Day 7 - Balmorhea State Park, Texas

California or Bust…

Day 7 – Balmorhea State Park, Texas (West Texas Flatlands)

Friday, October 28, 2011

It’s going to be a 400 mile drive today… we thawed out a large package of country style pork ribs last night in anticipation of making a crock pot dinner that can cook all day.  I’m not so sure it’s such a good idea… the aroma is going to make us hungry.  We prepped onions and garlic, added the braised ribs, emptied a can of apple pie filling, added cumin and other spices.  We’ll have a nice dinner ready at day’s end.

We drove South and West out of Austin and stopped at a Wal-Mart for a few supplies before getting on Highway 290 which would take us along the Texas Hill Country Trail. We could have dropped down to I-10 which may have been faster but not nearly as scenic.  We passed through Johnson City which was the birthplace and home of former President Lyndon B. Johnson… he was one tough Texan.  Stonewall was another cute town and famous for their peaches… we wished we had stopped for homemade peach ice cream.  The vista changed to mesas and cliffs of sandstone and limestone.  And to our surprise, we drove past at least a dozen beautiful functioning wineries… who knew?!?   We then entered Fredericksberg,, with  a population of just over 10,000, it was a bustling, artsy, historic town which we wished we could have spent more time and hope to come back to someday.  Fredericksberg was influenced by Prussian and German settlers and is also the birthplace of Admiral Nimitz, the Father of America’s modern navy.

It’s official… we turned the Atlas page from the Eastern Texas map to the Western Texas map.  If you look at the state, Interstate 10 runs across the widest part of Texas and we have been driving it for days.  Drew has Outlaw Country playing on Sirius radio which is a blend of old and new cowboy poet songs to set the mood.  The scenery changed as well… grander mesas, more cedar trees, less water.  Talk about wide open spaces… this is the Texas in cowboy movies… we expect to see some Apaches on horseback.  Then right around a bend in the road there was at least 100 windmills sitting on top of a mesa.

Windmills on the Mesa

By the way… did we mention that the country style apple pork ribs are smelling pretty good right about now.  It’s about 5:30 pm and the sun is still high in Western Texas, we exited I-10 and drove another six miles to the base of the Barrilla Mts.  We have a great view of the mesas, some as high as 6,300 ft. at the Balmorea State Park.  We like it here… just about to enjoy our crockpot dinner with fresh cauliflower… wish we could put it on a “Smell-i-vision” cell phone app so you could enjoy too.  What a GREAT vacation!



Quiet spot at Balmorhea State Park





View from our dinette window   :o)