Kerrville, Texas

January 22-31, 2014

Buckhorn Lake RV Resort

Okay!!!  I feel so much more at home here at Buckhorn Lake RV Resort! 

We spent the first day just roaming around the town...still not quite what I am used to, but most of the bases are covered...grocery stores, Walmart, a couple of department stores (J.C. Penney, Belk), plenty of restaurants, a couple of golf courses, the Guadalupe River for some spring kayaking and, as I said, a great park.  We have a nice concrete pad and patio site overlooking a small stream; not so many sites to make the park overwhelming; a calendar of events that again isn't overwhelming but covers all the bases.  We've already met neighbors who have spent the winter season here for a few years (not a bad seasonal rate, either!!)  If only we can get over the weather!  I brought two jeans, two long sleeved t-shirts and three sweatshirts....they have begun to fray!!  I never expected I would be wearing them this long.  Needless to say, my new washing machine has been well broken in!

 

 

We spent a couple of days at the campground....one waiting for the water to come back on (had been turned off by the campground so the pipes wouldn't freeze) and waiting for a couple of our pipes to become un-frozen!!  The other was spent while the on-site oil change guy made up for all the scheduled maintenance we never had due to putting our trust in people we thought knew what they were doing.  Anyway, the Beave is practically all new and Ken is feeling a whole lot better!!

 

We finally got back on the golf course....only the second time since we've left home.  We traveled back to Fredericksburg to play the Lady Bird Johnson Golf Course.  Only the greens were green; I guess in winter, fairways are pretty brown....almost look dead.  However, I enjoyed that aspect of the course...what I lack in distance was made up in those brown fairways....boy did my ball roll.  Unfortunately, that roll also affected my putting.  I think I three-putted every green; so my score was normal!  The temperature actually got in the 70's with a bright sunshine but some pretty strong wind!!

 

 

We went back to Fredericksburg to spend a day in the Historic District and some exploration at the National Museum of the Pacific War and the Admiral Nimitz Museum.  Before embarking to the Museum, we enjoyed a lunch at The Wheelers, an authentic German restaurant advertising the best hamburgers in America (the same sign we had seen down the road at a different restaurant.  How can you have two of the best hamburgers in America in one town?) 

 

With bellies full of Reuben sandwiches, hot German potato salad, red cabbage AND homemade peach cobbler, we headed to the National Museum.  We spent a couple of hours in the George H. W. Bush Gallery, 33,000 square feet, with numerous exhibits beginning with America and Japan just prior to Pearl Harbor and continuing with exhibits on a lot of the major events of the war in the Pacific.  I think if you dedicated some time to each exhibit, you could spend at least a week at the Museum!  My favorite was the presentation of many of the battles, showing the strategies and movements of both sides, all coming to the certain end...an American victory!

 

After our visit to the gift shop where I got my inevitable hat pin, we stepped out into the Plaza of the Presidents honoring the ten Presidents who served during WWII.  Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman served as Commander‐in‐Chief while the next eight (Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, Gerald R. Ford, James E. Carter, Jr., Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush) served in uniform.  (Kind of scary to think I was born during Dwight David Eisenhower's presidential term, was most affected by John F. Kennedy's term, lived through the next six, plus Clinton, Bush, Jr. and Obama...I'm feeling kind of old!)

 

Next to the Plaza of the Presidents was the Memorial Courtyard filled with over 1,800 plaques dedicated to those who served in the Pacific during WWII.  Most of these plaques were purchased by family of World War II veterans to honor them....quite impressive.

 

We then visited the Admiral Nimitz Museum located in the historic Nimitz Hotel on Main Street, which was built by Admiral Nimitz's grandfather.  The first half of the exhibit it dedicated to the story of Fredericksburg and the Nimitz family.  The second half is dedicated to the long and successful Naval career of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz.

 

The planned next stop was a guided tour at Pacific Combat Zone; however, stepping out of the Nimitz Hotel we found no more sun and temperatures plummeting; expected, but not this soon.  Our one and only desire was to get back to the car to turn the heater on and head back home!

On our travels here in the Hill Country of Texas, we have seen some great and not so great "gateways" to the many ranches.  Since we couldn't spend a lot of time out of the car, we took pictures of a couple of these on the way home.  You can go from very dramatic to very eccentric to very deserted.  Very telling about the homesteads beyond them which you cannot usually see.

 

We enjoyed a visit to Stonehenge II, not a replica and about 2/3 the original size, but a feat nonetheless.  Really made me want to visit the real Stonehenge someday! 

 

You won't believe it, but here in Hill Country, it's hilly!  And, at the bottom of those hills, there is usually a creek.  Some are pretty dry and others quite full; I guess depending on where they put the dams.  And, you'll find these signs next to them to measure the water.  I've wondered if there is a "max"....if the water is 3 feet deep you shouldn't attempt to go through?

We are leaving Kerrville this morning for a two-day trip to Lajitas and Big Bend...a stop Ken has been really looking forward to.  Then a quick trip to Carlsbad Caverns before we arrive in Las Cruces, New Mexico and finish our trek through Texas.  Not too sure about Verizon's ability to give us phone or internet service, so the next couple of blogs may take awhile to get to you all; but know you're with us every step of our journey.