Green Texas

It was another cold, uncomfortable night in the van. The problem, we both agree, is the air mattress. It leeches heat from you and doesn’t provide good support. It has to go. We are officially shopping for a foam mattress.

The bathrooms at the RV park were great. Private rooms with toilet, basin, shower and heater. Nice way to start the day.

Continuing east, it wasn’t long before we were leaving the I10 again to visit the Davey Crockett Monument, in the town of Ozona. The town was an unexpected treat. The main street was lined with old sandstone buildings, graceful homes and the whole road gabled with old oak trees. At the pretty park in the centre of town stood the monument and a man passing by offered to photograph us. We go to talking and he introduced himself as the Principal of the local elementary school. When we told him where we were from, he said that he had been to Australia many years ago and stayed with a friend in Deniliquin. Small world huh.

Our next departure from the I10 was to take the US Highway 290 towards Austin, capital of Texas.

Along the way we passed through the bustling, yet old fashioned and very pretty town of Fredericksburg. We bought gas there for $2.74 a gallon and drove out of town over the bridge over Barons Creek.

The rest of the drive to Austin was through farming communities. They were small and modest, yet pleasing to the eye. One of them was the town of Johnson City, home town of LBJ – Lyndon Baines Johnson, not Lawrie Barton-Johnson.

From our stop in Ozona to the outskirts of Austin, we have really noticed the landscape becoming extremely green and lush. The vegetation is thick and it looks like Tasmania after a wet spring. It is a far cry from the bone dry desert we drove across yesterday.

We arrived in Austin just in time for peak hour but Pia’s awesome planning and navigation skills saved the day again and vowing not to sleep in the van again until we replace the mattress, we got into a really nice hotel in North Austin for $29 plus tax (seriously nice).

We had dinner at the Sports Bar/ Steakhouse next door to the hotel. The New York style steak was beautiful, just what the doctor ordered. We were amused to discover that the place was called Bikinis because that is what the waitresses wore. Shorty shorts, bikini tops and cowboy boots.

Funny Fact: While briefly lost in Austin, we encountered the first speed hump of the trip today. The quality of the highways here is unbelievable. The interstates are as smooth as pool tables for thousands of miles. The old US highway system and the state highway systems are almost as good. It makes our highways back home look terrible by comparison. The rest stops come every few miles and have covered picnic tables, BBQ’s, rest rooms, information kiosks, in some places WI-FI and enough parking for dozens of cars and trucks.

The Nimitz Museum, Fredericksburg

Texas Wildflowers

Davey Crockett Monument, Ozona

Barons Creek, Fredericksburg