Texas: Everything is Bigger. Part 2

A very nice local lady at Jacob's Well told us that the most spectacular wildflowers were popping  around Poteet, Texas, which is about 130 miles southeast of our home base in Kerrville. OK, we gotta go!

We found a farmers field on the way to Poteet, near Hondo, that looked pretty good to us, so we stopped and checked it out.

Friends Diane and Bill picked out a choice spot for a photo!

And then the rest of the group joined in!

The field was awesome...purple and yellow and white flowers!

Heading southeast out of Hondo, we happened upon another memorable sight:

The lady at Jacob's Well was not wrong! Poteet is a flower-peepers dream!

It was worth every mile of the day trip to see the flowers that Texas is famous for!

Having had our fill of driving for a bit, we ventured into the outskirts of San Antonio to visit the latest location of a tribute to....Chicken Wings.

Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, is the acknowledged home of the popular BuffalowinG (yeah, thats how they spell it). In recent years, the company has begun to spread its delicious joy across the country, with a new addition being established in San Antonio. We just hadda go! In 1935, Frank and Teressa (yeah...two ss's) semi-accidentally started serving Buffalo Wings. They are prepared these days with the same recipe, and with an array of flavored sauces: Habanero, Sriracha, Honey Glazed and such. Delicious!

Just outside Fredericksburg, a country road named the Willow City Loop has become a popular spot for flower peeping, so we set out to investigate. Our first stop was along a fence decorated with cowboy boots. Pretty clever!

A young lady stopped and asked if we wanted her to take a photo. Well, of course! It was a blustery day in Texas, as D will tell you!

The area has a number of small creeks meandering around and through it. We stopped at one lovely spot.

Donna decided to practice her Betty Grable impersonation! Pretty nice!

Most ranches in Texas have been fenced along public roads, and so entrance gates are commonplace. These flags are flying at the entrance to one such ranch.

From time to time, the remnants of an old corral appear.

This is definitely Texas Bluebonnet season!

The Texas Hill Country has been a little disappointing to us, since we're from the lofty Sierra Nevada mountains of California, but this "hill" is not to be sneezed at. It's awesome.

Returning home from the Willow City Loop, we stopped in Luckenbach, Texas, to see what we could see. Even though the zip code has been retired, the post office remains. It is now a gift shop.

The famous dance hall was ready for the next performance, but we would have had to wait a couple of hours in a freezing wind, so we elected to take a rain check.

 Hondo Crouch was a rancher, philosopher, and All American swimmer at UT in the '70's. In 1970, he and an entertainer friend bought 9+ acres of land between South Grape Creek and Snail Creek known as Luckenbach, having been settled by German immigrants in the 1840's. Honda declared himself mayor and set about establishing zany and crazy events in town. the Dance Hall became the center of activities and the Luckenbach Women's Chili Cookoff centered around the large fire pit outside. Hondo hosted the 1st Luchenback World's Fair, where Willie Nelson made a surprise appearance. Luchenback took on a life of its own after Hondo's death in 1976 when Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson put the town in the spotlight with their #1 song "Luckenbach, Texas". In the '90's, the little town, population 3, became a country music "go to" venue, as country music heavyweights staged here. Now the "bach" as the locals call it, is a venue for local and regional musicians, with performances on most days.

So, we've come to the end of our Hill Country Adventure. It's been an unusual season. Weather has been unusually cold and windy so that many days we simply stayed indoors or went "into town" for a cup of coffee. We were worried that the Bluebonnets would be late this year, but fortunately, they jumped up this last week. I'm sure they will be spectacular over the next few weeks.

Sasha will surely miss "her" dog park at Buckhorn Lake RV! She insisted on playing catch at least twice a day for the two months we stayed there!

We have now started west, getting as far as San Angelo, Texas, where we're in site 30 of the Concho Pearl RV Estates park. This is a home for most of the people here. We're the only transients in an otherwise full park. We're going to scout the area for a few days before continuing west. Stay tuned!