Road Trip 2018 - Day Two, Into Texas Hill Country

Today, we covered less distance and spent time wandering. We made our way from Abilene to the San Antonio area focusing that part called the Texas Hill Country. The distances were longer than they looked like on the map. Weather was not in our favor and it was rainy and not ideal for taking pictures. We actually like a number of the towns we saw on our way south before we got to the hill country. Many of the notable towns in the Hill Country area were way too touristy for our taste.

Our first stop was the town of Winters, home of the...

...Fighting Blizzards!

We had had no intention of stopping here but something was going on or had gone on for the main road was festooned with brightly colored ribbons...even though there was practically no one on the street. It was as if they were having a celebration when all of a sudden the alien mother ship arrived and abducted you all.

But it was so colorful and the combination of all the color, the wind and the lack of people, made it a good photo moment.

Next we were in the town of Ballinger (home of the Fighting Bearcats!)

There was some interesting 19th century buildings but what really caught our eye was this grain elevator, which was quiet and almost deserted on this Saturday morning.

It was getting close to 1 PM when we finally got to the gateway to the Hill Country, Junction, Texas.

The Hill Country is BBQ central

Had to have some for lunch

The Pit Master

I was anxious to try this as I have been doing so much smoking

We had brisket and ribs

There was no rub on either

It was clear that they had brined both

The could be sauced if you wanted but I don't like a lot of sauce

Their original sauce is vinegar based but they have a red sauce as well

It was very good

But I have to say that based on this, I think I do a pretty credible job myself

Finally we got to the Hill Country itself

As I mentioned earlier, many of the towns were just too touristy for our taste, but the town of Kerrville (Tivy High School, the Fighting Antlers???) was an exception with a nice set of architecture and a minimum of tourist kitsch.

Tomorrow we will be heading on to Louisiana