Leaving New Mexico & Entering Texas

After fours days of balloons and socializing we exchanged the excitement of the Balloon Fiesta for the peace and quiet of Bottomless Lakes State Park. Last spring we spent a week at this small, well-kept campground on the edge of large sink hole called Lea Lake. It was hot during our stay in the spring, and we enjoyed cooling off in the refreshing lake several times. It was just as hot the second time around, and once again we went in for a dip. Strangely enough this is the only place where we swam all summer. I guess that’s what happens when you spend the majority of the swimming season high up in the mountains where the temperatures are cool and the water in the lakes and streams even cooler.

A nice lake for swimming

With the exception of some morning and evening walks, we mostly stayed inside all week. The mosquitos were veracious to the point that standing or sitting outside for more than a few minutes meant you risked getting eaten alive. Much safer to just stay inside.

A pretty path – too bad it was also a favorite of the mosquitos

At the end of the week the campground filled up with a large group of Airstreams. They were part of the Texas Highlands WBCCI unit on their way from the Balloon Fiesta back home to Texas. We were promptly invited to join them for a happy hour gathering where we given snacks and made to feel welcome. We even realized that we had already met a few of them at the fiesta. What a nice group of people! (Apologies for the fuzzy low light iphone photo)

I think they’re following us…

Saturday morning we said our final good bye to New Mexico and headed east into Texas.

State number 21!

The drive across western Texas can be described with three words: oil, cotton & flat.

Exciting scenery in western Texas

We stopped the first night in San Angelo, TX after 5 hours of driving. We prefer to keep our drive time around 2-3 hours per trip, but were on a mission to get to Austin and were willing to put in a few extra hours to get there. After a night sleeping next to the big rigs in the Sam’s Club parking lot (we tried the very busy 24-hour Walmart next door before moving over to Sam’s Club where the manager gave us the okay to stay), we continued another 4 hours to Austin the next day.

Yup, its an RV park

We’ll be here for two weeks, and since I couldn’t get us into our first choice of parks, McKinney Falls State Park, for the entire time, this week we’re staying at the Austin Lone Star RV Park. It’s an okay place, but I doubt we would stay here again. Here’s my take.

Pros:

• Good size sites with nice separation between
• Trees and shrubbery throughout the park
• Very friendly & helpful staff
• Convenient location right next to I-35. Depending on traffic is about a 15 minute drive to downtown Austin.

Cons:

• Sooooo noisy. That same highway that makes this such a convenient place to stay, also makes it a very loud place to stay. We’re near the front of the park where the noise it the worst.
• Dated facilities. Old bathrooms with moldy shower curtains. I was hoping to enjoy a long shower in bigger space than what we have in our Airstream. That is not what I got. Sticking with our own bathroom for the rest of the week.
• No access to walking trails or any sort of nature

Overall it’s not a bad park, but it does reinforce why we always prefer public over private campgrounds. Looking forward to moving on Sunday. 

Not terrible, but not wonderful either

All complaints about noise and moldy shower curtains aside, we LOVE Austin. Part of me feels like it might be a bit premature to declare it true love already. I mean we’ve only known each other a few days, that’s moving a kind of quick isn’t it? The other part of me ignores this bit of practical wisdom…because it’s Austin, where BBQ reins supreme and there’s an Airstream food truck on every corner. What’s not love?

Airstreams make great food trucks

Austin is a food lover’s paradise. Ninety percent of the advice we’ve been given on what do around here involves some sort of food. And if it doesn’t involve food it involves beer. So I guess over the next two weeks we’re going to be visiting breweries and eating food. Not too tough.

We got the ball rolling right away with a brewery visit on the very first night we arrived. We met up with our RV friend Marshall at the Austin Beer Garden Brewery for some mediocre pizza slices, good beer, and even better company. We sat outside enjoying the warm, humid (gasp!) air and caught up on recent adventures for a few hours. Marshall has been in Austin for a while, and added even more recommendations to the ever growing list of food we must eat here.

Marshall & Tim

A few days later we found ourselves wandering around the trendy section of South Congress Street and decided to stop for a few slices at the highly regarded Home Slice Pizza. I had a margherita and Tim had two pepperonis. This was truly New York style pizza. A thin, chewy crust and just the right amount of sauce. My slice had lots of fresh basil and bits of tangy garlic. Delicious!

Yum!

Luckily there are a lot of opportunities to burn off all those extra calories we’re consuming, because we still need to hit up at least a few BBQ places, Torchy’s Tacos, the food truck scene, and another brewery or two. The goal is to balance every time we eat out with a healthy dose of exercise. So far so good.

One day we went over to the Barton Springs Greenbelt and walked a few miles on the trails alongside a mostly dry stream bed. After reading a bunch of raving online reviews I expected a bit more in the way of natural beauty. I guess I need to remind myself that this is Texas not Colorado. Expectations need to be adjusted.

We’re not in Colorado anymore

Another day we spent an hour and a half walking up and down South Congress Street, across the bridge to the downtown area, and then back up the other side of South Congress. It was then that we decided we earned some pizza ;)

Heading across the bridge

The Colorado River (not the one you’re thinking of) AKA Lady Bird Lake

A tiny bit of what south Congress St. has to offer

Lots more to come over the next week an half as we feast on BBQ, gorge ourselves on tacos, do some biking alongside the lake, tackle the Hill of Life, have a reunion with our Balloon Fiesta friends, and much, much more…