V4N2A

America.....or What?

A side trip we took while staying here in Bandera, (The Cowboy Capital of the World) Texas was to a little town called Fredericksburg. Located Northeast of San Antonio, it is a town with a pronounced German influence. Although the overall appearance of the town does not indicate the German influence, the individual shops certainly lean in that direction.

Our first order of business was to find a restaurant that we could sample the German cuisine. How we ended up in a place called Wheeler's was beyond me. The Mexican headwaiter was a nice touch of international flavor, as was the blonde Fraulein in the shorts who served our lunch. The service however, was lightning fast, as our food was at the table before I could get the paper off my iced tea straw. And the food was fabulous. Sharon had Bratwurst and I had Smoked Sausage, along with Red Cabbage, Hot German Potato Salad and Sauerkraut. It was exactly what we had been looking for.

The Fredericksburg winery was a place that we wanted to visit and found it shortly after lunch. The guy in the store spoke so fast we didn't hear half of what he said. We did purchase a bottle of wine though.....for $15.70. A price that we seldom pay considering our regular wine is $7.95 a gallon!

We continued to walk the streets and shopped until we dropped. Even though we didn't find many things we couldn't live without, we both found a couple of gifts that we will send off in the mail. Shopping is a little strange here when you consider you're in the heart of Texas in a "German" town, with street and store signs written in German. But reality quickly yanks you out of the fantasy when you see the "Welcome" sign in one shop that declares......"Willkommen Ya'll."

BEACH BUMS

Our attempt at becoming Beach Bums, for at least a few days this year, would come to fruition at Padre Island National Seashore. We had allowed about 5 days for just camping on the beach and sunning ourselves.

Sharon and I had been here a couple of years ago and just loved it. It was sunny and bright the day we arrived and we settled in on our beach (no hook-ups) sites. You actually just drive onto the sand wherever you want. The sand is very firm near the beach and doesn't form dunes until you're back away from the beach a ways.

By the 2nd day we were out basking in the sun in shorts and even a couple of us got a little sunburned. This was looking like a really good plan. Maybe we had finally arrived at where the sun and heat were. Sure you did.

By the 3rd day we were shopping in Corpus Christi with jackets and jeans. This was also the day our batteries went dead on the motorhome. But who needed batteries when you're on the beach in the sun? That night the rain started which was expected to continue through the next day. It also got a little colder, when the wind started blowing, and the sand from the beach was now starting to pile up in our path to get out of here.

By the next morning even the generator wouldn't run unless the engine was running. Where did the nice warm sun go? Are we too old to

(See next month)

Tid-Bits

This is the 16th Newsletter since we started this thing in 1998. There have been 132 stories about our travels that we have shared with you through these Newsletters.

Two of the stories were written by a "Ghost Correspondent" named Jennifer.

Each "Letter" makes 4 passes through the printer.

1. To Print the front colored Logo.

2. To Print the GS colored Logo.

3. To Print the front text.

4. To print the back text.

The Logo on the front page has been altered 16 times. Once for each publication. (And it's wearing thin)

We average about 18 Newsletters every month and it has cost us about $92.16 to mail them all out. (Because we love all of you)

We use one BLACK printer cartridge per year which runs about $26. (We have now purchased a refill kit for the black cartridge and should cost us considerably less.....we hope)

Rockport, TX

After leaving Houston we landed in a little place on the Gulf Coast named Rockport. Our intent for being here was to visit friends from home, Chuck and Loretta Mattas. The town of Rockport is not very big but combined with a sister city named Fulton they make a half way decent sized little town. The area itself is a clean little community even though it's not very big.

Our campground was a Coast to Coast park that had a heated pool and hot tub. We reserved our sites for a week, but Walt and Kathy couldn't get the full week under Coast to Coast until they told them they were with us. (what a name-dropper) Walt and I went swimming and hot tubbing on a couple of occasions while the girls were nursing their colds. We also went to the Ice Cream Social on Sunday while we were there. We had sundaes and one of us had a banana split. (Not me) It was very good and really hit the spot.

Chuck and Loretta took us on a tour of the area one afternoon after lunch and it truly is a neat little area. We were invited to the Mattas's one afternoon for a Fried Chicken cook out and we brought a dish to pass. The food was very good even though Kathy had to miss it because of her cold. We went out to eat a couple of more times while we were there and it just proves the old adage. If you want to find the good, cheap places to eat, follow the senior citizens when they get into their cars at lunch and dinnertime.