On the way out of San Angelo we began seeing what looked like white boxes scattered around in fields. As we got closer we discovered that they were huge bales of cotton. We’re talking tractor-trailer sized bales of cotton, here. Each had a color-coded tarp with various co-op names. It was like a bag of Skittles had exploded all over the landscape.
Previous trips to the Texas Hill Country were rather cold and during the week. Many shops in Fredericksburg were closed. This visit was timed to be over a weekend and the difference couldn’t have been more stark. On Saturday, the skies were blue, the temperature was in the 70s and it felt like all of the residents of Gillespie County were on the streets. We aren’t hardcore shoppers by any measure but this was a beautiful day we spent it walking the length of town several times tasting wine and chocolate and buying a few items for friends. Just two words need to be said about the wine: Becker Vineyards!
Saturday evening it started raining and it continued until mid day on Sunday and it seemed as though the entire campground would wash away. Thankfully that didn’t happen but we didn’t go out the entire day.
We have been working on making the bird cage a bit more cozy for our feathered traveling companions and many attempts to get them into a particular fleece jacket of Bob’s had failed for months. However, one small cubby they have ignored all of a sudden became prime snuggling space. We removed a few of our items, placed a spare face cloth in the bottom and they found it quite comfortable.
On Monday morning we ventured out for a short hike around the nature trail along Live Oak Creek to check out the birds. Along with the tire, the bird cage was in need of regular service and that required a Mercedes dealer that handled Sprinters. We found one in Boerne and had scheduled an appointment for our last full day in the Hill Country. We were entertained by the US vs Canada curling match and the time went by rather quickly.
On Tuesday we were again facing very cold weather predicted for the Hill Country so we packed up and went off in search of tolerable low temperatures.