Head for the hills!

Good evening Campers! It’s Silver Cliche’ with you again. Tonight’s report is from the Texas Hill Country near Kerrville, Texas.

The day dawned damp and foggy at Matagorda. I felt like Zach and I had walked all the jettys (maybe that should be jetties... oh well, that was this morning, this is now. When Random House publishes my memoirs my editor can straighten that out. I’ve got stories to tell.) and taken all the pictures that Matagorda had to offer us. We slept with the trailer windows open and the fans running. The indoor weather this morning showed 91% humidity. Some of the laundry that felt nearly dry at bedtime felt damper this morning. Given that we live 1/4 mile from the ocean, you’d think we’d be ready to camp successfully 1/4 mile from the ocean. I guess not.

We gave the trailer a good cleaning out including dumping this and refilling that and generally sweeping out the sand and dog fur. We hit the road with some shopping and dining planned for San Antonio, 3 1/2 hours away. If you recall, we stayed in Matagorda two extra days to avoid the heat we expected if we had left Padre Island today and headed for Del Rio. The planned stop for tonight would have been deep in the interior of the southern tip of Texas. During the drive to San Antonio it was cloudy and never reached 80. When we stopped at about 2:00 it was 75 and occasional sprinkles. We picked a spot to land for the night and we haven’t even turned on the AC. What the heck? Had I spent hours replanning for nothing? The Weather Channel app gave me the answer. Here in Kerrville? 74 degrees and cloudy with an overnight low of 67. We have electricity, water,

However, in Cotulla where we had planned to be it was 87 and sunny but it feels like 94 and an overnight low of 76 was forecast. Tomorrow? One hundred and freakin’ two in Cotulla!

I allowed myself an extra ice cream bar as recognition for a job well done. I rewarded myself, you see, because nobody gets recognition for something like this. Telling your traveling companions “The plan I created would have led to major discomfort for you, but I changed the plan. TaDa!” Gets as much appreciation as “Honey, I repaired your family heirloom table... after I broke it.” Sometimes pride is a personal matter.

Anyway... we are in Kerville, Texas and quite comfortable tonight. That’s all that counts. Tomorrow we will head to Alpine and Thursday into Big Bend National Park for three nights.

So... the Hill Country. I’ve heard about it my whole life I think. It’s a big area that starts at Austin and San Antonio (they are about 80 miles apart with Austin to the northeast of San Antonio) and includes between 20 and 30 counties to the west depending on whose definition of “Hill Country” you chose to adopt. We are 100 miles west of Austin and 65 northwest of San Antonio somewhere near the middle of this storied region. My first impression is that Texas Hill Country is almost exactly like the Hill Country in your state. Think Poconos, Catskills, Ozarks, Berkshires, etc.. The road cuts at the tops of hills on I-10 expose sedimentary rock just the same as the road cuts at the tops of interstates in your area. The main state routes wind along valley floors and follow streams and creeks with small towns frozen in time. Vacation homes on hillsides look down on decaying mobile homes and other modest dwellings in the lower elevations. The occasional boat storage area implies people come here to enjoy the water even though no lakes are in sight. You’ve probably seen a place like this if you’ve ventured out even if you haven’t been here to Texas Hill Country.

I can’t make a proper blog post without a picture. Our lunch stop was at the Barbecue Station in San Antonio. It was still looking good when we unwrapped it at the table in the Airstream when we parked. It was good. Mrs. C’ said my own recipes are better. Who am I to disagree? (Especially when I was there before she even spoke up). One day maybe I’ll write a piece on barbecue. The three points of comparison I’d make between my own and the Barbecue Station are: 1. Pork shoulder does not smoke well over oak, although beef brisket does (we have a winner!) 2. The secret ingredients to cole slaw are rice vinegar and celery seeds and 3. pinto beans cooked “cowboy style” need a significant amount of bacon. Pardon the criticism... it was quite good anyway and very photogenic!

Another 300 miles west tomorrow. Stop back to hear about the end of Hill country and the start of the high desert.

Later...