Fredericksburg, Texas

What started out to be a 4 day visit in Fredericksburg, TX, on our way to Houston for Thanksgiving, turned out to be twice that. When arrived at Fredericksburg RV Park we quickly realized that it was very nice and so were the people. So we extended our stay to 8 days and will have to “hoof it” across the state to get to Ellyn’s eye Dr. appointment.

The next day after we arrived was the first rainy day we have had since Colorado in August. We even could have counted the cloudy days we had on one hand. So the rainy Sunday was the perfect day to do our laundry especially since we were both running out of underwear. With 8 washers and 8 dryers and no one in the laundry room when we arrived and with it only steps from our RV, the situation was perfect. Also, the dryers were very inexpensive. 50 cents would dry anything you had.

The RV Park had a schedule of events starting out with an Ice Cream Social the evening of our second day. It was great and everyone who came to it, mostly "winter Texans", were very nice and inclusive of newcomers. We have found this to be the norm for most of the RVers we have met on our travels. The guys mostly sat together and talked about their RVs. One of them had recently gotten new tires for his motorhome so this was of interest to everyone. The women mostly talked about their travels, crafts, and grandkids (we're decidedly younger than the others).

We drove into town the next day and window shopped in the downtown. There are several blocks of store fronts on Main Street and many of the buildings have historic plaques attached explaining when it was built and its original purpose. Fredericksburg was founded by people who emigrated from Germany and there are many German themed restaurants in town.

We found that the downtown was so close to the RV park that, the next day, we walked to the downtown area for lunch. We went to one of the German restaurants and had schnitzel and warm German potato salad. After lunch, we walked a few blocks to a bicycle shop to get a new inner tube for Geoff’s bike. We walked the rest of the way back by a new route which took us past a stockyard. It didn't surprise us to see it as, we had heard strange sounds from that direction the night before and Geoff thought it sounded like cows. Well, he was right because the stockyard was teeming with them as well as sheep and goats. We stopped to watch them unloading cattle from truck trailers and one of the “hands” came over to us. We told him we were just curious and he told us many of the animals would be going to packing houses but that some of the younger ones would go back to farms for grazing and for refurbishing of their livestock. I guess this helps prevent too much inbreeding. Ellyn said, about the experience of seeing the cattle in the stockyard on the way to processi, that as meat eaters, we need to accept/understand that this is what happens to animals on their way to being the food in our link of the food chain.

The next day, we visited the LBJ Ranch about a 1/2 hour away in Stonewall, TX, named for General “Stonewall” Jackson. It was interesting to see it. Ellyn and I were both teenagers when Johnson was President and, although we had seen pictures taken at his “Texas Whitehouse”, it was interesting to visit there. They have restored most of the house to the way it looked in the 1960s since “Lady Bird” Johnson passed away in 2007. Although his presidency was overshadowed by the escalating Viet Nam War, he did many good things while in office, like starting the “Head Start” school program and pushing for and then signing Desegregation and Voting Rights acts. Ellyn can still remember, vividly, her glee when LBJ Johnson announced that he would not seek a 2nd term.

Another day in Fredericksburg, we took a drive up to Inks Lake State Park about an hour away. We saw many turtles sunning themselves on logs and rocks around the lake, We pulled into one little lagoon to have a lunch we packed up for the trip and then we paddled to the highlight of the lake, The Devil’s Swimming Hole. This is a lagoon surrounded by granite rock. A stream flows into the lake over a little stone waterfall at one end. It was very peaceful back in there with just the murmur of the water to break the silence. It's possibly the most beautiful little portion of a lake we've kayaked and made it well worth the drive!

We took one other trip into town on our bicycles for shopping and sight seeing. It was a nice day but ended with a flat tire on Ellyn’s bike. Geoff peddled back to the RV park and brought back the car to pick up the bike and Ellyn. He tried to repair it, and though it was successful, but after we peddled to the grocery store and back on our last day, the tire was soft again a few hours later. Try, try again, I guess. As far as the grocery store, it was a great one. H-E-B was the name. Apparently they are only in Texas, but they have everything. And at very good prices too, at least for us. I guess the cost of living is generally lower in Texas, except for gasoline. I would think gas would be dirt cheap here, with all the oil wells around, but I guess it doesn’t work that way.

On our last evening, we took in The RockBox Theater, a local venue in Fredericksburg which is popular with people as far away as Austin. They have 4 shows each weekend, except for Christmas Season, when they add another show. They have a new show each weekend, performed by resident actors, a team of about 8. They do all kinds of classical rock music numbers some comedy, and a few more mellow numbers. They end the evening with some patriotic themes, as can probably be expected in middle America. All the cast were incredibly good musicians and singers and we were thoroughly entertained. It would be fun to be able to see them, again.

So, with the nice RV park, shopping/eateries within walking/biking distance and the great entertainment plus some lakes to kayak, Fredericksburg was a great place to stay for eight nights. Perhaps, we will plan to come back to Fredericksburg next year.