The weather has been sort of crummy the last few days; cloudy in the mornings with high humidity which rises toward evening. We have done very little strenuous stuff to avoid getting sweaty followed by a faint odor of cheese.
Fortunately, there has been great satellite TV reception so we have been treated to about 8 hours per day of the Olympics which is nearly half of what we want. It looks like South Korea has put on a good show although there only seems to be snow on the one ski run. The surrounding terrain outside the Olympic venues seems to be brown, mostly.
Today we went on a drive to attempt to get to the west side of Lake Medina. It was much more difficult than it looked on the map. Many roads plainly shown on our GPS and our phone turned out to be non-existent, severely gullyed or dirt tracks which wandered off into pastures and locked gates. The terrain is rolling hills so getting to a high point of land in order to see the surroundings isn’t really possible without a horse or motorcycle. We ultimately used dead reckoning to find our way close to the western shore although we were unable to determine exactly where along the shore we might have been.
We passed through some very seedy-looking residential areas south of Bandera. One homeowner was proudly displaying not less than five toilets in his small but cluttered front yard. Others had their entire automotive ownership history strewn throughout their impalement hazard obstacle course and front yard. Some have truly giant piles of white plastic garbage bags and empty gallon milk containers. We spotted a structure where the owner has built a large second floor on top of an elderly single-wide trailer house. Building codes appear to be optional in Texas. Many structures are built here without the benefits of a foundation. However, we did pass by a few dozen gorgeous places but they seem to be the minority around the west side of Lake Medina, most of them on or near the shoreline.
On the way home, we pulled into the Hill Country State Natrual Area for a bit of exploration. The park charges $6 a head to use the facilities but they also offer a complimentary free pass if you just want to drive through and look around. We got one of those and took a spin down all the smooth park roads. The countryside is beautiful there. They have some small camping facilities, creeks, limestone cliffs and we spotted quite a few deer. It is not entirely “natural” since there is ample evidence of juniper (folks here call it mountain cedar) eradication programs and rural electrification. Nevertheless, it is still pretty country.
On the way back through Bandera, we noted that the city’s promotional sign said Bandera is the “Cowboy Capital of the World” although we only saw 13 cattle all day and no cowboys. We did spot many Texans who may fancy themselves as cowboys driving and walking about who were wearing big hats with brims like carrier decks. They must have found their hats because none had cows, chaps nor horses. We also noted some landholders seem to have a lot of fenced-in animals from Africa and other locations. I understand some of the local ranchers have converted their holdings to game ranches where rich folks and poor marksmen can kill a kudu while on safari inside a fenced enclosure in south Texas.
Some of the poor cannon fodder can be seen by clicking here