Holidays in Hondo

We arrived at The Lone Star Corral, an Escapees Co-op in Hondo Texas, last Saturday. Our plan was to check out the park, stay overnight, and move on the following day. Once we got parked and set up, it was late afternoon, so we headed out to see the place before it got dark. At the end of our street we ran into a man walking his dogs, and immediately struck up a conversation. Our new friend, Howard, told us all about the co-op, the community, what all there is to do there, and then invited us to that evening's social hour, and a kind of bingo game played with cards. We talked so long that it was too dark to continue, so we went to check out the community center.

We walked inside and were blown away by the place. It was really big. There were two regulation size pool tables, a full size snooker table, two shuffle board courts, a library, a couple of craft areas, a jigsaw puzzle area, a large modern laundromat, a huge commercial kitchen, AND seating/ eating space for at least 150 people. There were folks inside playing games and we talked to them too. Everyone we met was so nice and so welcoming, that within two hours we had decided to stay for Christmas.

Christmas was really nice. So is everyone here. So nice in fact, that we're staying for New Years...

Hondo is not far from the Texas Hill Country so we went exploring. It's kinda weird because everything is flat and then BLAMMO! Hill. No gradual assent, not transition, just flat... then hill.

Once you pass into the hills the terrain immediately changes from the deep fertile black soil grasslands, perfect for pasturing cattle, to rocky, sandy, scrub filled grasslands, perfect for pasturing cattle. 

No longer can you see miles to the horizon. Instead, on either side of the road, the view is held close-in by Mesquite, Mountain Cedar, Live Oak, Scrub Cedar, Prickly Pear Cactus and Yucca. 

The topsoil is so thin that when it rains, there's nothing to soak into, so it just runs off and flash floods. These floods are so common and so fast, that not only are there permanent warning signs, but at places where they cross the roads, the pavement has been engineered to accommodate the fast flowing water.  Each side of the pavement is ramped so that when it does flash, the water, and anything carried along by it, meets minimal resistance and the road bed doesn't get washed away. There are flood gauges at these crossings to mark the depth of the water. They measure up to 5 feet!

We visited the Hill Country Natural Area, a 5,300 acre preserve. This is a popular area for mountain biking, hiking, cross country running, and horse riding. They have camping areas specifically for those with horses. Each site has a corral, fresh water and feeding facilities. We spoke to a group of folks who were readying their horses to head out. 

One couple had these furry stocky smallish Icelandic horses. The were soooooo cute! 

We took about a 2.5 mile hike and wore ourselves out but good, then headed back to the car.













On the way home we stopped at one of the ubiquitous barbecue joints along the highway. They had just brought in a brisket from the mesquite fueled pit. As the cook sliced it you could see how juicy it was. Of course that was what we ordered, and it was easily the best I had eaten, (and believe me, I've eaten a LOT of barbecue brisket,).

Barbecue in this part of the world is different from many other areas. This is cattle country. Here it's all about the meat, and that meat is BEEF! You can get pork or turkey or chicken, but on the menu the main items are "chopped" or "sliced", "sandwich" or "plate". Then the sides, then the drinks, then the other meats. When you order, they don't assume you want sauce, they ask if you do. And that sauce is homemade, thin, loaded with the meat juices and there's only the one kind. No fancy-schmancy rubs, no assortment of gourmet sauces (not that there's anything wrong with that,) and for sure NO FRIGGIN' MANGO ANYTHING!!! Just fresh butchered, grass-fed, tender, juicy, expertly smoked over mesquite beef.

Part of our mission this winter is to explore possible places to live when it's time to come in off the road. This place has a lot of plusses for consideration.

• It's a co-op so it's run by the lot owners
• The afore mentioned owners are some of the friendliest and warmest people we've met in our travels
• The infrastructure and facilities are top notch
• The lots are large and maintenance-free
• You can build a large "shed" aka workshop, hobby space
• Has mild weather in the winter
• Has a new modern hospital
• Is an hour from San Antonio a large cosmopolitan city with lots to do
• Taxes are low, lower, lowest...
• IT'S IN TEXAS

So it's up for consideration, but we'll still be moving on later this week.

Take Me to the River ...

After waiting waaaayyyyy too long, our mail caught up with us and we were able to leave Mission and head north. We enjoyed a day of good weather for traveling and arrived in San Antonio. Until today, we've had blue skies and warm weather. It's been so nice to be able to have the windows open, both day AND night!

We had wanted to visit with some good friends Scott and Jodi, but unfortunately we arrived on the day they were leaving to visit their families for Christmas. Next winter, God willing, we plan to just explore Texas so we'll get another chance to visit

We made sure to take some time to visit the famous San Antonio Riverwalk. We spent a few hours and really only saw a small part of it. The place is a street photographer's paradise with all the cool architecture, flora and fountains. Next time we'll spend more time.

I'd been craving some proper barbacoa, (not the stuff Chipotle passes off as barbacoa,) and at a local taqueria just outside of San Antonio, by golly I got some. If you've never had authentic barbacoa, and you're a carnivore, you owe it to yourself to try some. First you gotta find a real Mexican place. Not the Anglo places you're used to, with the fancy margaritas and combination plates, but the little diner style places, where the patrons are mostly Mexicans hunkered over big bowls of steaming hot menudo (tripe soup) and drinking beer out of long neck bottles. If they don't sell Agua Fresca and Horchata, head for the door. Barbacoa means barbecue, but really it started out as meat cooked for a long time in pits in the ground filled with hot coals. Today it is generally steamed until it's tender. Most often the barbacoa you'll find is beef, although I've had lamb as well.  The source is the cheek meat, and the flavor is to die for. Think of the most tender, juiciest, fatty pot roast without any stringiness that you can imagine and you'll begin to get the picture. Darn it, I made myself hungry again. Good thing we're still in Texas!

Next stop is the Lone Star Coral, an Escapees Co-op in Hondo, about 50 miles west of San Antonio. Until then...

Riding the Storm Out

We got out of East Texas just ahead of the first of the winter storms that clobbered most of the nation.  We were fortunate to have a dry trip all the way to the Rio Grande Valley area of South Texas.  Usually it's sunny and warm here, but with the weather the way it is, it's been cooler than usual and cloudy. Still, it's better than single digit temps, snow and ice.

We hunkered down at Chimney Park Resort & RV Park to wait out the crummy weather. This resort is right on the Rio Grande, and Mexico is right across the river. 

Yesterday we walked around the "neighborhood" and picked some fresh lemons and grapefruits off of trees growing all over the place. 

Then it began to rain, so we decided it was a good time to get caught up on laundry.  The park's laundry facility is in the lower level of the office/ recreation center, right next to the game room, library, and computer stations. They have four regulation size pool tables, so we played some pool while the laundry ran. All in all, this is a nice place, but a lot more developed than we would normally like. It's more of a 55 plus community with RV's, but it's warmer here than most everywhere else, and everyone we've met has been really nice. They have a church service on Sundays which is a big plus for us.

The National Butterfly Center is a few miles away, but it's been too cold and wet to check that out. It's supposed to warm up and dry out next week, so maybe we can go there and take advantage of this unique resource.

I (Paul) have some friends down here, that I haven't seen in a lot of years. I'm hoping to get to visit over a platter of Barbacoa. Then it's on to the Lone Star Corral RV Park in Hondo, TX.  That will put us about 40 miles West of San Antonio. Lot's to do and see in San Antonio, and we have friends to see there too.

Until next time, I gotta charge up my camera batteries.