MAY 3, 2013   LEAVING THE VINEYARDS

We are excited and sad at the same time.  We are excited to get on the road again, excited to get on new roads, we are excited to eventually get to Canada and visit with our daughter, son in law and our two grandkids, one of which we have yet to meet. 

However, it’s with bitter mixed feeling that we leave the Vineyards and the good friends we have met or become reacquainted with.  We have had a great two years here, you know it had to be good when we came for 6 months and stayed two years.

So, it was early this morning that we were up and getting ready to exit the campground.   It will only be our second trip with the new coach and to really add a little excitement  for this rookie driver is that the first 50 miles is through construction. Fun, Fun, Fun.

Our first stop was before we even left the campsite.  We wanted to say goodbye to our friends that still happened to be in the park.  Most of them were camera shy but we did manage to catch of couple of them.

Floyd and Lynnie Harper

Mike and Nancy McCutheon





 

Now we were ready to go and we hit the road. 



And Away We Go

 

It was fun getting out of Dallas with all the construction, narrow lanes and idiot drivers.  I think Kathy had her eyes closed for the first 50 miles.  We finally escaped the construction and headed for Fredericksburg via the secondary highways.   We spent a good portion of the trip travelling through the Hill Country and it was quite nice.  I would have liked to get some pictures but there were not a lot of places to pull the coach over as with the car being towed we are close to 65 feet long.  Still we enjoyed the drive for the most part. 

We finally arrived in Fredericksburg just after 5pm and settled in for the night.  It’s feel's really, really good to be travelling again.

MAY 4, 2013   FREDERICKSBURG

We woke up this morning in this morning in the quaint little town of Fredericksburg and the Fredericksburg RV Park.  It is a small but very clean and well kept.

 

We spent the morning lounging and then headed for the downtown area of Fredericksburg and were totally shocked at how busy it was.  We knew it was a tourist town but did not realize it attracted that many visitors.  A sign we saw hanging in one of the stores summed it up perfectly.  “Fredericksburg:   A small town with a tourist problem”   We finally found parking at the Visitors Centre and began our introduction to Fredericksburg.  


Kathy's first stop

 

Fredericksburg was founded in 1846 and named after Prince Frederick of Prussia. Old-time German residents often referred to Fredericksburg as Fritztown, a nickname that is still used in some businesses. The town is also notable as the home of Texas German, a dialect spoken by the first generations of German settlers who initially refused to learn English.

 Fredericksburg is the birthplace of Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz and hosts the Nimitz Hotel and the National Museum of the Pacific  War.

We left the Visitors Centre and just enjoyed the downtown area.  The first thing I noticed about the main street is the absence of any chains.  MacDonald’s, KFC, Starbucks were not to be found which helped give it the quaint, old fashioned look.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                          

We ran into a familiar couple during the day and my first thought is that we were in trouble.  What did we do and why is The Vineyards coming after us.  It turns out my fears were for not as Doug and Lori were here visiting and weren’t after us.  We enjoyed a conversation with them before moving on to explore the rest of downtown. 

Doug and Lori Evans



The day ended with a feed of Schnitzel before heading back to the RV and calling it a day.

MAY 5 & 6, 2013  
 

Sunday and Monday were not very exciting Sunday was a day of rest and relaxation at the RV while Monday was a day spent at the Outlet Mall.  San Marcos is 73 miles from Fredericksburg and hosts one of the biggest if not the biggest Outlet Malls in Texas.  There are actually two malls side by side, not sure how many stores.  The drive over was through the hill country and made for a very nice trip.

The unfortunate aspect of the day is that they were having a sale.  Which meant one of us spend too much money.