The KOA in Fredericksburg is about five miles southeast of town in the middle of pecan and live oak trees. Rather quiet even though it is right beside a highway. There is no big sign to tell you that you’ve arrived so be careful or you’ll go right on by at 70 mph. The campground is in two sections; one near the road and one “in the back.” The back of the campground was full of great-tailed grackles. If you want to get a feeling for the noise level, click here to go to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology page and multiply the sound by about a hundred. The owners also had chickens and several longhorn cattle (see exhibit A, above). Why don’t they fall over?
The facilities are a bit dated but functional. Excellent laundry and close to all kinds of things you need to see and do (Walmart, groceries, downtown, wine, Wildseed Farms, etc.)
Fredericksburg is a nice little town in the Texas hill country between San Antonio and Austin. It was founded by German immigrants and the sign at the edge of town says “Willkommen!” The maypole shown at left is a history of the town from bottom to top, from the peace treaty with the Comanche through agriculture and community of the present day. Most of the buildings downtown were built in the 1800’s of limestone blocks. We spent quite a bit of time admiring the architecture. The downtown, six blocks, has over 100 little shops and restaurants. We did a bit of window shopping, then visited the nearby LBJ ranch and Texas White House, which is a national park. The area has many wineries, particularly the section of US 290 from Fredericksburg to Johnson City, but it was hard to tell what type of wine they were making. We picked out one which had some very nice white wines.
On Friday, we drove to Luckenbach. The town is tiny (the welcome sign said population 2) and consists of a general store with a bar in the back, the longest operating dance hall in Texas and a longhorn with a saddle. The store and bar are heated with wood stoves. A sign behind the bar said “If you want credit, you don’t need a beer, you need a job.” Interesting place. It must really be hopping on Saturday nights when the dance hall is open. There were quite a few people drinking beer and listening to a jam session on Friday afternoon.
