Places Visited:

Texas: Junction and Sonora

Thursday, April 7 Sonora Best Western RV-Park Sonora, Texas $18-30-amp FHU dirt/gravel interior streets and pads N30° 34.564' W100° 38.957' with high speed wireless available in the lobby. This place isn't a destination campground but in this part of Texas it isn't a bad place to stop for the night.

It was time to leave Kerrville. We could stay here all summer but we would never get to California and that is our destination. Our son is constantly kidding us about not making it out of Texas, at the end of every phone conversation he has this routine he goes into about us still being in Texas then ends it with a wicked giggle. Hopefully, we will only hear that wicked giggle for a few more days. We headed for Sonora about 110-miles west of Kerrville on I-10.

The drive west on I-10 consists of wide open spaces. Undulating limestone hills formed over eons by erosion. We are relentlessly climbing. Each successive hill is at a greater elevation. This pic is taken from a service road paralleling I-10 as we head west. We thought we could see more wildlife and other things from this stretch of service road. This scene is typical of the Hill Country on I-10 between Kerrville and Junction.

Just as common are roadcuts such as this one.

This pic is of the descent into Junction from the east. The road drops dramatically down to the bridge crossing the South Llano River into Junction. This is a magnificent view of Junction and the valley.

We stopped in Junction for lunch because we like the city. It was easy to park the motorhome at the large city park and take the Saturn to Sunshine Café & Bakery one of Joyce's favorite places. Joyce so wanted a piping hot cinnamon roll to compliment her lunch. They had sold out of the cinnamon rolls. Joyce had spent the morning drooling over the thought of those piping hot sweet cinnamon rolls. Joyce retaliated by not getting anything from the bakery ----------- "If I can't have a cinnamon roll I am not going to get anything". I guess she showed them. VBG! We enjoyed lunch anyway.

After lunch I dropped Joyce at an upscale knickknack shop she likes to visit when in Junction. The lady watching the store today had lived in Pensacola for 25-years and only lived a few blocks from our house. She knew our Daughter in Law and her family from Church. We had many friends in common. It is such a small world. While Joyce was in that doodad shop I ambled across the street and took a picture of Junction's famous "Antler" Christmas tree. To say Junction is one of this countries premier white tailed deer hunting areas is an understatement. The critters are as thick as pigeons in New York City.

The City Park on the banks of the Llano River in downtown Junction provides free RV-Parking for those wishing to boondock/dry camp. It is a beautiful setting beside the river under huge pecan trees. There is room for 15 to 20 RV's and many take advantage of the park. There were about 6-RV's enjoying the park while we were there.

Junction is a town with small town charm. This is a "hunting" town specifically deer and turkey plus a plethora of exotics. In order to grow the magnificent horns and antlers that hunters so desperately seem to demand requires the animals to be supplied with supplements in their diets. Feeders supply this demand. Consequently, feeders and hunting stands are as much of the fabric of life here as a pickup truck. Everyone seems to sell feeders and hunting stands. Joyce snapped this pic in a grocery store parking lot. Ya gotta love it.

Our next stop was the small town of Sonora. We had called ranching friends before we left Kerrville this morning and made arrangements to visit with them on their ranch outside Sonora. They were shearing Angora goats today and would not be able to join us for dinner but did want us to stop by the ranch which we did as soon as we got the motorhome set up in the campground.

My Mother went to college, Southwestern in Georgetown, TX, with Sandie the matriarch of the Ranch we are visiting. Sandie is a spunky lady in her 80's that still runs this big ranch along with Maggie her daughter who lives about a mile away on the ranch. It is easy to get to Sandie's house because she lives near the paved road and there are no gates to open in order to get to her house. Maggie on the other hand lives near the main barn. To get there you have to open and close three gates.

We visited with Sandie at her house then she put us in her big SUV and we went to see Maggie. We met Maggie between gates 2 and 3 on the way to her house. The shearing was completed and the shearers had returned home. The goats had been turned out to pasture and Maggie had a livestock trailer behind her huge 350 dually truck. She was delivering a load of horses and meat goat rams to another ranch. We exchanged pleasantries and she invited us to stop back by in August when they would be shearing again then she was off again delivering livestock. Ranchers work from can to can't and this night would be no different.

Sandie took us on a tour of their 6,500 acre ranch explaining to us that theirs was a small ranch out here. That doesn't sound small to me. They have cattle, angus/brahma mix, meat goats, angora goats (mohair wool) and sheep. The ranch is also crawling with whitetail deer and Rio Grande Turkey. On our tour of the ranch we saw all of these.

Angora goats supply the wool to make mohair products. Shearers were at the ranch earlier today. These angora goats were some of the ones that got "clipped" this morning.

The last time we visited the ranch it was brown and dry. This time it is lush and green. The grass is deep and beautiful. They have cleaned out a lot of the underbrush and the place is looking very good. Sandie said she liked driving over the ranch and this gave her a chance to do it. Although gas companies have wells all over the ranch Sandy does not like them. They do not have the same love for the land that she does. They don't care whether there is grass or not, all they want is the gas. It is a love/hate relationship. They like the money but hate what the gas company does to their property.

We are pinching ourselves to make sure it is true -- this is two days in a row that we have experienced top notch ranch tours. One of a working ranch that specialized in providing hunting packages for whitetail deer, turkey and a host of exotics and this one that had a diverse variety of domestic ranch animals. Both were in similar settings. Both were big by eastern standards. The folks out here are the nicest people in the world. They have big smiles, they truly love the land, and they welcome visitors like no one else.

What a wonderful two days we have experienced. But we move on tomorrow. We have to relentlessly push west. How many more days do we have to listen to "you're still in Texas" followed by that wicked giggle?

Until next week just remember how good life is.

Mike & Joyce Hendrix