RV Repairs, Lockhart and Wimberley, TX

We've been planning an RV repair day for awhile and the day finally came, but it turned out to be a  surprising one. There were three things we needed to get done: replace one small window pane that is fogged up, check out what seems to be a hydraulic fluid leak in one of the slides, and figure out why the propane water heater doesn't seem to heat up.  So we drove to Kyle, TX and dropped off the RV for the day at Explorer RV, and did a little local exploring ourselves.

First we did a bit of shopping for a few little things and found all we needed at a nearby H-E-B, the Texas super grocery store. Easy peasy.

Then we headed for Lockhart, "The BBQ Capitol of Texas" for some lunch. Of the four BBQ places in Lockhart, we chose Kreuz Market based on a very thorough, fun and scientific review I found online.

Kreuz is a German style BBQ with a small menu and very basic delivery.  As you can see on the menu board below; "No BBQ Sauce - No Forks - No Kidding." This is not your sweet sticky gloppy stuff. Just pure smoked meat. The review I read had identified the brisket as the best of all, so that's what we tried. 

To order, you enter right into the smoke house - a dark, warm, smokey, cavernous building where six huge wood fired ovens are smoking the meats.

The folks behind the counter and working the smokers take your order, carve off what you want, weigh it, and plop it on butcher paper. You pay and move on to the dining room.

Drinks and sides are purchased at the counter in the dining room, a basic family style place.

Two servings of brisket, four slices of white bread, two cole slaws, one side of German potatoes and two huge drinks cost us about $12.00.  What a deal!  The brisket was indeed great - juicy, with the predicted salty-smokey crust. The sides were just okay. 

We took a little spin around the town square and got a picture of the court house.  The downtown area was lively and functional - not touristy or trendy. 

About a thirty minute drive away is the town of Wimberley, recommended by my cousin's wife as a cute town to walk around. When we were almost in Wimberley, we crossed a river and were so struck with it's clarity that we had to track it down. So we found River Rd. on Google Maps (our constant companion on these adventures) and drove along the Blanco River as far as we could. There was absolutely no access to it, not even a pull over to take pictures, but the road did follow along river with private property on both sides. We got a good enough view to take a few drive by shootings.

Once in town, we parked by Cypress Creek, which feeds into the Blanco and is just as beautiful, but more heavily wooded with... you guessed it... cypress trees. I didn't realize we were already in cypress country. 

Walking through the little artsy town of Wimberley was kind of interesting, but not as much as walking along the creek.  The stores were mostly women's lacy clothing, home decor, Texas stuff of all sorts, and a little art.  You know, when you have no room for things in your home, it kind of changes your approach to shopping, but it gave us something to do. Some of the art on the street was cool. This is kind of a wheel chair crossed with something else, but what??? A race car? 

And this is a rusty Texas armadillo.

Rick took a little rest in the park while Kona and I explored the creek some more.  The needles were falling off the cypress trees and covering the creek so completely in places that it looked like a road rather than water. 

Kona did find a place to swim where we could see through the needles into the water. It was pretty deep and crystal clear. We could see big fish swimming down there. I think she was a little spooked by all the needles and didn't stay in too long. 

Behind the town, in the deep shade of the creek banks there were old stone walls providing private swimming and boating access to the deep, clear green water.  Geese, ducks and turtles were swimming around, but no people. We were the only ones there.  Oh, and the mosquitos.

At about 4:00 we finally got a call from Explorer RV to tell us our rig was done.  So what was the surprising upshot of the repairs?  No window repair, as they hadn't yet received the replacement pane. (We actually already knew that.) No hydraulic fluid leak. It seems that during construction there must have been a spill or a leak that the manufacturers sopped up with a pile of sawdust that was still there. The sawdust was saturated and slowly leaking fluid down through the basement ceiling. But there was no current leakage.  Now wouldn't you think the manufacturer would have cleaned up that pile of sawdust???? And finally, the propane water heater seemed to be working fine. Another mystery. So our bill was just for one hours worth of labor to diagnose the non-problems.  Could have been a lot worse.

Tomorrow I think we're driving west to Enchanted Rock State Park, and then I'll be going to the Alamo Drafthouse (an Austin original) in the evening with a friend to see Life of Pi in 3D!  OMG!