Enjoying the Texas Hill Country..but bracing for severe cold..

I believe the last time I posted a blog was when we were in Jefferson, TX. We sure enjoy it there, and will be stopping back there in March on our way back to Illinois..( I don't want to even THINK of that yet!).  This past 2 weeks, we  have been happily parked at Crane's Mill CG in Startzville, TX on Canyon Lake. We were going to head over to the other side of the lake on Jan 7th at Potter's Creek, but they won't allow camping in any Army Corp park on the same lake in the same month without being gone 16 days..and this isn't going to happen..

We are in site 25 on the lake and it is just perfect. There are only 30 camping sites here, so you need to reserve one ahead of time if you want to be here for Christmas and the New Year..and we did. Here are a few photos from this area..

 The deer are pretty thick around here, but a little timid when we tried to get them to pose...

 Above is the marina here..It is really big and it is a floating marina, so it goes up and down with the levels of Canyon Lake...Lots of nice homes on the hillsides.

Also, there are some beautiful sunrises and sunsets..This is a sunrise..You don't want to know what I looked like when I jumped out of bed to get this...frightening visual..

Having been in this area before, we knew that there was a great and very friendly VFW in town,and another one just down the road in Satler..These are open to the public and we have always encountered great local people who don't mind us Yankees bothering them with stupid questions..

 This is an example of how lame I am...trying to get a photo of us in the bar mirror...Dennis is a God man to put up with me sometimes..as I am a constant source of embarrassment..

 Every chair in here has been donated in honor of a veteran..I think that is waay cool!

 Notice the shuffleboard in the backgrounds here. They have tournaments on Saturdays...We use to have those in the bars when my Dad took me in the bars, way back in the day. He would plop my butt up on the bar stool next to him, buy me a Coke and get himself a Meister Brau...Those were the days..Nice to see a blast from the past that time hasn't touched in the way of the shuffleboard..

We had intentions of going into San Antonio to the River Walk, but out weather was not cooperating..Texas is now on it's way to having one of the coldest Decembers on record...We have been ready to disconnect our water at any day...probably tonight..It is suppose to get down to 25 degrees. 

Since San Antonio was a "no go", we opted to go into Gruene, TX..OK, I will not go into my normal history lesson, but I advise any people like myself (crazy for US history) go to this link..Gruene, TX.

You will not be sorry..interesting stuff..Here are some photos I took in Gruene..

 Above is the Gruene Dance Hall, built in 1878, and Texas's oldest dancehall. This is where George Strait got  his start too...and John Travolta did his famous "dance scene" in the movie "Michael"..

There was a band playing in the dance hall, so we decided to have an adult beverage (all they can serve is beer and wine...no problem...)..and we took a seat at one of the long wooden tables and enjoyed the revelry!

 On the other side of the huge dance hall is the old original bar, where my partner in crime got me a wine and he had a draft beer...good times!!

Of course you cannot come to Texas without partaking of some good 'ol Texas BBQ Brisket...and we found some great stuff in Sattler, TX..

Yep, this is Texas all right, y'all. Ya order up from the window and either eat it outside or take it home..We took ours back to the camper..but not without a stop at the Sattler VFW on our way back..

I loved this jar at the VFW...but I also knew that I can  have a sailor's mouth on occasion and didn't want to have to mortgage our house to get outta there, so I kept in on the "down low"..

I cannot forget to mention that our "shitter" has broken twice in one week. Yes, I am serious...The flusher broke once, and Dennis took our toilet out and managed to fix it...

It broke at midnight that night, so a few trips to the Shower house/ bathrooms with a flashlight were our destiny until daylight..Then MacGuyver got to work and fixed it in the morning..

 Not exactly where the toilet is suppose to be..on our bedroom floor...

OK, that was lucky, he had an extra part with us...But our luck ran out about 4 days later, when I did the foot flush and it broke again..It was about 4PM, so we made a high speed run to the nearest Camping World, praying they could have the part..Keep in mind our camper is 11 years old, so our chances were slim to none they would have it..and a new toilet might be in our future...

 However, we lucked out and they had our part..Probably because nobody had a toilet that old and they were left with aging toilet parts..At any rate, we raced back to the Hiker, Dennis installed the part in about an hour and we were on board for our Happy Hour, only 1/2 hour late..

So, that pretty much covers our last 2 weeks..Tomorrow we are heading to Bandera, TX, "Cowboy Capitol of the World"..We will be staying there one week, and hoping the weather gets warm enough to wander around outside...Also hoping to get to Luckenback from there..As for tonight, it's New Year's Eve and MacGyver and I are planning an exciting evening of staying inside, cooking pork chops and having a few adult beverages...I believe I will be meeting the "Admiral" for drinks later..

EVERYONE HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY NEW  YEAR!!