The cold weather seems to be following us. It snowed the past two mornings. It finally melted but the temp is supposed to drop to 25 degrees. Sub-freezing weather doesn't bother me as long as the wind isn't blowing 20 mph. And it IS blowing 20+ mph. Silver City came highly recommended for hiking and biking. We saw several nice trailheads on the road going to the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument. However, it is way too cold for us to hike or bike. I did brave the brisk weather to shoot a pistol match at the "Hole in the Wall" gun range. I was wearing every layer of outer wear I owned. I felt like the Michelin tire guy.
Downtown Silver City is cute with old historic buildings still occupied and in use --- lots of yuppie coffee shops, gift stores, and restaurants. The coffee shop at the corner of Bullard and Broadway gets two thumbs up. It brews an outstanding Americano that would hold its own against any Seattle has to offer.
Our next stops were going to be Alamogordo, Ruidoso, and Roswell. Instead, we are going with Plan B: move even further south for the winter --- drop by Carlsbad, then Odessa, then the gulf coast. Just say NO to snow!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Deb and I are readers. One of the first things we do when we hit a new town is check out the local library.
In a comfortable chair, under a skylight in the Las Cruces library, I sat and read and read all the newspapers. Nice library. It's odd that the hosts at every RV park we stay in take pains to explain where the cable TV hook-ups are and how to read the TV channel guide. I have yet to hook up the cable. Maybe when we run out of books?
In addition to the library, our tour of the town has included the Mesilla and Mesquite historic districts, the campus of New Mexico State University, and a hike along the Rio Grande River. The stretch we hiked was supposed to be flush with beavers. We saw downed trees, but not the critters themselves.
Today, I figured out how to order Mexican food here. In both Tucson and Seattle, authentic Mexican food includes dishes like "Chile Verde" (pork with a green sauce) or Chile Colorado (beef with a red sauce). Chili con carne is a nasty ground beef, bean, tomato paste concoction out of a grocery store cans or a Mexican restaurants in western Pennsylvania. Oddly, southern New Mexican menus list red or green chili con carne, but not chili verde or chili colorado. Then the light bulb went off. Green chili con carne is chili verde, and, red chili con carne is chili colorado. Entiende? Bueno.
It looked like snow, but felt like a beach.
We spent all day at the bat cave...
Deb's pedometer said we walked 6 miles. My feet sure felt like it. Simply awesome!!!
Howdy partners. We are checking out the oil land of West Texas, home of the president of the US of A (at least until Monday, the president part --- the home part, who can say?).
***check the "Breakdowns" page for the latest snafu***
Although it's almost the geographic middle of Texas, locals still consider it WEST Texas. We camped at a south side RV park on Lake Nasworthy, "The only water in West Texas". San Angelo has a nice river walk downtown that is surrounded by the historic district, a restored fort, a residential neighborhood, and a golf course. I chased the little white ball around the course. Next stop: Kerrville.
This is hill country. The rolling hills remind me of the coastal area around San Luis Obispo, CA or maybe the area around Cadillac, MI. It's dryer, of course --- more so because of an 18 month drought. The Guadalupe River runs through Kerrville. The river is dammed in several places and it is real low. Most of the dams only hold a puddle. We got lucky at a State Park and found enough water to float our boats.
We also explored downtown Kerrville which has a river walk, historic district.
The breakdowns this month are not fun. First the toilet went. Then, we blew an oil line. Now, we have a cracked windshield. You can see the toilet repair on our breakdown page. The San Angelo Freightliner dealer stopped the leak. Right now, I'm wrangling with the local glass shop and our insurance company. At least we are being inconvenienced during mild weather. There's that.
We got a pleasant surprise today... Fredericksburg, Texas. This is the cutest town we've seen this side of Moab. It's a German town full of tourist gift shops and restaurants. We ate lunch at Der Lindenbaum. It was the best restaurant meal that I've in at least 5 years. The beer, the main dish, the side dishes, the coffee and the dessert were all excellent. I have never seen a restaurant excel at every dish. Absolutely unbelievable!! Two thumbs way up.
Fredericksburg is built on a high flat plain. Old town has plenty of sidewalks conducive to walking. The roads are fairly flat with wide shoulders for bicycling. There are puddles for the kayaks. Rather than press on to San Antonio, we are changing our plans to spend a few days here.
*************************************************************************************************************
So far we've explored by bike and by foot and it's still cute. It's really nice to see a small town (pop. 9900) that is still in business. So many of the towns that we have seen have been Wal-Marted out of existence.
To refresh your memory, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and the rest of the Texans came to a bad end at the Alamo. The restored Alamo is shine in their honor. Downtown San Antonio grew up next to it.
Right in the middle of Downtown is the River Walk --- a charming cross between Pioneer Square, an upscale shopping mall, and Venice (Italy). The river walk is really cute. I also liked the fact that it wasn't "safety sealed for our protection" as so many things tend to be these days.* Since the river walk lacks rails, if you don't watch where you are going, you fall in. Plop.
While I was in town, I managed to find the Blackhawk gun range and shoot a USPSA pistol match. Bang.
We remain in Fredericksburg (And still like it)
Stan from Custom Auto Glass replaced the front windshield today. Instead of moving on to Corpus Christi tomorrow as we originally planned, we are going to hang out one more day to watch the glue dry (wait for the sealant to setup and cure). Check the Breakdowns link for exciting photos.
* For example, at Arches National Park, you can no longer walk on the arches.
RAWH Home Deb's Critter Collection Contact Us Prior Month Next Month