We made it! It was a bit of a boring slog through this year’s fall and winter, but the mild Texas weather made it easier (except for that one week, but we’ll get to that). It was 70 degrees and sunny on Christmas day! We stayed at a Yogi’s Jellystone Park for 4 months, and Jackson had a lot of friends to play with. Most days were in the 60s/70s with sunshine. And Texas is good at food. Every place we dined had good food…too good. We definitely gained some pandemic pounds. BBQ, steak, burgers, sushi, pizza. Looking forward to more activity travelling and boondocking.

HAMILTON POOL PRESERVE

This is a sparkling natural pool under a hollow rock cliff. Water falls from the cliff above into the pool. It’s gorgeous. Ferns and moss grow around the pool under the rock ceiling. We loved it.

SANTA’S RANCH

We drove through a Texas-sized Christmas light display. Here are some of the Texas-themed lights (and others).

CANYON LAKE DAM

There are various spots to hike and walk here, including the Guadalupe River Nature Trail and on the dam itself. A great place to get some fresh air and exercise.

POLAR VORTEX

This was everything they said it was in the news (at least for us). A week of below-freezing temps (one night it was colder in Texas than it was in Alaska), frozen pipes, power outages, and long lines & empty shelves at the grocery store (which didn’t have power either). We were okay but our campground spigot froze for the week and our kitchen sink pipes did too, and our power went on and off for a few days. Thankfully we have a tank for water (but we had to conserve hard) and a generator for power. At one point we ran out of propane for the RV furnace, and our diesel gelled so the truck wouldn’t start, but thank god for friends as were able to get a ride to pick up some propane. We went to Texas for the winter to avoid snow and ice and cold…but oh well. It was definitely an experience we’ll never forget. Harry loved the snow btw—it’s probably in his bones. His breed is from the snowy mountains of Tibet.

CONCLUSION

Texas is awesome. We enjoyed our time here, overall. We went to a great drive-in movie theater, other natural hiking areas, and lots of restaurants. We had fun potlucks at the campground and met some cool people. We’ll be back someday. Especially to the gulf coast. For now, onward to Arizona!