Really Good Barbeque, Really Bad Gas, and a Game of "I Spy!"

So, getting off to a late start seems to be a theme this season.  But waiting for my Jalapeno Cheddar Bread to finish baking so we could have it with breakfast Saturday morning was absolutely worth the wait! RDB and I left out for Lockhart State Park Friday night and rolled into our spot well after dark.

Saturday morning we woke to the sounds of golf balls 'chinking' down the 2nd hole of Lockhart SP's public golf course.  It's the last remaining golf course of any state park that is maintained and staffed by the Parks and Wildlife Department (and yes, we did see the Ranger had given up his usual big truck for a golf cart!).  Though we didn't have to worry too much about errant golf balls, we did hear the occasional "FORE!" (Ever wondered why the word "fore"?  I pondered that over our coffee, the grabbed RDB's phone to ask Uncle Google. )

Much of the day was spent resting at the campsite - remember, we're big fans of Numerous Naps when we camp, but towards the later part of the afternoon we made a run for Wal-Mart (it's nice to walk around in the A/C, ya know!) and went into the heart of Lockhart for some Barbeque.

Did you know that Lockhart is officially the Barbeque Capital of Texas? I had heard it mentioned somewhere before, and after researching on Yelp - it looked like we had several different options.  Black's Barbeque has been run by the same family for 5 generations (82 years!) and is the only one that offers a variety of side dishes as well as the meats - and since the Ranger so highly recommended it, as well as the 3 golfers in line behind me at the Ranger Station - we decided to eat there.  

And we were NOT disappointed.

Yes, that's a 1.4# beef rib beside my normal-sized 10" picnic plate!

There was not a single thing we tried (the beef rib, the brisket, two different types of beans, coleslaw, mashed potatoes, potato salad - and that's just a fraction of the sides they offer!) that wasn't delicious and tasty.  The pecan pie was delightful - and I'm not one who likes pecan pie *at all* so the fact that I went back to get my own piece after having just a bite of RDB's is saying something!  Be sure to wear your stretchy pants, because you will want to devour every last bit of what they serve you.  And if somehow that's not enough to satisfy your need for beef - they ship nation-wide, too!  

I'm pretty sure one of those pecan pies will be showing up at our house for our Steeler's Christmas party this year!  *wink*wink*

We spent a little time walking around the historic areas of downtown Lockhart - it's truly a beautiful little town and such a treat to get to spend some time walk off the (thousands of) calories we'd just enjoyed.  The County Courthouse has quiet an interesting back story - including the fact that it has a nearly-identical twin in the County Courthouse for Goliad County (the same plans were sold to both counties by two different architects!)

Once the sun had started to set, and most of the golfers had gone home for the day, RDB and I took Diesel for a walk out on the golf course.  We didn't cover all 9 holes, but the few we did were a nice leisurely walk before we started up a campfire and gazed at the stars.  When we made it back, our campsite neighbors stopped over to say hi and introduce themselves.  It never ceases to amaze me what a magnet Diesel is for the attention of other dogs lovers.  What started as a "He's such a beautiful dog!" became a great time of conversation and meeting new friends. David and Cheryl - if you happen to be reading this - we loved meeting you and you're welcome to come love on our 'puppy' anytime!

Time always seems to pass too quickly on our trips - before you know it, it's Sunday morning and you have to think about packing up and going home.  A few more pictures, though, before we get to the trip home - this weekend had a bit of an "I Spy!" element to it, too:

I Spied...

A Watermelon Water Tower

A Smiley-Faced Hot Air Balloon over the Golf Course

A Scorpion! Yikes!

Signal! The Geocaching Frog

A Thorny-looking Spider

A Peaceful Place to Ponder

And a "Check Engine" Light

The pulling power our "clydesdale" of an F250 means we run thru a lot of diesel each trip.  We were down to about 1/8th of a tank Sunday morning, and I went into town to fill 'er up for our trip back home (much easier to do without Honey attached - the trailer presents its own unique issues when you're trying to refuel).  About 30 minutes into our return trip (about the time that last 1/8 of a tank ran out) we lost nearly all the pulling power our dear Clyde is known for.  We were topping out, pedal to the floor, at only 55 mph.  On go the flashers, and out come loads of patience.  What should have been a short 3 hours home, turned into 5.  (You know you're getting tired of the road when you count the number of cars that whizz passed you: on average? 14 cars/mile.  Until a car carrier passes.... not sure if he counts as 1 or 10!?)  A quick check with Uncle Google and RDB & I are both hoping it's a tank-full of bad gas or the fuel filter being clogged.  (A big thanks to RandShe who kept us up-to-date with the Steelers game via texts till we got home - you, Sir, are a true friend!)

We were in site #3 at Lockhart State Park this weekend.  It was nearly perfectly level, had a semi view of the golf course (hole #2) and a tree line.  Each site in the Fairview Loop has a great cover over the table and full hook-ups.  We're noticing more and more of the parks are installing the covers and we love that feature.  Great Barbeque in town and Palmetto SP is a short 30 minutes away, just watch out for the bad gas....

For more camping photos, go here.

All Is Calm

I can't help but smile - we went to Lockhart State Park for our first trip with the Castle, and it's right outside of the city of Lulling.  

See lull, think "calm."

And I am so much more calm and happy now that we're camping again.  The hat RBD bought me for this trip truly says it all:

It's always a bit of a mess when you're moving into a new camper - I think we made 4 (5?) trips to Wal-mart along the way regathering items (and food!).  We were so excited to head out after closing on the camper that we didn't have any of our gear from the old camper that we had in storage.  I can tell you, THAT makes for an interesting weekend - knowing you have the stuff, but you don't have the stuff.

I'll tell you though, the one thing we did have was ice! 

OMG, y'all our new camper has an in-freezer ICE MAKER!!!!

 I have nothing but coffee mugs, but we. have. an ICE MAKER!! 

*swoon*

Lockhart SP is a fun campground - its a loop of hookups right on a golf course.  So, of course, we spent the evenings taking walks and enjoying the stars.  (I'd forgotten how wonderful the dark skys are when you get out of town.)

Lulling also happens to be a really neat little town to visit (Check out the write up from the Day Tripper).  We greatly enjoyed the bar-b-que the last time we were here, and this time, we went down to the local farmer's market.

Y'all - support the locals. We enjoyed a little lunch at Mom's Front Porch  - the chicken salad salads were delicious, and the smell of fresh baked bread wafting out the front door was like a hug and a kiss on the cheek from Grandma.

The Farmer's Market just down main street was another great place to help support the locals - we bought fresh veggies for breakfast on Sunday, and the smallest watermelon they had - which was still big enough to fill the whole freezer! 

I'll have a whole post about a trick I learned to cut watermelons.. Look forward to that shortly!

We also made an appointment to visit the Lulling Lavender Fields (made an appointment, because Covid-19 is still rampant, and even more-so in Texas where we've "reopened the economy" before mandating mask wearing and because of the Memorial Day weekend, we're now seeing unprecedented outbreaks and the maxing out of our hospital systems....  but I'm not going to make this blog about Covid, and the 19 bazillion things that are being discussed elsewhere. Camping is about getting _away_ from all that, so that's where we're going to focus.) 

M-kay?  Okay.

Now, where was I? 

Oh, yeah - Lulling Lavender Fields.

Our visit was short, but we found several items to take back to our new home-on-wheels: CBD peppermint tea, a few bundles of dried lavender, and a CBD/lavender/frankincense balm for me.  RBD and I have both found CBD to be a wonderful addition to our daily lives - for me, it's been a huge aide in pain relief from the nerve pain that still lingers from a car accident five years ago.  So, it was nice to find another local place that we could support, and take home a few items we know we'd enjoy.

For dinner that evening, we used some of the jalapeños that we picked up at the farmer's market and made one of our camping favorites: bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers.  

New Camper, Tasty Dinner, Good Movie

I mentioned that Lockhart is on a golf course, right?  Well, we enjoyed walking the course and taking picture, but the park headquarters had a little bit of free fun around it, too. I always try to drop into the park HQ, because you never know what you'll find!

It was such a great weekend to be back camping again - though, RDB says we should start calling it "RV-ing" because we've definitely moved up a bit aways from where we started.  To-may-to, to-mah-to. I'm just glad we're back!

We were in Site #5 of the full hooks loop at Lockhart State Park.  I know I used to tell you if the sites were relatively level or not, but the Castle has auto leveling (something RDB really desired) so all we do is push a button and viola! We're leveled!  We've been to this park before: Really Good Bar-b-que, Really Bad Gas, and a Game of I-Spy.

For more camping photos, go here.

Camping Cache - Lockhart, TX

Found:

Lockhart Loot

TxGCC Lockhart

Old Windmill View

Park (P)review: Lockhart State Park - Lockhart, TX

Park (P)review

We haven't camped here yet, but I've driven around and checked it out!

Lockhart State Park
512-398-3479

*Swimming pool on site! ($2 with camping permit)
*Adjacent to a golf course (you can see the course from sites 1-10) and has golf carts that can be rented
*Sites 11-20 are in line with the river, however, most of them have a major drop off from the pad/road to set camp on and the tables/fire rings (more than 4' drop in some spots)
*Sites: Full hookups: Sites 3, 5, and 6 are all well shaded and have great views of the golf course.  These sites also have covered picnic tables pavilions
*Sites: Electric and Water: Sites 17 and 18 would be a good group site, site 18 as a shaded stand alone. Site 20 has great shade and is at the end of the group with some privacy.

We stayed here October '14: Really Good Barbeque, Really Bad Gas

A Crossover: Cars and Courthouses

Hi, y'all.

I gotta be honest, it's hard to pick back up and write on the blog because camping and Diesel were so intertwined...  I'm grateful that we have these blog pages because it's a living memorial of our camping campion; we started camping the same month he was born, he joined us just a short 2 months later, and he camped with us all the way up till Memorial Day this year.  I know the next time we camp, and every time we camp from here here on out, it will be, well... different.  To say "we miss our Diesel" is probably the understatement of the decade for us right now.

So, a slight shift from the normal camping topic - a crossover "episode," if you will.  And perhaps a new addition/distraction going forward, seeing that the blog _is_ about being "on wheels" after all.

My I introduce our newest adventure: our 2021 Mazda MX5 RF.  We bought it earlier this summer and  named her JOY. 

We've been ENJOYN this convertible over the summer months, and have already gone on a cross country 11-day trip to Denver, Colorado (the above picture was on the drive up to Pike's Peak); the past two weekends after Diesel's death, we've found ourselves jumping in the car and running away from an empty, quiet house.

This weekend was WAY too wet, even though we typically start our camping season back up on Labor Day, so we made a last minute decision to take the Miata out, and thanks to a post from the Lone Star Miata Club, we had a mission: The TX Miata Courthouse Challenge that's proceeding the 2022 Texas Miata Roundup that we're going to in October (we've got reservations to camp that weekend and are working the registration table, so we're pretty excited about meeting new friends in the Miata club.)

Y'all already know I have a thing for courthouses, so this one was a no brainer!

We're planning to get the 10 stops needed for the challenge over two different trips: this weekend, we're getting the western and southern stops, and since we already had a trip to Dallas planned to visit family and we'll get the northern ones that weekend. 

These will likely just be picture posts but I'll tag back to any camping trips where we've visited the courthouses, too, since we're not spending a ton of time exploring, just trying to get all 10 stops before the deadline of October 1st.

So, thanks for sticking with me as I shift gears (see what I did there?).

xoxo, SJB

___________________________________________________

Stop #1: Coryell County Courthouse - Gatesville

Stop #2: Caldwell County Courthouse - Lockhart

We stayed at Lockhart State Park a few times, and visited the courthouse in Really Good Barbeque, Really Bad Gas, and a Game of "I Spy!"

Stop #3: Bexar County Courthouse - San Antonio

We've camped around San Antonio a few times, but surprisingly, haven't 'snagged' the Bexar Co Courthouse till now.  Nearby Palmetto State Park will put you one giant pecan away from Guadalupe Co Courthouse, if you're feeling a little nutty.

Stop #4: Fayette County Courthouse - La Grange

We've stayed in La Grange waaay back in the pop-up days: Rain, Rain at La Grange, but didn't get a chance to visit the courthouse.

Stop #5: Victoria County Courthouse - Victoria

We've camped near Victoria at Goliad State Park a few times over the past decade with a memorable Christmas trip to the fully decorated courthouse just last year. 

Stop #6: Wharton County Courthouse - Wharton

More than 700 miles in three days to catch six of the ten courthouses we need for the challenge.  This was a good weekend!

Buying our Rollin' Home; Ron Hoover RV

Nothing like taking time away from work to go camping....and not being able to go camping.  

RDB and I had a long weekend over 4th of July, and with all the troubles we were having with the the Wildcat, we did what we're known for doing: making a big move, spur of the moment. 

And I don't regret it one bit! 

Rusty:  281-381-4505

Working with Rusty at Ron Hoover was a really enjoyable experience.  He's a boat guy by trade, but did a really great job of listening to what it was that we were looking for, understanding our price point, and showing us "a little bit of luxury" that culminated in us purchasing a 2019 38" Palomino Columbus.  And y'all? It's the most luxurious thing I think we've ever bought! 

To put the nail in the coffin on this whole debacle with buying a camper in 2020: Rusty had a quote on the wall of his office, and after our experience with the Wildcat (AKA Cut Bait), I couldn't help but snap a picture of it - it just resonated so much with me:

And a final note: Damian - one of the service techs at Ron Hoover - was INCREDIBLE.  The level of detail he took in giving us the walk thru of the camper, and the incredible amount of honesty that he shared with us about our unit and hte industry as a whole, and the fact that it was Friday afternoon and he had already clocked out and was heading to vacation for the next week- but remained behind to make sure we were hooked up and ok before he left.... its all of those things that really made an incredible difference for us in our experience with Ron Hoover over the other guys.  And it's likely why we'll be customers for life.

We couldn't WAIT to go camping - in fact? We closed on it Friday afternoon and immediately hit the road for Lockhart State park.....

For more new camper photos, click here.