#4 Sunday Morning Musings and Mimosa 1/29/23

We have the ability to plug into shore power again! Thank you Boerne RV for taking such great care of us and not making Peder feel too badly about his misdiagnosing Coach Addy's problem. More on this later...

Welcome to Texas!!

Another 600 miles traveled this week!

The Licon Dairy in San Elizario did not disappoint; The saloon at Saddleback Mountain was quite an experience; and our daughter, Betina and son in law’s property is beautiful! Moochdocking is the best! Oh, and Coach Addy has the ability to plug into power again…stay tuned to hear about how Peder was humbled by his misdiagnosis of Coach Addy’s problem. Read on for more details and pictures.

We left New Mexico on Sunday, January 22 and made our first stop in San Elizario, Texas. Another amazing Harvest Host experience, this time at the Licon Dairy, a working dairy farm and petting zoo made up of so many different animals. We had the best time! We pulled in around 2:00 pm after a short 2 ½ hour drive. A large parking lot filled with many locals visiting the petting zoo and we were quickly joined by 3 other RV’s spending the night at this Harvest Host. Popped into the dairy and met the owner, Gene, 2nd generation and heard about the dairy, purchased some cheese and their famous Chili con Queso. Enjoyed a very yummy early dinner at the on site Outlaw Saloon and Grill and had the very best Outlaw Steak Rolls: Steak, diced jalapeños, bacon, melted azadero cheese (made at the dairy) all wrapped in an egg roll, deep fried and served with spicy ranch dipping sauce and chili con queso (also made at the dairy). As good as the dinner was, the real highlight was the next morning...

Hot Tip #1- “Early bird catches the worm!” Or in my case, the most beautiful sunrise and samples of freshly made cheese from the dairy.

We woke up to the roosters crowing, walking Charlie during the most beautiful sunrise and then headed into the dairy where they were making cheese from fresh milk (Gene gave me a sample that was still warm-OMG! One of the best things I have ever tasted!) We bought more cheese, fresh eggs and butter made at the dairy. Peder used the eggs and butter, along with the pistachios from McGinn’s farm in Alamogordo, New Mexico to bake Pistachio Butter Cookies and record his second video of “Baker Pedee and the Great Open Road Bakery”. You can check it out below, be sure to watch until the end, where we took some of the cookies over to share with Gene, the owner of the dairy. Thank you Harvest Hosts for another memorable experience!

Monday was a three hour drive to Balmorhea, Texas which was about the halfway mark to Butch and Betina’s house in Boerne, Texas. Saddleback Mountain RV Park was pretty bare bones but served the purpose, full hookups and another saloon. I’m noticing a trend in Texas! This saloon was quite unique, to say the least…Let’s just say they are not exactly Biden fans. (Caution/Disclaimer: the pic below contains offensive language!)

Hot Tip #2-Take in each experience for what it is. Although I don’t necessarily agree with the politics of the Saddleback Steakhouse and Circle Bar Saloon, it was worth the price of admission to people-watch and experience the local “culture”-Welcome to Texas!

Got up early on Tuesday and made our way to Boerne, Texas. First stop: Boerne RV in the hopes that Ron could repair the Automatic Transfer Switch on Coach Addy. As you know, we have been without the ability to hook up to electricity and living off of battery power. It’s not been too much of an inconvenience, but it will be nice not to have to worry about conserving energy. (The only thing I really have missed is not being able to turn on our fireplace in the morning while I enjoy my coffee.) Ron and his wife, Deborah were so gracious and accommodating. We really appreciated them getting us in for the diagnosis in such a timely manner. Let’s just say that in less than about 5 minutes, he had determined that the Automatic Transfer Switch (ATS) box was working perfectly and asked if Peder had checked the breaker on the Inverter box? To which Peder replied, "No, because the inverter is working fine." Well, apparently the inverter can still work, but will not receive power from the ATS if this breaker is flipped. Which is what happened when we lost power in Joshua Tree. So simple fix (a push of a button) and we were on our way! Albeit with Peder feeling a bit embarrassed and admitting to having his "Man-Card" temporarily revoked.

Hot Tip #3-Listen and try all of the suggestions from the Tiffin Motorhomes Technical Forum Facebook group. These people are smart! Many of their posts suggested that our problem might be the breaker on the inverter…

A short drive to Butch and Betina’s house which we will use as a home base for a few weeks. They have about 3 acres of property and we have a lovely, peaceful site for Coach Addy. We’ve settled into a nice routine which includes some day trips, lots of relaxing and dinner each night with the family. Mostly, we are cooking, but we did get to experience a local brewery, The Dodging Duck Brewhaus, and Richter’s Antler Cafe in Spring Branch. Who knew that frog legs were so delicious?! I was a bit hesitant, but I committed to trying the local cuisine wherever we are and the server recommended the fried frog legs and catfish, so that's what I ordered. So glad that I did! Last night we went to That Place on Blanco. So adorable! It's an old house turned into a bar. They have food trucks and live music, but what makes it so adorable is that each room of the house is a separate seating area and each group of people have their own room to enjoy their evening. The family room is the main bar where they serve a mighty fine drink and cheap beers!

Hot Tip #4-The only thing better than camping is camping for free! It’s nice to have family and friends where you can park your motorhome, use their electricity and “borrow” their car for day trips. This is called “Moochdocking”, kind of like couch surfing, but you bring your entire rig with you and “mooch” off of your friends and family. Not a bad deal! And Charlie loves his perch-He's on the lookout for deer and other wildlife on the ranch!

This next week we will be exploring Fredericksburg, San Antonio by car and taking Coach Addy to a small town called Pipe Creek. I can’t wait to see what new adventures await…

Lesson Learned: Sunrises on the road are even more beautiful than Herons’ House!

Bummer of the Week: Only ordering one serving of Frog Legs to share between the four of us. Might have to make another trip to The Antler Cafe before we leave Boerne!

Highlight(s) of the Week: Arriving in Boerne and seeing Butch and Betina and their new home on the ranch; The visit to the Bergheim Meat Market to purchase locally sourced meat; Cooking dinner (Ina Garten’s Sausage and Fennel Rigatoni, green salad with homemade croutons and freshly baked extra large country loaf of bread) for 6 in Coach Addy’s kitchen-and yes the sausage was from the meat market; Eating freshly made cheese, still warm from the Licone Dairy; a simple and cheap fix for Coach Addie and being able to once again enjoy my fireplace while I sip my morning coffee...Life is good on The Great Open Road!

Cheers! Thanks for sharing in the great adventures of Coach Addy! It's time to explore Texas!