Fredericksburg, TX, Late April, 2024

Wildflowers

Springtime in the Hill Country is famous for its great weather and wildflowers. This year was a bumper crop for the wildflowers with a dry and cooler early season which made the wildflower’s competition do poorly and then timely rain and warm sun got the season off to an early start.

Here are some pictures of some of the flowers I found on the internet which are in approximate order of their bloom sequence. It is only a small sample of the wildflowers found in the Hill Country.

And there are several white flower varieties sprinkled through the bloom as well. The wildflower season is late March into May, April mostly. I think I got this pretty close to right. Some Texas folk might think otherwise but it is close enough to appreciate. Come and see them for yourself and enjoy the Hill Country Spring.

Chicken Fried Steak

As long as we have been coming to Texas, the topic of Chicken Fried Steak (CFS) keeps coming up. Mostly about eating it. For some of our friends down here this is a staple food, it is what they eat when they go out. It is the measure of a restaurant – how good is the Chicken Fried Steak?

Now I think it is probably pretty subjective, sort of like where is the best Bar B Que. It depends. The best places have what you like. And since we have never had CFS, what do we know?

And just what is it? I was imagining it like a rib eye steak dipped in whatever they coat extra crispy KFC chicken with and chucked into a deep fryer. Maybe in some places, it is. You can get CFS at the local DQ. This is not quite fine dining, most likely something that comes out of the freezer and cooks in a deep fryer for 6 minutes.

Well, my local knowledgeable friends say it is a tenderized beef cutlet, dipped in all manner of coatings equal to the number of grandmothers wherever these are served, and maybe twice dipped or three times (ask grandma) and fried in a cast iron skillet. In lard for those who remember back far enough or something healthier more recently.

And served covered in a white gravy so that all that is apparent is a bit of the fried-up crusty edge sticking out here and there.

The meat, the varieties of spiced-up breaded coatings, the method of frying, the oil or lard used, and of course the gravy make up the almost limitless varieties of the best CFS ever.

So we gathered the CFS experts along with the never-had-CFS victims (Susan and me) and went to the Backwoods BBQ for Thursday night only Chicken Fried Steak. The owner cooks these up one at a time to order and brings them to the table herself. The mystery meat (not identified) was coated lightly much as we might do walleye at home, and fried one at a time in cast iron skillets for the appropriate time.

Our CFS was plated (a Food Network term for putting it on a plate) with white peppery gravy, scalloped potatoes, and green beans. And of course, just in case there weren’t enough carbs, two slabs of grilled Texas Toast. As white as it was, if it had been meatballs it could have been a gourmet Swedish supper.

Fork and knife in hand I eagerly sliced off a chunk. This is when I discovered it wasn’t “steak” at all like I imagined it might be but a tenderized (by some unknown means) slab of beef about 5”x8”, maybe a half-inch thick. And then another chunk, one after another.

And it was the best Chicken Fried Steak (and the only one) I had ever had. The thick white gravy was well peppered, the coating, lightly spiced, flaked off when the CFS was sliced, and all combined with the tender meat was quite tasty.

So our CFS experience was pretty good. We may order it again someday depending on what else is on the menu. This is definitely not something we saw on Alabama menus or at home.

Planning The Way Home

Every trip to elsewhere finally turns towards our Minnesota home. Susan says she will miss the warmer weather, green trees, and the feel of spring. Me too, but neither of us (and Maggie) will miss the bloom of stickers and burrs that she attracts on every walk. It must be that they are in season too. They seem to be much more abundant in just the last couple of weeks compared to early March when we arrived. Maggie is getting much more tolerant of us picking them out of her hair.

Maggie looks for the bullfrogs along the pond’s edge but when they jump into the pond she always seems startled. They are very hard to see until they move.

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This year we are aiming at getting home by May 1 at the latest. There are always choices for which way to go. This year will be pretty direct.

Someone in a car might do the return trip in just a couple of long days. We will do it in four days averaging about 325 miles per day. Most of the way home is on the interstate. Our second day will be a bit longer making the third and fourth days shorter.

After an overnight in Thackerville, OK, we are staying at Melvern Lake Army Corps of Engineers (COE) in Kansas and Saylorville Lake COE near Des Moines. These are nice parks, 50 amp hookups, and water. We have stayed at both of them. Corp parks are a preferred stop for us. And with our Senior Interagency Lifetime Pass (the Official Geezer Pass) they are only $12 – 14 per day.

On the last day, we will stop in Albert Lea, MN for a full tank of diesel fuel. We will get home, head for the barn, and plug the coach into power. Then we will go into the house, turn up the heat, turn on the water heater, turn on the water, and check everything out. Then back to the coach for our last night of this trip, a light supper, and early to bed. In the morning the water will be hot, the house will have warmed up to a comfortable temperature, and life will seem very busy.

Moving from one home to the other can wait until the next day. And we will spread it out over a couple of days.

Maggie is ready to head home too. Her best buddy, Scooter, has been waiting for her.

Scooter’s Mom, Luann, mentioned “Maggie” to Scooter and he ran to his favorite chair to see if she was coming.

We showed this picture to Maggie and said “Scooter” and she started barking.

We will get up to Scooter’s in just a day or two as soon as we get home.

In the meantime, we have a lunch scheduled with friends, some packing up to do, some last-minute shopping, and will try to get in a couple of good nights’ sleep. That never seems hard to do.

More Later, Much Love,

Roger, Susan, and Maggie.