Waylon, Willie, and WWII - Fredericksburg, TX

Thursday


In spite of the windy/rainy forecast for Thursday, D&J and we - hit the road once again and headed north toward Fredericksburg, Texas. There are several routes from here in Boerne to Fredericksburg and this time we chose the "really" back road winding through the hills and dales of the backcountry. Shortly before arriving in Fredericksburg we drove through Luckenbach. Well -- we didn't actually drive through on accident -- we took a slight detour to visit this icon of the hill country.

Luckenbach consists of just a few buildings including the Post Office/Gift Shop/Bar and the Dance Hall. The "town" was actually the Luckenbach family settlement back in the 1850s and the town center was purchased by a couple of characters back in 1970s - including John "Hondo" Crouch. This is me with a bust of "Hondo" in front of the Post Office. 

It seems "Hondo" and his buddies began promoting Luckenbach and it turned into a watering hole and honkeytonk for many "outlaw" singer/songwriters -- including Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. I understand the music starts every night at 5 PM .... it would be fun to be here on a wild Saturday night! I wonder where these Roosters hang out when the music starts?

After visiting awhile with the roosters and other characters in Luckenbach we loaded back into our stagecoach and continued our trip to Fredericksburg. We arrived right around lunch time and there just happened to be yet another restaurant serving German fare nearby.

Having had our fill of Jagerschnitzel we walked about a half mile to the Pacific War Combat Zone. What?? -- a "Pacific War" Combat Zone in the middle of Texas? You got it ... not only a re-creation of a Pacific War Combat Zone in the middle of Texas - but pretty much in the middle of town. The National Museum of the Pacific War folks put on a guided tour of the Combat Zone every hour on the hour and we arrived right on time for the next tour. Our tour guide was very good and was able to answer everybody's questions in great detail. The Combat Zone folks put on a "re-enactment" complete with tank fire, flamethrowers and pyrotechnics 8 times a year. Although one of the re-enactment weekends is this weekend - the weather looks really lousy so I suspect it may be cancelled ... but it would be fun to watch.

After our tour of the Combat Zone we walked over to the George H.W. Bush National Museum of the Pacific War . The Museum is a modern, well done, museum with displays covering all of the major battles in the pacific as well as historical displays telling the story of how we got there and how the war was fought back here in the U.S.A. We made it about half way through the museum before we were all tuckered out and ready to head back to Boerne for Tea Time. Since our tickets were good for two days - we decided to finish our tour on Friday.


Friday


Although the threat of rain didn't materialize on Thursday until late at night, it continued throughout the day on Friday. Rain or no rain - our Museum tickets were good for two days and we still had a half a museum to see - so off we went - back to Fredericksburg and the  National Museum of the Pacific War . We finished our museum tour in another hour or so and then finished touring the Nimitz Museum located in the old Nimitz Hotel - Chester's boyhood home. These monuments honor the 10 Presidents that served their country during World War II. Can you name them all?

Since we were out - and it was lunch time - once again we needed to find some sustenance. This time we left the German food alone and went back to Mexican food at Mamacita's. Tamales, Chimichangas, Fajitas, Margaritas, and Salsa - pretty good stuff!


We spent the rest of our afternoon back at our respective rigs, listening to the rain, taking a nap or two, and staying warm.


It looks like Saturday will also be rainy so I believe we will stay close to home and get a few chores accomplished. The weather looks to improve on Sunday so perhaps we can get back to some days in the mid to high 70s and some sunshine. Sunday we also go back on daylight savings time so spring must be here. 


Sunshine and Spring ... sounds good to me!


Answer to the President Question: 1. Franklin Roosevelt, 2. Harry Truman, 3. Dwight Eisenhower, 4. John Kennedy, 5. Lyndon Johnson, 6. Richard Nixon, 7. Gerald Ford, 8 Jimmy Carter, 9. Ronald Reagan, 10. George H.W. Bush