ON THE ROAD AGAIN

LBJ's Schoolhouse

Matt at outhouse at LBJ's original birthplace

LBJ's Air Force One (Jetstar)

Self-Explanatory

Texas Hill Country

Matt with our new Suburban, named Bubba or Big White Whale (BWW)

Well, it’s been nearly two weeks since we sold Monkey Business and we continue to be amazed at our luck in selling her so quickly.  We have fond memories of our time on her, but are glad she has a new owner. 

We have moved on . . . our new trusty Suburban has taken us well over 2,000 miles so far.  We left St. Simons Island, GA, on May 13th and got on I-10 on the way to Texas.  We made a concerted effort to cross the mighty Mississippi ahead of the flood waters heading for the Gulf.  We did not see any flooding, but the rivers were up to their banks.  As we entered Texas, it was interesting to see the first exit across the state line -- #881 -- that means it is 881 miles from there to El Paso -- showing how big a state Texas is -- and that’s just east to west.  From north to south it is even further. 

We plan to keep up our blog for those that are interested.  Instead of talking about our adventures on water, we will tell you about our adventures on land and our process to locate where we want to live.  We really plan to “do our homework” finding the right place.  Some of the things we are going to do is check out the churches, medical facilities, if there is a Walmart/SAM’s in town, go to the grocery stores to check on the prices, get the “feel” of the town and see if it has a local small airport.  We will also try to get all the information we can from Welcome Centers and Chambers of Commerce, as well as talking with local realtors.  We are also checking out the weather.  Since we are looking at these places in hot times, we know that if we like them now, the rest of the year should be enjoyable.  Despite the temperatures in the 90’s, the lower humidity makes it much more tolerable.  The cost of living is much lower here than what we are used to. 

We first drove to San Marcos, the gateway to the Hill Country, for the first night in Texas.  We decided it wasn’t for us. 

The next day we went to Fredericksburg.  It is a quaint town founded by Germans in the 1800’s.   We have heard so much about it so had to check it out.  It reminds us of Aiken, SC with a Texas twist -- lots of cute shops and restaurants all within a few blocks.  We stayed in an inn on Barons Creek, which was wonderful and at a convenient location.  We really liked the town -- there is still a huge German influence with many Germans still living there, German food and stores.  Fredericksburg is the birthplace of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz and there is a National Museum of the Pacific War there.  The museum is located in the former hotel owned by Nimitz’s grandfather.  We met with a realtor who educated us about the area then took us for a tour.  We didn’t really see any neighborhoods that we were interested in at this time, but it is “on the list.”  One day we drove up to Enchanted Rock -- a billion year old pink marble dome rock of massive proportions.  There are some incredible views of the hill country from that location.  We stayed in Fredericksburg for 4 nights.  While there we drove over to Luckenbach, Texas to look for “Waylon and Willie and the boys." Didn’t find them.  (For you non-country music fans, that’s a song.) 

We then went to Boerne (pronounced Bernie) -- also a German town.  It is an even a very quaint town.  We liked it immediately.  We looked around on our own, then met with two realtors.  We found a community that is a town of its own (Fair Oaks Ranch).  It has absolutely beautiful homes well within our price range.  Some of its advantages is being relatively close to San Antonio -- a city that is one of the fasted growing in the U.S. with low unemployment, excellent health facilities and a fun place to live.

We then went north to Marble Falls -- didn’t like it at all, so left after one night and didn’t even look around.  Lake LBJ is there, but very industrial and you might get bored watching the power boat drag racing.

Our overall impression of the Texas Hill Country is favorable -- there are some beautiful views, lots of trees, rolling hills, etc. -- even though they are going through a severe drought -- imagine how much greener is could be.  We love all the friendly people.  We also saw fields with elk, antelope, llamas and, of course, horses and cows. 

We are now in Lubbock -- no, we aren’t looking for a place here.  We needed to come here to register our new vehicle, do some banking and visit cousins -- including Nora, a week old baby.  We got to experience a typical Texas wind/dust storm.  Winds were 30 mph with gusts to 50 and lots of dirt flying. 

We are off to Arizona to check out a few places.  We’ll keep you posted.  Hope this isn’t boring.