From A Balloon Festival in Conroe to a Historic House Tour in Fredericksburg – Fall Fun in Texas

While back home in Texas, we reverted to our usual activities: pickleball, line dancing lessons and several performances at local fundraisers/senior living facilities, volunteering at Mannafest (one of Livingston’s food pantries), attending our Escapees community dinners/birthday celebrations/ice cream socials, and catching up with friends.

Dedication of Livingston's 4 new pickleball courts at Matthews Park.  

Playing on the new courts--no need any more to chalk out lines on the tennis courts!

Dancing at the Cold Spring Fire Department fundraiser, one of several Halloween performances in which we participated.

Dad displaying his silent auction winnings from the Cold Spring Fire Department fundraiser--all things Longhorns!
 

Conroe, Texas hosted a Balloon Glow and Laser Show, offering tethered balloon rides.  We were thrilled for our first opportunity to provide volunteer crew services to Maverick Balloon Adventures.   (Though we volunteered at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta in 2022, we were involved only with RV guest parking.  My parents’ other balloon foray was after they enjoyed their first untethered flight in the 1990s, they became the volunteer chase team for the balloon company.  That was before GPS was prevalent, so they would drive, using only road maps and visual sightings, to the location where the balloon landed, which often was a corn field!).  So, crewing for Patrick/Tess in Conroe was a very cool, totally unique balloon experience.  It is amazing how huge (and heavy) these balloons are!   We got a workout holding the crown line while the balloon inflated, trying to pull the balloon back down to the ground after a tethered flight, and weighing the basket down to the ground so guests could enter/exit.

 

Dad and Tess holding up the balloon sides so it can inflate.

Mom holding on tight to the crown line as the Maverick balloon inflates.

Thanks Patrick and Tess of Maverick Balloon Adventures for a terrific experience!

In the blink of an eye, it was mid-November, with Thanksgiving and the holiday season fast approaching.    We kicked off with a mini getaway to Fredericksburg, Texas.  Here's a few photos from along our route.

My first thought was that these were some weird looking cows--until I realized they were actually zebras in the field!

This creepy crawler had the nerve to sit next to me on a bench.

A tribute to Stephen F. Austin in Bellville, Texas. 

Inside a convenience store.

We met up with friends Matt/Sherry (who recently exited the full-time RV lifestyle) for us all to enjoy Fredericksburg’s annual Holiday Market and Historic House Tour.  Matt/Sherry made the gracious offer to have us as guests at their lovely home, but my family does not like to impose.  So, we stayed at the historic Peachtree Inn and Suites, which was voted Fredericksburg’s “Best” lodging in 2023.  We booked a queen bed within the Inn, but they gave us a king bed within a tiny house (Cabin H) across the street.  It had a totally dysfunctional room set-up (the side of the bed was flush with the wall, so Mom had to crawl across for entry/exit of the bed; the step down from the bedroom to the kitchen/bathroom was precarious when walking in the middle of the night; the nightstand was not within reach of the bed; the lamp on that nightstand did not work; the kitchen was directly across from the bathroom, and the refrigerator was actually WITHIN the BATHROOM!).  Peachtree is a pet-friendly establishment, and has 2 resident cats on the premises, Calli and Shadow.  Though we did not have any pets with us during our stay, the guests before us in this tiny house clearly did, based on the dog hair on the porch and inside the door entryway, which we swept ourselves. Unless the rooms within the Inn offer a completely different experience, we are not sure how Peachtree has received such good reviews/ratings, other than its convenient location within walking distance to downtown.

The "Historic Peachtree Inn" where we booked a room...

...and the tiny house/cabin to which we were assigned.

Otto the Rooster stood outside The Blue House, another property owned/operated by the Historic Peachtree Inn.

Shadow expected me to act as his doorman.

No human was in the office, so Calli was working the desk.  Suffice to say, customer service is not her forte.

  

Anyway, my family and Matt/Sherry perused the arts, crafts, and delectable edibles at the Holiday Market, and visited the Pioneer Village located nearby.  We enjoyed seeing all the unique architecture and furnishings on the tour of historic homes/buildings.  Our only disappointments were that no photos were permitted and that only 1 of the half-dozen homes was decorated for Christmas since the event took place the weekend before Thanksgiving.  (We have attended holiday home tours for decades throughout several towns in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania during our sticks/bricks days, and we have continued the tradition during our years in Texas.  We have always been amazed at the ingenuity and creativity exhibited with holiday adornments.  This was the first house tour that lacked this attribute).   

 

A diorama of Fredericksburg past.

The exterior of one of several historic structures in Fredericksburg's Pioneer Village...

...and one of its interior rooms decorated with period furnishings.

Once Fredericksburg's Courthouse, this 1882 building now serves as the public library.

We all dined together at several eateries of various cuisines within Fredericksburg (including our first taste of Korean B-B-Q at Eker’s), and got some early Christmas cheer viewing the lights, traditional German decorations, and ice skaters at the Marktplatz von Fredericksburg.

Breakfast at Nury's, one of several eateries we patronized in Fredericksburg.

One of the many unique downtown shops/boutiques.

We enjoyed the traditional German holiday decorations...

...at the Marktplatz von Fredericksburg.

What fun I had watching these youngsters and adults do their best to impersonate Hans Brinker. 

We had another reason to visit Fredericksburg:  to view the plaque my parents donated to the National Museum of the Pacific War in memory of my beloved Grumpy Grandpa and his service to our Nation.  We learned of this Honor Wall during our visit to the Museum in 2023, and my parents decided then to make the required donation in 2024 for a milestone birthday in heaven for Grandpa.  My Rambling RV Rat Pack (yours truly, Mademoiselle Rochelle, Nezumi, and Rat King) decided we would omit a few bags of cheese doodles and some sacks of Babybels from our dietary purchases to make our own small contribution to the cause.

 

Sherry was our “guide” for a side trip to the Hill Country Arts Foundation in Kerrville, Texas, to visit “Stonehenge II”, a replica of its namesake in Wiltshire, England.    A 9-month art project, it is representative of 90% height and 60% width of the original structure.  Very cool!

 

The site now includes an Easter Island statue.

Dad purchased us all a delicious lunch at Billy Gene’s restaurant, situated picturesquely along the Guadalupe River.  

Then we all visited “The Empty Cross”, a wonderful project of the Coming King Foundation.    The 24-acre Sculpture Prayer Garden offers spiritual enrichment, comfort and healing, and hope for eternal life in God’s Kingdom of Heaven.

As indicated on this placard (though difficult to tell from my photos), the entire complex is shaped like a cross.

The orange esperanza bushes were abloom.

We enjoyed sightseeing around Fredericksburg, spending time with good friends, and creating happy memories.  Along our return route to Livingston, we made a pitstop at Blue Bell Creamery in Brenham, Texas.  They no longer offer tours, but we watched operations from an observation deck (though photos are forbidden.)  Founded in 1907 as Brenham Creamery, ice cream was not added to the product line until 1911.  The name changed to Blue Bell in the 1930s.  Though “tastings” are not free, my scoop of Texas’s finest ice cream was well worth the buck from my cheese bank.  So was the $6 I spent to buy Dad an early Christmas present: A Blue Bell rubber duck for our Jeep!

 

We enjoyed a meal at Brenham’s local eatery, Shirley’s Sante Fe Café.  We so love to support our Country’s small, family businesses.

 

Home in Livingston for Thanksgiving, we are grateful for the blessings God bestows upon us:  Dad’s heart has been healthy, we have been safe on our travels, we have a roof over our heads, and we have food on our table.  And with Dad transitioning away from a full plant-based diet and eating meat/poultry on occasion and in moderate portions, this Thanksgiving is extra special.   You see, for the first time in 6 years, we are eating TURKEY for our Thanksgiving feast!  Bon appetit!

 

We used the rotisserie on our new Emeril Lagasse multi-functional gadget to cook our turkey breast.  Browned yet moist--what a treat!

Our Final Harvest Hosts Stays as We Return to Texas to Tally Our Summer Travel Stats

After leaving Eureka Springs, Arkansas, we overnighted at 2 final Harvest Hosts locations as we made our way back home to Texas. Tilley’s Market in Guy, Arkansas, is a wonderful family-owned café and farmer’s market that offers fresh baked goods, home-made soups, made-to-order sandwiches, gift basket items, seasonal produce, and other delicious edibles. Mom was happy to pay Tilley’s Market to provide us with a meal (1 less she had to cook).   The owners are super friendly and accommodating to their RVing guests.

View from South Mountain Overlook enroute to Tilley's.

The owners of Tilley's are very accommodating.  They let us park right in front of the cafe/market rather than in the field since we were going to hit the road very early the next morning.

 

My new friend!

The folks at White Tale Ranch in DeKalb, Texas are wonderful as well.  Their property is lovely and totally secured with a gate.  We enjoyed chatting with them, visiting with their donkeys, and traversing along their hiking trails.  We bought farm-fresh eggs, jams and jellies for our bellies.

 

White Tale Ranch offers a huge, level field in which to park, surrounded by nature.

Who could resist visiting with these guys!

Views from the hiking trails.

And, at last, we arrived home in Livingston, Texas!  We had a blast travelling this summer, but I am glad to land for a spell.  It gives me a chance to compile some statistics to share:

 

Number of States Visited:  19

 

Total miles travelled over 120 days: 7,406, of which 5,648 was towing the Jeep.  There were several states where it is illegal to double-tow, so I rode shotgun with Mom in my Rambling RV Rat Pack Rubicon for 1,758 miles.

 

Fuel: $5,764.  This includes $1,867 of gasoline for the Jeep and our motorcycle rides.  Big Boomer, our medium duty truck that tows Suite Retreat (our DRV Mobile Suites 5^th Wheel), consumed 1,010 gallons of diesel, averaging 6.3 miles per gallon (towing the Jeep reduced our mileage considerably), at an average cost of $3.86/gallon.

 

RV Parks: $4,585, representing 89 days across 27 locations, averaging $51/night.  We utilized private, State, and County parks, and we had no problems getting reservations despite the size of our set-up and the fact we did not begin making plans until mid-April for a June through September trip.

 

Harvest Hosts: 30 days across 26 locations.  We spent an average of $26/night based on donations and/or purchases we made at each location for goods/services.  (We could not patronize Route 66 Skyview Drive-In because it was closed on the night we stayed, we had no need for solar equipment purchases/installation at Panels Up, and my parents would not jump out of a perfectly good plane at Skydive Chicago.  Hence, our average was slightly below the Harvest Hosts $30 “suggested” amount).

 

Civil War Battlefields Visited:  26

Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings Visited:  5

Great Lakes Visited:  3

Number of “Incidents”:  4 (None of which were attributed to Big Boomer!)

Radiator replacement on Jeep; Flat tire on RV; Front brake seizing on Jeep while towing; Severed brake line on RV.

 

Number of Jeep “Ducks” Acquired:  7.  We were gifted rubber ducks from 4 anonymous fellow Jeep owners as a gesture of kindness.  They were keeping the tradition started during COVID by a young Canadian woman.   “Ducking” among Jeep owners has morphed into a world-wide trend.  The other 3 ducks were souvenir gifts (Elvis, Rosie the Riveter, Peabody Hotel) to Dad from yours truly, Rambling RV Rat.

Well, it is time to sign off.  Talk to you again soon!