TICKIN’ OFF THE TEXAS FOOD BOXES - HITTIN’ THE ROAD

When we come to Texas we have certain culinary requirements.  This week we were in Franklin, TX visiting Bettie’s Family and in San Antonio, TX to visit mine. What better time to eat than when you are with family? 

Whataburger – Jacksonville TX - double meat, cheese, and jalapenos, plus grilled onions for Bettie. The second location of Whataburger was just around the corner from us in Corpus Christi when I was growing up there.  A sentimental favorite that is still the best fast food burger around.  And yes, I washed it down with a root beer, just like in the old days.

Schlotsky’s – San Antonio – we ate at the original location in Austin while we were in college at UT and this has always been one of our favorites.

Mexican Food – San Antonio – Matecumbe – Our first time there, Good Food, Margaritas left something to be desired.

Texas Barbecue – San Antonio – Bun N’ Barrel – since the 50’s in the same location.  Hard to beat it.

Chicken Fried Steak – Indian Lodge at Davis Mountains State Park – with mashed potatoes and green beans.  I feel like a Texan again.

After leaving San Antonio our first stop was South Llano River State Park.  The river runs for a couple of miles in the park and is ideal for tubing.  We saw a few kayaks in the park, but did not have time to use ours.  Maybe next trip.  We met Don & Pat from Victoria, TX who have made 4 trips to Alaska.  We had an informative, but too short a conversation with them and got some good pointers.

  On Day 12 we drove from SLRSP to Davis Mountains State Park, between Ft. Stockton and Van Horn, south of I10 about 40 miles. The park is at about 5,000 feet elevation and it was a long uphill haul against stiff West Texas headwinds all day long.  That combination cost us about 1 mpg for today’s driving, but we’re still averaging 12.2 mpg for the trip so no complaints about that.

The Davis Mountains rise from the West Texas high plains, and the landscape shows a sudden transition from flat plain, to lush valley, to scrub covered mountains – a very striking place to visit – and a great park, except for some reason they expect our sewage to run uphill.  Oh well, a minor inconvenience.

And guess who’s here – Don & Pat.  We think they are stalking us so they can talk more about Alaska.  Pat joined us for a long conversation and they are now our Alaska gurus.  We are so thankful for all the advice. Priceless.

Just for my Mom, here’s a picture of the campground with Indian Lodge in the background and a picture of the courtyard.

Day 13 finds us in Hueco Tanks State Park just outside of El Paso, TX.  We left DMSP and drove to Ft. Davis TX where we needed to get fuel.  No luck on a Sunday morning in this part of the country.  So, we tapped into the 10 gallon diesel reserve we put in the bed of the truck.  Lesson learned.  Stay full!  Today is one of those days that exemplifies why we took this trip.  This drive took us through a valley surrounded by the Davis Mountains. We took Farm to Market Roads out of Ft. Davis, then headed north to Van Horn and continued to the Guadalupe Mountains (highest peak in Texas at about 8700). This drive was one of the most serene and beautiful we have taken.  The West Texas scenery is hard to beat. 

We ended our day at Hueco Tanks State Park. These are natural tanks that hold rain water when everything else around has dried up. There are supposed to be good pictographs here, but we were not able to get one of the guided tours so we can’t say for sure. Don’t waste your time on the self-guided tour unless you just like walking in the desert.  We do, so it was a good day.

Day 14 we cross into New Mexico.  I’ll be back in touch as soon as I can.