of New Braunfels in 1845, they found prime acreage already scarce. They crossed the Guedalupe and opted to acquire nearby river frontage. Thus was the Community of Gruene established", from Prosit the New Braunfels magazine.

Cotton was the cash crop of the area for many years. A boll weavel outbreak ruined the cotton crop some time in the 1930's and the town because mostly deserted. In 1974, a revitalization of the area helped Gruene into one of the most popular and visible tourist attraction in Texas. The Gruene Historic District was placed on the National Register for Historic Places in 1975 and the District itself and many of Gruene's buildings have Texas historical markers.


This is just one of several bed & breakfasts in Gruene. The white building at the end of the street is Gruene Hall. It has never closed even in bad times. The oldest continuously opened saloon in Texas.




Great place for antiques but I don't have room for any. I found a pecan place and bought some hot pecans and some candied jalapenos. Then we went to the general store and bought some pecan honey butter and a package of chili fixin's.

We ate at the Gristmill which is a rebuild cotton gin from the 1870's that was originally in the area before it burnt down. This great place is located under the water town in the above photo.






We watched this pair of deer, off and on, for many hours Thursday. All of the deer here are pretty fearless - we walk withing 10 feet of them many times. They're weary but not jumping to get out of our way. However, this buck "protected" this little doe all day. When she laid down, he stood close for a long time--ever watchful. He would eventually lay down too. When she moved, he moved. He made advances several times but she'd have nothing to do with him. He was always on the look out for predators--none of which I have seen in the almost two weeks we've been here. Finally, after many hours of this frustration, he turned and chased her clear out of our viewing area. Don't know what happened but I think he may have paid for dinner and didn't get rewarded well.

Today, we took a couple camped across the road from us geo caching. They really enjoyed it and plan on getting involved themselves. Also going to share with their son who is retiring himself soon.

Tomorrow is Wurstfest - be prepared for that great music that I'll get on video for all of you.

Oct. 26: Canyon Lake, TX

Even though we're out in the open, this is a really pretty camp ground. We do a walk of a mile in the morning and about 1/3 of mile in the afternoon. On good days, we're doing another mile walk in the evening. These walks always take us to areas where there are deer. We have seen so many deer on every walk, that we were disappointed to just see two yesterday morning. This morning we didn't see any but there are lots of people in the camp now. This afternoon when we walked up to the gate house to pay for another week, we saw two. Tonight around the campfire, a small herd moved around us in the dark - we could see only their silhouettes - about half a dozen of them.















I took these two pictures of the deer from right at our camp site.

















We've had a campfire the last couple of nights and had a beautiful sunset two nights ago. Our days here have been in the lower 80's and the nights in the 50's.














Friday afternoon I carved a pumpkin but it will be dried out by Halloween and I'll probably have to do another one. And that picture of me really lends credence to the theory that a camera will add 10 lbs to you. Good Lord!!! Larry took that and we've had a chat about making me look good from now on. He said something about being able to only do so much.



















And this lovely creature, a Turkey Vulture, showed up because our neighboring campers left and threw out some garbage for the local wildlife to eat. This one took full advantage of the treasure and was all by himself for about 30 minutes, then his buddies shows up--about 5 more of them. They are much more beautiful soaring the skies.

Yesterday I managed to get both the KU and K-State games on satelite. I use the term "games" loosely. KU and K-State showed up. I'm anxious for the Texas and Texas Tech game next Saturday even though that's the day we're going to be at the Wurstfest - I'll be checking the scores on my cell phone.

I've been uploading these larger icons for your viewing ease, however they really screw up my editing of the print-matching-the-picture ability. So I'll be going back to the smaller versions.

Oct. 22: Canyon Lake

As you can see from the picture, this campground is out in the middle of nothing. There were some camp sites up in the trees but we chose to be closer to water. During the summer this probably wouldn't be a very good site but with the cooler temperatures it will work out OK. Canyon Lake is west of San Marcos and 25 miles northwest of New Braunfels.


We drove into New Braunfels yesterday for dinner. We ate at Oma's Haus for some more good German food and equally good German chocolate cake.

Today we just hung out around camp. Had a bike ride this morning and may have over taxed my back. We went on a walk this evening, after the front came thru and dropped the temperature from around 82 to 74 degrees. As we walked up into the tree covered area, we found ourselves surrounded by deer. About two dozen - does and bucks. They're all very small - Larry says he wouldn't waste a tag on any of them. They seem to be only a little skittish around campers and one camper is even feeding them.

Buster likes to find a place in the sun and nap.


There won't be a whole lot of things to see and do here but there is a historical district in Gruene which is part of New Braunfels. There is a restored German village consisting of 14 structures that have been furnished to the era of 1849 - 1881 and, more importantly for Larry, several unique eating places in this same district.

The biggest reason we're here, other than to see the area, is from Oct. 31 to Nov. 9th is the Wurstfest. We'll be here for the first weekend. This includes an accordion jam session, polkas, yodeling, a group called the Seven Dutchmen Orchestra, Oma & the Ooompahs, Ed Kadlecek & the Fun Bunch and the Sauerkrauts. Too many other bands and orchestras to list. There is the Knights of Columbus Arts & Craft Show and the Wurst Craft Show & Sale in Texas--two things I'm looking forward to - Larry, not so much. He is pretty excited about getting to see Kerry Christensen, Master Yodeler. I'll be sure to get some video so we can share with all of you. There's also a melodrama, "Raiders of the Lost Wurst" that we'd like to get to. I have to call for reservations. I'll take lots of pictures and try not to drink too much beer.

My back is still a problem but I can at least sleep at night. The doctor gave me some really good pain pills that I tried to take as prescribed; however, I got nauseated and dizzy. So I put up with some discomfort during the day and take it only at bed time.

We'll be leaving here Nov. 2nd for Corpus Christie for the winter. I'll try to get some physical therapy there for my back.

Oct. 19: Cypress Springs Lake, TX

We've been here at Cypress Springs Lake for 3 nights. Wayne and Sharol's home is on this lake and it is truely a beautiful area. The winds have been great and the lake has been calm. The days have been cool
and sunny. Both of the guys washed
their cars and then today put together one of the outdoor entry lights and remounted it. It was quite a process.









As always, Sharol is cooking in the kitchen making really good things for supper.






We had our advanced voting ballots forwarded to Wayne's PO Box in Mt. Vernon. Larry's voting ballot arrived yesterday but mine hasn't yet. We're waiting until tomorrow or Tuesday to see if it comes by then. We have to be out of this campground because there's a big camping club rally here starting Wednesday and they will be here thru next weekend.

We do plan on being gone by then and will be heading for New Braunfells, TX northeast of San Antonio.

Oct. 14: Much more striper fishing

Well, I made up for not getting any fish two days ago. You can see from the picture that our catch today was much better. We now have 4 to 5 meals in the freezer. We were fishing before a weather front came in and in a light fog from about 8 am to 11 am. The big one was 21 1/2". Your total catch can be 10 fish but only 2 of them can be over 21". In case a game warden is looking at this, one of those fish in front of me belongs to someone else. Larry finally landed 3 today but he was a late bloomer. We'd fished for about 2 hours before he finally caught any. We threw back half dozen.

I found out that stiper fishing consists of looking for the birds working the water where the shad are breaking the surface and running for their lives. It's almost like we come to their rescue by catching those big fish that are chasing them and running off the birds. There were enough fish caught that I got a cleaning lesson and jumped right in. It was a really fun day.

Good Day for Lynn!!!

Larry....Not so much!!!

Last night we drove over to Kenny & Virginia's camp ground and I brought all the stuff for cooking Tonka Pies or some people call them fried pies. We cooked apple and cherry and cut them in half to serve all 14 of us. The out of focus picture shows most of the group--a few of the ladies got cut off and three of us were doing the cooking.






Tonight we're doing our own campfire if it doesn't rain and just hanging out at camp. Tomorrow it's suppose to be raining so we'll probably do laundry and later watch the debate.

Oct. 11: Striper Fishing

We're set up at Buncombe Creek Camp Ground on Lake Texoma in Oklahoma. Our goal is to do some Striper fishing. We've driven over to our friends campground on the other side of the lake for the past two nights for some good conversation and a great campfire. Had Samores the first night and I'm taking over stuff to make campfire pies tomorrow night. Our campground has a curfew: 8:00 pm Sunday thru Thursday and 10:00 pm Friday and Saturday. The gate is locked and if you're going to be out later we have to make "arrangements" - not sure what that entails but we've been trying to be back in plenty of time.


Last night, from around the campfire, we all wondered out from under the trees to see the Space Station sailing from north to south across the western sky. We were fascinated - doesn't take much to entertain us.

Today we got a call at 7:30 from Kenny that the winds were low and we could go fishing. Kenny Hayes, our friend we met at Lake Afton last year, came to our courtesy dock that's located right by our camp ground and picked us up in his Skeeter fishing boat. By land, their camp ground is about 20 minutes away - it's 2 minutes by water. His wife, Virginia, stayed behind to make some food dishes to take to a pot luck dinner they're going to tonight. We headed for the flats along with bunches of other weekend fishermen.

Larry caught two Stripers and one white bass. Lynn caught nadda.

The water temp is around 72 deg which is still too warm for really good Striper fishing. No one around us was catching any thing of size - some were catching more but still under 20". Kenny acted like a true guide. We used his equipment and he netted and took off Larry's fish for him. Repaired our lures when we got hung up on stuff - EVEN CLEANED OUR FISH. We really appreciated all that he did for us. The dock at their campground has an awesome cleaning station and Virginia met us at the dock with a bag to put our cleaned fish in and some seasoned flour she uses when they fry fish.

I cooked that fish for tonight's dinner - OMG that was great eating. There really is something to eating fresh fish. Larry was so proud that he put dinner on the table - quite the hunter/gatherer.

The weather is not suppose to be too great for several days so don't know if we'll get in any more fishing from the boat. Kenny gave us a couple of lures to use if we wanted to fish from the bank. May try that tomorrow. Can't watch football - the only network we get is NBC. And none of tomorrow's games will be on satelite. Might as well fish.

Oct. 8: Ft. Gibson Lake

We're at Taylor Ferry campground on Ft. Gibson Lake just east of Wagoner, OK. This is our spot - my back is to the water. We had a very photographic fog this morning so I went down to the water to see what I could do with it. The geese looked almost like ghost ships cruising by.




We came here to visit Larry's two brothers, Don & Dean. Normally, Don is in a care home in Muskogee just south of Wagoner. However, about 3 this morning, he was moved to a hospital in Tulsa. Don has a hard time getting his dialysis because he can't sit for very long - it becomes too painful. So he convinced the home staff that he could skip Tuesday's dialysis, therefore ending up in the hospital. We went to visit him this afternoon but he was pretty wiped out because that's what dialysis does to him. I'm not sure he even knew we were there.

This evening we ate with Larry's other brother Dean and his wife Lethia (left), along with Don's wife, Kathy (middle). We had a great visit and good food - BBQ. In the morning we leave for Texoma to do some striper fishing.

Oct. 5: Fall Festival & Challenges

Our weekends are always full of activities. The Goddard Fall Festival had beautiful weather (except for the wind) for a parade. The marching bands were out in full colors and the Shriners were well represented too. Our PT Cruiser Club was present and I have photos of a couple. The video is from Larry's high school North High and this is one of their fighting songs.








From the parade we descended on a member's local warehouse for hot dogs and hamburgers. Always good food found with this particular member and his wife.









He also drove the convertible with the Grand Marshall in the parade.










Did I mention the wind. If any of you remember, I've sorta complained about the total lack of wind in the last several states we've been in. WELL, Kansas has made up for it - just like I knew it would. Note the flags in this picture. Also, notice that there are no flowers present. Larry and I quickly placed them on the north side of the camper to shelter them from the gusty winds up to 30 to 35 MPH. They were looking pretty sad.



Today, Rebecca participated in the city's Corporate Challenge put on by Wichita Greater Sports organization. Her and her partner, Henry Torrente, played doubles. While they didn't fare well, they looked really good. They're also hoping their company (Learjet/Bombardier) will win the T=Shirt contest.




After the tennis competition, we all left to go eat at Red Robin. The "Balloon Man" made Austin an eye hat. Every little boy's dream. Photo taken on son-in-law's phone camera.









And for our last challenge of the day, Trina help me get my computer so it will download my checking accounts into Quicken. She held this expression thru most of the time. She will be going thru evasion driving skills for the next two days. It's another of those pass-this-test-or-fail-the-whole-academy type of events. They have to drive the whole course in under 3 minutes.



Then we drove down to Derby to eat with a girlfriend and her husband. Diane and I graduated from high school together and have kept in touch. Another great Mexican meal. That made about 4 Mexican meals in a week's time.

Tomorrow is another full day but more about that later.