Lockhart TX

After our wonderful breakfast at Granny D’s we visited a little while more while Jane posted the blog.  Not sure when we will have an internet connection again.  We had a great visit with Tom and Mary Ann in Spring Branch and certainly thank them for their Texas hospitality.

We plugged Lockhart State Park into the GPS and off we went now east across some of the middle of Texas.  We still enjoyed paintbrush and bluebonnets along with other wild flowers all along the roads.  We passed by a couple lakes, through several small towns and the large town of San Marcos and finally arrived at Lockhart State Park. 

This is a rather small park with only 20 campsites but has a pool (not open yet) and a nice looking golf course. 

  Why did we pick out this out of the way park?  BBQ – Lockhart is one of several BBQ capitols of TX.  There are 4 major and several minor BBQ restaurants in Lockhart and a couple more in the nearby town of Luling.  We are maybe 60 miles east and north of San Antonio.  Maybe 50 miles south of Austin.  The state park has a map all printed up with the hours of each of the major BBQ restaurants and can tell you a bit about each.  Several are all run by members of the same family – we selected Smitty’s which is in the original building where BBQ has been smoked for generations. 

We selected a site and checked in – rested a while – read books – and really did nothing until about 4 when we drove into Lockhart – about 4 miles and got our BBQ.  We had brisket and some “hot links” their own sausage cooked over the coals.  Again you ordered directly from the pit and your meat was weighed and then you went inside with your meat on paper.  Inside a long room with tables and chairs you could select any sides you wanted – white bread, jalapenos, onions, beans, avocados, slaw, potato salad, and sauce.  We had seen people eating jalapenos straight before – but here they were just biting off the whole jalapeno – that was a first.  We had some beans, potato salad, and our meats.  The brisket and sausage were both good.  The sausage extremely good – never tasted anything like it. 

Made a couple phone calls while in town as the park has very spotty phone service.  Back at camp we finished our books, walked around, talked with people about our TN flag again and finally about 8:00 ate a few snacks and settled down to watch a TV show or two that Ben has loaded on his laptop. 

It is very quiet here.  Maybe 10 of the 20 sites are occupied.  Clear sky with lots of stars. 

Posting from McDonalds on Thursday morning.  We are headed to a Corp of Engineers Park on a lake near Ennis.  Ennis is south of Dallas and we will use it as a home spot to visit the George Bush museum on Friday and a Blue Bonnet Festival on Saturday .  Then we head east towards Tennessee.